For many students, “college readiness” is discussed as if it were a personal trait—something a student either has or does not have. The research summarized in Howard Johnston’s Pathways to College (2010) suggests a different and more actionable truth: high schools can meaningfully shape whether students enroll in college and whether they succeed once they arrive.
This matters because educational opportunity in the United States is increasingly tied to economic mobility. As Katie Haycock and colleagues have argued, in today’s information economy, education—especially postsecondary education—is strongly linked to income and stability. Yet college-going rates remain sharply unequal across income levels, even when students have similar academic ability. In other words, the ability to pay and the ability to navigate systems can matter as much as the ability to learn.
At TinyEYE, we work with schools every day that are trying to remove barriers for students—academic, social-emotional, and logistical. While TinyEYE provides online therapy services (including speech-language therapy and occupational therapy) rather than academic advising, we see how student well-being, communication skills, self-advocacy, and family engagement directly affect a student’s ability to plan, persist, and thrive in school. College pathways are not built in 12th grade; they are built through years of preparation, support, and clear expectations.
Why inequity persists: Four barriers schools must plan around
Johnston highlights a set of factors that contribute to unequal college access—some within school control, others outside it. The barriers include:
Limited access to college-prep coursework in some urban and rural high schools, leaving students without required courses for admission or success.
Escalating college costs without matching increases in aid for low-income families.
A complex financial aid system that is especially difficult for first-generation students to navigate.
Policies that often advantage middle- and upper-income families in how resources and aid are distributed.
The takeaway is not discouragement—it is focus. Schools cannot single-handedly fix tuition inflation, but they can dramatically improve course access, advising systems, and family support so students do not miss opportunities simply because no one showed them the map.
Five evidence-based actions high schools can take
One of the most practical sections of the report draws on Tierney and colleagues’ (2009) review of nearly 30 years of research. Their recommendations focus on what high schools can do, not just what students should do. The five actions below are especially useful because they can be implemented as a coordinated schoolwide plan.
1) Make “college-ready curriculum” explicit by 9th grade
Students cannot aim for targets they cannot see. A school can strengthen college readiness by ensuring that students understand, early on, what coursework is expected for college admission and success.
Implement a curriculum that prepares all students for college-level work, with advanced options for students ready for acceleration.
Teach students what “college-ready” means in concrete terms (course sequences, expectations, habits).
Develop a four-year course trajectory with each 9th grader so students do not discover too late that they are missing required classes.
From a special education lens, this is also an equity practice: students with disabilities and students receiving related services benefit when planning is proactive, visual, and revisited regularly. When schools normalize planning for everyone, students who need accommodations are less likely to feel singled out—and more likely to self-advocate.
2) Use assessments to identify gaps early—and respond with individualized plans
Assessment is most helpful when it functions like a dashboard rather than a verdict. The goal is to help students understand where they are and what to do next.
Identify assessments and data already available that can estimate readiness.
Use performance data to inform students about proficiency and progress toward readiness.
Create individualized plans for students who are not on track.
When students struggle, the question should shift from “Why didn’t you do it?” to “What supports, instruction, and time do you need to get there?” This is where coordinated supports—academic interventions, counseling, and related services—can work together rather than in parallel.
3) Build a culture of college-going through mentoring, peers, and career exploration
Students’ aspirations are shaped by the adults and peers around them. Tierney’s panel emphasizes structured mentoring and peer networks that make college feel both real and reachable.
Connect students with mentors, including recent graduates now in college and college-educated adults from the community.
Create structured extracurricular opportunities that connect students with peers who plan to attend college.
Offer hands-on career exploration so students can connect postsecondary plans to meaningful goals.
The report offers practical guidance for mentoring implementation, including recommended frequency of contact (monthly for younger students; weekly for juniors and seniors in the application phase) and the importance of mentor training and staff monitoring. Effective mentoring is not random; it is designed.
4) Provide direct support with the “critical steps” of college entry
Many students—especially first-generation students—do not fail to attend college because they lack talent. They fall off the path during the process. Schools can reduce that drop-off by treating the application process as a supported sequence of tasks.
Ensure students prepare for and take admissions exams early.
Assist students with college search and fit.
