College Readiness

Two high schools with different strategies to support students who will be the first in their families to go to college.

As jobs increasingly require new skills, high schools revive programs that help students explore careers in the course of their studies.

Out-of-school experiences for high schoolers foster purpose and belonging.

Ideas for developing students’ capacity to understand and use discipline-specific terminology and the language used in instruction.

Can you predict academic success or whether a child will graduate? You can, but not how you might think. When psychologist Angela Duckworth studied people in various challenging situations, including National Spelling Bee participants, rookie teachers in tough neighborhoods, and West Point cadets, she found: One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

Rigor doesn't simply mean giving students more or harder work. Instead, it's the result of work that challenges students' thinking in new and interesting ways.

Matt Davis has highlighted resources for parents, teachers, and administrators that can help students make the transition into elementary, middle, and high school -- and beyond.

To help these kids make the kinds of gains they need to master the Common Core, students must learn to receive feedback and also how to use it to improve.

Encouraging students to reach out to each other to solve problems and share knowledge builds collaborative skills and leads to deeper learning at The College Preparatory School.

Whether a student is preparing or college or career, the summer after high school can be both exciting and overwhelming. Blogger Matt Davis has gathered some resources educators and parents can share with graduates to help them start planning ahead.

Raise your underserved students' expectations by raising your own, and create a series of reachable, data-based goals, scaffolding your instruction and mitigating their fear of failure.

Collaboration, problem solving, and social awareness are as necessary as literacy and math.

Your students can write argumentative essays, but they need additional guidance to produce standout personal narratives.