As parents, we want nothing more than for our children to become successful and happy.  We support them through the transitions from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, from high school to college, and from college to a career.  All big milestones!  But are we focusing on the right things?  Are we helping them enough?  Are we helping them too much?  Will they get into a good college?  Knowing how best to support our children through these transitions can be stressful.

A recent study showed that there exist six factors that are valuable predictors of success in college.  The top three factors in level of importance are academics (17%), motivation (15%), and behavior (14%).  It’s interesting that together, motivation and behavior contribute more to college readiness than academic achievement.  These predictors can be measured as early as middle school.  It's clear that preparing our children for success in post-secondary education requires more than making sure they study for their algebra exam. So what do we do?  

Growing Leaders, Inc. has reduced the list of highest predictors of student success in college (meaning engagement, excellent performance, and satisfaction) to what they call the "Big Five.”  When a student experiences these five realities, they are most likely to graduate and excel in life:

1. Getting connected to the right people. Connection and support are key to student success. Students who fail to graduate or succeed in school are ones who do not engage with others outside of class or don't get involved with activities involving new people. Without a support system to motivate them to continue, there is no accountability strong enough to keep them from quitting. In this current environment of social isolation brought on by the Covidpandemic, it is even more important for students to find creative ways to stay connected virtually.

2. Possessing adaptability and resilience. We have all heard of the term “helicopter parent.” But what does that really mean? Research in the last decade suggests that adults have created a fragile population of children. Parents and/or teachers have not been encouraging young people to work to overcome adversity or to face the consequences for their behavior. When we continually rescue our kids and protect them from natural consequences, they often become inflexible and unable to cope with life's demands or disappointments. They have always had someone to swoop in and rescue them! It's easy to understand how a student like this would have trouble with transitions, and the challenges of adapting to new situations.

3. Developing high emotional intelligence. For years, educators often held the belief that the student with the highest IQ would perform the best and subsequently grow to become the most successful. It is now apparent, however, that success is more about Emotional Intelligence (EQ) than IQ. A student possessing high self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship skills is more likely to graduate, excel, and become a leader than one who only has the highest grade-point average.

4. Targeting a clear outcome. When entering school with a clear goal, a student is more likely to stay engaged and finish strong. It's the primary difference between school and sports. People are drawn to sports because it's the one place where the goal is obvious. They know what the score is, and it energizes them. For many, both school and eventually work, represent environments where drudgery is endured. But having a goal and a specific outcome in mind throughout the process is extremely motivating. They can envision success.

5. Making good decisions. Students who succeed make the right decisions in and out of class. It makes perfectly good sense. Decisions that determine their moral compass, their discretionary time, their study habits, their predisposition to cheat, their outside work, and how they deal with setbacks and stress, are pivotal in determining whether a child is successful.

Like anything in life, the quantifiable is easier to measure than the qualitative.  Objectivity is readily apparent, whereas subjective analysis is by nature often elusive. It makes sense that it’s easier to use test results and GPA as measures of college preparedness rather than non-academic traits. Research, however, tells us that instead of chasing SAT scores and grades, as parents, we should be focusing more on our child’s character and helping them develop desirable attributes.