High School Teaching for the Twenty-First Century: Preparing Students for College

To prepare students for postsecondary education, educators and policymakers must perform two tasks at the same time: restructure high schools so they are aligned to the expectations of colleges and revamp instruction so that college readiness is the goal, measure, and substance of good teaching. The research is clear: the key to preparing students for college is rigorous high school course work (Adelman 1999; ACT 2005). Therefore, high schools and teachers must set college-ready expectations for students, teach rigorous content so that students can apply knowledge in new situations, and use teaching methods that engage students in learning to reason, write, and use information in complex ways. The conditions of high school teaching must also change because teachers cannot solve all problems on their own. Teachers need the help of standards, assessments, curricula, pre-service preparation, and professional development aligned to college readiness if they are to succeed in the classroom.