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. 

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.