Abstract
Reviewed by: Crystal Keetch, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN, USA
In this volume edited by William G. Tierney and Julia C. Duncheon, five contributors document the inadequate college preparation of U.S. high school graduates, which is greatly hindering their success in college and their college retention rates. The authors illustrate in multiple ways the damaging impact for students who lack college readiness, issues of inequity within the educational system, and how colleges can assist these students. Only 56% of students who attend a 4-year institution and 30% of students who attend 2-year institutions attain a degree (Symonds, Schwartz, & Ferguson, 2011 as cited by Tierney & Duncheon, 2015) and those statistics only decrease for at-risk students. The Problem of College Readiness addresses the detrimental effects on students who are unable to attain degrees that would greatly benefit their lives and on institutions that are unable to retain and graduate students. The authors’ explanation of the historical and current context of at-risk students in higher education expresses a need for radical changes in the education system and how higher education can assist students to successfully transition to college and be able to complete a degree. Individuals working in secondary education and higher education who are committed to enhancing the academic success of students entering college will benefit from reading The Problem of College Readiness.
According to Ducheon, the purpose of this book is “to offer analyses on multiple levels to highlight the interrelatedness and complexity of issues that surround college readiness” (p. 26). Each chapter contributes to a comprehensive description and explanation of college readiness, policy and practice around the issue, and the damaging effects that academic under preparation has on students. The authors focus particular attention on the challenges faced by high-risk students, which they identify to be primarily first-generation college students and low socioeconomic status students, due to their low graduation rates and the challenges they face in navigating higher education.
The Problem of College Readiness is a compilation of authors from the University of Southern California. Tierney and Duncheon are the editors of this book. Tierney is a professor of Higher Education at the University of Southern California. Duncheon was a doctoral candidate at the time the book was written and is currently a professor at the University of Texas-El Paso. This book’s eight chapters are divided into three sections: Part I is titled “Introduction,” Part II (Chapters 4–6, collectively titled Using Theory, Policy, and Practice to Analyze a State Response), and Part III (The Conclusion). The following sections briefly describe the contents of each of the three sections, followed by a discussion of the insights the book offers for those working with students in the educational system.
The three chapters that comprise Part I of the book provide the reader with the historical context of college readiness in the United States, explaining both the past concerns and the ongoing issues that cause students to leave high school unprepared for college-level academic work. In Chapter 1 (The Problem of College Readiness), Julia Duncheon provides a helpful summary of the strengths and weaknesses of current efforts to assist students in preparing for college. Duncheon also explains the different definitions and components of college readiness.
In Chapter 2 (The Roots of College Readiness: An Old Problem With New Complexities), Daniel Almeida explains the history of the lack of college readiness and ways in which this issue persists in the United States. Although several other books have provided a broad overview of the history of higher education (e.g., Cohen & Kisker, 2009; Thelin, 2011) and others have focused on issues challenging higher education (e.g., Bastedo, Altbach, & Gumport, 2016), the first couple chapters of this book offer a helpful contribution to the literature by focusing specifically on the topic of college readiness. Chapter 3 (The Challenge of the Least Ready: A Historical Perspective), by Bryan Adan Rodriguez, further explores how the historical pattern of students who are unprepared for the college setting began and continues today. Chapter 3 discusses the concerns and needs of the least ready students leaving high school and entering higher education. Rodriguez provides tables with insightful statistics surrounding the issues of remediation and low graduation rates for underprepared students.
Part II (Chapters 4–6, collectively titled Using Theory, Policy, and Practice to Analyze a State Response) provides a helpful overview of ways in which theories and policies have influenced higher education practice when assisting high-risk students. In Chapter 4, (College Readiness and Low-Income Youth: The Role of Social Capital in Acquiring College Knowledge), Daniel Almeida explains the avenues that low-income students typically use to gather needed information to navigate the college transition. Specifically, this chapter synthesizes the literature on how students need certain college knowledge as they navigate the college setting and that some students struggle to attain that necessary knowledge. This aligns with the work of Arnold, Lu, and Armstrong (2012) which discusses the need for students to have college knowledge to know the information required to successfully navigate into and through the college setting.
