A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Challenging the Status Quo: The Education Record 1993-2000 - May 2000

7 Getting Students Ready for College

Students are better prepared for college and are more likely to succeed than they were a decade ago. Consider these facts:

Scores on the SAT and ACT college entrance exams went up between 1993 and 1999, even as more minority, low-income, and limited English proficient students took the tests.^[33]

The number of students taking Advanced Placement exams increased by two-thirds, from 388,000 to over 581,500 between 1992 and 1997.^[34]

For every 1,000 high school seniors, the number of girls who took AP exams rose from 111 to 145 between 1992 and 1997, the number of African American test-takers grew from 26 to 37, and the number of Hispanic test-takers grew from 68 to 85—the highest minority and female participation rates in history. Minority students now comprise 30 percent of all AP test-takers, up from 22 percent a decade ago.^[35]

Not only have dropout rates fallen to a 30-year low, especially among African Americans,^[36] significantly more students are taking tough courses today compared to a decade ago. Between 1990 and 1998, the percentage of high school graduates who took four years of English and three years each of math, science, and social studies increased from 39 percent to 55 percent, with large increases across all racial and ethnic groups.^[37]

As students go to college in record numbers (see next section), the Administration has worked hard to ensure that all students—especially low-income students—have access to demanding coursework and solid academics, good information and advice about financial aid and college options, and adequate resources and preparation for college entrance exams.

GEARING UP FOR COLLEGE

The Yakima Valley GEAR UP Project in Washington State will provide educational support services, including teacher training, access to technology, service-learning, mentoring, parent outreach, and career and college planning to thousands of middle and high school students over the next five years. The partnership of the University of Washington, Northwest Learning and Achievement Group, Yakima Valley Community College, Microsoft, several Yakima-area community groups, and seven local school districts has leveraged more than $22 million in outside resources. The project will serve the high-poverty valley community, which has unemployment rates that are nearly four times the national average. Forty-six percent of the population has no high school diploma, and just seven percent of the population has received a bachelor's or advanced degree. This GEAR UP partnership will serve more than 1,200 sixth-graders this year and will help more than 7,000 students transition from middle to high school and prepare for college by the fifth year of the grant.

Recognizing that early preparation and intervention are crucial to gaining admission to college, the Administration in 1998 created GEAR UP—Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs—to encourage students to begin planning for college as early as sixth grade. Through GEAR UP, high-poverty middle schools partner with local colleges and universities to provide all students at a particular grade level (typically beginning with sixth or seventh grade) and their families with information about college options, financial aid, and coursework necessary for college. The program offers academic enrichment and mentors to each class of participating students not only during middle school but also throughout high school. In some cases, States and districts plan to use GEAR UP funds to support college scholarships. With $120 million available in GEAR UP?s first year, the Department of Education received 678 applications from all 50 States, involving 4,500 school districts and other organizations partnering with more than one-fifth of the Nation?s colleges. The program now benefits over 250,000 students and involves 164 institutions of higher education. Given the demand for funding, the Administration successfully increased GEAR UP funding to $200 million this year, enabling the program to benefit an additional 230,000 students.

The Administration has also expanded the TRIO programs, a network of eight initiatives designed to help low-income, first-generation college, and disabled individuals achieve academic success beginning in middle school, throughout college, and into graduate school. Since 1993, funding for the programs has increased from $388 million to $645 million, and TRIO programs now offer services to 730,000 students. Upward Bound, for example, provides intensive mentoring and academic enrichment throughout high school to primarily low-income, first-generation college-bound youth. In 1999, over 560 Upward Bound projects engaged 42,000 students in demanding coursework and summer residential programs. Educational Opportunity Centers provide pre-college academic and financial aid counseling primarily for adults seeking to return to school. The Student Support Services program provides tutoring and counseling to help students stay in college. And the Ronald McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program provides colleges and universities with funds to subsidize research projects by low-income students to prepare them for a doctoral program.

