High School to Postsecondary Education: Challenges of Transition.

The beginning of every school year provides many types of challenges for students. This year's teachers may structure their classroom differently from last year's teachers. Teachers at the same grade level may emphasize different topics. Teachers' expectations for students' par ticipation in instructional activities may differ. Students also face the problem of forgetting what they learned last year, especially if they have not used particular mathematical knowledge or skills over the summer months. Such annual challenges are minor in comparison with the challenges that students face during crucial tran sition points: from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, and from high school to postsecondary education. This month NCTM's school journals take on these challenges with a set of three related articles by the team of Iisa Brown, Susan Hud son Hull, Janie Schielack, and Cathy L. Seeley. We encourage you and your colleagues in grades K-12 to read and discuss these articles. Teach ers' dialogue within and across grade bands of a district lead to improved articulation across grade levels and smoother transitions for stu dents, particularly at key transition points. How can we help prepare our high school stu dents to make the critical transition to what comes after they graduate? We cannot wait until students are seniors to inspire them to consider postsecondary education or training and at the same time prepare them to succeed when they get there. It is increasingly important for students to con tinue their education beyond high school, not only for their future?both opportunities and earnings? but also for our country's future (Achieve, Inc. 2008; Education Trust 2003). Recognizing this, President Obama, in his first address to Congress in 2009, set a goal of postsecondary education for every American (Associated Press 2009). The good news is that a recent study found that 90 percent of low-income students intend to go to college after graduation from high school, with little gap between white and minority students' college going intentions. The bad news is that the same study shows that only half actually enroll (Associ ated Press 2009).