America’s Promise Alliance and AT&T are looking for the energy, enthusiasm, creativity and commitment to help make this country a Grad Nation through the My Idea grants program. “My Idea” will empower young people to examine the high school dropout crisis and take action to help more of their peers to graduate on time – improving outcomes for themselves and their community.

National grants of $10,000-$20,000 will be awarded to 20 – 25 youth for the best of the submitted ideas to help increase a community’s graduation rate anywhere in the United States.

The grant application deadline is June 11, 2010.

For more information on how to apply, visit America’s Promise Alliance.

Posted: May 3rd, 2010 under Scholarships.
Comments: none

Two weeks ago we held our Los Angeles Benefit & Silent Auction at Wolfgang Puck’s Spectra at the Pacific Design Center, and the evening was a huge success thanks to our many volunteers and supporters!

The evening was emceed by our dear friend Kelly Rockwell, and the guest speaker, Crenshaw High School senior Sherron Pearson shared her story of growing up in South Central Los Angeles and her journey to college.  She will be attending Columbia University in Fall 2010.

Adam, Fred Pearson, Sherron Pearson, Kelly Rockwell, & Jaye

The Silent Auction featured 32 items including: Clippers tickets; a Napa Getaway Package; gift certificates to Eva Restaurant, First & Hope, Jenny Wax, Dream Dinners; signed DVD sets; spa packages; golf lessons; video games; wine packages, and much more!  Event planner Liz Simmons did an amazing job coordinating the details of the silent auction.

With the help of our wonderful host committee (Tamar Adegbile, Kyle & Lisa Ahlgren, Chris & Stacy Ekstein, Jason & Leah Lehmbeck, Clint & Kelly Rockwell, Liz Simmons, and Andy & Anna Stover) we had over 100 attendees and raised more than $8000 which will go toward the cost of finishing First Generation and increasing awareness for college access.

Thank you to everyone who supported and attended this event!

Posted: April 26th, 2010 under Events.
Comments: 1

I’ve long been an advocate of encouraging academically promising high school students to attend a 4-yr institution after graduating from high school.  In my experience, the chances of those students completing a 4-yr degree are higher than if they had first enrolled in a 2-yr program.

But it’s not just my opinion.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, students who begin at a 2-yr public institution take “about a year and one-half longer to complete a bachelor’s degree than students who begin at public 4-year institutions, and almost 2 years longer than those who begin at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions.”  And in California, 6 in 10 community college students give up their transfer plans.

And it’s no wonder when there are fewer spots available for transfer students, higher tuition and fees, more competition to enroll in prerequisite courses, and a lack of guidance during the admission process.  What’s frustrating is that school officials push community college and the prospect of transferring as a viable option when less than 50% of community college students actually make it to a four-year program.

We can’t let these students fall through the cracks.  Our state and our country need more college graduates to contribute to the workforce, and it’s a tragedy that students with academic potential are given the promise of transferring but instead are disheartened by an educational system that should be encouraging them to succeed. What can we do to ensure students who can make it at a 4-yr institution are given the best opportunity to get there?

Posted: November 18th, 2009 under college admission.
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In the pursuit of increasing college access for low-income students a groundbreaking study from researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Stanford University School of Education, the University of Toronto, and the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that simplifying the financial aid process would result in more low-income students making it to college.

The data is based on tracking nearly 17,000 low-income students as they completed the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).  Some of those students were assisted by H&R Block representatives who helped them fill out the tax data on financial aid forms – the result?  The task of filling out the FAFSA forms which normally takes around 13 hours for an average student was reduced to just 10 min.

The researchers were quick to point out that the study seems to point to the fact that it’s not simply making information about financial aid available that improves college access, but having individuals provide assistance in filling out the forms.

“Making college aid applications almost effortless to complete had an extremely powerful impact on the number of low-income students who made it to college,” said University of Toronto Associate Professor Philip Oreopoulos. “For high school seniors, just helping their parents fill out the financial aid form and apply increased college enrollment rates by 30 percent.”

