Some public colleges and universities in metro Atlanta are offering extra help this summer to prep first-year students for the fall semester amid concerns that the pandemic left many high school students unprepared for higher education.
Georgia Gwinnett College is offering expanded orientation sessions to help students adjust to campus life. Kennesaw State University offers a two-week summer program so freshmen complete an economics class before the fall start.
The pandemic “left an indelible mark,” according to Sonny Perdue, the University System of Georgia’s recently named chancellor. “Many of our students lost ground during the pandemic, and we are seeing the consequences of that in our entering classes,” he told faculty in a May letter.
Michelle Rosemond, Georgia Gwinnett College’s vice president for student engagement and success, has read about falling test scores in high school English and math.
“What I’m seeing is the probability that the first-year experience will be tougher than normal,” she said.
Last school year’s scores on the state Milestones tests aren’t out yet, but the results from the 2020-21 school year were disappointing, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year.
They fell from 2018-19, the last time the tests were given before a temporary stay during the pandemic. The percentage of failing students rose by 2 to 9 points, varying by grade level and subject, with the largest declines in high schools. Fewer students than normal took the tests, which might have affected the overall results. Milestones scores from the last school year show students improving but still behind where they were prior to the pandemic.
This fall’s college freshmen were high school sophomores when classrooms closed for COVID-19 in spring 2020. Some, particularly students of color in big urban areas like metro Atlanta, continued to do school remotely into their junior and even senior years.
The situation seemed dire in 2020 when McKinsey & Company, the global consultant, surveyed nearly 2,100 U.S. high school seniors. Nearly a third wondered whether they were ready academically for college.
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