Teaching and learning: more precious than ever before
September 15th, 2020Colleges and boarding schools create connections unlike anything else. Living, working and playing together for four years often builds some of the strongest and longest friendships that most people experience in their lifetime. Unsurprisingly, the global pandemic has left many college and boarding school students wondering if their experience will be the same.
The article referenced below from Inside HigherEd shares the positive side of the return to college campus for many students, and we’re hearing similar reports from boarding schools. The gratitude and appreciation students are feeling to be back, even with new campus guidelines regarding Covid-19, are remarkable. Now, here’s hoping everyone remains healthy and those warm feelings last!
Article referenced below from Inside HigherEd, written by Austin Sarat on September 3, 2020
Believing in Our Students
Across the country, students are returning to campuses now coping with the fallout of COVID-19. They are eager to recapture as much of the college experience as they can and to reconnect with each other and the faculty members who teach them.
They want to talk about what they are feeling as they start this unusual academic year. At the small liberal arts college where I teach, the first days have been filled with many such conversations.
During one of those talks, a sophomore I had in class last year wanted to touch base and chat about the pandemic’s challenges and the way they are playing out for both of our families. She told me about doubts she felt over the summer about returning to campus and her worry that coming to school with all its new restrictions would be “odd and uncomfortable.”
Podcast sheds light on historic changes in college admissions
September 1st, 2020Components of the college application process once considered sacred are now evolving to fit with the current climate. Colleges and universities are placing a larger focus on students’ character, revealing that sometimes it can be just as important as their academic achievement. And standardized test scores? So 2019!
NPR recently released a podcast in which Tovia Smith interviewed several admissions officials to find out how the college admissions world is shifting due to the pandemic. We think you’ll find it compelling and informative, as we all continue to do our best to stay current and adapt.
Podcast released August 12, 2020 by Tovia Smith via NPR
As stressful as it always is for students applying to college, this year it’s all that — and then some — for the admissions officials trying to decide whether to admit them. Because of the pandemic, many students will be applying without standardized test scores and several other metrics admissions officers at selective schoolshave long relied on, leaving colleges scrambling to figure out what else they might consider instead.
“So many things that were sacred in the college admissions process may not be sacred anymore,” said Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, and former head of admissions at Trinity College in Connecticut. “Colleges and universities are reinventing a process that hasn’t changed in over 50 years in the span of a couple of months […] and they don’t have another choice.”
College drop-off ritual changes
August 18th, 2020The tradition of dropping off college-bound students looks much different this year, when it’s happening at all. Parents have long cherished the process of bringing the entire family on campus together to dine, socialize, and most importantly spruce up the new college student’s living quarters. Sadly, this and many other first weekend traditions have been impacted by the social distancing crucial to wellness on campuses this fall.
In the article linked below from The New York Times, you can see how students and parents are adapting to the changes in procedures and policies of college drop-off. Although boarding schools aren’t referenced in the article, they, too, are changing the drop-off process in many instances. Being flexible and innovative is the only way to live life in 2020. We wish all students a healthy and successful start to this school year, whether in person or online.
Article referenced below from The New York Times, published July 29, 2020 and written by Julie Weed.
The New College Drop-Off
Maureen Rayhill of Seattle sounds like a public health official as she describes the current process for coronavirus testing, rattling off research she’s done on in-person testing centers versus mail-order companies and how their turnaround times for results compare. But she’s not. She’s a mother, just trying to get her oldest child to college.
The poignant annual tradition of college drop-off — parents driving the new, nervous college student to school, bringing along brothers and sisters to see their sibling’s new home, setting up the tiny dorm room together, sharing one last meal with the entire family, then waving goodbye as the almost-adult runs off with a big pack of possible new best friends — has become the latest family milestone rendered almost unrecognizable by the coronavirus pandemic.
Could Covid-19 change college admissions testing forever?
August 5th, 2020Schools and colleges are making, adjusting and readjusting their plans for the start of the school year. One of the biggest topics on the minds of rising juniors and seniors is SAT and ACT testing. Is it safe to test? Will we find a spot, with the limited capacity available? Has the school of my choice gone test-optional, or even test-blind?
Seniors must think carefully about whether to test or retest this fall. Although ACT and SAT have “added” plenty of fall dates, we don’t yet know if all will pan out and, of course, each family must assess its own approach to safety of testing circumstances.
Every day new schools announce test-optional policies, and Fairtest keeps track of the growing list. However, parents and students still wonder if not taking the exams could hurt their chances of admission. On today’s blog we share several resources that might be able to answer some of your questions. This article from Palouse Pathways and another from Inside Higher Ed both give insight into the changes happening in the testing world.
Keep in mind that each day brings a new challenge and we aren’t yet able to predict how all of this will play out. The informative article linked below from NPR covers the issues we face with testing during this pandemic and adds a useful perspective.
Article referenced below from NPR.org, published June 12, 2020, written by Elissa Nadworny
Colleges are Backing Off SAT, ACT Scores …
Like many high school counselors, Crys Latham has been paying close attention to the colleges that are announcing that they’ll no longer require admissions exams for applicants. She’s a big fan of giving students the opportunity not to submit their test scores.
“We put test-optional schools on every single one of our student’s list to consider,” says Latham, who directs college counseling at Washington Latin Public Charter School, in the nation’s capital. “Because we know that not every student is going to like their scores, and a student’s test scores are not indicative of their potential or ability to be successful.”