Chapter 5 (The Early Assessment Program: Is Early Notification Enough?), authored by Lisa Garcia, describes ways in which the use of promising assessment programs during high school have provided early alerts of students needing remediation, with the goal of more effectively preparing them for college-level academic work. This chapter heavily emphasizes practices in California education. Garcia’s writing aligns with research on the effects of remediation on students, an example being the scholarly contributions of Peterson, Casillas, and Robbins (2006) that documented the benefits and drawbacks of remediation.
In Chapter 6 (Making Sense of Contested Terrain: Writing Remediation, Faculty Perspectives, and the Challenge of Implementation), a second chapter authored by Julia Duncheon focuses on how faculty make sense of the remediation process and the impact of remediation practices on students. Chapter 7 (On the Path to Completion: Exploring How Higher Education Policy Influences the Least Ready College Students), the second contribution by Bryan Adan Rodriguez to the volume, discusses how the policies and reforms being implemented at the national and California state government levels may inadvertently hinder college students who are the least ready to begin college. As policies create new requirements of institutions to focus on students’ completion rates instead of being more accessible for students to be admitted, least ready college students may be negatively affected. Being aware of how policies affect the least ready college students is essential to better serve and assist these students.
Part III (The Conclusion) consists of a single concluding chapter that was authored by the book’s coeditor, William Tierney. Titled The Way Forward: Looking Back, Chapter 8 concludes the book by explaining how difficult it is to address the issue of college readiness, but also proposes ways to ensure that students are prepared for the academic rigor of college. Overall, Part III expresses the magnitude of the problems related to college readiness.
Throughout the book, the authors use California’s master plan for their education system as a case study of how to better assist students through K-12 to higher education. Although California’s system is a helpful case study to focus on the issue of college readiness, this limitation of focus means that not all of the policies, issues, and practices in the book are directly applicable to those working in secondary or higher education in other places. Each chapter builds on the information of the previous chapters to provide a full picture of the issue of college readiness. Although this book’s discussion of early assessment programs provides insight and practical suggestions regarding how higher education can partner with secondary education, the focus on California programs may be more theoretical than practical for many readers. However, the authors’ examples do not assume the readers are only from California and provide insights on how to improve the California system that can be modified to be applicable to other educational systems.
The Problem of College Readiness delves into the relationship of higher and secondary education and the need to assist students in transitioning well into college and becoming successful. The initiatives currently in place in California, such as programs of early assessment designed to address problems early, represent ideas to help ensure that students coming from high school have the skillsets needed to succeed in college. Overall, each chapter of The Problem of College Readiness probes into various dimensions of the concerns related to college readiness within the United States and builds on the previous chapter to provide both analysis of the issues and recommendations for action based on the research and best practices. Taken as a whole, The Problem of College Readiness provides a helpful distillation of the literature related to the multitude of factors that affect college readiness, including policies and practices that affect higher education and college-bound students. The authors collectively emphasize that the complex array of issues that relate to the lack of college preparedness have not changed, and that new models and approaches—based on the latest research findings—must be implemented if the problems are to be alleviated.
The Problem of College Readiness addresses the important national issue of college readiness that affects many in the United States. This book addresses the contradiction for higher education administrators who are challenged to be accessible to all, but also required to have high graduation rates; many changes in policies affect students who are the least ready to attend higher education and further distance their current preparation from the level needed to begin their degree. Having a clear understanding of the issue of college readiness is important to educational leaders and practitioners in the high school setting as well as those working in colleges and universities, particularly given the need for constructive interaction and interventions. This book provides a breadth of understanding of the major issues that are involved in college readiness, while also identifying ways to assist high school students and incoming college students to navigate the college experience. For these students to be successful, new ways of ensuring students are prepared for the rigor of college work is necessary. This book offers an easy to comprehend, yet broad understanding of the multitude of factors that affect the students of today and will continue to affect the students of tomorrow, until major work is done. The Problem of College Readiness is a collection and organization of many important works on college readiness and is an essential for anyone working with students to assist them with their college readiness.