College Readiness Skills for Seniors: The CONNECT Framework

Vicki Davis (00:00): Do you have seniors who make good grades, but you’re not sure they’re ready to do college on their own? And what’s the tiny pebble in your shoe that can stop a college freshman in their tracks? Today, we’re talking about college readiness and the skills that seniors need before their freshman year of college. This is Fab Idea Friday, Episode 1030.

Announcer (00:22): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.

Vicki Davis (00:26): Today, we’re talking with Dr. Johanna David-Tramantano, a career educator with nearly 25 years in the classroom in coaching and administration, now as a professor. She has a new book, Connect: A High School-to-College Success Framework, for educators on the high school to college framework. Transition. Johanna, you’ve spent nearly 25 years in education at every level.

Johanna David-Tramantano (00:53): Yes.

Why do so many students struggle with the transition from high school to college?

Vicki Davis (00:53): What has made you zero in on this high school to college transition as the problem that needed your attention the most?

Johanna David-Tramantano (00:59): I am. I am the first to graduate college in my family in this country. Looking back, this is very personal on a number of levels. When I conceived the idea for this book, I was fully at the university level, also becoming a college mom. So I have a college junior right now, and I’m soon to be an empty nester. I have a high school senior. So I’m going through this right now, both as an educator and a parent.

And it was evident to me that we are, I don’t want to sound cliche, but we have digital natives. We have students who have diverse learning needs, And there’s a need for students to learn differently, engage differently. Something’s got to change. I realized that we need to address student needs differently. So as you mentioned, I spent the last six years as a full college professor. I’m actually now back in the 6 through 12 space because I wanted to re-engage in this work truly in the high school to college transition.

And there is a need now more than ever to meet our student needs in this space. Students are struggling on a number of levels. There are a variety of reports that are showing that student readiness is not where it has been in the past. Students are struggling with less tangible skills. We used to call them soft skills, but there are enduring skills. So we’re talking about executive functioning skills.

We’re talking about important social emotional skills, communication skills. I think all the time now that I’m back in the classroom even, The lessons I taught 10 years ago, I could never teach today. So my book is all about empowering educators with actual tools. What can I do today in my classroom to better meet the needs of my students today?

Do phones and devices affect how well students study?

Vicki Davis (02:45): What are those lessons? Is it because of the attention span? Is it because of their ability to concentrate? What is it?

Johanna David-Tramantano (02:51): There’s a growing body of research demonstrating that students do struggle with more attentional challenges. There is alignment between how much time they spend on devices and their attention. And we know this because of a variety of factors. Even at the college level, there’s a research that showed that students think that they’re studying, but if they have a device near them, the impact of their studying is not as effective because they’re not even realizing they’re checking their phone more frequently for notifications, for texts.

They’re more distracted than they realize. We also are preparing students truly for jobs that have yet to be created. This is an interesting conundrum for us, and I think it requires us now to think, what are the skills the students are really going to need? Well, they need communication skills. They need organizational skills. They need self-advocacy skills. Yes, we also need to teach those tech skills.

Do digital natives still need to be taught technology skills?

Johanna David-Tramantano (03:49): We do also make assumptions that because students are born with the ability to open up apps, that they truly know technology. But actually, we still need to teach into those tech skills, whether it’s coding or truly understanding how a computer works.

Vicki Davis (04:05): Or typing. I mean, that’s the one that the kids tell me that is like the most useful. Miss Davis, you taught me typing. And I’m like, well, couldn’t it have been the glamorous you taught me how to code? No, it’s always typing. And some of the things, Johanna, are… Not skills at all. Like we see this thing in the Wall Street Journal is kids can’t take criticism and they can’t show up to work.

Showing up is not a skill. It’s a habit. Let’s talk about this framework. Give us an overview of this evidence-based framework to help kids with the transition from high school to college.

What is the CONNECT framework for college readiness?

Johanna David-Tramantano (04:37): I went down a deep rabbit hole asking myself, what is it that students need to be successful? And through that, I realized there were seven interconnected threads, if you will. And before you knew it, it was kind of you’re looking at your alphabet cereal in the milk kind of a thing and putting words together. I realized that I was starting to form a word. And the more and more it was not just the word connect, but it was actually also about how are we making connections together.

With our students? How are we helping students to connect to their learning? The categories that emerged from my research were students need support with communication, organization, networking, navigating technology, engagement, collaboration, and we actually need to teach into the transition piece. And I kind of refer to it almost as a continuous thread metaphor. There’s a Japanese art, sashiko stitching, where someone who’s sewing will sew with one continual thread.

And so how do we thread all of these competencies, not just in a student’s junior or senior year, but throughout their years of schooling in the high school and beyond? And how do we continue that thread from the high school to college transition in a true way where we enhance partnerships between local school districts and college partnerships.

How can parents help a teen who got used to a flexible senior year schedule?

Vicki Davis (06:02): One of the challenges is so many kids now in the United States, their junior and senior year, learning has shifted online where they’re already taking college classes, but they’re not really having to show up at a certain time. In many ways, they get a lot of freedom. They can sleep when they want. They go to class when they want, as long as they get the work done.

