As of , 84 percent of high school seniors planned to get a college degree NELS, ; but data from the high school classes of , , and tell us that only 45 to 49 percent of students who enter college and earn more than 10 credits actually earn a bachelor's degree —many even fail to earn 10 credits Adelman, For students with high school averages of C or lower, the chances that they will earn even one college credit are less than Rosenbaum, Do your students know that?
Do your colleagues? Did you know that? Despite the availability of open admissions institutions and increased student aspirations for college degrees—factors that increase college enrollment —the easiest-to-use predictor of a student's likelihood of graduating from a two- or four-year college is still his or her high school grade point average.
This has always been true and there is no reason to expect it to change. Unfortunately, our well-intentioned efforts to encourage all students to go to college regardless of their grades inadvertently gives them the impression that high school grades don't matter. The past 40 years brought three radical social transformations that together have dramatically increased the percentage of students who want to attend college. First, the earnings advantage of college graduates has grown Grubb, Second, college—especially community college a minor factor in the prior generation —has become much more accessible.
In the past four decades, while enrollments at four-year colleges doubled, enrollments increased five-fold at community colleges NCES, Third, and perhaps most remarkably, virtually all community colleges adopted a revolutionary policy of open admissions. Unlike many four-year colleges, virtually all two-year colleges opened their doors to admit all interested high school graduates, regardless of students' prior academic achievement.
Even high school graduates with barely passing grades are routinely welcomed because almost all two-year colleges offer a wide array of remedial courses. Indeed, in many cases, students do not even have to be high school graduates because most two-year colleges offer these students access to some non-credit courses, including GED courses. These three transformations have dramatically altered the rules of college attendance and given students remarkable new opportunities.
However, as with all revolutions, there are also unintended consequences. The revolutions spawned a set of myths—we'll call them misconceptions—that combined to send a message to students: Don't worry about high school grades or effort; you can still go to college and do fine. This message has not been sent to high achievers aiming for prestigious colleges, where grades and scores matter—and the students headed there know it. But it is the message that students who know little about college have received—particularly those whose parents did not go to college.
These students and their parents are being misled with disastrous consequences. Their motivation to work hard in high school is sapped; their time to prepare for college is wasted; their college savings are eaten up by remedial courses that they could have taken for free in high school; and their chances of earning a college degree are greatly diminished. Further, the effect on many colleges has been to alter their mission and lower their standards.
This article reviews some of the misconceptions spawned by these three revolutions and rebuts them—and considers how schools can mitigate the terrible impact these misconceptions are having on individual students and, inevitably, on the overall school environment.
Misconception 1: College success is not linked to high school preparation. A national survey NELS, found that 84 percent of high school seniors in the class of planned to get a two- or four-year college degree.
Even students with bad grades, low test scores, and poor high-school attendance planned to complete a college degree. Attaining a college degree can be difficult even for students who have worked hard and done well in high school; for those who haven't, it is nearly impossible.
Look at the table below on grades and college completion for the class of On average, But low high school grades cut students' chances markedly—only For this However, for the vast majority of students, the other 86 percent, their second chance was only another experience of failure. Shouldn't we tell the students: If you want to graduate from college, exert the effort and get good grades in high school?
Misconception 2: College plans lead to increased school effort. It is often assumed that planning to go to college makes students more motivated, giving them reason to work hard in high school.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case. For many decades, work-bound students believed that high school achievement would not influence their future careers Stinchcombe, , but now many college-bound students also hold this belief. In a survey of over 2, seniors in 12 urban and suburban high schools, researchers found that almost 40 percent of college-bound students believed that school effort had little relevance for their future careers Rosenbaum, ; cf.
Steinberg, Misconception 3: High school homework doesn't matter for college success. Since open admissions policies allow everyone to enter college, no matter how poorly they do in high school, some students report that they can wait until college to exert academic effort. But research shows that effort during high school is absolutely essential. Take homework, for example: Students doing no homework end up with 1.
Students doing 15 hours or more a week of homework attain almost 1. This 2. Misconception 4: Going to college means taking college-level classes. If you are taking classes in a college, are you taking college classes? Not necessarily. Many college students" are actually in remedial courses—high school-level classes or even lower that give no college credits Deil-Amen and Rosenbaum, The best estimates of the extent of remedial education come from careful analyses of college transcripts from national samples of students in the classes of and From to there has been substantial improvement in the need for remediation among students entering four-year colleges.
