Pinterest: #CreativeCover 2013
Blogger | Robert McClory
ACT and SAT TESTS
Testing your students or testing your patience?
Originally posted on February 28, 2012 | By Robert McClory
College Board and ACT have a few things in common. Both claim to assess students’ readiness for college. Both claim to be able to predict student success in college. Both report they assess major core academic skill areas. Both will cost a student a full Saturday morning and more than $40 if writing options are pursued. Both are willing to mail a student’s score to colleges afterward. Both also cause tremendous stress, and neither is in Alaska’s time zones meaning West Coast counselors better call early to get a call through.
Studies indicate most students do better on the SAT after a PSAT. Likewise, the ACT Plan offers preparation for the ACT. A second SAT or ACT normally seem to bring higher scores. Studies on third attempts are less encouraging, but with additional preparation, students can improve those as well.
Many students may think that going to bed an hour early on a presiding Friday and having a better than normal breakfast on Saturday morning will suffice as solid preparation. What some students may forget is that scores are relative.
These are not criterion-referenced tests to assess sheer competence. It’s all about how one college bound senior compares to another. Furthermore, 100 percent of those seniors want to be in the top 10 percent or 20 percent of results. Anyone worthy of solid math scores has the math aptitude to know that you won’t fit that large group in that small subset no matter how hard you press.
Some major differences separate the two tests. ACT has four tests: Reading, Math, English, Science meaning reading accounts for a quarter of the total Composite that is derived by averaging scores. SAT has 10 total tests assessing Critical Reading, Writing and Math. Those three areas are added to come up with a Total Score.
Interestingly, while colleges collecting ACT scores want ALL scores, many colleges requesting SAT scores ONLY want Critical Reading and Math citing lack of longitudinal studies to support the relevance or validity of the Writing Test. While it may be that, or simple reluctance to change after SAT changed their tests, it may leave student less sure which SAT subtests are more critical in their overall score reports.
Some myths exist for tests as well. More people may believe the SAT is more accepted based upon the fact that more sign up for and take the SAT each year. That is not my experience. Most colleges will gladly accept either. If Googled, any student can download a charge showing how one score compares to scores on the other test. Insuring that ACT is also widely used, ACT is even mandated in some states by their state departments of education.
Another myth revolves around their focus. SAT is often perceived as more language based measurements of one’s aptitude (vs. achievement). Think of achievement as what one has already learned and mastered in the past while aptitude is viewed as that which one may be able to do in the future. In fact, many students taking both tests find comparable scores using conversion charts when they compare the sets of scores.
Another myth is that test scores are the Be-All, End-All for admissions and scholarship offers. While some schools still view GPA and tests as the only variables requested, there are many others that either view this as only one of many worthwhile predictors or even a minor consideration in admission decisions. Even with more schools claiming to be more balanced in admission decision, it is always to the advantage of students to strive for the best possible scores on one, or the other or both.
Preparation certainly seems to the key to earning the best possible scores. The U.S. military bought the rights to the Peterson’s Test Preparation Program. To get the full benefit of taxpayer’s dollars, students should go to www.March2Success.com and register. The rewards of this registration is full access to seven practice ACT AND SAT tests as well as flashcards designed to improve scores.
Because these tests are timed, the timed practice tests more closely simulate actual tests. Because anxiety can be triggered by timed tests, these can approximate more test-like conditions and make the practice more meaningful. Likewise, SAT has offers for Score and Answer Reports in May and October. For $18 students can now get more than simple scores. They can see the particular strengths and weaknesses and allow that test to serve as a study guide for a subsequent test attempt.
These tests offer more as a preparatory instrument than the simple materials produced by College Board or ACT. Their materials may be meant more to simply familiarize students with the type of questions than to actually improve scores. This leads me to my recommendations. I always recommend an ACT Plan and a PSAT early in high school. Studies suggest these help subsequent SAT and ACT test scores.
I always recommend students take the first SAT and ACT at the end of their junior year, practice hard over the summer with March2Success and take the October SAT and ACT so scores are back in time to submit for even Early Action college applications. Of course, recommending students do this sequence is no guarantee students will do so. In Alaska, there is a new guarantee warranting this sequence.
Alaska has a new Alaska Performance Scholarship that gives up to a full four year tuition award if three preconditions are met: rigorous curriculum, high GPA and solid test scores. If our students can achieve a 25 ACT or 1680 SAT Total, they have met 1/3 of the formula demands to attend a University of Alaska. Other states have similar models in place making the $40 plus fees worth every penny or more.
This leaves the only real decision whether the ACT Essay is worthwhile. While a requirement on the SAT, testers can opt to take an essay test on the ACT. Both tests allow samples or examples of their prompts available on test readiness materials. ACT’s website has a worthwhile search tool that allows testers to enter the name of the state at which they are planning a college career. All schools will be listed as one Recommending, Requiring or Not Needing the extra essay that allows 30 minutes to demonstrate their essay writing skills.
One money saver for students is how scores are reported. If students identify up to four schools to which they want a set of scores sent at the time of registration, SAT and ACT will happily send them for free. This may not be necessary. If students call their schools of choice, they may find the college may happily take scores reported on official transcripts. Most schools will happily send those transcripts at no cost to students or a fee less than that sought by College Board or ACT.
Furthermore, some schools will accept transcripts reported scores for admission consideration and only required official ones directly from ACT or SAT after final transcripts are submitted for admitted students once they are committed to that school.
Students should ask whether schools might combine scores as another question. That question is the reason students should decide whether they want to submit any one set of scores directly from SAT or ACT. Students will only know that answer if they call the school directly. It is always worth noting the name of the answering admission officer along with the date and time of the call in their notes.
