Use High School Time Prepping for College

COURT HOUSE – The discussion continues how best to get the most education for the tax dollar. Standards are set ever higher for students to graduate, and while there is that mandate “No Child Left Behind” unless students are prepared for college early in high school, their process in higher education may be longer, if they don’t depart before attaining a diploma.
Some blame schools and teachers for not preparing students, yet local history reveals that those with serious home support can attain high levels of success regardless of the school.
As an example, while some may hold Wildwood High School in low regard for academics, that school has produced more Superior Court judges for the Atlantic-Cape Vicinage than any other school.
A major general who stood shoulder to shoulder with President Obama and Vice President Biden on Inauguration Day graduated from Lower Cape May Regional High School. Physicians and attorneys have graduated from that same school.
Middle Township High School, too, has produced attorneys who became judges, at least one Navy flag officer, and others who became outstanding community members.
All of those individuals had one thing in common: a parent or guardian who refused to accept mediocre grades from their student. They set high standards and would settle for nothing less.
Dr. Peter Mora, president of Atlantic Cape Community College, with campuses in Court House and Mays Landing, knows well that preparation for college starts early. Those students who take college preparatory courses in high school, and attain a 1075 on the SAT or Accuplacer test, will start as college freshmen, and will likely complete their associates degree in two years.
Those who place lower on math and writing tests are more likely to have to take remedial classes at Atlantic Cape, adding to their time and expense to attain a degree.
As a community college, Atlantic Cape is mandated to take anyone from the county who is 18 years old and “who may benefit from instruction.”
“Unfortunately, half of the full-time students (at Atlantic Cape) do not meet that (1075 requirement) in writing and math,” said Mora.
To advance, Mora said that students must pass those remedial courses before they can take their first college level course.
That adds to the tuition cost and time to attain a degree, he added.
Atlantic Cape’s average student age is 25-26, meaning “we have a lot coming here who have been out of high school for a long time,” said Mora. Some of those may have attained a GED diploma, and while they are eligible to be in college, without doing well in intermediate algebra, they may experience difficulty in completing courses.
That underscores the importance of high school students to take, and successfully pass, their mathematics classes, including algebra, calculus, and some trigonometry.
Mora points to high schools as “a point of intervention” where college officials know success begins.
“In those schools we know if we work with that strategy we can improve student’s capacity to be college ready when they graduate.
Desire, too, is an important factor to success in college, he noted. Taking college preparatory classes in high school does not necessarily mean a student wants to attend college.
“That is a decision mom and dad and the student has to make,” said Mora.
“We can work with parents and high schools to make students aware that, if they want to go to college, to be college ready, they have to take college (prep) courses,” Mora said.
What Mora and other educators term “K-12 Alignment” also helps, since all New Jersey Common Core Standards demand the same standards of measurement of student achievement.
“All curricula is aligned in all schools so they are doing the same level of instruction,” he said. That goal should be attained by 2015, he added.
The aim of it all, Mora said, is “So that the exit level of their seniors” will be on par with college requirements.
“We recommend four years of Algebra 1 and 2, advanced math, trig and calculus. We minimally recommend at least two years of algebra for core standards, and a third year would be better,” Mora said.
Data shows that students graduating high school who have not taken college preparatory courses will have a more difficult time being successful in college, he said.
Mora cited the close working relationship between the college and local high schools since high-performing students may take college courses while still in high school and, if successful, will gain college credits in their junior and senior years in high school.
“We are not telling high schools what to do or what the curriculum should be,” said Mora, Instead, college officials know that, if students are ill prepared in high school, their future education will be longer, costlier, and may prove more difficult than those properly prepared.