People get ready: high school students’ college readiness and higher education success

The high prevalence of delay and non-completion among academic track students across OECD countries raises questions about academic tracks’ effectiveness in successfully preparing students for higher education. Yet, empirical studies addressing academic track students’ college readiness remain scarce. Therefore, this study investigates the long-term effects of cognitive (i.e., ability) and non-cognitive indicators (i.e., self-efficacy, learning skills, transition knowledge, and cognitive strategies) of college readiness on “on-time” progress throughout higher education. Additionally, this study investigates whether shared teacher expectations (i.e., teachability culture) explain differences in students’ college readiness. Results of multilevel analyses based on data from 671 Flemish students across 16 schools (ISCY: 2013–2019), indicated that teachability culture positively affected college-readiness indicators, namely: self-efficacy and cognitive strategies. In turn, self-efficacy positively affected students’ “on time” progression throughout higher education. Given its malleable nature, self-efficacy is potentially an interesting tool to increase college-readiness, and ultimately “on time” degree completion.