“In most cases, two-thirds of the FAFSA form can be completed using tax information, so in less than 10 minutes, we were able to address a major educational problem and had a substantial impact on aid applications and college enrollment,” Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Bridget Terry Long said. “The next step is to think beyond one company to how we can implement these lessons on a larger scale, perhaps in schools or with community organizations, and ideally by changing the aid application process at the federal level.”

Posted: October 20th, 2009 under financial aid.
Comments: 1

The New York Times recently featured two pieces highlighting colleges and universities committed to addressing the needs of first generation college students.

“As thousands of low-income, first-generation freshmen flock to campus in the next two months, many, despite their intelligence and optimism, will arrive only to be gone in an academic eye blink. Just 11 percent of them earn a bachelor’s degree after six years, according to the Pell Institute, compared with 55 percent of their peers.” (Second Home for First-Gens, NYT 7/20/09)

But schools like University of Cincinnati, Bay Path College (MA), College of Idaho, College of Mount St. Vincent (Bronx), and Fresno State have implemented innovative programs to support first generation students make a successful transition from high school to college.

This is such important work these schools are doing, and I hope to see more colleges across the country following their lead to ensure more first generation students earn their bachelor degrees.

Posted: July 30th, 2009 under Articles.
Comments: none

I find the story of Khadijah Williams absolutely inspiring.  This young woman spent most of her life living on the streets, attending 12 schools in 12 years, and doing all she could to get good grades and finish her education.  This year she was accepted to Harvard where she’ll be attending in the fall, and her journey there is nothing short of incredible.  Read her story here.

(Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Posted: June 26th, 2009 under Articles.
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California students and educators are up in arms about our state’s educational crisis and the recently proposed cuts by the Governor, and we all have opinions about what should and shouldn’t be done to untangle the mess in which we’ve found ourselves.

Aurora Ponce, senior class president with a nearly perfect A-average, recently participated in a student sit-in to protest increased class sizes and the elimination of college prep classes.  But now “according to the 18-year-old and her supporters, officials at the Accelerated School, a collection of South Los Angeles charter schools, have barred Ponce from making her valedictory speech at Saturday’s graduation as punishment. They have also taken away a summer tutoring job and other honors, she said.”

Seriously?!

Click here to read the full article in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: June 25th, 2009 under Articles.
Comments: none

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s latest budget cut proposal for California includes terminating all new Cal Grants and taking $750 million for the UC and Cal State systems.  This is devasting news for low-income and first generation students trying to make it to college.

Here’s a summary of how the governor would cut $5.5 billion through June 2010:

– $750 million from the University of California and California State University systems, bringing the total reduction over two fiscal years to nearly $2 billion.

– $10.3 million – Eliminate all state general fund spending for UC Hastings College of Law.

– $173 million – Eliminate new Cal Grants.

– $70 million – Eliminate general fund support for state parks, potentially closing 80 percent of them.

– $247.8 million – Eliminate the Healthy Families program, which provides health care to nearly 1 million poor children.

– $1.3 billion – Eliminate the CalWorks program, which primarily helps unemployed single mothers find jobs.

– $809 million – Release nonviolent, non-serious, non-sex offenders one year early, and reduce the Corrections Department’s contract work, rehabilitation and education programs.

Posted: May 27th, 2009 under Articles.
Comments: 2

Among the flood of tentative pink slips that were mailed to educators this spring were layoff notices for about 2,500 counselors – about 25 percent of the total, according to figures from the California Association of School Counselors.

Yikes!

In 2006 the average counselor’s caseload in California public schools was reduced from 846 to 685 students. This already ranks pretty close to last in the nation in terms of counselor to student ratios, so the latest cuts are not a good sign for a state floundering to address the issue of high school drop-outs and a deficit of college graduates in the workforce.

Oh, California, however will we dig ourselves out of this educational quagmire?

Posted: May 21st, 2009 under Articles.
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It seems everyone has a different opinion on how to solve the achievement gap, but after reading David Brooks’ Op-Ed piece in The New York Times I’m convinced that Geoffrey Canada and his Harlem Children’s Zone are onto something. You can read the full article here, and, of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Posted: May 8th, 2009 under Articles.
Comments: none