And then they get up and go to college or go to a job, and now they have structure back and have we really prepared them for what, for the skills that they need to be able to succeed in that environment. So what do you say to parents who are like, hey, my kid made a lot of decisions so they could sleep late and work less their senior year, and now they’re back a freshman and they’re having to start over.

Johanna David-Tramantano (06:45): That’s a really big one. And I love that you mentioned parents because I actually think the more we can involve parents in this conversation in concrete ways, the better. The more concrete we can make things for our parents and our students, the better. If you know that one of your kids has trouble waking up at six in the morning to get to like an eight o’clock class, that’s a conversation for the student to have with their advisor to make sure they’re not taking maybe an eight o’clock class that they can avoid it. Right. Let’s say they don’t have a choice.

Then we need to make some plan and put some plans in place. That’s when let’s explore well in advance different kinds of alarm clocks, different strategies we can put in place, practice in advance. I know it’s hard getting up, but we got to get, you know, get into a routine. All of those things are really important conversations.

How can high schools build literacy skills across every subject?

Vicki Davis (07:35): And so as a former literacy director for a large urban district, what keeps you up at night about secondary literacy and college readiness besides your own children, right? Because we all have that experience.

Johanna David-Tramantano (07:47): First, we know that there’s a continued need to support students across the content areas when it comes to literacy. I’m thrilled to see that there’s been a lot of focus on early childhood literacy, but we need to not let go of what happens when we have students in middle and high school who are also struggling. And what does MTSS, what does that multi-tiered support system look like at the secondary level? Because we need to continually build their skills and not just in ELA.

How are we continually building their skills in the sciences, in social studies, in mathematics, in a way that supports them being able to be increasingly independent?

Should high school teachers teach students how to take notes?

Johanna David-Tramantano (08:28): Can they read a textbook? Can they take effective notes? That’s something I address because we’re I think we assume sometimes that a student knows how to take notes, but we should model it explicitly. And I think the benefit is seeing an expert in their field demonstrating this, like a Feynman technique for studying or SQ3R or there are different approaches, right? And then helping students to identify what works for me as a learner.

That’s where that metacognition builds in.

What is the biggest gap between high school and college expectations?

Vicki Davis (08:57): So, Johanna, I found a book. It’s no longer in print, but when I was a freshman, my parents bought for me. And it taught me so many things, how to have a file system, how to take notes, how to study, all these things you’re talking about. And I really cue that as the reason I went to Georgia Tech. I graduated first in my class. That book taught me all these things that nobody ever taught me, even though I was an A-plus student, right? We cannot underestimate as parents or as educators who…

These types of skills, and I know teachers that teach note-taking, and the kids come back and thank them. So what do you think is the biggest gap between what high schools think prepares students for college and what college actually requires?

Johanna David-Tramantano (09:39): I think the biggest challenge, especially as students progress in their secondary years, is they go to school every day. They get reminders from their teachers every day. But when they get to college, they may have professors who give fewer reminders.

Vicki Davis (09:53): Or none at all.

Johanna David-Tramantano (09:54): Or none at all.

Vicki Davis (09:55): And just, I mean, they put it on the syllabus. I’ll never forget it. That paper is due. And I remember going in and handing that paper in and kids looking at the professor going, you never said anything. And he’s like, it’s on the syllabus because they feel like they’re getting you ready for the real world, you know?

How do you use gradual release to get seniors ready for college?

Johanna David-Tramantano (10:07): Yes. And making that explicit, that’s where I think that senior year transition, when you think about the gradual release model, that’s where we want to taper off. Not that we don’t want to remind students, but we want to also make it very explicit. Name what we’re doing. I always say becoming meta. Let’s get metacognitive. They really need to come to the realization that having a system in place in advance, whether it’s using a digital calendar. I have some students who love a good old-fashioned paper planner, putting something in place well in advance.

So it’s kind of seamless when you get to the college space.

Vicki Davis (10:41): We can only remember a certain number of things at a time. We need external tools and systems in place to help us. And that’s part of the metacognition that you’re talking about, Johanna. I’ve had senior parents checking behind their kids doing homework. And it’s like, well, how am I supposed to know what’s for homework? And my answer always is, You don’t need to know what’s for homework for your senior. Yeah.

Your senior needs to know what’s for homework.

When should parents check in with a college freshman about grades?

Johanna David-Tramantano (11:06): Yes, yes, and yes. What I will say is it’s okay to have a conversation with your college freshman, maybe not at Thanksgiving dinner, maybe after Thanksgiving dinner, but check in with them. Because I think that that freshman transition can be a little bit of a bumpy road at the beginning for some students. And students may be afraid to say, hey, mom, dad, I messed up a little.

You want to also open the door to, okay, let’s come up with a plan before it’s too late because the semester ends very quickly. And let’s also help you figure out what are your next steps. How are you going to get help? Are you going to office hours? Are you talking to your advisor X, Y, and Z? There could be financial implications if they struggle and, you know, in their freshman year, their GPA could impact, you know, be impacted.

And we want to set them up for success. But we also need to remind them that they can talk to us if they need help.

Vicki Davis (12:10): So, Dr. Johanna David-Tramantano, the book is Connect: A High School-to-College Success Framework. Thanks for coming on the show, Johanna.

Johanna David-Tramantano (12:21): Well, thank you so very much. I’m honored to be here. Thank you.

Announcer (12:25): Thank you for tuning in to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.