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i have two best friend one of them are a boy and the other is a girl my two best friend don't talk even more became of my girl best friend ex boyfriend and the boy is guy friend with him...

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I am a 7th grade teacher within the Monticello Community School District. When collecting college readiness data, the biggest surprise to me was the remedial rates. Approximately 26% of students enrolled in college require math remedial and 0% require reading remedial. I then met with our 5-12 math curriculum leader who said that within the last 10 years, the district has put more emphasis on reading. We have created strategic classes, small groups, and interventions to help specific domains within literacy such as comprehension, fluency, vocab, and writing.

Also, there are more requirements at the college level that require certain math classes. These factors may scew the results. I was also suprised at how many high school students want to attend college and actually graduate which is a high, positive trend.

Currently I am working towards my Masters for School Counseling as well. College and career readiness is a main competent to my program. I am very excited for this opportunity and to connect my learnings within my career and college program!

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Julie BengeI understand the importance in having everything coordinated for college preparation classes. I believe our school is doing a good job. It is interesting to see how education has changed over the past 10 years. Many student that I have talked to say they are prepared for the classes. They also say they are not prepared for adult life outside their homes. I believe the teacher are doing their part in preparing everyone who has an idea about what they want to do for the future.

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Julie BengeI understand the importance in having everything coordinated for college preparation classes. I believe our school is doing a good job. It is interesting to see how education has changed over the past 10 years. Many student that I have talked to say they are prepared for the classes. They also say they are not prepared for adult life outside their homes. I believe the teacher are doing their part in preparing everyone who has an idea about what they want to do for the future.

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I work for Great Prairie AEA and I reviewed the Burlington CSD information.  I was not surprised by that many students are not college ready. I am surprised by the information that is available to parents and students we are not informed of.  Unless we have experience in the area we are not aware.  My son will be a senior next year, and there are many things we need to look over.  The opportunity to listen to the panel will be eye opening

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I work for Great Prairie AEA and I reviewed the Burlington CSD information.  I was not surprised by that many students are not college ready. I am surprised by the information that is available to parents and students we are not informed of.  Unless we have experience in the area we are not aware.  My son will be a senior next year, and there are many things we need to look over.  The opportunity to listen to the panel will be eye opening

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After digging into the college and career readiness for my school district,  I realized  how uninformed I am in this at the upper levels. This may be because I am at the elementary level, but I feel that I should be presented with more knowledge of college and career readiness at the upper levels. I understand and know  what I can do at my level, but also want to be a strong foundation for upper levels. Our high school is connected with Iowa Central Community College and I believe that our students have an opportunity to start classes early. I would be curious to know how many students take advantage of this opportunity. After analysis of our data, I feel we are on the right track but can also make improvements. I think an area we can improve on is encouraging and providing opportunities for our students so they can be successful at the college and career level.

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I am a kindergarten teacher from the Storm Lake Community School District. Because I am at the elementary school, I feel like I am not as informed with all of the opportunities that are presented to the students at the HS level in the area of College and Career Readiness. I do know that Iowa Central Community College and Buena Vista University both provide opportunities for students to begin college courses early. So there are some great things happening already, but I feel like there could be so much more. I also feel there needs to be more focus in the area of encouraging students to believe they can achieve at a college/university level.
As a parent, I feel college and career readiness should be the focus of my children's middle school and high school years.  Being prepared for the future is what should be most important in all school districts.
Our district just hired a new superintendent for the 2018-2019 school year who is very big supporter of college and career readiness. She also understands the importance of encouraging students to reach high for their goals, so I am excited to see the changes and improvements to come. The future is bright for our district with her as our leader!

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Brad BengeWhen I look at the analysis, I am surprised by many factors that are missing. There is a lot of data that deals with College and Preparation for college classes. The factors that I find missing are related to trade schools and apprentice programs. Dealing with students who have learning disabilities, I find it difficult to find the options for this population. There are some Community colleges that advance some of the trades however in  our school and many others the trade or apprentice routes of study are not as supported as the College bound student. It is also interesting to discover how difficult it is for schools to keep up on what the job markets going to demand in the future. I have heard many times that we are training our youth for a future that we have no idea about. We know technology is growing at a pace that is unbelievable.  For the most part those students who take some ownership in their own education will adapt and do fine. Those that are just going through the motions may struggle.

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Brad BengeWhen I look at the analysis, I am surprised by many factors that are missing. There is a lot of data that deals with College and Preparation for college classes. The factors that I find missing are related to trade schools and apprentice programs. Dealing with students who have learning disabilities, I find it difficult to find the options for this population. There are some Community colleges that advance some of the trades however in  our school and many others the trade or apprentice routes of study are not as supported as the College bound student. It is also interesting to discover how difficult it is for schools to keep up on what the job markets going to demand in the future. I have heard many times that we are training our youth for a future that we have no idea about. We know technology is growing at a pace that is unbelievable.  For the most part those students who take some ownership in their own education will adapt and do fine. Those that are just going through the motions may struggle.

