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Resource Center

Student Readiness Resource Center

Research and recommendations for K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and employers

This Resource Center brings together research and recommendations from across EAB and Seramount to provide K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and employers with additional insight into the readiness challenge and its implications across the student lifecycle. Explore our range of resources on academic, socioemotional, financial, and career readiness below.

Since the start of the pandemic, K-12 schools around the country have faced pervasive student readiness challenges, including chronic absenteeism, rising DFW rates, and widespread classroom disengagement. But the biggest impacts of this unfinished learning have yet to fully hit higher education. Students who were in elementary school when the pandemic began are not on pace to recover adequately by the time they reach college in the next 3-5 years. College-going rates have been declining for over a decade, and these readiness challenges at the K-12 level could further accelerate that decline.

Student readiness challenges are also beginning to impact the workforce. Employers have found early career professionals often lack the professional presence and skills necessary to succeed in the workplace. The culmination of these trends is an urgent and deepening student readiness challenge with implications for students, but also families, teachers, administrators, employers, and ultimately, communities.

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    Defining “student readiness”

    We define readiness as each student having the knowledge, skills, and support needed to access and succeed in college, career, and life. Helping today’s students achieve this “readiness” will require working together across sectors to overcome academic, socioemotional, financial, and career preparedness gaps exacerbated by the disruptions of the pandemic.

Academic Readiness

Pandemic-era learning loss means that the average K-12 student is about six months behind in math readiness and four months behind in reading. And while first-year college students have always needed to adjust to the more rigorous academic demands of college, faculty and educators say today’s students have more fundamental gaps in their knowledge, leading to unexpected absences, late or incomplete assignments, and poor exam scores.

Student Readiness Self-Audit

This student readiness self-audit will help you assess and prioritize your institution's response to the growing student readiness…
Navigate360
Blog

3 Strategies to address pandemic-related time management and study skill gaps

We found three promising strategies to help students diagnose and address their study and time management needs.
Student Success Blog
Blog

Attack of the “Math Shark”: Why Unfinished Learning Is a Lurking Threat to Student Success in the Late 2020s

Recent middle school testing data shows us that we have a big problem lurking below the surface, an…
Student Success Blog

Mitigate Learning Loss with the Science of Reading

There is an alarming disconnect between what scientific research recommends for reading instruction and what happens in the…
District Leadership Forum

Social and Emotional Readiness

Over 60% of college students faced mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, and severe stress in 2023, according to the latest Healthy Minds study. The rise in students struggling with their mental health continues to have ripple effects inside and outside of the classroom. Instructors and faculty teaching to burnt-out and disengaged students, or classrooms full of empty chairs, face additional pressure and burnout themselves. In the workforce, lack of socioemotional readiness means early career professionals may not have the communication and problem-solving skills to succeed.

How to Better Engage Faculty in Student Mental Health and Well-Being Support

Our report shares five strategies to boost faculty engagement in student mental health support.
Strategic Advisory Services

Prime First-Year Students for Success with Resilience and Coping Skills

This paper outlines three recommendations for engaging first-year students in developing essential skills.
Strategic Advisory Services
Blog

How schools are expanding student mental health support without hiring more counselors

As many as 3 in 4 students now say they considered leaving college at some point over the…
Student Success Blog
Podcast

Are K-12 Disruptions Forcing Higher Ed to Redefine College Readiness?

EAB experts discuss the extent to which K12 learning disruptions are forcing higher ed institutions to re-evaluate their…

Financial Readiness

Students also don’t feel prepared to pay for and manage college finances, especially amid high inflation. Short-staffed financial aid offices and the ongoing FAFSA delays also mean it’s unclear where students should go for support. In the workforce, lack of financial readiness may mean that early career professionals struggle to budget and understand and negotiate compensation packages.
Podcast

Why Students Are Opting Out of College

Experts discuss surprising new data that show what’s actually driving an increasing number of high school graduates to…
Blog

3 tech-enabled strategies to get ahead of FAFSA setbacks early

Explore how two community colleges used the Coordinated Care Network to help students complete their FAFSAs.
Community College Blog

Recruiting 'Gen P'

This report offers guidance for enrollment leaders on the mindset of “Gen P,” or the students whose college-going…
Enroll360

Career Readiness

Readiness does not end with college completion—students also need to be prepared to successfully navigate the college to career transition. A recent report from the Mary Christie Institute underscored what many employers have seen anecdotally: new graduates don’t feel prepared for the mental and emotional demands of a career.

Adapting Student Career Development for the Gen Z Era

This report explores how to embed student career development across the college experience with direction and attention from…
Strategic Advisory Services
Blog

How can colleges prepare Gen Z for the workforce?

American colleges and universities are currently filled with the most diverse generation in U.S. history—Gen Z. But it’s…
Student Success Blog
Podcast

How the Student Readiness Gap Is Impacting Colleges and Employers

Experts discuss how declining student readiness is impacting every level of the US education system and is even…