While the actual questions are supposed to be the hardest part of the test, the most time consuming part may be the rehearsals, practice exams, reporting and submissions of test scores. Perhaps the highest toll may be the costs unless students are receiving Free or Reduced Lunches allowing them to take two free tests as juniors and seniors (that also allows them to apply to some colleges for free). In fact the greatest toll may actually be the anxiety of preparing for the test, then taking the test and finally awaiting test results. Students can comfort themselves that if they prepare and practice, they can and will do better than they would if they did NOT invest time practicing.
Posted in Counselor's Corner, Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Seek Out Ways to Explore Vocations
Breaks & Career Shadow: How are you encouraging your students to reach out to people in their field of interest?
Donald Super, a career development expert, once declared that a vocational role model is the single greatest factor involved in identifying a career pathway that not only fits, but excites. Centuries ago, a career path was determined by the father. If your father built wagon wheels, better get your planes and shavers sharpened.
Times have changed, but not excluded previous options. How many superstars in the NFL find they have a son running for touchdowns? Coach Dunleavy of Duke coached the Olympic U.S. Basketball Dream Team. As a father, I would suspect his biggest dream came true when he got to coach his own son at Duke and as he watches his son plays for the Milwaukee Bucks or any NBA team. Parents still hold a lot more power than they may realize to influence their offspring. Ample room exists for others to impact pathways as well.
Ketchikan High School has a few unique classrooms that have seen significant numbers of students follow a path for which their curriculum prepares them by building on that concept. They are unique in that they place students in situations in which they are working with others in that field—watching, learning and oftentimes visualizing themselves years in the future. Many end up pursuing that profession in college and life.
One such class is called Medical Terminology. It is a dual enrollment class that introduces students to all the various medical professions that are available. Students study rigorous coursework and learn sophisticated vocabularies that make medicine a serious subject. Of the 20 students per year who take the class, nearly all end up pursuing something in medicine.
All of our doctoral level health science students have been in that class. All our future physicians, vets, dentists and opticians have taken it. They spend one semester following a professional holding that career. The class has not only been successful, but popular too. Well over the maximum accepted try to sign up for it each year. Many have sat on a waiting list a year before entering it.
At the bachelor’s level, similar results follow another dual enrollment course. Applied Educational Psychology appeals to many students. It has attracted many who go on to become future educators: classroom teachers, counselors, specialists of all sorts come out of it. Out of our 120+ graduating seniors, up to 15 start college with aspirations of becoming an educator who impacts young minds. Experiences in which they all have real classroom responsibilities in our local elementary schools help them find if they have the aptitude or passion to manage their own class one day. They do so by developing, conducting, and evaluating their own lessons while working with our district staff.
At the associate’s level, we have a culinary program and automotive set of classes that appeal to several each year. Some go on to complete either an associate’s or earn a certificate to stay in that field. We have many dedicated college scholarships that have evolved and are available to students choosing these paths. Whether learning to repair your auto, keep your diesels running or feeding those in the mess-halls or restaurants of tomorrow, students do real repairs and feed our students with hands-on experience that gives them a real taste of life in that field. They leave it knowing what to expect and how to enter the schools and training programs that continue their education.
At the skilled level, we have a construction program that does likewise. These students spend a two period block learning construction skills and earning points that make acceptance into a skilled trade union easier and more likely. Welding has that same format as they have real experiences working with real employers and doing real work in the field. Several get referred for paying jobs allowing them to not only earn extra money, but start to feel like professionals in the field.
When students work with professionals in the field and do “real” work in the field, transferring skills become automatic. They need not wait to see if the classroom work will simulate the career. More importantly, they actually focus upon the career options directly related to the field of study while still in high school. It makes school and those special classes more meaningful, and they often work particularly hard in those classes.
Parents need not rely upon high school programs though. They can take matters into their own hands. A parent of a graduate of our school described how they intervened themselves. They had brought their daughter to a children’s museum in the Chicago area as a child. It had a pretend dentist’s office. They noticed she had donned a dentist’s smock put there for children, and she did pretend extractions on her younger sister. They had fun doing so and pictures taken reminded the eldest how much fun she had while only in fourth grade having that professional role.
Playing dress-up dentist in a small museum exhibit made for children planted a seed. At her next dental appointment, the parent asked an orthodontist if he would mind letting the daughter spend a portion of a day watching to see how he conducted his work to see how it compared to the pretend version she tried. He was pleased to do so.
Another dentist who had appointments with her later was less supportive. He said that as a girl, she should focus on dental hygiene so she wouldn’t have so many professional responsibilities associated with running a practice. I mention that because the latter could have been persuaded to let her spend a day as well. Fortunately, the job visit was made in the office of a supportive dentist.
That girl found out how much science was required, and she found a reason to exhaust the science dept. courses and excel in them. She went on to attend American University and earn a BS from their Honor’s Biology Program. She ended up in Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine and completed a DMD. She is now doing a residency at UCLA in Pediatric Dentistry while completing an MPH. All this took dedication, drive and commitment. All this came from one chance visit & a little follow-up.
That one fortuitous incident at a child’s museum that sparked a few moments of fun and inspiration and pursued with a job shadow by someone changed her life. That dentist encouraged her and invited her in to make teeth molds. Later she was asked her by that orthodontist to organize pre and post pictures of clients. That orthodontist sparked an entire life path with little effort—simply by inviting her to see what he did, but an important piece of this formula was that he really enjoyed his profession. I wonder if she would have still labored to pursue the dental path she spent the day with that dentist who thought that as a woman she should instead opt to be a hygienist, or if she ended up following someone who found only discontent in their field of work.
Donald Super is right in my opinion. A supportive, encouraging role model who encourages someone and takes an interest in them and their career can make a world of difference. If a student sees someone enjoying their career, and they invite the child to pursue the path and opens the doors to do so can change their entire future. It has the added benefit of making school seem more relevant. It allows students a reason to choose a harder curriculum or experiment with a different path altogether.
