tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post6463307197338557704..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Getting Low Income Students to CollegePeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-67934537110276941572016-01-09T09:12:04.933-05:002016-01-09T09:12:04.933-05:00I agree that these students need more support, but...I agree that these students need more support, but that also typically means a higher level of administrators per faculty members than was typical in the past, an increase that has often been criticized by many, including faculty members.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-75346075542380160052016-01-09T05:50:14.539-05:002016-01-09T05:50:14.539-05:00While some of it may be lack of preparation, I thi...While some of it may be lack of preparation, I think Peter Greene is correct in highlighting the importance of strength and confidence. I had the great fortune of reading the notes for a dissertation by a successful PhD student who was a professional nurse and more. She was the first in her Latino family to go to college, and of course to be successful. Her dissertation was all about how schools must learn to involve the families of Latino students if we are to encourage more of them to attend and complete college. For me, this links back to the need for community schools that truly serve the entire family and community. All of these are important for the success of our students. Just the other day Pedro Noguera was speaking with Charlayne Hunter Galt about some of these successful community schools, one in Tulsa, Oklahoma. <br /> A dear friend here in Los Angeles also started a wonderful program called College Path LA which sends people into a high school to help students with their college essays. Generally there is only one counselor for 600 students - an impossible task. So bringing in people to work one on one seems enormously important. Just last year I spent the hours before midnight on the due date of the essay with a student who just needed some encouragement. She wrote it, but I nudged her along. And she did finish in time! I understood procrastination. Anyway -- there are so many ways that it takes a village. turtlelearninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00213278416862645698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-82178860780036974992016-01-08T15:57:45.694-05:002016-01-08T15:57:45.694-05:00Allow me to offer my compliments to Mr. Greene for...Allow me to offer my compliments to Mr. Greene for an educational issue that hopefully all of us (left and right) can get behind ... which is getting more low income children to graduate from college. You make the reasonable suggestion that the issue is not just finances generally, but also the sometimes labyrinth process that one needs to follow to get financial aid. <br /><br />Two thoughts:<br /><br />1. Guidance - One of the issues is simply that poor children tend to have many fewer guidance counselors available than their more affluent peers. Given how stretched they are, the guidance counselor is often able to offer little more than cursory assistance. Also, affluent parents are more likely to be familiar with the college application process than poor parents. <br /><br />But the colleges do seem to be addressing this. Roughly 80 schools have started an online portal called Coalition for College Access for students as young as 14. This has the ability for the colleges themselves (or a third party) to provide online guidance (including financial aid) when the high school's guidance office is over-worked. <br /><br />http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman-year/new-site-allows-high-school-freshmen-start-college-application-n441786<br /><br />2. Matriculation vs Graduation -<br /><br />While I understand the distinction you are making is affluent vs poor, I recently did some reading about the same topic (college graduation) in black vs. white terms. The results were surprising (See link.)<br /><br />The issue is not so much college matriculation. The rate for blacks and whites is quite similar - about 67%. Where this breaks down, however, is the difference in graduation rates - 62% of whites graduate in 6 yrs vs 39% of blacks. The difference in high school graduation rates is similar - 68% for blacks and 85% for whites. (See link.)<br /><br />The fact that both blacks and whites matriculate at roughly the same rate but graduate (both high school and college) at very different rates suggests that perhaps this is not a financial issue ? <br /><br />The quality of high schools attended by many poor children (and many black children) is simply appalling. Judging by the difference in SAT scores (which are still a pretty good proxy for first year college grades), many poor and black students simply aren't prepared for college. In other words, in contrast to the implication of your article (that poor children do not attend or complete college for financial reasons), it appears that the issue may be more academic preparedness. <br /><br />See links:<br /><br />High School Graduation by race -<br /> http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_coi.asp<br /><br />College Matriculation and Graduation by race -<br /> http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/race-gap-narrows-in-college-enrollment-but-not-in-graduation/alanbackmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16174033131550945945noreply@blogger.com