Complementing GEAR UP and TRIO, the Administration?s Think College Early campaign provides accessible guidance to students and their families as they plan for college. The campaign targets the Nation?s 19 million adolescents, 20 percent of whom live in poverty. Recognizing that disproportionate numbers of low-income students and minority students attend two-year colleges, Think College Early encourages all students to pursue admission to a four-year college. An informational brochure, Think College? Me? Now?, available at the Department?s website, emphasizes the importance of college preparatory coursework and early financial planning for college. In particular, the campaign urges students to take algebra by the eighth grade, since students who gain early exposure to high school math are far more likely to go to a four-year college than those who do not. Moreover, the Administration?s College Opportunities On-Line (COOL) website helps students and their families understand their college options by collecting detailed information on 9,000 colleges, from small technical colleges to the Nation?s largest and most prestigious universities. For each college, the website provides tuition and financial aid statistics, information on the most recent incoming freshman class, a list of the degrees offered, the available fields of study, and contact information for the college?s departments.

SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, responded to a growing awareness of the challenges young people face as they transition from high school to further college, jobs and lifelong learning. Over the past six years, this unique legislation has provided roughly $1.6 billion in seed money to all States to encourage teaching and learning strategies that increase student opportunities for integrating work-based learning with classroom academics. The Act encourages more rigorous coursework and helps students better plan their transition to strong postsecondary environments.
Over 1,100 communities have established business-education partnerships that are the foundation of school-to-work opportunities. These partnerships enhance local education efforts through contextual learning, career exploration, work, project and community learning, mentoring, courses integrating academic and technical or work-based learning, and internships for teachers. The partnerships encompass more than 35,000 schools, and nearly 18 million students attend those schools. Almost 200,000 employers are involved, and those offering internships for teachers more than tripled from 1996 to 1997.
One example of how School-to-Work is working is in Philadelphia, where high school students in "School-to-Careers" programs earn higher grade point averages than students not involved: In 1997, 29 percent of participants had GPAs of 3.0 or above, compared to less than 20 percent of non-participants. With one in every four American businesses currently involved, employers are realizing the effectiveness of school-to-work opportunities. The School-to-Work Act envisioned that at the end of their five-year grants, States and localities would sustain the investment. Today, all States have plans in place to continue school-to-work opportunities, and 13 States have enacted legislation for this purpose.

Furthermore, the Pathways to College Network launched by Secretary Riley in collaboration with foundation leaders catalyzes efforts to build school-college partnerships to increase college access. And because early exposure to career opportunities can also help ensure that young people and their parents set their sights high as they plan for the future, Through the Administration has provided seed money through the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 to help every State develop programs that broaden young people?s career options, make learning more relevant, and promote successful transitions to college and careers.

The Administration has made additional efforts to help low-income students prepare for college. This year, the Administration?s Advanced Placement Incentive Program will provide $15 million in competitive grants to 40 States in order to help schools encourage low-income students to take AP classes and tests. Schools use the funds to pay test fees for low-income students. Schools may also use funds for tutoring, classroom materials, and other innovative methods to boost the number and quality of AP classes and participation by low-income students. Since 1998, over 92,000 low-income students have benefited from the program, and this year, over 80,000 more students will benefit from funds to offset the cost of AP exams. Federal support has also encouraged many schools that had not participated in the AP program to begin offering AP courses.

³³ College Entrance Examination Board, National Report on College-Bound Seniors, various years; 1999 ACT National Score Report Index.

³⁴ National Center for Education Statistics (1999), The Condition of Education, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, supp. tbl. 14.1.

³⁵ 1999 Condition of Education, p. 56.

³⁶ National Center for Education Statistics (1998), Digest of Education Statistics, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, tbl. 105.

³⁷ National Center for Education Statistics (2000), Digest of Education Statistics, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, p. 111.
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[6 Creating Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools]

[8 Opening the Doors of Higher Education to All Americans]