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College preparation
In recent years, Chicago Public Schools says it is sending more graduates to 4-year colleges. Yet nationally, only about half of college freshmen graduate. What can CPS do to help students better prepare for college and choose the best school, including 2-year colleges for students whose career interests do not require a 4-year degree?
First and foremost, I will encourage CPS to work diligently with the inner city high schools a lot more on college preparation. It's unfair having inner city students not knowing the difference between a four year institution and a two year institution. Being a student of Corliss High School, has been a challenge when it came to seeking out colleges. You don't have that help like others at Whitney Young, Payton or any other selective enrollment schools.
Our students need the help to know how to get into the post-secondary school and remain their and graduate. The students aren't given the much needed help to make college a reality. I found out myself that once you in a school, were you see that help isn't there you have to seek out and find it. In the schools their should be a implemented program for students were it's mandatory you attend and learn about the college process.
The rates of kids going off to school in CPS may be high, but I know that isn't really including the kids in the disadvantaged communities like Roseland, Englewood and etc. I shout out "Kudos" to the Urban Prep academy for striving to have 100% acceptance for their young men..
However, our inner city schools need the same help that our magnet schools receive. I feel a difference is made between the two, but in the magnet schools those students are college bound. Whereas, many in the inner city feels theirs no need for a college education. That's the reason many of the inner city schools need more support with there students and getting them to excel at a two or four year institution. College is possible with a support system for many..
In regards to the college completion rate, we have to identify the reasons. Is it due to academic failure? What percentage is simply due to lack of funding? How much can be attributed to minimal supports for non-academic reasons, e.g., child care, social supports, and minimal preparation for a postsecondary environment? What are our findings from those who have not completed the curriculum? With these results we can better tailor solutions. In the interim, there are things that can be done immediately.
To better prepare the CPS student for postsecondary life, do we have an across-the-board assessment of aptitudes, abilities, strengths and weaknesses that is given to ALL students regardless of whether or not they are “college prep”? Do we then help the student match the assessment results to potential careers—whether or not this requires a college degree or certification? When is this assessment given? This is something that should be incorporated during all four years of high school, not just as part of the senior year as part of the college application process. When we have external speakers, job shadowing, college fairs and the like, do we also incorporate those careers that do not require a four year degree? We should take care to not seem to advocate one path, i.e., a four year college, as the only route to “success”.
Once we help put the student on a “career track”, are we then addressing such “potential pitfalls” as: how to define what schools or programs are “best suited” for the individual; how to pay for this education; time management; and how to identify, assess, and overcome obstacles (and resources to combat such) they may meet to complete this program.
Too many students simply take the “beaten path” of known or better advertised schools and careers. Are we doing all that we can to help broaden their insights? Let’s help reduce their “tunnel vision” and give them the tools of self-awareness, foresight, research and confidence. This is the TRUE education and value we must provide.
After a decade and a half of mayoral control of the schools, only about 6% of CPS students are graduating from college by the time they are 30. This is abysmal and certainly debunks the myth of Chicago's school reform "miracle" or "renaissance." It's also testimony to the failure of the current standardization and testing approaches.
Then comes the question: why is college presented at the only, or at least the gold standard of success when it is increasingly becoming accessible only to the children of the wealthy, the documented, or those willing to assume a lifetime of massive debt.
Alternatives to the narrow college prep focus include schools like Austin Poly H.S. with its focus on high-tech manufacturing as well as many of the small and alternative schools which are more personalized. In these learning environments, students can follow their interests and passions and create more post-secondary options for themselves, including college.
Sir Ken Robinson's recent talk at TED on this topic . is worth watching.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
It is no secret that we need to do a better job increasing high school graduation rates, as well as increasing college acceptance rates and preparing students for success once they get there. We agree with Vivian that to do so, we need to think more broadly about what actually makes a student successful. Classroom achievement – whether in elementary school or in four-year colleges – is based not only on young people’s mastery of core English and math skills; it is also grounded in how confident, healthy and empowered they feel each day.
Within this context, educators and community partners must think more critically about the full range of support services students must access, starting in kindergarten, to successfully navigate tough urban environments and make good choices in difficult circumstances. Equally important, we must work together to offer children new and exciting school-based opportunities that can spark a life-long interest in learning and keep them focused year after year on leading goal-oriented, purposeful lives.
We can open these doors for children as early as elementary school. It starts with encouraging schools and community partners to collaborate more frequently to fill the gaps in students’ social, emotional and physical wellbeing. This includes finding creative ways to offer students more vital arts and enrichment experiences through dance residencies, field trips and free or reduced-rate concerts. It also includes wider and affordable access to essential medical services like vision screenings, physicals, immunizations and asthma care. And, of course, any plan to help urban students obtain diplomas must focus on teaching how to resolve conflicts peacefully and avoid violence.
None of these recommendations have college or career in their titles, yet they are essential prerequisites for any student hoping to one day graduate from an institute of higher learning rather than spend time in an institution. Together we can help them achieve this goal.
It's a good idea to take a look at the efforts that are succeeding at college persistence. North Lawndale College Prep's website shows how strikingly they are succeeding (www.nlcphs.org). I'm not certain whether they are still using the strategy of having a separate counselor for each grade level, who follows them each year and then during their 1st year of college, but this seemed like a great approach to me. As they explained it, their focus on a peaceful school enabled them to spend less money on security and more on additional counselors. The CPS counselor-to-student ratio does not, on its own accommodate this.
Umoja Corp. also has a set of smart, intensive college orientation strategies worth checking out (www.umojacorporation.org). The statistics on their website don't include persistence figures, but I bet they have them.
Re Mike Klonsky's comments: Yes, we certainly should help kids who have other goals than college (we did so at Best Practice HS, may it rest in peace). But the question here is about how to help the students who WANT to succeed in college and presently aren't able to hang in. An excellent book to read on this topic: "A Hope in the Unseen," by Ron Suskind (pub. 11 years ago but still thoughtful. Who borrowed my copy?!).
Thanks to Steve for his reminder to stay on topic, which I just read as the 2 words above.
As for the reference to Suskind's book which focuses in large part on the relationship between Zayd Dorhn (Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorhn's son) and Cedric, the African-American student from D.C. at Brown who is the subject of the book. Issues of race and relationships are key for many when it comes to college completion. Such issues are often ignored in Chicago's apartheid school system and at most large elite universities. They're also not tested. Maybe that's why.
I second Steve's nomination and would like to see Hope in the Unseen be put on every high school senior's recommended reading list. There are some pretty good study and curriculum guides available for the book online.
One more question back at Steve. Do you have any data on North Lawndale's or any other Chicago charter students' college completion rate or info as to what the charters do to pull their grads through college after they leave high school? I would love to see it.
Apologies fo my dear friend Bernardine for misspelling Dohrn twice.