Small colleges have typically attracted students seeking small classes and close connections with professors and peers—the “sense of community” the colleges promise.

Now, as colleges of all sizes preach accountability to the campus community, the leaders of some small schools are finding their students particularly receptive to that message.

When it comes to assessing how the nation’s high schools are doing with the college and career readiness indicators now required by federal law, author Richard Whitmire sums it up in one word: spotty. 

The students hurt most when high schools neglect college and career readiness are low-income, minority students, writes Whitmire in this opinion piece. And they are the same students feeling the most pain from the college turmoil caused by the pandemic.