Ready, Willing, and Able: A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success

I can't believe this valuable book only had a few reviews, so thought I'd add mine. I'm helping with the design of a college prep program for middle and high school children who are from low-income backgrounds and whose parents have not attended college. As I searched for research on college prep for this audience, I found most information was geared toward children who are already motivated to go to college and/or who already have financial and other supports. Then I found this excellent book. It is completely targeted toward an audience like this and begins by addressing how to help these youth make decisions about whether they will attend college. It goes on to give advice on how to help them find their own motivation and make their own plans. It provides theory as well as some very practical strategies-many of which I will use. It emphasizes that the adult's role is to help guide the youth in their own process of deciding upon and preparing for college (so that they will fully own their enrollment and goals and persist to graduation) and gives steps for doing so. I was particularly impressed with the passages that talk about drawing peers and parents into this process and valuing their ability to contribute, and not to automatically dismiss them as being destructive influences (because they didn't go to college, are low-income, are young, etc.).

Good book

This book has revolutionized the way I think about and approach my work with students. It is a must read for practitioners who want to better serve every student regardless of their background, experience or level of aspiration.

Relevant to today. It's easy to read and bring's back to the importance of reaching out to students holistically.

Was quick shipping and came in good quality at reasonable price

Very Good book for the young Counselors and older Counselors

This book is phenomenal. It marries theory to practice and provides real world examples that bind the two together. Anyone working in college counseling, college access/persistence programming or working with at-risk/first-generation/underrepresented populations should use this book as a guide to facilitating successful postsecondary educational opportunites for their students. Their advice works for different contexts: school, community programming, individuals and groups. Simply phenomenal.

...an eye-opener.