Transitioning to College : Educators

Most students are not prepared for the new independence and personal responsibility that comes with college.

You can help prepare students by working with them to identify the differences between high school and college. Help them brainstorm strategies for overcoming these changes. Well informed students will find the transition easier.

• National Resource Center for The First Year Experience and Students in Transtion
  The trusted expert, internationally recognized leader, and clearinghouse for scholarship, policy, and best practice for all postsecondary student transitions.
       
• Preparing High School Students for Successful Transitions
  Brochure from the National High School Center and the MDRC

• Lifelong Learning Skills for College and Career Readiness: Considerations for Education Policy
  Website from the College & Career Readiness & Success Center of the AIR

• High School to College Transition -- The Freshman Myth, Academic Expectations, and Social Challenges.
  A series of articles from Huffington Post blogger Brian Harke, Ed. D., Dean of Students at the University of Southern California.

College professors expect first-year students to have a solid understanding of the research process and to be adept at using a library.  High school students benefit from a strong information literacy program that incorporates research, critical thinking, and writing.

Use these assessment tools to evaluate students' current skill level and determine which skills to focus on in the classroom.

• TRAILS
  High school and first-year college students
• SAILS
  College students

Use information literacy standards to create learning outcomes and develop lessons plans.

• AASL Standards
• ACRL Standrds

Connect information literacy to the Common Core State Standards. 

• AASL Crosswalk
• School Librarians and the Common Core

Transitioning to College by Kent State University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://libguides.library.kent.edu/t2c.