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Wapello Community School District is a small school in southeast Iowa with a graduation class of 53 students. As a parent of a junior and an employee of the, post secondary readiness is of great interest to me. In looking at the public data, Wapello's graduation rate of 88 percent seems like a pretty good number but after looking at other schools of similar graduating class size, it seems there is room for improvement. From a parent's perspective, I do not know if my children have individualized career readiness plans and I have very little knowledge or involvement in their career path. My involvement so far has been signing off on a high school schedule or college course. I have visited with teachers at parent/teacher conferences and have a grasp on some of the initiatives. I have faith that the my kids' teachers care about them and are giving their best effort but I am clueless if the content is aligned with college and career ready standards. The school does a great job partnering with a nearby community college and higher achieving students have the opportunity to take college credit courses in high school but I do not know if this option is offered to all students. I feel that the school has done a great job preparing my daughter for a 4 year college, but the real test will be how she does when she gets started in college. She has mentioned that several former graduates she knows have dropped out of college after the first year, because they did not have what it took to be successful. This is concerning to her and to me as a parent. I am not as concerned for her as I am my son, who struggles in school. He not only struggles with academics but with organization and motivation. I am anxious to see how well he will be prepared for even a 2 year college or a trade school. He has had a lot of great teachers that care about him and have worked hard to keep him focused. However, there is something missing. The self assessment has made me realize that as I a parent I need to ask more questions. I have a great relationship with the school and am very active in helping with clubs, Music Boosters, etc but the assessment made me realize, there is a lot I don't know as a parent, but maybe should know, in regard to college and career readiness in our school.

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Reading and analyzing the Dubuque Community School District’s report card and data, specifically on College and Career Readiness (or the lack thereof), has been a reassuring experience for me, as an educator. Daily interactions with students in the classroom reflect their lack in many basic skills. Inability to stick with deadlines, organize their work, problem solve, and communicate ideas are common issues amongst all learning levels. These skills may not be specific to either the Math or Reading score, but are prevalent among all disciplines.

Teachers feel a great deal of pressure to ensure that students are successful in the classroom, but the idea of success is misleading.  To ensure that the students are passing a  class and graduating on time, does not measure success.  The date from Iowa Department of Education, specifically for Senior H.S., validates this major issue as.  In 2017, the graduation rate was very high at 92.3%, yet College and Career Readiness was only at 45.4%.  This is an outrageous discrepancy.

On top of this, the minority proficiency is also alarming.  Dubuque Senior H.S. had a minority proficiency 67.3%, compared to the State of Iowa at 82.5%.  This difference is eye opening, but not shocking, if observant you would find this gap apparent in the classrooms.  Equity in Dubuque Schools is a major issue, and seems to be heightening.  This statistic only proves that is an issue needing to be addressed.

Overall, the data analysis on College and Career Readiness and Minority Proficiency solidified confidence in what teachers are already aware, yet are in need of strategies and tools in order to address. I truly believe by pushing basic skills, holding students accountable, and instilling rigor in curriculum the students in our schools would be able to gain these skills. Although, first and foremost, I believe students need to be given the opportunity to fail.  Some might find that shocking advice, but it has been a systematic failure in our schools, since No Child Left Behind was adopted, we have yet to have healed from the detrimental effects of not allowing student to fail.  It created a system where we simply push students through, in order for graduation, in order to be completely unprepared for the real world.  Even the most struggling of students, minority or not, would benefit from a little bit of failure...in order to grow, in order to move beyond what is hindering their ability to learn and function in our world.

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Sigourney Jr./Sr. High School is a small district in SE Iowa.  Our 2019 graduating class has 45 students.  Each of these students have had an enormous amount of opportunities to be college and career ready.  We have a career academy right on our campus in conjunction with Indian Hills Community College. We offer four strands, welding, machine tech, health sciences, &  agriculture.   9 of our graduating seniors will not only graduate with a high school diploma, but will also receive their welding diploma the day of graduation.  These students have the opportunity to go onto college, or they can now just enter the working world.  We work very close with our local business and industry.

All of our students have the opportunity to take at least one college credit class while in high school.  We have implemented that before they get too far into the college experience, they must take the course entitled How to be Successful in College.  Another requirement that we added in order to graduate is that all students must take financial literacy.  This helps students better understand how finances really work and that becoming an adult takes a lot of financial planning. Workplace Readiness is also a class that students can take that helps them decide on which direction they are wanting to go after graduation.

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Coming from a small district, I believe that we do very well in preparing our students for life after high school.  We currently show on the Iowa Report Card that 41.2% of our students in 2017 were at or above the college readiness benchmark.  We are lucky enough to have a Career Academy on our campus that offers our students the opportunity to get a jump start on their life after high school.  We will have 9 out of our 45 seniors graduating with a welding diploma in May.

