Tim Elmore on the 5 Greatest Predictors of Student Success

The Flu has kept me a bit disengaged from this blog this week. Trying to post on a daily basis has been a way to hold me accountable to write something every day. Unfortunately, I have been missing for a couple days.

Today, I suggest you read this post from Tim Elmore's blog: The Five Greatest Predictors of Student Success. I fear that too often in schools like North Shore student success is based on one factor -- where a student ends up going to college. I have had a number of conversations with kids and parents this week about how overbearing the pressure is on this one part of high school. The funny thing is that if you get someone to reflect a bit, everyone admits that its what you do with your education that is more important than where you attend. But that doesn't seem to make this process any easier.

Like many of our parents, when I was in high school, I filled my college applications out over Christmas Break, sent them off and waited until April to find out where I was admitted. One University -- the University of Maryland -- had a day where I was invited with a number of other students from my high school to drop by with my transcript and SAT scores and I was admitted on the spot. I do not even remember filling out an application. The funny thing about that experience was I walked away thinking if it was that easy for me to get into the University of Maryland why would I want to go there.

Now I look back on it and know lots of people who have graduated from Maryland and done very well in life I realize how silly that thought was. It sometimes seems like the process now has become so daunting everywhere that it takes over too much of our students and families energy. So the thought went through my mind this week, that maybe the process of applying and getting into college has become complicated so no one feels the way I felt when I was admitted to the University of Maryland. Where ever you get in you need to feel wow I am lucky or at least thank goodness it is over!

If you read the Elmore piece today, you'll agree that we often focus on the wrong things when it comes to what it truly means to be successful. I do not know if that will give anyone any peace of mind, but I thought it might help and I can get back to daily posting.