The ASAP Program

I teach first grade at Lowe Elementary School; my class is made up of twenty-four very diverse seven year-olds; they come from all over the city of Louisville, from a variety of socio-economic situations. Each student brings a unique personality to our classroom community, and they all work hard to become “smarter and smarter” and to “go to college”. Thirteen students are boys and eleven are girls. Of these twenty-four students, three of them are English Language Learners. Additionally, eight students receive tier two interventions and two receive tier three interventions in reading. In math, five students are tier two and four are tier three. I also teach one student who receives ECE services for a developmental delay. Within my class there is a wide achievement gap.

The Early College Alliance prepares students to go even beyond college. They offer classes that equip students with the knowledge they need to do many important things (like managing a budget, for example). They teach values in these classes that other schools don’t, and I think that is amazing.

As a current Retention Specialist, for the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), I have mastered group counseling. For instance, I have conducted over 100 academic advisement workshops. Aside from holding group counseling, I have prevented ECS Hispanic and Black American students from dropping out of California State University, Fullerton. Nonetheless, I am the face of a first-generation scholar who can relate to some challenges first-generation college students’ experience. These challenges may entail, working while pursuing an advanced degree, culture shock with the university environment, and overcoming learning disabilities. Remarkably, I have surmounted obstacles such as having a slight Reading Disability and successfully completing remediation courses during my freshman year in college.

To efficiently address the needs of nontraditional African American female students ages 25 to 50 it is important for colleges to understand and know this subgroup population (Strayhorn & Johnson, 2014; Walpole, et al., 2014). The research questions for this study are designed to gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of African American female students age 25 to 50 enrolled in developmental courses.

Urban Prep Charter Academies is a three campus charter public school in the city of Chicago. Urban Prep is located in the West, Bronzeville, and Englewood communities. The three campuses have grew the name of getting 100% acceptances into college, with the population of African American young males. “Urban Prep’s mission is to provide a high-quality and comprehensive college-preparatory educational experience to young men that results in our graduates succeeding in college” (About Urban Prep, 2012). Upon my discovery, Urban Prep counseling department consist of academic counselors, personal counselors, and college counselors. Each department work together towards fulfilling the school’s mission of providing and assisting in implementing a high-quality

In urban priority school districts, educators emphasize the importance of graduation. The expectation of all educators should be that every child can learn and will graduate. It is through graduation that society begins to combat poverty. In New Haven Public Schools, where graduation rates are higher than comparable districts in the state of Connecticut, they are not inclusive of all public school students. It is through collaboration with the University of Chicago and the Consortium on School Research that freshman on-track indicators have been defined and implemented in one high school in the city. It is the purpose of this study to determine the effectiveness of the use of early warning indicators to increase the high school graduation

For whom who graduated from high school will continue with their higher education level. Most of students think that if they graduate from college or four years university they will have a chance to work on the professional field rather than minimum wages. It is a good opportunity for whose low income students can make through and receive their college degree. To support my point, in the article “Expanding Community College Access” I agree with the President Obama that, “ASAP, which began in 2007, provides money for books, coaching, tutoring, tuition waivers and transportation. Fifty-seven percent of last year’s graduates finished in three years; compare to the traditional students, where the three-year graduation rate hover around 15 percent.” (Naughton). With the high percentage graduated of ASAP program provides, the state should be agreed that the community college tuition should be waved .

The overview of these three programs and attaining them is optimal, essentially a cycle of opportunity. By providing these services it develops a base for a long-term goal of achieving self-sufficiency and out of poverty. However, the accessibility of these beneficial resources may be difficult to obtain based on eligibility. New ideas that may help improve or reduce disparities in future programs can begin by concentrating on and expanding educational resources. For instance, a program that holds educational sessions on a monthly base, targeting communities, informing families of available resources and assisting with the application process. Another idea would be collaborating with the school system, specifically low-income based communities. After school program can be initiated to target parents that need assistance with extra resources and services. Lastly, innovating a classroom setting program for the duration of one-year, furthering educational and leadership ability for

Last year, at Kingsland High School’s Graduation Ceremony, Josie Hinze not only receiveed her High School Diploma, but also her Associates of Arts Degree before even attending any college or university. Fast-forward to one year later, and seven Kingsland students will be graduating high school with both their High School Diploma and AA Degree thanks to the collaboration of Riverland Community College and Kingsland High School for allowing high school students to take college-level courses in high school and receive college credit for them. Not only that, but there are several others who will be graduating Kingsland High School with transferrable college credit so their first few semesters might

Educational opportunity program at Cal Poly Pomona and all other twenty three California State University campuses address the access and equity for these minority group of students in higher education to provide support services for low income, first generation students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. These educational institutions have been successful in increasing both the higher education attendance rates and educational attainment of students from low-income, first-generation college, and underrepresented ethnic minority backgrounds.

In perspective of students from underrepresented populations, the numbers are much lower in comparison the number of students participating in the AP course program. However, among concurrent and post-secondary enrollment options the number of low-income students rose 40% from the previous school year, while white student participation percentages remains stagnant ("Postsecondary enrollment options," 2012). This is a state funded program, with affiliated state colleges and universities from which the college credit is earned, which is very beneficial for those who do not have the financial support to attend college. Other benefits to these programs are they allow students to complete a “trial run” of college classes to determine if this is part of their career path without exhausting personal finances. These courses also give students exposure to the high academic expectations associated with college-level work, allow them to find new challenges, and give them momentum to pursue a college degree by awarding them college credits before they graduate high school.

the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) for students who are enrolled in one of the first four years of postsecondary education and are carrying at

For African American men, a crisis is occurring as institutions continue to observe dismal graduation rates. As a continue to learn about African American male student success in higher education, it has become more imperative that I understand my institutional efforts to address this issue. Like institutions across the nation, California State University, Northridge (CSUN), acknowledges the disparity in retention and graduation rates for students of color specifically African American male students. There have been many initiatives directed at supporting students of color persistence. CSUN has several programs directed towards improving African American

For instance, funded by the U.S. Department of Education TRIO Grant, the UB Program for English Language Learners (ELL) at Rowan University focuses on providing college preparatory activities and supportive services to low income students in grades 9 or 10 who are able to maintain their GPA at 2.0, who are highly recommended by their teachers or counselors, and who have the desire for higher education (Rowan University at Camden, 2015). The Rowan UB Program continuously identifies and recruits competitive students who are interested in learning English as their preparation for their future academic success and postsecondary attainment.

From the Eric Digest, that examined recent research on DAP programs specifically on social-emotional and cognitive learning skills. The article mentions, “Young children in developmentally appropriate programs also seemed more confident in their own cognitive skills. Children described their cognitive competence more positively when they attended child-initiated rather than academically oriented programs (Mantzicopoulos, Neuharth-Pritchett, & Morelock, 1994; Stipek et al., 1995).” (Dunn, L. & Kontos, S., 1997). This research that as examined shows the success of the DAP programs from researchable perspective. This statement proves that critical learning is taking place and that children in DAP learning centers learn cognitively and in positive way that was less stressful and more confident in their work allowing children to learn effectively. The DAP environment allows children to be more comfortable, school ready, and support and build both cognitive and social/emotional skills.