Journal of College Teaching & Learning – November 2010 Volume 7, Number 11 47 The Use Of Metacognitive Scaffolding To Improve College Students’ Academic Success Ioney James, North Carolina A & T State University, USA Comfort O. Okpala, North Carolina A & T State University, USA ABSTRACT In this era of accountabilities and complex ecologies, it is important to highlight results from metacognitive scaffolding, aimed at enhancing the learning strategies of a group of college freshmen preparing for the Praxis 1 examination. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the use of metacognitive scaffolding used to enhance the literacy skills of 35 college students on their performance as measured by their test scores in Praxis 1 examination. It focuses on the importance of learning strategies to academic success, and literacy challenges encountered by college students. The result from the study indicates substantial improvement in students’ literacy performance on Praxis 1 examination. INTRODUCTION his proposal highlights metacognitive scaffolding used to enhance the literacy skills of a group of college freshmen preparing for the Praxis 1 examination, a benchmark for entry into the Teacher Education program.The following research questions guided the focus of the study:  Did the use of metacognitive scaffolding improve the achievement of students as measured by Praxis I examination?  What are the perceptions of students about the Praxis Preparation class?  What are some of the literacy challenges faced by students in preparation for Praxis examination? THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES This study was based on research constructs on teacher preparation and literacy. Teacher preparation is a measure of the quality of teacher education institution. Basic to the hot debate on teacher quality is the question of how teachers are prepared. The preparation of teachers varies among states and the variation ranges from the appropriate length of teacher education program, the contents to be taught, to the number of semester hours in general education program (Onstein & Levin, 2003). Gregorian (2001) stresses that one of the most fundamental complaints of poor quality teaching in schools today can be attributed to teachers’ preservice learning. Each year, a large number of high school students enter college lacking the effective learning strategies to matriculate through the college curriculum. Because most of these students encounter difficulty meeting the demand of the college courses, they are likely to develop negative attitudes toward learning and ultimately drop out of college after the first year. In 2007, over 30% of college students leave after the first year and almost 50% never graduate, according to the Department of Education. Of the ranking of variables cited for student dropouts, education disqualification is 28%. Retention of college freshmen and sophomores is a challenging task facing many institutions throughout the United States. In most colleges, students are asked to participate in the orientation process and are assigned advisors. Nevertheless, they lack the cognitive strategies necessary to succeed on qualifying examinations that are used as benchmark at different phases of their programs. T