What does "College Prep" mean after a decade of "No Child Left Behind"?

As most college faculty in business know, once something has become a competition point, it either is eroded to a commodity (i.e. everybody offers it, does it, and it is no longer a unique feature) or everybody’s standards raise with the end result being that something is no longer a unique feature. I wouldn’t mind either IF the standards are actually kept at the level originally established when it comes to college preparatory curriculum. That is not supported with my experience of incoming students over the last 5 or more years in higher education.

I was chatting the other day to a friend about college standards and the need for college prep course work in the K-12 to better prepare students for college. She

quietly informed me that “college prep” was the lowest level of education in the high school where her children attend. The ranking was, low to high, college prep, honors, and then AP. 

 I was saddened. I was saddened because evidently in their rush to leave no child behind, K-12 schools have destroyed the environment to provide the very skills that are needed and have created watered down classes or allowed unqualified students to enter classes.  They have lowered the bar to make it in College Prep classes.

 Both lowering standards and admitting the unqualified result in children who are not

really prepared for college. I know. I see them every fall come to college and leave, sometimes before the end of the first term. I can only conclude that where high standards should have been kept in K-12; they have not been kept. The end result is a degradation of the meaning of the term “college prep”.

It may not be politically correct but college IS NOT for everybody! If we accept that everybody is slightly different and that there are variations in abilities, then, 4-year college work

requires more focused attention, stronger reading and math skills, stronger communication skills, and more motivation to succeed in academics than other post-high school choices. Now, these skills are versatile and can be used in other careers very successfully, but without them, students will struggle and often drop out early in their college career.

Yes, to a small extent hard work can off-set brains when it comes to being successful at the

university or 4-year college. However, brains and hard work results in children excelling in

college. All children should be challenged to learn and grow, however, this school is on the top end of that challenging spectrum. Frankly, it will not be appropriate for some children. We don’t like to limit opportunity so we’ll give your normal everyday student a shot, but if they cannot succeed after a year or so, then we’ll counsel you to find a program better suited for the child.

whole scale quality inflation and needs to be stopped (See an article in the U. S. News and World Report back in 2013 about this same problem in higher education.) The way is to actually set standards and measure against them.

I am not against having various levels of quality. I just believe that the names for those levels should reflect what is being taught and not be a marketing ploy. We often hear about grade inflation, this is

We offer the tough old fashioned standards found in college prep of years gone by: a challenging pace of learning, high expectations of quality, the explicit display of that learning in tangible ways, and the opportunity to try, fail, learn, and try again, with the final result being rapid advancement across grades.

BUT, you won’t move on until you’ve gained a solid competence in the topic. No fluff curriculum here. No, holding back criticism and moving you to a different course. Each course offered is in the thread to support a related

course in a 4-year college degree program. It prepares students to be successful in highly competitive, ambiguous, and challenging world found both in the better schools in higher education and in the business and professional communities.

We offer
“Classic College Prep”
and have the standards to prove it!

More on our standards next time!

Janice Black
Founder and Headmaster