Topic > College-Ready Students - 1569

IntroductionSchools across the nation are trying to find new ways to prepare their students for college. The entire country is now focused on educational reforms. Many schools in the state do not provide the essential skills needed to prepare their students for college. Ubah Medical Academy is one of those schools. A self-proclaimed "culturally sensitive" school, Ubah Medical Academy is located in Hopkins, Minnesota. It is a very small school with a population of three hundred and sixty students. These students are predominantly of East African origin. Ubah's mission statement states that “Creating a culture and climate of learning is a top priority at Ubah Medical Academy. Our school focuses on engaging students in academic learning to fully prepare them for college.” They failed to create an environment like the one they describe. Due to a lack of challenging curricula and the administration's negligence in teaching social skills, Ubah fails to teach its students the skills they need to succeed in college. Literature Review The article “What Makes a College Student Ready?” by David Conley explores how schools can better prepare their students for post-secondary education. Through his research on the topic, Conley found that four things should be focused on to prepare students for college: “content knowledge, knowledge of postsecondary education, cognitive strategies, and self-management skills.” Conley says the way students can succeed in college is for schools to take extra steps to ensure their students' success. According to Conley, schools need to create a college environment by teaching self-management skills while also tailoring their courses to college reading standards… middle of the paper… the level of difficulty that should be addressed. When students have to take difficult college courses, they won't know how to test themselves. They may have a difficult college experience. The administration is not doing everything it can to prepare its students. Students would not only suffer in their post-secondary education, but it could affect them in their professional lives as well. Ubah has the potential to produce thinkers who can change the world for the better; they just need to learn as a school the ways in which they can expand their students' knowledge and how they can challenge them. Works Cited Works Cited Conley, David T. “What Makes a Student College Ready?” Educational Leadership 66.2 (2008):1-5. Print.“Integrated Schools: Find a New Path” by Gary Orfield, Erica Frankenberg, and GenevieveSiegel-Hawley for Educational Leadership