College Signing Day: Pluses and Minuses
Many counselors prepared extensively for College Signing Day, an event that has
grown in popularity in the last five years. Typically held on May 1—the day many
colleges ask for an enrollment deposit—College Signing Day is designed to be a
celebration of students’ decisions for life after high school. The title of the program is often misleading,
as most high schools use the day to honor and celebrate the decisions of all
students, including those headed into careers, career training, or the
military. This
piece by The Chronicle’s Eric Hoover
highlights the struggle some schools face when trying to meet the needs of all
students on National Signing Day, specifically, those students that don’t have
plans for after high school. The article which is from 2017 is considered a
classic piece in depicting the life of a public school counselor.
Test-Optional Colleges Increase Diversity
One of the biggest trends in college admissions in the last five years has
been the growing number of test-optional colleges—four-year colleges that do not
require students to submit ACT or SAT scores as part of the application
process. A practice started by Bates
College over 30 years ago, past studies have suggested these schools are able
to admit students whose completion rates and college grades are no different
from students who submit test scores. A new report last week now suggests these
schools are able to make important growth in expanding the diversity of their
applicant pool by going test-optional.
Conducted by some of the most respected names in college admission, the
report suggests test-optional practices are an important part of expanding the
breadth and depth of a college’s applicant pool, and is something that can be
achieved without sacrificing academic quality (Syverson, Franks, and Hiss, NACACNet).
Counseling Initiative Open for Applications
20 school districts will have the opportunity to expand
their postsecondary counseling practices, thanks to a grant announced last week
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Built on the latest research in postsecondary selection, the “To and
Through” Advising Challenge focuses on three key elements of college
advising: Helping students identify and
apply to colleges that will offer them strong support; helping them sort through
the financing of a college education, and helping students avoid summer melt.
Participants in this program will help contribute towards the body of
literature that identifies best practices in the transition to life after high
school. Applications are due by May 31, 2018, 5:00pm Pacific time.
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