Two of our CTE teachers also teach Concurrent Enrollment courses which allows for our students to take Ag and Business courses face-to-face.

Our district also requires that all students take a course called Financial Literacy.  We also have a course called Workplace Readiness that is not required but very beneficial to students.  As the counselor, I try to have as many students take this course as possible.

I always feel that anything we can do to prepare our students for the future will be beneficial.

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According to the data on the Iowa School Report Card for Burlington High School (BHS) for 2016 and 2017, 20.9% of BHS students are on a track to be college and career ready by the end of high school, the state average was 47.5%.

Working with students (from many different high schools) who have IEPs as they transition to college, I see just how ill prepared some are to be successful in their college classes without a great deal of assistance. Most of our students come to us without adequate background in math and science and virtually none have ever taken a foreign language while in high school. The majority of our students test into and have to take remedial math and/or writing classes. In fact, a large percentage of all students (general population at the community college) place into at least one remedial class. I’ve found that often students aren’t encouraged, and are sometimes not allowed, to take a college-ready curriculum. No one has explained to them what it takes to get into college or to complete the program of study for their chosen career, or what skills they will need to be successful in college level classes. And many times, students have no idea what they want to study or even know what careers/jobs are out there.

In an effort to make up for some of these shortfalls, the community college created a new class, The College Experience, which was designed to help new students successfully transition to college. The course covers academic success skills, strategies for personal development and exploration, college culture and expectations, and how to access college resources and services.

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I feel that as a district and school we do have a lot of great opportunities to offer our students at all grade levels. AP classes are offered, the local community college works with our school so we are able to offer juniors and seniors opportunities to take college classes. We have a Hound Room time where we are able to work on Naviance, and complete activities that get students to think about post-secondary expectations but I do feel that we need more guidance and training for that. The data was not as surprising to me that we do not have as many students that  enroll in college or a career tech because as a district we do have a lot of students that fall behind, mental health issues, socio economic concerns etc. I do feel we have seen a lot more improvement now that have trimesters instead of semesters, and the amount of opportunities the students have. I think it will be slow but we are making progress.

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As a district we (Fort Madison Community School District) have work to do to build teacher (at ALL grade levels) knowledge of the college and career readiness standards.  Our district has begun meeting with 2 other local school districts to provide an industry program.  This program is call the Lee County Economic Development Industry program.  It is a great start to exposing our high school students to careers after high school.

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As a district we (Fort Madison Community School District) have work to do to build teacher (at ALL grade levels) knowledge of the college and career readiness standards.  Our district has begun meeting with 2 other local school districts to provide an industry program.  This program is call the Lee County Economic Development Industry program.  It is a great start to exposing our high school students to careers after high school.

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After reviewing the districts data, I feel our school has a lot to offer our students. We have Ap classes, CTE classes, college readiness program classes, and we offer Community college classes to students in their junior and senior year to help get them started on their career path. We are doing better about assigning students to one teacher to start working on a career choice and picking colleges/careers techs to get into. However, I feel that not as many of our students enroll in a college/career tech due to money, falling behind early in school, mental health issues, or the simple fact they do not care. I feel we need to have better supports to help all of those students and get our students to all of their classes on time.

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Our school offers a wide variety of career readiness classes, CTE classes, AP classes, and college readiness classes.  It surprises me that the district data does not show more students attending post secondary education.   Working mainly with at-risk youth, I see so many of them focused on needing a job for money right now, that they are unable to see how important it is to get  the training/education now to be able to obtain a better paying job in the future.  Our school has tried to have advisories in which one educator is responsible for talking to the same group of students about their grades, credits, and college/career plans each week,  however  this has not proven successful for many reasons; poor attendance to the advisory being one of them.  Trying to have various ways to get the parents involved in their child’s  career/training/college preparedness is an area our school could improve on.

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After reviewing the district’s data and completing my self-assessment I feel that we have a great number of courses geared towards college and career readiness, but the number of our students that are enrolling in college don’t support it.  I feel the number of students enrolling in college or technical programs should be higher than what it is. We need to have supports in place to catch the students that fall behind and/or may struggle with mental health.

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As a small school district we need to change our focus to include career readiness into our curriculum. We have allotted time through MTSS to work on interventions which I think we can utilized for implementing this as well. I think we need to focus on getting all students career ready which a major emphasis on our at-risk population.

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We have really had a push to include career readiness curriculum in our school. we have also focused a lot of effort on building skills needed for a career with our special needs students. This involves building skill levels in math, reading and writing.
Big emphasis on Work Study programs and getting kids on job sites before they graduate. Get them set up with Vocational Rehab for follow up.
I do think we are lacking a little in getting special needs students to look at a 4 yr college. We seem to push more the 2 yr vocational college programs.
We could do a better job of identifying these students earlier and then helping them track towards a 4 yr degree.
This will be an ongoing process between the students, parents and school.