A recent blog summarized the findings of Measuring Up by the National Center For Public Policy and Higher Education. Each state receives grades on key indicators of college success such as college preparation In an interview the prime author Pat Callan pointed out that much of the information the government collects is about a diminishing part of the college population - first time, full time students who remain at the same institution throughout their college careers. Moreover, the federal government cannot track a students academic, enrollment , or financial aid history as they progress or change colleges.Fewer states participate in government surveys of high school course taking patterns.
This is an urgent issue for the incoming Obama administration. Less than half of college enrollment from high school is full time.

Labels: college information

The Dream Project is a student-initiated
>high-school outreach program that operates as a
>University of Washington course and partners UW
>students with first-generation and low-income
>high school students to assist in the college
>admissions process. Over 100 UW undergraduates
>work with over 300 juniors and seniors in seven
>area high-schools. The undergraduates attend
>class once per week for an hour and a half, and
>then travel to the high-schools for at least one
>hour per week throughout the entire school
>year. In the high-schools, juniors and seniors
>work through the entire college application
>process with the UW undergraduates, including:
>thinking about the right "fit" for college,
>studying for the SAT and ACT, preparing
>articulate personal statements, turning in three
>or more college applications, understanding and
>filling out the FAFSA, applying for
>scholarships, matriculation, and the transition into college.
>
>
>
>Once they have transitioned into college, many
>students will find a community-in-waiting,
>especially if they choose to come to the
>University of Washington. Similarly, other
>college campuses across the state (and the
>nation) are either starting their own Dream
>Project this year or are currently learning how
>to start one in future years. These
>communities--groups of undergrads that are
>already friends with the transitioning high
>school students--help to ensure high retention
>and graduation rates of the Dream Project
>scholars. In effect, the line is blurred
>between high school student, college student,
>and college graduate because many students who
>are involved in the Dream Project start out in
>one of the partner high schools and then join
>the Dream Project as an undergraduate
>themselves, continuing the cycle of giving back
>to their community. In this way, high school
>students can find their older peers at nearly
>any of the colleges to which they apply.
>
>
>
>In the UW course, undergraduates learn about
>educational opportunity and social mobility
>while gaining the skills necessary to mentor the
>high school students throughout their
>preparation for and application to
>colleges. Each week, undergraduates work with
>and learn from college admissions counselors,
>financial aid and scholarship officers, SAT/ACT
>preparation experts, and numerous faculty and
>staff who speak about mentorship, social
>justice, non-profit work, and public schooling
>issues. Also, undergraduates are the leaders of
>the program--from collaborating with the high
>schools and school districts, to creating the
>class syllabus and course readings, to fund
>raising and development efforts. The
>undergraduates hold panels with the counseling
>staff from the high schools so that they can
>better understand how to collaborate and learn
>from one another's efforts. Similarly, the
>undergraduates work with an advisory committee
>of university faculty and staff to help the
>university understand the needs and changes of
>the program and the schools with which the Dream Project works.
>
>
>
>The Dream Project is unique on many levels, but
>two DP achievements are particularly relevant to
>this blog. First, the Dream Project has helped
>to develop better communication between and
>among the public high-schools it serves and the
>higher education world in Washington State,
>including career/college counselors, high-school
>administrators, teachers, parents, college
>admissions counselors, university
>administrators, and university faculty and
>staff. Second, the Dream Project has induced an
>"in-reach" effect by changing the culture of the
>high schools we serve, such that the younger
>high-school students and their teachers,
>administrators, counselors and parents are
>preparing earlier and more accurately for
>college admissions. The Dream Project's
>students--undergraduates and high schoolers--are
>well aware of the "myths" of college and have
>aimed to dispel those myths wherever they occur,
>which happens to be at all levels along the P-16
>continuum. I believe that is why the Dream
>Project's dedication to collaboration and
>communication between all areas of education
>(K-12, higher education, funding partners,
>students, and parents) has been so successful.

For more information contact: Jenee Meyers ,myersja@u.washington.edu

Labels: college information, College Success Studies

The best new site I have seen to assist students parents, and counselors for college planning is http://www.collegegrazing.com-
It has 13 interactive self discovery surveys for immediate feedback concerning college planning and focus. It contains information on all kinds of colleges at home and abroad. Included is a complete application essay writing guide and other college search tools. It is free and creative. As someone who tried to build one of these sites, I appreciate how hard this is to creat this one.

Labels: college information

We need to reformulate the college access issue to focus more on “access to preparation and success,” rather than the more traditional issue of access to a slot in postsecondary education.Student incentives and signals to students are important concepts to increase college completion.

Examples of incentives could be admission policies that reward students for completing numerous college preparation courses, or teacher professional development that helps increase the probability of students meeting college placement test standards. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are important components of motivating prospective college student behavior.

