The purpose of this blog is to serve as a practice exercise in EDM 510 Microcomputing Systems in Education.
How can educators prepare students for college?
Planning is important to the college application process! So as educators and administrators it is imperative that we teach our students how to apply for college. Many students think they graduate from high school and then they just go to college. However, they are unaware of how far in advance they need to apply for college and the requirements to enter an institution. In addition, many do not even realize how much a college education costs per semester and how to apply for financial aid to help with their expenses.
Here on the Eastern Shore a group started by the Eastern Shore Chamber consists of students from 9th to 12th grade who would like to attend college but who may not have access to information about preparing and applying for college. The STEPS program holds regular meetings where students and their parents are invited to find out how to best prepare their child for college attendance. Many different departments like financial aid and admissions from two year, four year and for-profit higher education institutions attend to conduct presentations and demonstrations on how to navigate the application processes. In my opinion, this is a great way to educate both the parents and students on what steps to take before a child graduates high school so that they will be prepared to enter the next phase of their education!
This program sounds like an excellent idea! At the meetings, will college applications be handed out? Is there an open Q&A time for students and parents to ask specific questions?
ReplyDeleteFor my Masters applied project I conducted an evaluation on an enrichment program. One of my research interests was to discover why some students failed to persist or dropped out of the pipeline to a career in medicine. I learned that students who do not persist in the medical pipeline do not lack the skills to be successful. What they lack is information on how to navigate the path from college to med school then from med school to medicine. Those students who dropped out of the pipeline needed a guide and a support system. Initiatives such as the one you described, geared toward helping students and their families navigate the higher ed landscape, are critical for increasing the representation of underrepresented populations in higher ed.
ReplyDeleteButler County has a similar program, although it is more like a College and Career Fair. Several colleges and universities are invited and set up booths. I believe the City of Greenville also held something similar.
ReplyDeleteFor many of our students, beginning the college talk must come early. Most of our students live in poverty, and no one at home has been to college or even graduated high school. It's important to make them aware of the possibilities that colleges offer. I know many of our teachers are persistent in talking about college. This year, we plan to invite in professionals as often as possible to speak about their careers. One of our former teachers made his students do a chant every day, several times a day, "Rock, Rock, Steady Steady, WE ARE COLLEGE READY!" Those third-graders loved it.