Parents and educators alike are in positions to be that agent. The inspiration to help a child and student create a vision towards which they can work and find meaning in the classes they take and in the experiences they try. Like a seed, once planted, nurtured, watered and fertilized from time to time, it can result in a budding career that came about because of a singular intervention. That seed can be planted at any time, but remember some plants take longer to reach their full height.
Posted in Counselor's Corner, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Plan Well to Avoid the High Cost of Attendance
OK, you’re going to college. What for? And if you don’t know the answer to that question, the next question is this: For how long? Well, with the high cost of attendance (COA) today, you had better be able to answer that first question with some reasonable amount of certainty—at least within the first few years of a potential degree.
One change in who you are, what are your interests or strengths, and your four year degree possibly just fell suspect to becoming a five or six year venture. Did the college offering you a renewable scholarship remember to tell you that the award only lasts for four years?
Has anyone mentioned that it would be very difficult to get another school to accept 110 credits if you decide you can’t afford to pay full sticker price for year five or six anymore to finish a degree that found you changing majors 5-6 times? Factor in a year or two of the income potential lost if a four year program morphs into a five or six year program, and your COA just skyrocketed.
Yes, the college handbook will tell you what a particular college may offer. They will not tell you what YOU want out of your education, career or life. That’s the inexpensive curriculum you must employ yourself to script. Asking yourself simple questions is not hard. Committing to any answers with any degree of finality may be difficult for an 18 year old young person however.
My first degree was actually in construction. I used to log data as I watched road builders pave roads they contracted to build for the USFS. It was interesting to watch them convert soft patches of dirt into hard packed road surfaces. It took lots of tools, time and effort. In that same way I used to teach students they had to PAIV the way to their own future. To PAIV these private roadways, they needed to know their work Preferences, Abilities, Interests and Values.
Preferences may seem insignificant to some, but if you find you really feel suffocated in an office cubicle and that’s your work environment for 8 or more hours every day for the duration of your career, those 8 hours can feel like a week, and your plan to stay for 25 years with the same employer with aspirations of a gold watch awaiting at your retirement party may seem like a life sentence at San Quentin on the wrong side of the bars separating inmates from employees. The Myers Briggs and other similar tests can give you a better sense of personality traits that may hold the key to knowing the work environment in which you’d most likely thrive.
The students in our Medical Terminology Class are some of the focused graduates at our high school. They actually spend an entire semester job shadowing people in the medical positions they think fit them best. Those students emerge from those experiences with much clearer insights into which setting and position seem to be the best fit. One semester of watching the daily duties typical of a career under the direction of a mentor has the capacity to save someone the pain of spending four-eight years of college while amassing a mountain of debt only to find they don’t like the careers awaiting graduates of the program studied.
Abilities are those things at which you excel. I have always loved to play professional baseball. Had the Chicago Cubs taken a chance on me, their wait for a Championship would sadly look even more daunting than now appears. They are better off with my assistance while cheering from the Grand Stands. Likewise, while I enjoy fishing, the Most Dangerous Catch would not catch fish fast enough to even cover fuel costs let alone crew wages with my instincts as to where the fish are all schooling. Aptitude Tests like the ASVAB, Ohio, and many others can help one generalize to those areas at which you are good or find strengths you never knew you had hiding within you.
Interests change with time. Some who used to enjoy cooking may be satisfied to enjoy good food from the dining room later in life. Athletic favorites may become more sedentary over time. Finding those passions that will linger for at least a reasonable length of time can be a challenge, but one worth the pursuit. Sometimes a new interest will lead to the discovery of strengths you never knew you had. Many interest surveys are out there.
Posted in Counselor's Corner, Other, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
College Visits – Learn the Questions to Ask and the Preparation Necessary to Make the Trip Worthwhile
Studies suggest the best single predictor of whether a student will attend a particular college is whether that student has spent time visiting it. While visits are not required, they are important measures of whether it will be a good fit for you as a student.
That means your visit is likely to have the potential to impact how the fates line up in your life. It may determine if you attend that school. Some professor whom you’ve never even met may inspire you to declare a major you’ve never even considered. You may end up meeting the boy or girl of your dreams on campus and end up meeting your future spouse there.
Shakespeare’s works are full of people facing the dilemma of Fate vs. Nature. Are things preordained, or is our future wide open? Well, you may choose whether to visit a school or not, but all that happens after that which could have a ripple effect on your entire future after that. This is to say that you should want to approach any potential visits as more than a week-end slumber party with a friend.
What is involved in a school visit? First has to do with whether a school will end up on your “Radar Screen”. If so, you should call their office. Many admission’s offices have special people whose job it is to set up potential visits. They are worth the phone call.
At that point, you will want to know which days have student led tours available. I have known students who ended up at a school they idolized, but ended up with a student led tour behind a student with all the personality of a wet wash-cloth. As a result, they left disappointed and never to return again.
Many schools have two tours per day. See which fit your schedule. If you are targeting a certain city or area, you may be able to visit one school in the morning and another in the afternoon to make the most of your valuable time. You should always ask about meeting with an admission’s officer, a financial aid officer and the possibility of sitting in a class you might take as a freshman. If your parents join you, you may see if they want to help share duties and cover the financial aid meetings for you since parents will be impacted by aid as well.
Next, you will want to see if that school has a required or recommended interview. If so, be prepared. Some colleges with a strong religious affiliation may surprise interviewees and inquire about their religious philosophies before even addressing any academic areas if such an interview is a part of the visit. There are good materials on preparing for interviews. They can be worth a look, and while looking, you may look at recommended clothing. Some upscale colleges may prefer ties and high heels to T-shirts and flip flops if such an interview is involved. Since that meeting can determine admissibility and merit assistance, it may be worth dressing appropriately for the meeting.
