Push to college is a challenge for schools

Column originally published Sunday, January 20, 2008

High schools must do more than prepare students to enroll in college. They must groom them to succeed once they get there.

As The Star notes in an editorial today, schools don’t perform that task equally. Some offer courses rigorous enough for students to earn college credits. Others graduate students so unprepared they must take remedial courses once they get to campus.

The push to enroll all students in college or some sort of job training is changing high schools.

More is expected of students, teachers and counselors. The days of coasting through senior year are over. The high school diploma is no longer an end goal, but a ticket to the next step.

Some schools and districts are meeting the changing demands better than others. And they are challenged in different ways.

Districts that serve low-income families face the initial test of raising achievement among students whose families may not have been able to help them learn basic skills. Schools that serve more prosperous families must find ways to serve very ambitious students while raising the expectations of teenagers who approach school without much motivation or confidence.

All of them must constantly update curriculums to meet the expectations of colleges, employers and state assessment tests.

The five school district leaders featured talked about what their schools are doing to prepare students for a future requiring increasingly sophisticated knowledge and skills.

Highlights of the interviews are summarized here.

Next week, The Star will print excerpts from interviews with leaders of universities and colleges.

Profiles of five students from the school districts featured here were printed Jan. 13. The stories and videotaped interviews with the students can be found at www.kansascity.com/opinion, in a special report, Paths to College.

Life beyond high school

Ensuring choices for everyone

David McGehee, Lee’s Summit School District superintendent

His challenge: Prepare all students for education or training beyond high school.

His focus: Make more high-level courses available in the middle schools.

On life after high school: "Those entry-level jobs are harder to come by, and many of them are requiring more education than when some of us went to school. I believe our district should prepare every student for that opportunity to go on to some type of postsecondary education, so they can be successful in what they choose to do."

On high school expectations vs. college expectations: "We recently attended a meeting at Longview Community College to look at our data and their data and see how successful or unsuccessful certain groups of students have been. I think from district to district and from university to university that alignment probably varies. But I think our high school, our guidance counselors and our teachers have a pretty good understanding of what it takes to be successful at that next level."

Keeping focus on the goals

Steve Shelton, executive director of secondary education for the Raytown School District.

His challenge: Raise ACT scores and prepare an economically diverse student body for college and careers.

His focus: Infuse more rigor and ACT concepts into courses, especially math and sciences; offer free ACT prep classes.

On preparing all students to succeed beyond high school: "It begins in the eighth grade. We ask students to look down the road, and to think about what they’re going to do and what education they’ll need to attain that goal. We counsel them to take the most rigorous courses that would lead them down that career path. And then, along the way, we ask them to re-evaluate what they’re doing in classes, and if it’s helping to reach that goal."

On offering college-level courses: "We offer a great deal of advanced placement courses as well as dual-credit courses through a number of area universities and two-year schools. Our students can graduate with a number of college credits and, in many cases, enter their first year of college as a sophomore."

Effort needed in KC district

Anthony Amato, Kansas City School District superintendent.

His challenge: Raise academic achievement; put first-generation students on a path to college.

His focus: Introduce new math and science curriculums in high schools; ACT preparation for all students; open an "early college" school at Southwest High School.

On offering college-level courses: "We have expanded new, rigorous, advanced placement courses into every high school in the district. Taking just one such course, your chances of getting into college and succeeding in college go up about 35 percent. I think we have enough personnel to offer them. We just have to have the passion."

On pointing students toward college: "You have to be relentless about following and supporting students every step of the way, be it tutoring, or extra course work, or work force opportunities or college campus visits. All those things are important. But the overarching piece is a caring adult who will walk you through that very difficult journey called high school."

Thinking ahead to success

Tom Trigg, Blue Valley School District superintendent.

His challenge: In a high-performing district, help all students feel motivated and confident about doing college-level work.

His focus: Prepare all students to take college-level courses, discourage "slacking off" in the senior year.

On preparing students for life beyond high school: "We encourage them to take a rigorous, four-year curriculum. College entrance is one thing, but we’re really more about college success. We work really hard to make students, particularly seniors, see the correlation between college success and kids that take rigorous courses, especially in mathematics."

On helping with college applications: "Our counselors are very well trained to help kids know what they should be doing throughout the process. We have face-to-face meetings with every junior and their counselors to talk about college aspirations. We sponsor a college fair, and a financial aid night every year. Students have an advisory class every week. A number of those lessons deal with important topics to prepare them for college. We try to do as much as we can."

Breaking through barriers

Jill Shackelford, Kansas City, Kan., School District superintendent.

Her challenge: Prepare low-income students to be first in their families to enter college.

Her focus: Align high school curriculums with the ACT exam; offer courses that double as college credits.

On preparing students for education beyond high school: "The world that our students are inheriting is moving so quickly that change will be the only constant. The ability to learn, in formal and informal settings, will be what allows them to survive, and to compete. One of our goals is to have all students exit 12th grade ready for college."

On helping students with college admissions: "All of our high schools are broken into small learning communities. Each community has a college and career coordinator who works with students on making sure they have the academic preparation necessary to be successful in college, and that they take and score well on the ACT test. They also work with students on completing the college application process, submitting financial aid forms and applying for scholarships."