Effectiveness Of A College Readiness Program Within An Urban High School

The purpose of education is to prepare students for their futures with both knowledge as well as fundamental life skills. I believe students are highly capable beings who have a desire to be productively challenged. To empower students to meet and exceed high expectations set forth by the state, school, or teacher, it is imperative that educators “teach for enduring understanding through partnerships and by drawing on brain-based education, students ' multiple intelligences, and culturally appropriate curriculum innovations” (Laster and Johnson). Beyond guaranteeing students can read, write, and perform basic math functions, we should be producing graduates who are responsible individuals positively contributing to society, reliable workers, and devoted family members. Whether students receive a scholarship to attend college or go to work immediately following graduation, we must train them to conduct themselves with integrity, have an admirable work ethic, and solve challenging problems they may face throughout their lives.

High school is an important time for developing a sense of who you are as a person. Each kid who starts out high school will usually asks themselves what they are there to accomplish. For the most part, many set personal goals for themselves and strive to achieve above and beyond. However, some are just there for the experience and to see where it takes them. It’s apparent that some kids have an easier time and don’t have to struggle with their high school career. For example, some of the students have followed strong academic paths that have prepared them for this time in their lives, where as others have struggled with educational influences and feel unprepared or lost. Swerdlow mentions that the students, who attend J.E.B. Stuart, are given many chances to improve their educational foundation in order to

High schools do not focus enough on college readiness. “Our findings suggest that high schools have prioritized credit accrual necessary for graduation over knowledge and skill development that would prepare students for

Less than 4% of the total student population enrolled in America’s colleges and universities (one of the smallest subgroups based on race/ethnicity and gender.) According to the Schott Foundation, the graduation rate of Black males in CT is between 51%, whereas White males in CT have an 83% graduation rate—a 32% gap. Moreover, the achievement gap between Black women and Black men is the lowest male-to female ratio among all racial/ethnic subgroups. (Strayhorn 1). The disproportionate and devastating failure of Black males in the educational system has further ramifications in our social system as black males are over-represented in the criminal justice system: “African-American males represent approximately 8.6 percent of the nation’s K-12 public school enrollment but make up about 60 percent of all incarcerated youth” (Smith 2005). In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the academic crisis of adolescent black males, one must examine the research findings surrounding the Black-White achievement gap, black male standardized test scores, black male literacy achievement, and the socio-cultural achievement barriers that obscure black males’ self-perception of themselves as readers. “According to many standardized assessments, educators in the U.S.

Being admitted into college is a difficult process, one that requires students to be diligent in their studies, engage in a number of extracurricular activities, and overcome the everyday pressures and challenges that high-schoolers face across the country. Admittedly, not everyone in the United States is born with the same opportunities as socioeconomic factors as well as historic injustices have contributed to a society in which some people are far more likely to achieve upward mobility – of which, obtaining a college degree is a necessary part – than others. While there is need to rectify this reality,

Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle in their book “Rereading America” feel that commencing college is a very disturbing experience. So many things we have to deal while starting college, but the major challenges are expanded difficulty levels and higher expectation which we are not familiar over the years of high school. In order to solve this issue, we have to remodel ourselves by taking up the challenge and rethink about our strength and flaws. To succeed in college we need to be mentally strong and dedicated towards our goal.

It also showed us that value in education comes in different forms. For example, students like DeAndre valued education but didn’t think the education he was receiving was the best approach for him. It may appear the DeAndre was uninterested in learning but in reality he was interested in learning things that could help and resonated with his cultural history. I was enlightened by the way this article helped to highlight different types of students in a positive light. I resonate with this article because I went to a high school where students were labeled as noncompliant or “acting white”. I fell that more educators should read this article to get a well-rounded view of all their students especially those in the minority community. Furthermore, after reading this article I began to brainstorm alternatives to making school more appealing to all categories of students. According to the Boston Globe a new idea called community schools are entering discussions about better school models. The Boston Globe defines community schools as “both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement leads to improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities”. This idea sounds great to me because not only does it address the needs of the student

Determining college readiness is an essential part in determining who will qualify as a good candidate for admission into a college or a university. The last thing that colleges want is for students to qualify for admission and drop out, this affects drop out rate and graduation rate. According Robin Chait and Andrea Venezia (2009),

Following this mission and vision, Heritage High School as an agency, works to prepare students for post high school life by providing individual counseling services, group counseling services, mediation services, and crisis intervention services for all students in need. Moreover, this agency works to fight the social injustice of unequal educational opportunities, due to disabilities, race, gender, and socioeconomic background, by providing critical support services to disadvantaged individuals. Not only does this agency provide services mandated by students’ individual education plans, but it also offers services and resources to any students that require additional assistance to meet their educational goals and ultimately reach graduation

I am a Second Generation African-American Student, and I’m proud to say that my eagerness to learn is one of the many reasons for my academic success. Growing up in an African immigrant family, education has always been my prime focus due to the inspiration I’ve received from my parents. Because of that, all through my middle school journey at Sky Vista, I have set and accomplished many goals for myself. From the baseline of having a 3.5 GPA in 6th grade to always having a 4.0 GPA each quarter in the 7th and 8th grade. Now that my middle school years are slowly coming to an end, my eyes have been shifted to look forward to achieving greater academic things. As I am about to enter high school this year in August, I hope to be faced with many

The faculty developed a system of support to advocate the academic and personal success for each student by utilizing the academy theme. The incoming freshman has a personal transition plan, which sets the foundation for their high school career. The personal transition plan also enable students to develop passion and deepen their purpose for life. To increase college and career readiness for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented students, the Early College program is an example of tweaking the personalized learning pathway to change the trajectory of the

College is a place of learning. College is a place of experimenting. College is a place of finding yourself. However, with the current state of the way college courses are set up, all students are finding is that they are underprepared for the expectations that their professors and campus upholds. This seems like a ridiculous idea considering a student will have endured approximately thirteen years of public or private education before entering any sort of higher education. However, with a lack of high school counselors (whose main focus is to prepare students for college) and an overinflated idea of what college is really like in a student’s head, among other things, being prepared for what college is truly like may not necessarily be the case

Adolescents face many developmental tasks: physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. For example, puberty happens, intellectual interests expand, moral thinking happens, sense of identity is initiated, independence is worked towards, there is conflict with adults, and peer influence becomes an issue—to say the least. This particular read focuses on twelve west coast inner city students and the developmental and environmental tasks that impact their education. Professionals often use the word resilience, or suggest that students become resilient, without putting much thought into the difficulties that students must recover from.

High school is a crucial period for all adolescences, it’s a time where teenagers are approaching young adulthood, their learning new skills rapidly, and making important decisions (Blakemore, 2011). For this reason, it is highly imperative for high school students to have positive influences in their lives, especially in their educational setting. In high school, educators play an important role in their student’s lives because they have the opportunity to have a stronger impact on their future and their goals. In addition, they also have the opportunity to, inspire them to learn and try new things, teach them how to make sound decisions, and encourage them to collaborate with their peers (Bellanca & Brandt, 2010).

Yet, the education does not stop at middle school, for high school really puts all the basic skills from elementary and middle school to work as the assignments and the exams become more challenging. We do not only learn about reading, writing, history, and math, we learn about the people around us as we associate with different personalities, and as we see what we have grown up to be and what we want to be later in life. Accordingly, the high school years are a time when teachers emphasize the importance of graduating and attending college in order to have a “succesful future.”