Dealing with Senior Slump

From the Marshall Memo #441

In this Education Week article, Caralee Adams reports on the perennial problem of high-school seniors slacking off. There are plenty of reasons why this happens. Few colleges and employers look closely at senior-year grades, many seniors have college acceptances in hand by Christmas, and No Child Left Behind accountability focuses mainly on tests in 10^th grade and below. “The senior year was bypassed by the standards movement,” says emeritus Stanford professor Michael Kirst. 

But even for students going to non-selective community colleges, there are consequences to goofing off in senior year. They are more likely to fail placement tests once they get to college and end up wasting money on non-credit-bearing remedial courses. Here are some possible solutions to senior slump:

• The forthcoming PARCC and SMARTER tests work backwards from rigorous high-school graduation standards and will give 11^th-grade high-school students a more accurate sense of what they still need to learn to be successful in college. Early-assessment tests given in California and a few other states also serve as a reality check on the work that still needs to be done. 

• Dual-enrollment programs allow seniors to take college-level courses, either in a nearby college or at their high school, getting a jump on their post-secondary education and saving money down the road. Iowa is a national leader in dual enrollment, with half of seniors taking a course for college credit. 

• Internships in the workplace are also helpful to jazzing up senior year with real-world experiences. 

• Senior projects are part of Rhode Island’s response to senior slump – a major written product and presentation before a panel of community leaders. One student researched wildlife rehabilitation, another the history of drumming. “It helps students think about what they are going to do next and helps them explore career options,” says state commissioner Deborah Gist. “It helps them see how all the things they have learned are relevant, and how they might use them.”

“Senior Slump Remains Troubling for Many Educators” by Caralee Adams in Education Week, June 13, 2012 (Vol. 31, #35, p. 10), 

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/13/35slump_ep.h31.html