Finally, don’t be shy about asking questions. I encourage treating the meeting as a chance for the student to do lots of the investigation while there.
Here are some sample topics in which several good questions can be formulated:
PROGRAM RELATED QUESTIONS—Best, most popular, etc. TAs vs. Professors for Year 1?
ADMISSIONS AND SCHOLARSHIP QUESTIONS—Merit, athletic or need based available?
STATISTICAL DATA AND EXPECTATIONS FOR INCOMING STUDENTS — Sophomore return numbers? Percentage of freshmen graduating in 4 years? 5 years? 6 years?
STARTING OUT FRESHMEN YEAR AT YOUR SCHOOL — Advisors? Registration? Roommate?
GRADUATE INFORMATION — Graduates finding related jobs after graduation? Admitted to graduate school?
TYPE AND LOCATION OF CAMPUS– Commuter campus? Transportation to and from campus?
SAFETY ON CAMPUS — Blue light response for emergency?
ACTIVITIES AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS — Activities? Concerts? Clubs? Resources? Sports?
COST OF ATTENDANCE —Tuition? Tuition hikes? Fees? Insurance Waivers? Room/Board?
HOUSING — On-campus required? Parking allowed? Parking fees?
Don’t be shy. If you buy a car for $10,000-$20,000 or more, you are likely to have it checked out thoroughly. Some colleges will cost more than $250,000 for a four-year diploma. That warrants even more careful scrutiny. Think about letting them come to you in the form of College Fairs or Virtual Tours as well. Some companies will take students on organized tours of colleges in a particular region. This may be the way to go for some.
Remember that many colleges offer in-coming freshmen a four year renewable scholarship. Most do not offer that to incoming transfer students. If you can do your homework and start at the college at which you are likely to finish, your renewable award can make your four year degree much more affordable—assuming you finish in four years.
Finally, some colleges will actually have special programs to fly students to campus. Inquire about them and their deadlines. Others have special visit days, either for honors students or anybody. Those days will have special events available to add to the trip. Take advantage of those special opportunities.
Just remember that you may be basing your decision on a 4 hour trip. Be sure you are evaluating the campus—not just one tour leader. When you show up, remember you are getting one day’s weather. That forecast may not be representative of what to expect the bulk of the school year. It’s just a snapshot. Your impression should be more than a reaction to a short cloud burst inconveniently timed during your visit.
Good luck on this very important aspect of choosing a school. Just try not to have to rely entirely upon luck. Enjoy the tour, and make the most of it.
Posted in Counselor's Corner, Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Checking In With Counselors as a Junior
Or Senior In High School
By Robert McClory
Head Counselor, Ketchikan High School, Alaska
What child escapes childhood without at least one serious game of hide and seek? As seniors, they should not make their high school counselor play that game. While counselors are willing and able to seek, students can hide all too easily and keep their accomplishments a secret. That will not offer the rewards teens found in playing that game as tiny tots.
I have received many compliments from college admission officers on letters of recommendations I have prepared and submitted for students. Those letters can affect admission and scholarship decisions as much or more than just sterile psychometric or grade data offered in isolation. That’s because in a smaller community it’s easier to know and represent students more holistically in those letters. That doesn’t mean students in bigger schools should dread no such familiarity reflected in their recommendations.
What makes a strong letter of recommendation from a counselor or teacher is more than a string of adjectives on steroids. Readers are not simply seeking a string of superlatives that some students have come to expect or want. The strongest letters come from personal observations and reflections of those students framed in solid writing, conveying stories that characterize the kind of student you are, have been and should be expected to be.
Admission officers want those flat letters to take on a 3-D quality that breathe life into the subjects. They want to see what is special about those students without the benefit of simple adjectives. Anecdotal notes that reflect insight into the students as well as observation of accomplishments that help readers convert those words into a picture.
Those anecdotal stories are the result of open communication with counselors. Invite them to watch them perform a dance, judge a debate, referee a volleyball tournament or proofread an application essay. Counselors may or may not have time or training to do some of those things, but it at least lets counselors know about those activities in which students are involved. Invitations into their world expose more about those students than simple report cards, GPAs or class lists will reveal.
Students can regularly ask counselors about special opportunities available to them as well as deadlines to which they must adhere. To further ensure counselors see who you are, how and where you are involved, students can submit a resume to their counselor either seeking simple feedback or just to leave it on file with them. Many special programs are available annually about which experienced counselors will know many details, and you will want your counselor to have a sense of the kind of programs that may have been designed just for someone like you with your interests and strengths.
For example, I serve as the state coordinator for one state scholarship program for graduating seniors. It is advertised on line and at high schools across the state. Although it offers many partial and even full ride scholarships for state winners, we have never had to turn away timely applicants due to excessive numbers seeking to participate. A simple question could inform students about this and many other opportunities students should consider and pursue.
Students can certainly go to FastWeb for on-line notices, but initiating short dialogs with their counselors can provide information but also prompt mental notes on the part of counselors for programs that come out with only a day or two warning before deadlines close. Having students regularly remind counselors of their success in one area, interest in another or participation in something special may provide just enough to spark a note from the counselor to see him or her about something due very soon that may be a perfect fit for that student.
Words like “initiative” or “proactive” need not hibernate in the dictionary, but become a part of their everyday mannerisms. Inviting counselors to have a glimpse you’re your world can put a strong advocate on your team and make applying to college and scholarships a “team” sport instead of an individual one that can be overwhelming when pursued all alone.
