Ramp-Up to Readiness

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Too often, students who aspire to go on to higher education don’t know where they stand relative to where they need to be by the end of high school. It can be challenging for students and their parents to understand and accept how far they need to go to achieve each of the five Ramp-Up Goals, but a core premise of Ramp-Up is that they can’t make the journey if they don’t know the destination.

To help meet this need, Ramp-Up to Readiness makes use of Readiness Rubrics that include research-based indicators of readiness in junior high/middle school, early high school, and late high school. While schools already gather and often report data on all of these indicators, often they are not put together in one place or put into the context of college readiness.

Each school can and should design its own Readiness Rubrics based on the data it collects and has available, but the indicators on the samples below are those that research has shown are most closely associated with being on or off-track to college readiness. Most are focused on academic readiness and performance in school.

Schools may elect to use or modify the paper-based Readiness Rubrics available below, or to do so electronically using a web-based platform such as Naviance or the school’s student information system.

A critical aspect of using the Readiness Rubrics is ensuring that a genuine dialogue takes place with the student and perhaps with the parent. Without such attention and support, the results of the rubric could be discouraging for some students who otherwise are working hard to prepare for higher education. Some schools may choose to schedule annual or biannual conversations for students with counselors and/or advisers to discuss the results of the Readiness Rubrics, while others may elect to include them in parent-teacher conferences.

Also, it is equally critical that, during conversations with students and families, proactive steps be taken to address readiness gaps that are identified by the Readiness Rubrics. In many cases, it will be possible to do so by bringing a new level of focus to the student’s regular educational program and continuing participation in Ramp-Up. However, in cases where students are more seriously off-track, additional On-Ramp Interventions may be needed.

Using the Readiness Rubric

The lesson Using the Readiness Rubric, part of the Ramp-Up to Readiness Curriculum, provides detailed instructions on how to put these Readiness Rubric documents to work for your students.