Find more resources from NASSP on the topic of Creating a College-Going Culture.
- College Board. Big Future website. Get handouts and other college planning resources to share with students and families.Visit the Big Future website
- The College Board Gaston Caperton Inspiration Awards, website. Celebrate the extraordinary commitment of educators and communities to their students’ futures. Despite sometimes overwhelming odds, these outstanding schools are taking remarkable steps to give their students the bright futures they deserve.Visit the The College Board Gaston Caperton Inspiration Awards website
- The College Completion Agenda website. See how your state is performing against the latest indicators or compare your state’s performance with up to four other states.Visit the College Completion Agenda website
- The College Completion Agenda Latino Edition website. See how your state is performing against the latest indicators or compare your state’s performance with up to four other states. View your state’s numbers against the ten states with the largest Latino populations.Visit the College Completion Agenda Latino Edition website
- The CollegeKeys Compact of Effective Practices, website. The CollegeKeys Compact™ is a call to action to Compact member school districts, colleges and universities, state education agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our goal is to identify, share, and intensify ways to address the needs and challenges of increasing access and success for all students, including those from low-income backgrounds.Visit the CollegeKeys Compact of Effective Practices website
- National Office for School Counselor Advocacy. Counselor’s guide: NOSCA’s eight components of college and career readiness counseling. This guide shows how k-12 counselors can use NOSCA’s Eight Components of College and Career Readiness Counseling framework to establish a college-going culture. It also includes a section of key data elements for a school to align with NOSCA’s counseling framework.View the eight components of college and career readiness counseling
- Standards and Curriculum Alignment Services, website. These standards are a national model of college readiness in English language arts, mathematics and statistics, and science as well as the Common Core State standards.View the Standards and Curriculum Alignment Services website
Free Materials
- Hartzman, Marlene & Mero, Dianne. (May 2010). Mater Academy Charter Middle School: Consistent expectations. Principal Leadership, v10 n9 p32-36.
A clear instructional focus in every classroom makes learning goals explicit to studentsDownload the article: Mater Academy Charter Middle School: Consistent expectations. - Hartzman, Marlene & Mero, Dianne. (May 2010). San Diego Met High School: Personalization as a foundation. Principal Leadership, v10 n9 p58-62.
Advisories are the core of the school, and teachers stay with students for four yearsDownload the article: San Diego Met High School: Personalization as a foundation.
Recommended Readings
- Lieber, Carol. (2012). Getting advisory right: Tools for supporting effective advisories segment 3: postsecondary support (GARSG3). Cambridge, MA: Educators for Social Responsibility.
Provides critical information on how advisory is used to create a college-going culture in a school by identifying Roadblocks and Promising Practices for postsecondary readiness, activities to help teachers and students realize that College is Possible for all students, and how the Power of Peers creates a web of support to help students go on to a viable postsecondary experience. The DVD has reproducible PDFs with a scripted professional development guide and accompanying PowerPoint slides, videos of real advisories in action that align with the chapter, a reproducible PDF with an annotated guide of facilitation tips and strategies for advisory, sample advisory session plans, activities, handouts, and more.Purchase the book Getting Advisory Right
Additional Resources Available to NASSP Members
- Conley, David T. (December 2010). Eligible and ready for college. Principal Leadership, v11 n4 p18-22.
Taking all the right courses may get students into college, but being ready is much more complex.View the article: Eligible and ready for college. - Evans, Thomas G. & Cook, Harry J. (February 2011). College readiness and workforce challenges. Principal Leadership, v11 n6 p20-25.
Updated career and technical education combines AP and other challenging academic classes to prepare students for any postsecondary pursuit.View the article: College readiness and workforce challenges. - Kappler Hewitt, Kimberly & Scalzo, Mary Jo. (April 2012). College Connection. Principal Leadership, v12 n8 p46-53.
Annual surveys of former students and interviews with college faculty members reveal ways in which a school can better prepare its graduates for college.View the article: College Connection. - Rogers, Larry E. (December 2010). Gearing up for college readiness. Principal Leadership, v11 n4 p34-38.
Multiple programs and opportunities give students and parents a way to prepare for college.View the article: Gearing up for college readiness. - Van Buskirk, Peter. (February 2007). Informed Consumerism for the College Bound. Principal Leadership, v7 n6 p33-34.
As the college admission process becomes more competitive, it becomes more important for schools to help students and their families keep a reasonable perspective.View the article: Informed Consumerism for the College Bound.