Near the beginning of every semester, Sarah Z. Johnson makes students make an appointment. Considering dropping classes, they will be the first to meet.
“It could save at least one student a year,” says Johnson, a writing instructor and director of the Writing Center at Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin, while many students look.
In recent years, Johnson, along with many other professors, has noticed that students are struggling more than ever before with the jump from high school to college. They don’t know how to ask for help, struggle to complete their homework, and rarely participate in classes.
Recent rating reading scores for Educational Progress were the lowest ever soaring, dropping by 2 points average for fourth and eighth graders. Since 2022, mathematics scores remained relatively the same, but when the test was last conducted they were not yet from 2019.
This may be partly due to the pandemic during online learning and the loss of basic academic and social skills. However, experts say their needs have changed in ways that universities are not prepared as they recognize more and more diverse classes of students.
New technology and support opportunities outside the classroom, such as private tutors and AI, often make wealthy students more equipped than they would enroll in college. This gap only expands as lower incomes and first generation students enroll. Experts say universities need to prepare for new types of students rather than lower standards. You may not have the time to complete all your readings or attend all your study sessions, but they are still worth it and deserve a quality education.
New to “School Games”
Johnson also discovered that students struggle to seek help in class. Therefore, we encourage her to consult with her before considering dropping out. She doesn’t know what the writing center is, and she believes that getting help is a sign of failure, especially if they attended university in their family.
Without additional support early on, many students don’t know how to play what she calls “school games,” says Johnson. When they grew up knowing that students are going to college, they know the importance of attending opening hours and going to the writing center and talking one-on-one with the professor. Many Johnson students are behind the scenes, not realizing that it is an option. They may also discover that they will pat off the “games,” she says, or she says she has no access to technology that can help them, such as online tutoring sites, great laptops, and AI programs.
This is even worse for younger students, says Johnson. Even if they received extra help like private tutors, they didn’t need to ask for it.
“Some of them aren’t ready to switch to, ‘OK, this is my fault, my teacher isn’t going to chase after me’ and ‘OK, it’s not my fault right now,'” says Johnson. “If I fail, they might bother me, but there’s nothing that I won’t fail.”
In many cases, struggling students get through about three-quarters of the semester before they stop trying, says Johnson. They usually don’t want to talk to her as they can be uncomfortable or they don’t realize she can help them.
“If they fall behind, they don’t want to remind them of the fact that they are behind,” Johnson says. “But for me, that’s one of the things I hate the most. If I can talk to them, we can find a way to do this job.”
The expectations of discord
David Goobler, an assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa, points out a “disparity” between faculty expectations and the amount of time students can devote themselves to their work.
In the past, it was common to earn around 15 credits per semester. But as universities become more expensive, students would like to adapt more classes to less time, eventually taking 18 or sometimes 21 credits, Gooblar said. If students are working part-time, school and work can account for more than 80 hours per week.
Furthermore, many teachers come from a different background than their students. They may have earned their PhDs from elite institutions and may have been academically leaning, Gooblar said. As a result, “their sense of what college students can do will be more privileged than actual college students,” he says.
“When there’s a discrepancy between reality and reality expectations, there are professors who are talking to students who aren’t there,” says Goobler.
How should universities adapt?
Ed Venit, managing director of EAB, an education and consulting research firm, and his colleagues have discovered that students entering university are most likely to struggle with mathematics at the moment. These students were in middle school or early ninth grade schools when the pandemic began and had to take classes like pre-algebra online.
Venit predicts that the university will experience what is called a “math shark wave” for at least the next decade. Algebra classes are key to students building basic mathematics skills and show whether students need additional support. Now the problem can sneak into shark-like universities.
“It kind of hids beneath the surface and will eat us at the end of the decade,” he says.
Colleges need to ensure that early courses teach students basic mathematics skills, Venit says. He adds that they should also teach students skills that will be useful in their career paths. If the Calculus class does not help students with career goals, he suggests incorporating a variety of options, such as statistical classes, early on.
Administrators also need to efficiently and accurately track student performance in early classes, Venit says. In this way, he says, they can be identified when students need additional help.
At Radford University in Virginia, admissions teams pay close attention to how students performed in high school algebra 2, says Bethany Asher, university’s senior vice president of provost and academics. If students struggle with that class, they will have more difficult times in college math and other classes in general, Usher says. Algebra 2 teaches skills such as problem solving and higher-order thinking.
If admissions officers realize they are struggling with high school algebra, they will provide a detailed review of the application to determine whether students need to start or wait in Radford and develop skills at community colleges.
Radford has worked to expand support once students enter university. In the past, universities have had strict policies that if students struggled in their first year, they probably wouldn’t be able to stay in Radford, Usher says. Now, she says, schools are loosening that policy to improve their chances of staying with students and being successful.
All Radford students have the option to complete University 101, a first-year seminar class that prepares them for their academic and social transition. If a student is experiencing difficulties in his first semester, they will need to take the second round of that class, called University 150.
Jerel Benton, Radford’s Academic Affairs Assistant Provost, students receive additional academic and social support, but are also responsible for their work. For example, between the third and fourth weeks of class, students are expected to meet with academic advisors and plan ways to recover academically, he says. This motivates them to complete their classes and gives them someone they can trust throughout their time at university.
“We are giving students a long runway to adapt to our university experience,” Benton says. “To learn how they navigate the institutions and the resources they have available.”
At the classroom level, professors should play a more active role with students, says Goobler of Iowa. They should learn about students early in the semester and understand what they need. Gooblorr investigates personal liability for students, such as how much they work, whether they will take care of their families, and whether they expect interruptions during the semester.
He also emphasizes the value of his class and does his job. If students have so many responsibilities outside the classroom, they need more motivation to complete their studies. He spends time early in the semester and not only tells his students what he needs to do, but also why he asks him to do it and expects them to learn from it.
“I need to do the job of persuading them about it. [the study of literature] They don’t have much time, so it’s worth their time,” says Gooblar.
Johnson of Madison College requires students to meet her once or twice a semester. It can take some time, but I guarantee you have at least one-on-one time, especially if you’re struggling with your class.
“It’s essential to find ways to help students feel part of the community and feel like they’re being cared for in some way, Johnson says.
University administrators and professors need to remember that the scope of university attendance has changed dramatically in recent years, Usher says. It’s because of the pandemic and the wide variety of students are welcomed on campus, she adds.
Rather than lowering expectations or getting frustrated, she says, she needs to adjust and find ways to learn how to support students who are coming in now.
“The story of not everyone being prepared is not really like that. [helpful]we need to prepare for truly capable students to come in, so we say, “And we’re continuing to expand the scope of what college students think.”