Forty-four percent of those from the class of , but only 25 percent from the class of still too many , took at least one remedial course. Unfortunately, there has not been a similar improvement among students entering two-year colleges.
Sixty-three percent of those from the class of , and 61 percent from the class of , took at least one remedial course Adelman, A more recent survey in two urban community colleges found that 25 percent of students were taking three or more remedial courses Deil-Amen and Rosenbaum, Moreover, in an effort to reduce students' feelings of inferiority, college advisors often downplay the fact that courses are remedial.
As a result, many students do not even realize the nature of their coursework. In one research survey, students were given a list of the colleges' remedial courses, asked which ones they had taken and whether the courses counted toward a degree.
From interviews with administrators, the researchers knew that none of these courses counted toward a degree. Unfortunately, most students did not see chart below. Among first-year students taking three remedial courses, 36 percent reported that these courses counted, and another 48 percent were not sure.
Even among second-year students taking three remedial courses, 36 percent believed the courses counted for college credit and 44 percent were unsure Deil-Amen and Rosenbaum, Misconception 5: Going to college for a two- or four-year degree takes two or four years. How long does a two-year associate's degree take?
If you think the answer is obvious, you are wrong. At one community college, a top administrator confided that because of remedial needs, a "two-year associates degree" takes full-time students an average of 3.
Statistics like this are not widely known—with three serious implications. First, since the remedial courses often carry no credit, students who plan for two-year or four-year degrees discover that they cannot complete their degrees in the time they have scheduled or within the budget they have planned. Second, their failure to collect credits is exacerbated by the "secret" nature of the remedial courses; discovering after 1.
Third, high school students heading toward college do not understand college remedial placements. They know that their older peers who graduated high school with poor grades went on to college—and they assume they can, as well. But most high school students probably do not realize that these "college students" are not accumulating college credits and are unlikely to graduate. This partial picture may encourage lax academic effort and college-for-all fantasies on the part of many high school students—maybe even on the part of school faculty.
These fantasies are fed by high school administrators who boast about the high percentage of students they send to college—but neglect to mention how few graduate. More on this later. Misconception 6: School counselors should not offer discouraging words about the hard work necessary for college success.
Given the widespread public belief in the misconceptions above, counselors rarely discourage college plans or suggest alternatives. A recent study in eight diverse urban and suburban high schools found that even if students had poor grades, school counselors did not dissuade them from attending college, nor did they warn students when they had poor chances of college success Krei and Rosenbaum, ; Rosenbaum, Miller, and Krei, National data suggest that these practices are widespread.
While only 32 percent of a national survey of seniors in indicated that their counselors urged them to go to college, 10 years later, fully 66 percent of seniors made the same statement Boesel, ; Gray, Indeed, 57 percent of seniors in the bottom half of the academic rankings reported that counselors urged them to attend college. In interviews we conducted with counselors, it was clear that counselors who do wish to warn students that they are unprepared for college believe that they lack the authority to do so Rosenbaum et al.
When students transfer to a Virginia public school from a state that requires such high school end-of-course tests, the local school division may automatically accept the student's passing score on the test and the corresponding course for the purposes of awarding verified credit.
When students transfer to a Virginia public school from a state that requires a comprehensive subject area examination as a prerequisite for graduation from high school, VDOE — at the request of the division superintendent — will review the examination to determine its suitability for use to award verified credit.
In order for a test to be deemed suitable for use, the test must be approved as part of another state's accountability system and approved through the federal standards and assessment peer review process. Such requests shall be submitted by the division superintendent within 30 days of receipt of the student's record. Students may retake end-of-course tests as often as a school division's testing schedule permits.
Students who have a passed the course and score on the end-of-course Standards of Learning test within 25 points of passing or have extenuating circumstances may be eligible to retake a test before the next scheduled administration. As mentioned above, students may retake tests needed to earn verified units of credit for graduation. Students who pass the course and score between on a test are eligible for an expedited retake and may retake a test before the next scheduled test administration.
Verified credits awarded in this manner are given at the discretion of local school boards. Not all who are accepted will actually decide to attend, so they masy choose to wait to see if they wish to admit more.
Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home What happens if you fail all classes in high school? Ben Davis May 31, What happens if you fail all classes in high school? What happens if I fail all my classes?
How bad do grades have to be to get rescinded? Do colleges look at your final transcript?
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