Then, once the counselor apprises you and others of big events planned to prepare or inform you, students can not only plan on coming, but even offer to help in any way: usher, hand out programs or other roles that will allow participation and attendance while helping make the program go a little better for everyone as well. Furthermore, it’s one more anecdotal note that will likely find a home in a letter of recommendation—one that does more than simply add one more adjective that will not tell as much as your actions.
Just remember, communications need not be lengthy, pushy or repetitive. It really is ok for students to try to create positive relationships with their counselors. Nobody needs to pose as a sycophant, but occasional, sincere and brief interactions will make counselors more receptive to those positive relationships that can work to students’ advantage in many ways and need not result in counselors wishing they could play hide and seek with counselors hoping to be the one who hides whenever you enter the counseling center.
Posted in Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Are you FIN-ally done with FIN-ancial aid?
Unless you have a checkbook as thick as the biology textbook you’ll be purchasing for BIO 101, chances are you’ll be counting on and hoping for financial assistance. What is it, and how do you attempt to get it? That’s a good question and perhaps the key to finishing your degree with more knowledge, skills and personal growth than student debt.
FAFSA is the heart of need-based assistance. Need-based assistance is that chunk of change (or more than mere coinage with any luck and lower income reports). Sign up at www.fafsa.ed.gov If you end up at a similar website that is asking you for money instead of helping you find money, you are at a commercial clone of a website that merely becomes a middle man that pays himself first.
Once there, you will want to Request a Pin. Both you AND a parent must receive your own pin. That pin will be your electronic signature saying the information that was submitted is accurate. Because you must confirm you will not share it with anyone, any incorrect information found during routine audits cannot be blamed on someone else entering your information.
Once received, you can use your pin to finish your sections as a student while parents do likewise with their sections. After that, all the secret ingredients, figures and formulas are gently shaken but not stirred. The magic wand is waved, and an SAR is born featuring a newly listed EFC. A high EFC suggests you are wealthier than you may have guessed. A low EFC or once indicating a $0 will conjure up calls for Pell Grants—money that does NOT need to be repaid.
This information must be made known to any schools to which you are applying. Any eligible need based money then flows through the school you ultimately attend. They will use that to calculate how much you can receive in grants, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, and work study while enrolled full-time.
Grants are like scholarships in that they do not need to be repaid. Work-study is yours as well, but you must hold an eligible job at the university or a university-approved location. Hours are limited so as not to interfere with your primary job: student. Subsidized loans must be repaid, but interest is paid while you are in college. Unsubsidized loans need not be repaid until after graduation, but interest is accruing all the time that the loan is in a deferred status. You must see who the responsible party is. Some loans (Parent Plus) make the parent responsible for the loan, while others handcuff themselves to the student (most of them).
Some schools have additional forms to supplement the FAFSA. They may ask about monthly expense not listed on the FAFSA which really deals primarily with annual totals related to income. All forms must be completed, received and evaluated before your complete Award Letter can be generated.
If you are a star athlete, need-based assistance may not be necessary IF you have the necessary records in the desired sports and can show admission officers the necessary grades, coursework and test scores to secure enrollment. Check the lists in the back of the College books listing all the schools in the country. An index in the back shows which schools have scholarship dollars to award in various sports. This can be a helpful guide for someone who puts sports very high on their priority list.
Merit awards are like athletic scholarships in that they need not be repaid. Students should ask if full tuition or lofty scholarships are available just by virtue of a strong admission application or if they must submit a special application tor such an award. Finally, see what application deadlines are sacred for those seeking additional scholarships. Some schools boast a later application deadline for those seeking admission with no consideration for merit aid, but use an earlier one like November 30 if you want to be considered for non-need-based aid. Watch those deadlines.
If you want to supplement those awards, thousands of websites exist to find hundreds of thousands of scholarships and awards that can be used to supplement the money offered by a college. Most want essays, transcripts, letters of recommendation and completed application forms. Watch their deadlines since most are final and unflinching.
Calendars, Internet and word processors are the keys to many of these awards. Use them wisely and well, and student debt may be a small part of the stress college can offer. Do not be afraid to seek awards for merit, athletics and need. Combinations can come together to make a healthier award package. Good luck on assembling the finances to make your school dreams a reality.
Posted in Counselor's Corner, Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
ACT and SAT TESTS
Testing your students or testing your patience?
By Robert McClory
College Board and ACT have a few things in common. Both claim to assess students’ readiness for college. Both claim to be able to predict student success in college. Both report they assess major core academic skill areas. Both will cost a student a full Saturday morning and more than $40 if writing options are pursued. Both are willing to mail a student’s score to colleges afterward. Both also cause tremendous stress, and neither is in Alaska’s time zones meaning West Coast counselors better call early to get a call through.
Studies indicate most students do better on the SAT after a PSAT. Likewise, the ACT Plan offers preparation for the ACT. A second SAT or ACT normally seem to bring higher scores. Studies on third attempts are less encouraging, but with additional preparation, students can improve those as well.
Many students may think that going to bed an hour early on a presiding Friday and having a better than normal breakfast on Saturday morning will suffice as solid preparation. What some students may forget is that scores are relative.
These are not criterion-referenced tests to assess sheer competence. It’s all about how one college bound senior compares to another. Furthermore, 100 percent of those seniors want to be in the top 10 percent or 20 percent of results. Anyone worthy of solid math scores has the math aptitude to know that you won’t fit that large group in that small subset no matter how hard you press.
Some major differences separate the two tests. ACT has four tests: Reading, Math, English, Science meaning reading accounts for a quarter of the total Composite that is derived by averaging scores. SAT has 10 total tests assessing Critical Reading, Writing and Math. Those three areas are added to come up with a Total Score.