Coordinate college visits.
Support students in completing applications.
These steps are also communication-heavy: forms, deadlines, essays, emails, interviews, and self-presentation. When schools strengthen students’ executive functioning, self-monitoring, and communication skills, they are also strengthening college access.
5) Increase families’ financial awareness and hands-on help with aid forms
Families often want to help but do not have clear, trustworthy information—especially when the financial aid system feels “Byzantine,” as Johnston describes it. Schools can reduce anxiety and increase follow-through by offering workshops and direct assistance before deadlines.
Offer parent and student workshops prior to 12th grade on affordability, scholarships, and aid processes.
Provide support completing financial aid forms before eligibility deadlines.
Importantly, the report also anticipates “roadblocks” and suggests realistic remedies. If staff are not trained in financial aid, schools can partner with local college financial aid officers. If counselors lack up-to-date cost information, schools can identify and train interested staff members (for example, math or family consumer science teachers) and build relationships with local college financial aid offices.
Academic preparation is necessary—but not sufficient
Johnston reviews common college-preparatory course expectations across programs. While details vary, the pattern is consistent: four years of English; at least three years of math; two to three years of science and social studies; and often a foreign language and other electives.
But Johnston also highlights an important evolution in how educators define readiness. David Conley’s (2007) work argues that readiness is not only a checklist of courses; it includes broader skills and dispositions that can be developed across the curriculum:
Writing: Students need to draft, revise, argue clearly, and write with fewer errors under time constraints.
Research: Students must evaluate sources, synthesize information, and produce coherent reports and papers.
Self-monitoring (metacognition): Students benefit from reflecting on what they understand, persisting through difficulty, and choosing strategies intentionally.
Study skills: Time management, note-taking, exam preparation, and effective study group participation are not “extras”—they are core readiness behaviors.
From a special education perspective, these skills overlap with many areas supported through accommodations, strategy instruction, and related services. When schools teach planning, organization, and self-advocacy explicitly, they reduce the hidden curriculum that often disadvantages students who do not already know “how school works.”
Two student groups that require targeted planning: low-income students and rural students
Johnston emphasizes that some students face layered barriers that require more than generic college messaging.
Low-income, low-performing students: “Beat the odds” practices
Ascher and Maguire (2007) studied New York City high schools that successfully moved low-performing 9th graders toward graduation and college enrollment. Their practices clustered into four themes:
Academic rigor with shared expectations across staff, plus access to AP and college-credit opportunities.
Networks of timely supports, including advisories, transcript reviews, tutoring, and short-term interventions.
College expectations and access, including visible college-going culture, college counselors, fairs, visits, and parent workshops.
Effective use of data to track progress and shape interventions.
These strategies are replicable because they are systems, not slogans. They rely on adults coordinating their work and intervening early—before students accumulate gaps that feel impossible to overcome.
Rural students: transition, belonging, and the fear of “leaving for good”
Rural students may face unique challenges, including adjusting to campus size, navigating diversity, accessing support services, and coping with cultural differences between rural and urban environments. Some students and families also fear that leaving for college means leaving their community permanently.
Guiffrida (2007) suggests practical steps rural counselors can take, such as early campus familiarity, exposure to broader career options, encouragement to join extracurricular activities, and explicit guidance on using support services. Johnston also notes that dual enrollment and structured partnerships with local colleges can allow students to begin college coursework closer to home, building confidence and credits before relocating.
Where TinyEYE fits in the college-readiness conversation
College pathways depend on more than transcripts. They depend on students being able to communicate, manage stress, persist through difficulty, and ask for help—skills that are often strengthened through school-based supports. TinyEYE’s online therapy model helps schools expand access to related services, particularly when staffing shortages or geography make in-person delivery difficult.
When students receive timely support for speech-language needs, fine motor and sensory regulation needs, or social-emotional challenges, they are better positioned to:
Participate in rigorous coursework and collaborative learning
Develop self-advocacy and self-monitoring skills
Engage in mentoring and advising relationships
Navigate high-stakes transitions with greater confidence
College readiness is a long-term, team-based effort. The strongest schools make it visible, structured, and supported—starting early and sustaining the work through graduation.
For more information, please follow this link.