Signaling theory suggests that streamlined and aligned high quality and appropriate content messages have a positive impact on students’ learning and achievement, and that mixed and conflicting signals—the current state of affairs—have the opposite effect. School site educators, including but not limited to counselors, can be purveyors of information (e.g. signals) about what students need to know and be able to do in order to succeed at postsecondary education. Many secondary school teachers play a large role in providing signals, especially for high achieving students, but teachers do not know much about college placement exams at non selective colleges. Moreover, students get clearer signals if colleges communicate more about placement tests and not just how easy it is to get into their college. For more put "the bridge project" in Google and go to publications.

Labels: college information, college sucess

COLLEGEDEGREES.com has a college scholarship application directory that is targeted to differnt and distinct types of categories including: degree specific, ehnicity based, relgion based, specialty -eg single mothers, and subject based such as accounting. This type of organization of sources is very user friendly, and should help applicants find a niche that will increase their financial aid chances. The link is http://www.collegedegrees.com/financial-aid/scholarships.

Labels: college information

A new survey by the National Center For Education Statistics found that Only a third of parents thought their childs secondary school did "very well" in providing information to help with postsecondary education planning. Over a quarter of parents felt their schools provided "no information at all". The best information was provided to students in 11 or 12th grades, USA born parents, private school students ,and earned mostly A"S. So the lack of clear signals about college is still not reaching most students who attend broad access postsecondary education. See for yourself at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008079.pdf.

Labels: college information

Marty Nemko has been a long time critic of college preparation,and now provides a list of what prospective students should look for in choosing a college, or whether to go to college. See his article that also examines the consequences of college drop outs at http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=xmPSwYZj2z4sMThmHjfcbqgMm9hf5rps

Labels: academic preparation, college information

The April 20 New York Times education section has a good article on the big change in financial aid policies for America"s most selective colleges. It clearly describes the major change to provide more grant money to the middle and lower income students. More low income students are getting a signal that they can go to these colleges,because the aid policies are easy to understand.
But the article also points out that very few students attend these colleges with incomes under $ 100,000, and the total enrollment of these schools is less than 5% of the overall college enrollment- eg 45% of students attend 2 year schools.
The conclusion at the end is my concern. it implies that what the elites do will drive the discussion for financial aid policies for broad access colleges that are open enrollment or non selective and where the low and middle income students go. I once thought this might be true , but after completing 10 years of research no longer think so. Pell grants and state merit scholarship programs are not influenced much by what Harvard, Stanford, Virginia,or Amherst do. -see http://bridgeproject.stanford.edu .

Labels: college information, student aid

The last blog had the key elements of a college culture. A new study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research found that in Chicago public schools only a third of the students went to a college matching their aspirations for a 4 year college. These students could have been accepted at a 4 year college ,but lacked information on how to apply or get financial aid. So they ended up at community colleges with much lower completion rates. The biggest factor in influencing whether they applied to a 4 year college-the college culture in the secondary school that they intended. Latino students had less college awareness than African Americans. Most students did not understand the difference between a 4 year and 2 year college.
Look at the elements of a good college climate in secondary school in the prior blog. Chicago needs much more attention to these.

Labels: academic preparation College Completion, college information

Many students who are in the middle or lower part of their high school graduation class are unsure whether or when they should go to college. The next decision is where. Starting with the first two decisions is correct, but complex. Many students want to delay going or think they are ready academically and cannot. This is analyzed in depth by the publication I co-authored "Betraying the College Dream" at http://brigeproject.stanford.edu. This website has many other studies that discuss these issues. But since then we have added another website to guide prospective college students through their decisions on whether, where, and when to go to college. Just click the website at the right hand top of this blog to begin solving the college puzzle. It asks you questions on many pieces of the puzzle and then gives you summary advice at the end.

Labels: college costs, college information, college knowledge, ready for college

osdcmuiMy last blog covered some of the basics of ECHS, but these schools are interesting in so many dimensions as examples of k-16 collaboration. Some ECHS are linked to major universities like Stanford, and others to community colleges. So the college courses they take in high school vary from applied vocational to introductory psychology. Everyone knows about AP for top students, but few know the potential that middle of the class students have to complete college work with the right academic and social support. The idea that students must stay in a high school building until they are 18 is dated, but often it is only the very best students who get a chance to experience college and improve their academic preparation.
One of the best ways to learn about college standards is to take a college course, so ECHS can help send clearer signals to first generation college students. But some college lecture courses may be taught using less interesting pedagogy than high school teachers use.

Labels: academic preparation, college information

I attended a conference on early college high schools that enable
average students to take college courses in high school up to 60
credits. These schools are spreading through Gates foundation grants,
and are impressive. They utilize lots of innovative practices
starting in the middle grades to prepare and nurture students for
college. Most of them are in low income areas and admit by lottery.
But they require students to attend longer hours, and to pursue a
college prep curriculum. But early college high schools have many
supports for students such as mentors, counselors, parent outreach,
and stimulating curriculum. They are smaller and more personalized
than typical big city high schools.