Interestingly, while colleges collecting ACT scores want ALL scores, many colleges requesting SAT scores ONLY want Critical Reading and Math citing lack of longitudinal studies to support the relevance or validity of the Writing Test. While it may be that, or simple reluctance to change after SAT changed their tests, it may leave student less sure which SAT subtests are more critical in their overall score reports.
Some myths exist for tests as well. More people may believe the SAT is more accepted based upon the fact that more sign up for and take the SAT each year. That is not my experience. Most colleges will gladly accept either. If Googled, any student can download a charge showing how one score compares to scores on the other test. Insuring that ACT is also widely used, ACT is even mandated in some states by their state departments of education.
Another myth revolves around their focus. SAT is often perceived as more language based measurements of one’s aptitude (vs. achievement). Think of achievement as what one has already learned and mastered in the past while aptitude is viewed as that which one may be able to do in the future. In fact, many students taking both tests find comparable scores using conversion charts when they compare the sets of scores.
Another myth is that test scores are the Be-All, End-All for admissions and scholarship offers. While some schools still view GPA and tests as the only variables requested, there are many others that either view this as only one of many worthwhile predictors or even a minor consideration in admission decisions. Even with more schools claiming to be more balanced in admission decision, it is always to the advantage of students to strive for the best possible scores on one, or the other or both.
Preparation certainly seems to the key to earning the best possible scores. The U.S. military bought the rights to the Peterson’s Test Preparation Program. To get the full benefit of taxpayer’s dollars, students should go to www.March2Success.com and register. The rewards of this registration is full access to seven practice ACT AND SAT tests as well as flashcards designed to improve scores.
Because these tests are timed, the timed practice tests more closely simulate actual tests. Because anxiety can be triggered by timed tests, these can approximate more test-like conditions and make the practice more meaningful. Likewise, SAT has offers for Score and Answer Reports in May and October. For $18 students can now get more than simple scores. They can see the particular strengths and weaknesses and allow that test to serve as a study guide for a subsequent test attempt.
These tests offer more as a preparatory instrument than the simple materials produced by College Board or ACT. Their materials may be meant more to simply familiarize students with the type of questions than to actually improve scores. This leads me to my recommendations. I always recommend an ACT Plan and a PSAT early in high school. Studies suggest these help subsequent SAT and ACT test scores.
I always recommend students take the first SAT and ACT at the end of their junior year, practice hard over the summer with March2Success and take the October SAT and ACT so scores are back in time to submit for even Early Action college applications. Of course, recommending students do this sequence is no guarantee students will do so. In Alaska, there is a new guarantee warranting this sequence.
Alaska has a new Alaska Performance Scholarship that gives up to a full four year tuition award if three preconditions are met: rigorous curriculum, high GPA and solid test scores. If our students can achieve a 25 ACT or 1680 SAT Total, they have met 1/3 of the formula demands to attend a University of Alaska. Other states have similar models in place making the $40 plus fees worth every penny or more.
This leaves the only real decision whether the ACT Essay is worthwhile. While a requirement on the SAT, testers can opt to take an essay test on the ACT. Both tests allow samples or examples of their prompts available on test readiness materials. ACT’s website has a worthwhile search tool that allows testers to enter the name of the state at which they are planning a college career. All schools will be listed as one Recommending, Requiring or Not Needing the extra essay that allows 30 minutes to demonstrate their essay writing skills.
One money saver for students is how scores are reported. If students identify up to four schools to which they want a set of scores sent at the time of registration, SAT and ACT will happily send them for free. This may not be necessary. If students call their schools of choice, they may find the college may happily take scores reported on official transcripts. Most schools will happily send those transcripts at no cost to students or a fee less than that sought by College Board or ACT.
Furthermore, some schools will accept transcripts reported scores for admission consideration and only required official ones directly from ACT or SAT after final transcripts are submitted for admitted students once they are committed to that school.
Students should ask whether schools might combine scores as another question. That question is the reason students should decide whether they want to submit any one set of scores directly from SAT or ACT. Students will only know that answer if they call the school directly. It is always worth noting the name of the answering admission officer along with the date and time of the call in their notes.
While the actual questions are supposed to be the hardest part of the test, the most time consuming part may be the rehearsals, practice exams, reporting and submissions of test scores. Perhaps the highest toll may be the costs unless students are receiving Free or Reduced Lunches allowing them to take two free tests as juniors and seniors (that also allows them to apply to some colleges for free). In fact the greatest toll may actually be the anxiety of preparing for the test, then taking the test and finally awaiting test results. Students can comfort themselves that if they prepare and practice, they can and will do better than they would if they did NOT invest time practicing.
Posted in Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Setting Up College Visit Days
By Robert McClory
Ketchikan, Alaska is not the easiest place to set up College Fairs. An island school district — air and water are the only ways in or out. Anything aside from virtual visits will take time, money and intention. Since it’s easier to get a few college representatives in than trying to get our students out, that’s the venue we choose to pursue.
Alaska is the largest state in the country, but our population is consolidated in a few population centers. As such, districts like ours that are considered a major population center have the advantage of being able to do two things: attract more college representatives and attract smaller outlying school districts that cannot achieve the former.
We start contacting colleges, career technical centers, military and major employers in the spring. We also coordinate with the other large districts to develop a sequence that reflects the Alaska Airlines flight schedule. After sequencing a weeklong trip to which the six major districts can agree, we run our dates and the dates of the others by those representatives who normally like to attend.
The Tuesday before our Wednesday College Fair, we have a special event we call EXPLORE Night, an acronym for Exploring Postsecondary Level Opportunities and Resources in Education and Employment. Because many of the representatives must arrive by Tuesday for our Tuesday morning and early afternoon College Fair, many are here anyway. The EXPLORE Night is a different format. Instead of passively waiting for others to approach them and have a one-on-one meeting, representatives conduct workshops designed for parents accompanied by children.
