Friday, January 21, 2011
Experts Zero In on Nonacademic Skills Needed for Success
I found this article quite interesting. It focuses on the need for students to be socially and emotionally prepared as well as academically to succeed in a college setting. This is especially true for students who didn't take AP courses in high school; attempting to switch into the higher gear needed for the quicker paced courses, longer and more detailed papers, and more frequent testing without this type of preperation can easily be overwhelming. While I've ranted on this blog previously regarding the necessity for all students to attend college, I certainly believe that those who wish to should be given the tools and psychological preperation to do so. This article mentions several ways to connect the data from local high schools to colleges so students can be tracked and trends noticed, which would hopefully lead to an early warning system of sorts to identify the students who may have issues in college before they even get there. Then high school teachers and conselors can provide them with additional academic and psychological assitance that would then boost their success rate.
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Great article. How do you feel about creating assessments to measure these non-cognitive skills? Are these teachable, observable and testable, or does that turn them into just another set of managed behaviors?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good question; I have a sneaking hunch there's a way to teach some of it, and test some of it as well, but not in as tangible a manner as the current math and reading tests are. It would be interesting to consult with a psychologist (or ten) about this issue, and see what their take is.
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