5 Trends Point to Work Experience Counting for More In College Admissions
What happens when universities get rid of test scores, or eliminate the application entirely, when admitting students? What should count when evaluating and admitting a student? Work has often taken a back seat when it comes to admissions considerations, but there are five trends happening around assessment and college admissions that present an opportunity to give work experience the credit it deserves.
1. Test-optional — With over 1,750 universities going test optional for Fall 2022, schools continue to explore different ways to measure student performance. Covid and the lack of access to testing sites accelerated the move to test optional. Additionally, colleges know high school GPAs are five times stronger than test scores at predicting college graduation rates. Grades are a great baseline and, as testing requirements are dropped, more and different endorsements for skills and motivation will be valuable.
2. Direct admissions — Some schools are ditching the application process completely and using profiles to admit students directly. Universities receive information about students from schools or direct admission companies and admit them without students filling out an application or paying to apply. This is one of my favorite trends because students save money, don’t have to worry about a rejection letter, and gain confidence because “I got in!” without even applying. Schools can reach more students and spend their time on student support versus marketing and recruiting. As this takes off, it’s possible schools make decision based solely on completion of high school, but they may also look for other information which points to motivation, skills, and experiences outside of the classroom.
3. Comprehensive learner records — CLRs go beyond grades to document specific skills and competencies obtained during school. This trend is particularly well suited to also capturing the added skills and competencies developed while on the job. Not to mention how the skills between school and work overlap and complement each other. It’s possible this becomes the next college application and part of direct admissions.
4. Project-based learning — This is taking off as a way to ask students to move beyond classroom theory to solve real-life, open-ended problems. Projects are used to simulate what happens in the real world. Actual real-world work experience is the ultimate project-based learning activity. We should be connecting those dots and documenting the learning that’s happening on the job to include as part of the transcript.
5. Competency-based education — While high school isn’t largely focused on career pathways for every student or the “skills gap” in general, it’s not a huge leap to think that competency based-education will gain traction in high school. A recent opinion article in Working Nation argues that the “skills gap isn’t about what we teach, it’s about what we measure.” A recent study illustrates there is no skills gap between the learning outcomes colleges are working toward and what employers desire. However, while colleges may be teaching the things employers want, we don’t know that the students are learning them. These lessons being learned at the college level will flow down to high school eventually, both in terms of what and how we assess learning. Any work outside of the classroom has the potential to play a role in what counts as credit and skills learned.
In 2022, 30% of high schoolers held down jobs. Whether the motivation for working is extra money, pressure from parents, or simply survival, we don’t give enough credit to students who hold down a job. I’m not saying every student should work while in high school. I am saying that when a student works it should be given equal credit with extra-curricular activities and highlighted rather than hidden. The lines between work and learning are blurring. As learning becomes a less linear pathway, work will play a role at most levels. As transcripts and college admissions flex, there is the need for a completely new record that includes learning in and outside of the classroom.
