The Bridge Of Opportunity Initiative

Throughout history, educational neglect of rural schools and students only compounded the high unemployment and poverty rates of many rural communities. By having access to high-quality education programs you are able to promote rural economic development and help build back up those areas. However, juveniles, adults and those who are currently unemployed often times find it difficult due to the lack of access to post-secondary schooling or career training programs to find adequate employment. By giving access to appropriate transition services, academic remediation and accommodations to help achieve success on their individualized path it enables them to address their barriers to higher education and economic empowerment. This is why the need for The Steps to Success program is something our community needs because it will

The data collected from NLTS:12 Phase II will help to understand the impact of the reauthorization and implementation of the IDEA 2004, analyze the postsecondary education enrollment and financial support available to students with disabilities. The findings will provide a foundation of current and longitudinal information on youth experiences and outcomes that can inform future research and policy discussion regarding transition planning practices, access to financial supports for post-secondary education and employment preparation, and subpopulations of youth with disabilities who are less prepared for college and career.

While discussing this issue, it is crucial to focus on helping those of “low-income kids, English-language learners, and kids with disabilities the support they need to thrive” by raising the standard of education that these students are receiving to the same level as their higher-class counterparts (“Hillary Clinton on K-12 Education”). By improving the public schools that these minority students attend, there is higher the possibility that these students will continue on to higher education

Students from low-income and first generation backgrounds often struggle in different academic subjects. Subsequently, students have lower expectations for themselves when it comes to academic achievement. The majority of first generation students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Seeing that, families work countless hours in factories and other places where they are underpaid because of the lack of educational opportunity they experienced themselves. According to Blackwell and Pinder (2014) in the United States higher education is becoming the outlet to different avenues of opportunity whether it is through social mobility or economic progress. While screening out possible topics of interest for a research proposal, one of the challenges I encountered in my field experience was the lack of college access education and funding for the families in the urban high schools. The first generation student family typically is unaware of the college process because the student’s parents have not attended an institution of higher education. Therefore, the students cannot count on their knowledge of the process. Eventually, when students reach the financial aid process it becomes difficult because parents usually cannot afford full tuition expenses and at the same time do not understand the process. In these situations, schools with a college going culture can prepare staff to provide extra support to students by developing professional training in college access, mentorship

“NCAN utilizes four strategies to assist states, schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropists provide better education access to low-income and underrepresented students. Their strategy of capacity building seeks to ensure that those who help students are well-trained and well-informed. By utilizing benchmarking, NCAN can standardize data that will help monitor, compare, and improve progress. Collective impact encourages groups that help support postsecondary completion rates. Lastly, their policy strategy fights to properly represent low-income and other disadvantaged students.” Another one called The Education Trust. “seeks educational justice for all students, especially low-income students and students of color. With its promise of being equality-driven, data-centered, and student-focused, EdTrust works with educators, students, parents, policymakers, and civic leaders to transform and better the school system. By analyzing local, state, and national data, EdTrust takes a hard look at opportunity gaps, and works diligently to close

The U.S. government has created a new strategy to make colleges more affordable for low income students. Federal student aid’s primary goal is to help as many students attend college as possible. Financial aid and Pell Grants help low income students who meet certain academic criteria cover the costs of tuition. Low income students are getting a chance to attend college and increase graduation rates from four-year institutions to help close the poverty gap. Colleges and universities should make low income high school students aware of programs that will help them enroll and afford their education. Schools teach low income students that college is a key to their financial independence and a better life. High schools teach Seniors that in order to improve your social standing, employment options and salary expectations, a college education is often necessary. Financial aid is central to the successful enrollment and retention of low-income students. The majority of these students (90 percent) getting financial assistance from government. By maximizing Pell grant award amounts for low-income students, reforming the student loan program, and eliminating bank subsidies, colleges and universities can be affordable.

The argument at capital is that adult education actually saves governments money by reducing societal healthcare, public assistance, and incarceration costs. It also improves and expands the nation’s available pool of workers by helping motivated, but undereducated people get jobs (Gonzalez, 2011).

In the Reclaiming the American Dream report (AACC, 2012), seven recommendations were suggested to meet the needs of the students, as well as having a strong community college system. Hence, these recommendation address redesigning students’ educational experiences, reinventing institutional roles, and resetting the system to create incentives for students and institutional triumphs.

The readings from “The Postsecondary State Policy Network”, led by Jobs for the Future, is a multistate partnership that is assists states in setting policies that will lead to student success and completion. The supporters of this initiative are Achieving the Dream, Completion by Design and Student Success Center. The primary focus is supporting structured student pathways from connection to college through completion. The four pathways are connection, entry, progress and completion (2014).

These programs come under much controversy and scrutiny nationwide, but whether or not they are consistently successful; their aim is noble in attempting to fix the quagmire that is educational attainment rates through inceitiveing success with money. These same principals are being increasingly applied to higher education as state appropriations are (at least in part) beginning to factor in retention, progression, and graduation when funding state colleges and universities.

I have witnessed in my lived experiences the value DE plays in the career development plan for my urban students. Conversely, my negative biases come into play when I witness how some of lower-income families do not appear to appreciate the importance of the DE program and CTE coursework. Parsons (2008) contests, “deficit perspective begins with an implicit premise that the cultural, social, educational, political, and economic sphere of life in the United States and access within the aforementioned are the same for all American regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, social class and so forth”(p. 1128). Therefore, I cannot let my biases prohibit me from recognizing that my upper-middle class privilege taught me to appreciate early exposure to college coursework.

In order to supplement the lack of educational achievements by schools and families in low-income areas, many after school programs have emerged to help support the current level of educational skills. The Bridge Project is an example of one after school program that aims to provide educational opportunities for children living in some of Denver’s public housing neighborhoods in hopes that they are then able to attend higher education after graduating from high school. The Bridge Project has five different locations throughout Colorado, one of which is located in the Sunnyside Neighborhood and is surrounded by public housing homes. Programs like the Bridge Project are important to neighborhoods like Sunnyside to support the lacking educational skills in children that are otherwise affected by

According to Pyle and Wexler (2012), students with disabilities are disproportionally represented in high school graduation rates. Millions of students with individual education plans (IEPs) lack a high school diploma which then in turn affects their ability to secure

Today there is a growing gap between educated and uneducated Americans. The upper-middle class seem to expect nothing less than a college degree, while lower-income families risk missing a college education, so they can go straight into the workforce. To get “nontraditional” students on the path of a college education, it would greatly benefit them and society. To get these students to apply for college would help to break the cycle of upper-middle class “diversity,” allow lower-income students to start thinking about college, and help to boost the economy.

External evaluations of the ASAP program have confirmed its success and demonstrate its cost-effectiveness. Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation conducted an extensive review of the program, consisting of a sample of 900 students with a developmental need from Kingsborough Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and La Guardia Community College. The review found that participants graduated at double the rate of the comparison group of students. MDRC researchers noted that “ASAP’s effects are the largest MDRC has found in any of its evaluations of community college reforms…. The ASAP model offers a highly promising strategy to markedly accelerate students’ progress, increase graduation rates, and build human capital among educationally and economically disadvantaged populations” ( ASAP Evaluation,