The costs are higher for early college schools and I wonder what
will happen after the foundation money runs out. However, the results
may be worth the extra money, and I was impressed with the energetic
staff and some preliminary outcomes for students. gates is evaluating
these schools so we will know more in a few years. For an overview,
check the major technical assistance provider for early college - www.jff.org

Labels: academic preparation College Completion, college costs, college information, college knowledge, College Preparation, College Readiness, College Success, curriculum alignment, ready for college

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings tried to use the federal process of college accreditation to receive federal financial aid as a lever to focus accreditation on student outcomes such as college completion. Unfortunatley, she lost when Republicans abandoned her, and neither of the higher education reauthorization bills takes a more aggresive stance on accreditation. Colleges need incentives to increase student persistence and completion. Now many can just churn students and keep afloat financially.
Spellings tried to beef up accreditation through the federal regulatory process and bypass Congress. She stressed that no standardized tests would be used , but many legislators may not have believed her. There are some voluntary moves by some colleges to focus accreditation more on student outcomes, but little is likely to change. Only 24 % of community college students in Ca. complete any certificate or degree/transfer program after six years, and numerous four year colleges graduate less than half their students after 10 years.

Labels: College Completion, college information

States are making slow progress on k-16 data systems according to a new report by The Data Quality Campaign-www.DataQualityCampaign.org. Only 15 states collect student level college readiness scores. Only 11 states link data for students across k-12 and postsecondary, and just 10 states regularly report postsecondary data to high schools. High schools do not know if their students are prepared for college. At the high school level only 17 states collect student transcript data.
Four states have all the necessary data elements- AR,DE,Fl, and UT. Data is a first step for accountability in the k-16 system, so we are a long way from an outcomes based college preparation state system.

Labels: college information, College Preparation

Higher Educations' charmed life continues because 86% of the public blames the student or the high school for college dropouts which are as high as 75% in community college and over 50% at some 4 year colleges. College is like the military says the public and should not be easy. And despite excalating tuition, the public believes the burden is on the student to make sacrifices and be more disciplined. So, the colleges can escape accountability and feel little pressure to improve instruction or student services from an uninformed public.
Pat Callan and John Immerwahr expolore this issue in the January 11, article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, . They wonder how long the pubilcs "good will' will last, given a gradual erosion in public support. But unless there is more understanding of the issues in this blog, not much will change soon given the general level of satisfaction with higher education.

Labels: College Completion, college information

My second review is the US Education Departments College navigator site www.nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator. It has data on 7,ooo public and private institutions using 16 criteria that cover many aspects of colleges including the setting, security, and major foci. The pop up boxes are useful on clarifying the terms and concepts included.
The site has so much information that it is difficult to use if students do not know what they are looking for, and are undecided about whether they should go to college at all. Moreover, it does not caution students enough concerning the time and study requirements ,if the student is working and has family obligations. Navigator is best for students who have some specific ideas about going to college.
Another website http://www.mycollegepuzzle.com/ shown at the top right of this blog is for the other end of the spectrum-broad access postsecondary education for students who are less clear on their choices ,and the demands of college success and college preparation. This site encourages prospective college students to consider several different factors and elements that could influence their individual college outcome. I plan to commenting on each of the elements or pieces of the college puzzle in future posts.

Labels: college information, College Preparation, College Success

The Education Policy Institute conducted 30 focus groups in Missouri for middle and high school students. Students understand college helps get high paying jobs, but their college knowledge was weak in many ways. The top profession named by students was professional athlete, and parties and money were the top reasons for attending college. The most influential advisors for students were : parents, siblings, and friends. Many of the students lacked confidence about their ability to complete college work.
The EPI report makes some specific useful recommendations at http://www.educationalpolicy.org/.

Labels: college information, college knowledge

Many studies over several decades demonstrate that high school students and parents overestimate college tuition. In our study Betraying the College Dream http://bridgeproject.stanford.edu/ we found that significant numbers of students estimated more than five times the real cost of tuition. The US Department of Education found overestimates in their studies as well. Yes, tuition is going up, but many middle and low income people think private college tuitions like Harvard apply to state institutions. But California community colleges cost $300 for full time attendance, and the University of California tuition is under $6,000.
In many cases the underestimated college costs by prospective college students are for room , board, textbooks, and student fees. Community colleges can be expensive if you add these in because even if students do not live on campus they still must pay rent and eat. This is another indicator have how poor the information system is for students who attend broad access colleges. They overestimate and underestimate at the same time. Our other site http://mycollegepuzzle.com/ has a method for figuring out real college costs.

Labels: college costs, college information