Exploring student perceptions of college readiness: examination of the processes that impact factors of psychosocial development

The purpose of this study is to examine the processes that help develop psychosocial skills for college readiness. Psychosocial skills are defined as: intrinsic motivation, non-cognitive skills, and resiliency. The structural framework, modified from that of Conley (2008), identifies major contributing factors in student readiness for college. In addition, the belief that these factors are most effective when they work together (Epstein, 2011), and rooted in the foundation of behavioral psychology, and the belief that psychosocial skills can be developed. This phenomenological, mixed methods, study examined the impact that parents and the school have on the perceptions of student psychosocial readiness for college and found that consciousness raising, practice, and the development of internal meaning for the importance of psychosocial skill development is critical to the successful transition into a four-year university. The study was able to identify processes currently in place that impact psychosocial readiness for college, providing an opportunity to identify potential changes in practice. Improving parent communication regarding the importance of developing psychosocial skills in their students, and best practices, including more intentional programming where students are expected to interact with varying communities, to practice to develop some of the expressed psychosocial skills, arming students with tools that could better prepare students for the transition into college.