Showing Up

Woody Allen once said 80% of success is showing up. From a school’s standpoint, that quote speaks to attendance. Attending school is an important concept, so important that there are laws that require it and those who don’t are labeled truant. Still millions of school children miss school each day. More often than not, I believe, those absences are due to legitimate reasons like illness. However, many of those children miss school unnecessarily.

When a child misses school, they miss content. I will grant that not every single minute of any given school is filled with robust educational content but throughout the day there is the opportunity for absorption of material that might not be present at home. That is lost entirely if the child does not attend school in one way or another.

What is more troubling is the message a lack of attendance sends to a child. If a parent allows a child to become truant and miss excessively, that child learns that such behavior is acceptable. However, that’s not the case in the real world. Few employers will allow their employees to miss a couple of days of work each week if the reasons for those absences seem unjustified. Failure to attend work has obvious financial consequences which, in turn, can put entire families on steep downward spirals.

Attendance has its role in distance learning and online venues as well. It’s important to understand that online school or even work from home opportunities via the internet still require a presence. One still needs to make the effort to log-in and do what they need to do. Distance learning does not excuse one from their obligation to do something and be somewhere, prepared, at a certain time.

In the end, what Woody Allen meant was that being successful starts with getting where you need to be. If you’re not together enough to do that, you stand no chance of effectively doing much else. It’s important that parents instill this lesson in their children, then the other 20% can take care of itself.

SAT vs. ACT

I typically tell my students that the SAT and ACT are like Coke and Pepsi. In other words, they are two different brands that serve the same market. Both tests are crucial to the college admissions process. Their function there is in essence to level the playing field for students who might attend different high schools. GPA, the other most crucial factor to admissions, really only tells a person how an individual did within a given high school. After all, the approach a teacher at school A takes to a given subject might be vastly different than the approach of the teacher of the same subject at school B and those differences can affect grades. The SAT and ACT though are standardized across the globe so the comparison of students with the tests is much clearer.

Beyond their purpose, the tests have some pretty significant differences. The SAT (collegeboard.org) generally focuses more on critical reasoning and thinking. It is comprised of three sections of critical reading, three sections of math, and three sections of writing one of which is a timed essay. The ACT (ACTstudent.org) is more of a content based test. It features one section each on English, reading, math, science, and an optional essay. In some ways, one could make the argument that the ACT tests what you have learned while the SAT tests what you are capable of.

On the language end, the SAT places a huge emphasis on vocabulary. The ACT delves into significantly more grammar than the SAT and students choose when they register whether or not they want to attempt the essay. I generally recommend any student to opt for the essay on the ACT. In math, the ACT covers trigonometry which the SAT does not get into. The SAT has some math questions that are not multiple choice and are gridded responses instead. Another huge difference is that the ACT has a science section.

The ways the tests are scored vary from each other as well. Wrong answers are penalized on the SAT but that’s not the case with the ACT. Thus, there is no penalty for guessing on the ACT. The SAT is graded on a 200-800 scale in each of the three sections critical reading, math, and writing. So a perfect score is a 2400. The ACT grades each of its five subtests (English, reading, writing, math, and science) on a 1-36 scale. These five scores are then usually averaged together for a composite score which has a perfect score of 36.

I think it’s important to note that the way the writing score factors in can be tricky. For example, on the SAT you might see a range of scores that says something like 1000-1400. Sometimes it can be hard to know if that range includes writing or not. Usually, it’s not clear. If you see a score above 1600, you’ll know it includes writing since it is impossible to score higher than a 1600 on the reading and math alone. If not, you’ll just have to take an educated guess about the range based on the caliber of the school or student the range is in reference to.

Lastly, there is no “passing” the ACT or SAT. Some scores can qualify you for different things but those numbers are too varied to establish something that could be considered a “passing” score. What is considered a “good” score is also entirely relative to the student’s true ability and goals. I generally recommend that my students take both tests beginning in the fall of their junior year, again in the spring or summer, and then take the one they like the most an extra time very early in their senior year.

Pedaling on Your Own

At some point in a child’s life, a parent takes the training wheels off the bike. Then, they promise that child they are going to hold on to that seat and not let go. Eventually, the child turns around, looks back, and realizes the parent did let go and that they are riding their bike on their own.

I think all parents do this with bikes, but too few are willing to do it in school. Even the brightest students are going to reach a point in school when things get hard for them. They are going to find a subject or series of concepts that are more difficult than anything they’ve encountered before. There is a chance that the student is going to get a B or a C in that class. This is the time to let go of the bike.

Perhaps more important than the lessons taught in class here, are the lessons your child will learn about perseverance. This is the time where your child is going to learn to deal with adversity in a work-like setting and that not everything in life is going to be as easy matching the words with definitions. This is the time, your child is going to learn what it means to really think through a problem and discover what habits they need to form to tackle an obstacle that is larger than them. This is the time a child really learns about themselves and it's better to do that now than in college or career when the stakes are much higher.

What I am advocating here is that when the going gets tough, you don’t insult a veteran teacher and insist your child change classes. This is a crossroad for your child and it’s one of the most valuable times in their school career. Let go of the bike and let them learn how to work through the problem instead of just trying to make the problem go away. Support them, cheer them on, and at some point, take joy when they look back and realize that they did it on their own.

Yes, when you let go of the bike your child has to stop at some point and they are probably going to fall over and skin their knee. So, in class, your child still might end up with a grade that is less than what you are accustomed to. But, they are going to do so with the satisfaction that they accomplished something, stuck it out, and made it through. The dividends of that lesson are going to be something they can carry forward as they encounter future problems and the knowledge that they are capable of working through those is something they’ll never forget. Just like riding a bike.

GPA Brought to Mind

On the eve of a new school year, I’ll be meeting with a steady stream of parents. The most proactive of those ask me the same question, “What do we need to be doing now to get ready for college?” There is a long answer to that question, but the short answer is protect your GPA.

   There is no other number more important to a high schooler than the GPA. Much like an adult’s credit score, it is a quick reference numeral that compares one student to another and provides a snapshot of their academic history. Perhaps most importantly, it is one of the key components colleges use for admission.
    It can do more than that though. There are ancillary effects of having a good GPA. A student with a high one is more likely to have high standardized test scores, they are more appealing to scholarship committees, they are less likely to have to take remedial classes in college, there are discounts on car insurance, etc. Get it? A high GPA is a good thing.
    Unfortunately, many students and parents fail to see the benefits of a good GPA before it’s too late. In many respects, the GPA that matters most is the one you have at the end of your junior year. That is because so many of one’s post-high school plans are solidified before any senior grades are available. While colleges are going to check final grades after graduation, when a student applies to a college in the fall of their senior year, it is their junior GPA they present for review.  It is incredibly frustrating when a senior says they want to boost their GPA. That’s like looking for someone to kiss after midnight on News Year Eve. You’re too late.
    Maybe another way of thinking about it is, 66% of the academic history a college will base your admission on is comprised of your first two years of high school. It is also important to remember that the “A” in GPA stands for average. If you have 18 credits by the end of your junior year, working really hard in a single class to earn an A is only going to be about 5% of that average. It’s not going to have a huge impact in the big picture. You have to work hard in all your classes to maintain a strong GPA.
    All too often, students blow off the early years of high school thinking they have a plenty of time to get it together. In fact, those early years might be the most important. At the same time, students fail to realize the incredible influence their GPA will have on their future plans. Make sure you’ve got a good one before the ball drops.