The conventional view of CCR defines the construct as the ability of learners to qualify and pass college entry-level credit-bearing courses or similar modules of career training programs without taking remedial or developmental training [12,14,18]. Researchers have differed with respect to the fundamental understanding of how to become ready for college or careers [19,20]. For many, college readiness refers to being academically apt for college measured in test scores, grades, and averages [15,16]. Simultaneously, career readiness represents preparation in a set of vocational work-related skills like problem solving, creativity, and autonomous responsibility [12,14,16].

One of the most popular CCR frameworks is Conley’s four-dimensional model affecting American federal and state CCR curricula and instruction [21,22,23]. Conley [1] suggested that CCR represents the preparation of students in four key areas: cognitive strategies, content knowledge, academic/learning skills, and contextual/transition knowledge, as well as skills. Cognitive strategies refer to students’ mastery of basic research skills, evidence interpretation, logical reasoning, communication, and precision/accuracy, which all reflect the critical thinking and problem-solving components of readiness [12,23,24]. Key academic skills correspond to students’ readiness in goal setting, self-monitoring, self-awareness, persistence, and motivation [25,26]. Additionally, academic skills constitute students’ preparation in handling challenging tasks and expending serious effort in completing tasks [22,27].

Content knowledge refers to students’ competence in fundamental subjects including mathematics, English, programming, languages, arts, and social studies [21,28]. Finally, contextual or transitional knowledge and skills represent students’ ability to apply for college, navigate the transitioning process, read plans of work or admissions requirements, and understand financial aid and student services’ policies [29,30]. Many models and frameworks of CCR resemble Conley’s conceptual framework. The College and Career Readiness and Success Center (CCRSC) concluded that most American states’ definitions of CCR include four of six common themes [14]. These included “(a) academic knowledge; (b) critical thinking and/or problem solving; (c) social and emotional learning, collaboration, and/or communication; (d) grit/resilience/perseverance; (e) citizenship and/or community involvement; and (f) additional activities (e.g., lifelong learning, technology, interfacing with diverse cultures, and worldviews)” [31].

One of the strongest criticisms of the broad understanding of CCR definitions is the lack of attention to necessary dispositions ensuring programmatic success (Martinez et al., 2017). For instance, Conley’s [11] definition of college readiness as the ability to pass college entry-level courses using the necessary cognitive, academic, content, and contextual knowledge which fails to emphasize attributes like confidence [32]. Dispositions refer to the collection of beliefs or attitudes students must have to succeed in college or post-secondary careers [32]. Self-efficacy, resourcefulness, skepticism, and reflection are some examples that are not salient in CCR models such as the ones Conley used in his studies [11]. CCR models need to emphasize twenty-first century attitudes and skills like information, technology, diversity, statistical, and global literacies [15,33]. Furthermore, current conceptualizations of CCR are largely reliant on American public education and Western understandings of CCR. Recent evidence notes the importance of religion in establishing a ready learner for the post-secondary world especially in the Middle East and North Africa.

To reflect the importance of attitudes, dispositions, aspirations, and motivation for career and college readiness, Martinez et al. [32] proposed The Preparing for Post-High School Education: Motivated, Informed, and Ready (PPHSE: MIR) curriculum. This program consists of five weeks’ training covering eight sessions delivered by school counselors to high school students with a focus on ninth graders in the United States. The topics of the sessions are “(a) introductions, (b) know your setting and style, (c) know you are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, results-based, and time bound), (d) read between the lines, (e) explore careers that lead to majors, (f) holistic review, (g) pathways to college, and (h) you said how much (to pay for post-secondary education)?” [32]. Throughout the delivery of the course, counselors engage learners in engaging, interactive, and collaborative exercises while providing comprehensive reviews of each theme. The program concentrates on elevating students’ self-efficacy, confidence, aspirations, and motivation for career and college options after graduation. While such programs increase emphasis on other competencies besides Conley’s four key dimensions, they also suffer from cultural insensitivities [34].