We send out a list of popular topics that would be easy ones for college reps to do with simple panels and no preparation. Representatives identify the topics they would prefer to conduct. We arrange 4 to 5 different workshops during each of three 45-minute panels. Because college representatives can meet parents, unlike in standard college fair visits, they are normally eager to come.
We arrange for our culinary program to have homemade pizzas, cookies and beverages for reps fresh off a plane as they get ready to conduct the EXPLORE Workshops. Many simply leave their suitcases filled with materials they distribute at the school, so they need only return in the morning with their clothes and carry-on luggage.
Our college fair brings them back for a 10 a.m. start time. By noon, they stop for lunch. That same culinary program makes a large seafood dinner for college fair reps on Wednesday. This feast attracts many to want to return the next year.
The other thing that attracts them is the evaluation data. We collect data from students on the impact of the reps on their postsecondary decisions. This very powerful piece of information gets collated, summarized and returned to college reps to remind them of the impact of their meetings with our students. The other piece of information that continues to influence them to return is the data listing how many school districts come to Ketchikan to meet them — amounting to one day here while meeting students from six different school districts that come here to meet them.
The complaint “nobody told me” is never a problem here. We have faxes we send to our TV and radio stations, as well as newspaper. Each of the neighboring school districts are notified and invited. Some even organize grants or special ferries to get large groups of students here. We even house visiting school students in our school overnight to accommodate those needs and minimize expense.
What’s important about this event is our institutionalization of this program. By having them return every we create a systemic effort to introduce our students to college data that may not be a ready source of information to students who did not grow up in households comprised of family members not familiar with college life.
Furthermore, our college fair has branched out so we now have students meeting prospective employers. Interestingly, some of those employers are now offering to pay for the education of students willing to return as college graduates seeking employment there. This is a local offer now available at our local hospital and shipyard as well as an engineering office. We believe the college fair has served to enhance and advertise these paid educational opportunities and further increase the importance and benefit of our annual college fairs.
Posted in Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
Use Free Time Wisely During the Holidays
By Robert McClory
As Bing Crosby might start to croon, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere we go…” Make no mistake, students do not need regular announcements to know the holiday season is upon us. The holiday season means sales to shoppers. It means flight reservations for those far from home. It means busy days and long lines for the USPS workers, but to students and their families, it all too often means vacations and rest.
Students always have the best of intentions on how to use those “free” hours, but as the adage goes, nothing is life is truly “free.” That is especially true for any calendar day in the life of a high school senior planning the transition to college. Stressful for all its demands to finish K-12 school while attempting to plant the seeds for one’s future, senior year is just plain busy. To expect otherwise may be unrealistic at best, and a contributing factor resulting in missed find opportunities of a lifetime at worst.
During senior year each passing day means another deadline has passed whether an application was submitted or not. For students behind in school, credit recovery options can or should fill those “free” moments the holidays offer. For seniors planning Early Action Applications to colleges, Thanksgiving break means for those offering Nov. 30 deadlines, there is still a last gasp of hope to make the cutoff.
For those seeking consideration for the many Nov. 1 or Nov. 15 Early Action deadlines, it’s a chance to commiserate over missed deadlines. On the bright side of that dark cloud can sometimes be found the urgency to insure the next set of timelines and completed applications will find their mark.
But for those who need reminders and prompts, they should add a calendar and organizer to their Christmas Wish List. Even though the holidays may feel like a much-needed respite from school and work, they should consider resisting the temptation to travel unless it’s to visit a school under consideration. This is the last gasp of opportunity to get ahead on applications for college applications and get a good start on scholarship applications.
It is worth noting that January and February are the last major holdouts for applications for many prominent schools that may offer significant scholarships to offset high tuition costs. Those applications need to be finished over the holidays or at least reviewed and polished in hopes of submitting one’s best effort for applications needing completion and submission. Those applications will serve as the difference between acceptance, rejection or further consideration. That compares with a restful vacation that may be the difference between feeling well rested upon return to the last of one’s senior year or not.
That said, the rest may feel good for a short time. An admission offer and improved scholarship opportunity may offer a tangible benefit that will live much longer than the short-lived naps, visits and rests that the holiday season could offer. Long term rewards or short term. It’s like those diets that make holiday feasting such an enticement to be weighed against the shorter belt, narrower waist size, or European fit shirt that many may seek down the road. It’s a conundrum separating the two opposing temptations.
The problem may lie in how families view senior year. Seniors and families often approach each holiday with thoughts that this is the last opportunity for family visits. The tendency may be to view senior year as the last chance they’ll connect, share and enjoy time together. Rather than view each holiday as a final time together, the coin needs to be flipped to see this year as the start of a new phase in life. Working together to identify and face tasks needing completion allows that time to be spent planning and tackling tasks that will offer long term stress relief found in completing instead of postponing, avoiding or ignoring deadlines.
Once seniors see their entire senior year as an opportunity to open doors for school, training or programs, it becomes much easier to stop grieving about senior year as an end and start generating the energy that accompanies a new beginning. Parents need not grieve over the prospects of the “empty nest” as a precursor to grand travels that absorb all moments of the last gasp of time to get ahead on applications. Consider approaching this as a new phase of life that offers just as many opportunities — just ones that differ from childhood issues and child-rearing rewards that mark the K-12 experience.
As a parent whose children have left for college, I have come to believe that the “empty nest” may be the real fallacy. The empty rooms quickly fill. The memories still remain. The children normally return. Some studies report that nearly half of college graduates return home after commencement for at least some period of time. Furthermore, they return with new hopes, dreams and opportunities that were the rewards of a busy senior year that may not have enjoyed as many holiday travels and visits, but were rich with checklists that were finished or furthered in an effort to plan for life after high school.
Posted in Experts, Robert McClory
1 Comment
Final Exams
There’s, well, a touch of finality that goes with those dreaded “Final Exams.” In our church services, the end of the mass finds the priest exclaiming, “The Mass is ended. Go In Peace.” Unfortunately, the final that all to commonly marks the end of the quarter, trimester or semester bring anything but peace.
Indeed finals come in all shapes and sizes. Our French teacher evaluates mini stories each student must recite in French for the entire class to hear, absorb and critique. Many ask questions to stall the one presenter hoping they will live one more day before having to take their trip to the front that reminds all to many of the lonely walk to the stocks supposed witches may have endured hundreds of year ago.
Our video production class, on the other hand, finds students pulling together instead of prolonging the agony of the lone speaker at the front of the class. Indeed, they have their projects hosting more receptive actors who have the luxury of scripts, rehearsals, props as well as the company of fellow thespians who actually enjoy the stage when the camera is rolling their way.
Our art teacher demands sculptures or paintings, while wood shop wants wooden products that will make all viewers feel the sacrifice of a noble tree was worth its harvest. English teachers let a thoughtful literary review suffice and represent the author hoping for a good grade, while math and science teachers can forewarn students of upcoming finals that will serve as a third or more of their total grade bringing chills to some of our brightest test-takers.
But students all too often feel the most dreaded finals are those “cumulative” final exams. Lighter in the first quarter, but growing denser with each passing week, these cumulative final exams have earned few friends among the student population where the routine of cramming for the next test evolves swiftly as students close one chapter and move to new topic that seem completely unrelated to the most recent test.
But while students may disapprove, cumulative exams serve well those who believe in the importance mastery of skills, subjects and content. It is based on the premise that what we teach is taught for a good reason, even if students may question the subject’s relevance. Furthermore, cumulative tests are based on the assumption that students will go through the stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy and work towards stages like analysis and synthesis even though some students may wish they could simply memorize some vocabulary, prepare for a few chapter ending review questions and ultimately take a short multiple choice final that leaves the first 25 percent of the grade completely to chance.
While the types, formats and weights of final exam vary widely, the primary stated reason in our building is to prepare students for college. Many staff believe that colleges will all too often base nearly all the semester grade upon a single final exam or perhaps a mid-term and final. We want our students to learn to deal with finals, test anxiety and test preparation as well as our own subject area.
Just as students may suffer more in certain final exam settings than in others, some faculty find a student’s final may cause them more work as a form of “payback” for having the audacity to test a student. For example, after history and science exams are taken, the sound of Scantron cards being scored electronically while the teacher checks their mail, fill their coffee cup and relieve themselves of the last two cups they ingested while proctoring their tests.
I feel the most compassion for the English teacher intent upon reading the Blue Books of perhaps 120 students: all of whom had a essay that now needs to be read, digested and returned with a grade of some sort. I know some essays will make the process rewarding for the teacher. Others will wonder which teacher the student had last year who apparently failed to instill many of the writing skills they tried so hard to build upon what may seem like a wobbly foundation.
I must confide I knew a professor who was also the dean of a college. He casually confided to me that he bases his entire grade upon one lone final exam for each student. His students would submit a Blue Book addressing one comprehensive theme addressed in the directions. He proceeded to read only the first page or two. He would then record a letter grade at the front, but only telling students that he’s read thousands of papers, know the difference between demonstrated mastery of skills and content knowledge from his class and can distinguish it from the idle ramblings of someone who paid little attention to the information he taught in his classes.
Yet, sometimes he finds may have overlooked some pertinent thoughts and rendered an unjust grade. He announced to his students that he will agree to meet with any student who disagrees with the final exam grade and can highlight points in the Blue Book that were deserving of a better grade. With this forewarning, he assumes that if his subjective and abbreviated evaluation missed the mark somehow, he was glad to give students the chance to correct the injustice — although he never told his students that only the beginning of their Blue Book responses would bear the responsibility of conveying a student’s mastery of all major points in his class.
Yes, final exams for all their many and varied forms, formats, and weights for the final grade bring anything but peace of mind until long after grades have been posted. To alleviate this, I am partial to teachers who have an “out” clause of one style of another. For example, a famed Montana lecturer at the University of Montana had to teach in the large theater/auditorium to fit in the 700 or more students wanting to take the one Montana History class he taught each spring. Students were told that there would be two tests: a midterm and semester final. If students were happy with their midterm grades from that first test, they could accept that grade and avoid the anguish of a second.
The alternative is the professor who states there are 3-5 exams all of equal weight. Students can drop their lowest test grade from the mix. It raises the status of each exam to that of a final exam. As a counselor, perhaps it is the forgiving nature of that grading format that relieves the student of any undue stress while still demanding accountability for lessons learned in the course that so impresses me.
Finals are a fact of life. High schools want to blame their need to do so on the colleges who will force them upon when they move on to the college scene. It leaves us to wonder how colleges could justify final exams and grades based upon them if a particular program of study that serves as a path to career area that does not require bar exams, board exams, licensing exams or some other demonstration of competence for those joining their ranks. But with the high cost of colleges capturing the attention of students, students will have little time to wonder who colleges can blame for their tendency to make final exams a major part of so many college courses now being offered.
In the meantime, students will be well advised to search the bookshelves of Amazon and other book vendors who specialize in study guides that will help students learn systems that will make improve one’s ability to truly manifest the wide array of skills they would have liked to have shown off had only the right questions made if to the pages of the final exam. For those students who had the right answers but were asked the wrong questions, they will just need to take the prompt of our priest and leave the final exam the serenity of knowing they won’t have another final exam until they reach one semester closer to their own graduation.
Posted in Experts, Robert McClory
Leave a comment