Many CCR models emphasize the academic aspects more than the career readiness portfolio because their development reflects the assumption that most high school graduates possess college access and affordability [23,35,36]. The academic perspective of CCR concentrates on the role of persistence, degree completion, time for graduation, college placement rates, remedial course exemptions, and class/degree grades [24,37]. Persistence represents the successive completion of a sequence of courses in a program [38,39]. Degree completion represents either the rates at which a group of students finish a program, or the time taken to complete a program [39,40]. Grades refer to either specific courses’ final grades or grade point averages for entire degree or training programs [41]. All such measures represent the common metrics states and education authorities utilize when assessing CCR programs [35,36,38].

The purely academic perspective on CCR leaves out soft skills, cognitive abilities, and academic behaviors necessary for post-secondary success [42,43]. Evidence demonstrates that many students could score highly on standardized tests and attain desirable grades yet drop out of college because of challenging life circumstances or deficiencies in other non-academic areas [39,41,43]. Therefore, CCR advocates have called for the development of more comprehensive measurement frameworks.

More comprehensive measures of CCR assess students’ mastery of key academic, cognitive, content, and contextual knowledge, skills, and abilities [44,45]. The Conley Readiness Index (CRI) is based on the four keys framework extending focus from content knowledge and test scores to cover soft skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and metacognitive aptitude [11,18]. Figure 1 summarizes the knowledge, skills, and abilities measured by the CRI. Many colleges and universities today utilize the CRI to measure the readiness of their students for college [46]. Similar assessments to the CRI have appeared across the United States and other countries to evaluate readiness for careers or college [45,46]. The uniform common denominator of such tools is their focus on academic behaviors, cognitive strategies, and contextual knowledge such as transitioning and new programs’ navigation [44]. The CRI proves to be one of the most popular metrics as it was adopted by Pearson and sold to many high schools, colleges, and universities across the globe.

Evidence from the Arab World notes the deficiency in career and college preparedness across the board [47,48,49]. Albalawi [34] examined Tabuk high schools’ practices for preparing students for college. She noted that schools fail to prioritize CCR compared to other pressing needs facing educators in Saudi Arabia [34]. Further, her study observed that much of the preparation in schools concentrates on training students for standardized tests like the General Aptitude Test, the equivalent to the SAT in the United States. El-Moussa et al. [50] observed that GAT scores and high school GPAs have little explanatory power in predicting college success for Saudi undergraduate students. Further, past research demonstrated schools’ limited engagement in active CCR across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Arab World [36,51].

Past empirical investigations documented the low mathematical, statistical, and information literacy rates among high school graduates across the Middle East and North Africa. Khoshaim [51] noted that Saudi universities suffer from high remedial mathematics rates because students consistently fail basic college entry-level mathematics courses. Albalawi [34] observed that high school principals failed to emphasize the roles of information and statistical literacies in preparing students for college courses requiring rudimentary knowledge in descriptive and inferential statistics. Al-Husain and Hammo [52] suggested that college students lack fundamental computer science and programming skills, negatively impacting their graduation likelihood and timely degree completion. By the same token, Rajab [53] noted a high dropout rate among computer science majors at Najran University in Saudi Arabia caused by a lack of technical ability, literacy, and adaptability.

A disproportionate focus on preparing students for college tests and high stakes admissions testing has defined the bulk of CCR practices in the Arab World. Mokdad (2020) noted that Emirati high schools emphasize the role of testing in helping their students attain admissions in English-speaking countries. Similarly, Albalawi [34] indicated that the cutting-edge college readiness programs offered by small well-funded and organized programs in Saudi Arabia aim to prepare participants for attaining admissions at top ranked higher education institutions around the world. Therefore, schools concentrate on preparing students for the SAT, as well as other relevant tests, thereby ignoring the multidimensional readiness frameworks highlighted by Conley, as well as others.

One of the most important barriers to achieving CCR benchmarks for Arab high school students highlighted by past researchers is the limited resources afforded to school and career counselors [7,50,54]. There is a shortage of counselors in the region [7,55]. Additionally, the training programs for counselors suffer from outdated curricula, instruction, and frameworks [54,56,57]. Accountability and transparency in the school and career counseling professions are meager, especially in developing countries [56,58,59,60]. The need for retraining current counselors is noted across many secondary education systems in the region [50,57]. The time spent with high school students by counselors is limited and, more importantly, insufficient in providing students the academic and non-academic skills necessary for career or college success.