State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia GEAR UP Summer Programs

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia What is GEAR UP? Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia State GEAR-UP Program Goals Competitive six-year matching grants that must include both early intervention and scholarship components to: –increase high school graduation and college-going rates of students from low-income families; –ensure that middle and high school students and their families have the information that they need to prepare academically for college; –enable students from low-income families to attend college by providing scholarships to students in need.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia GEAR UP Virginia THE COHORT APPROACH GEAR UP serves all students in seventh grade who are at a participating school in which at least 50% of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia GEAR UP GEAR UP Districts 25 GEAR UP Schools within Districts 38 Total Enrollment 5,986

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia GEAR UP Virginia EARLY INTERVENTION COMPONENT A. Academic Readiness Programs 1. Academic-year, school-based program a) Tutoring b) Speakers and workshops 2. Summer Programs 3. Mentoring 4. Neighborhood Academies 5. Professional development for teachers B. College and Financial Aid Awareness Programs 1. Publications 2. Presentations 3. Pre-collegiate awareness website

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Young People from High Income Families 48% Young People from Low Income Families 7% College Graduates by Age 24

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia FACTS –A high school counselor, on average, spends 4 to 20 minutes each year with high school students. –In Virginia, the ratio of high school counselors to students is 1:335. –In families with an income of less than $25,000, 40% of the students never attain a college degree. –In families with over $75,000, only 16% never attain a college degree. –Almost 29% of students entering 9 th grade never graduate. –Of those who go on to college, 53% go immediately after high school.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia 2007 Summer Programs Transition programs in the southwest: Alice Funk, Southwest Regional Manager, GEAR UP Joan Hart, Buchanan County Public Schools, Guidance Counselor College sponsored programs across the state: Dr. Gabrielle Peltier, Norfolk State University, School of Education

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia The best transition programs are those that include a variety of activities (Hertzog and Morgan, 1999)

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Activities that: Provided students and parents information about the new school; provided students social support during the transition; and brought school personnel together to learn about one another’s curriculum and requirements.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia The first day of high school is every student’s first step toward graduation!

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia or as is the case for one in every three students in this country, their first step toward “dropping out.”

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Across the United States Every 29 seconds another student drops out of high school 1 million students drop out annually Among all students 1 in 3 fail to graduate on time 1 of 2 African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students do not graduate on time The Silent Epidemic, 2006

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Of every 100 high school freshman in Virginia about 74 percent graduate on time as compared with 68 percent nationally Only 63.6 percent of African American students complete ninth grade “on-time” Only 69.1 percent of Hispanic students complete ninth grade “on-time” 80.7 percent of white students complete ninth grade “on-time” In Virginia

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia In Virginia The rate of grade retention is highest in grade 9 at 13 percent. This is about twice the percentage of students held back in grades 8 or 10 Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute, 2004

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia In Virginia 88 high schools have a ninth grade retention rate of 20 percent or more Virginia Department of Education, 2004

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Research has found that effective middle to high school transition program can reduce the barriers to learning –thus decreasing drop out rates and increasing retention rates.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia SOAR Goals and Objectives  Decrease the number of GEAR UP students who are retained in grade 8 or 9  Increase the mathematics proficiency of GEAR UP students  Increase the language arts proficiency of GEAR UP students  Decrease the number of GEAR UP students who dropout

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia  Increase the number of GEAR UP student who graduate from high school  Increasing college readiness of GEAR UP high school graduates.  Increase the number of GEAR UP graduates who go to college  Increase GEAR UP students’ and their families knowledge of college preparation and financing

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Building a Leadership Team Middle School Teachers High School Teachers Middle and High School Administrators Central Office Administrators Representatives from College and Universities Businesses Community Organizations Students Parents

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Assessing the Needs of your Students and Schools 1.What is unique about your ninth graders? 2.What is your four-year on-time graduation rate? What is it disaggregated by sub-populations? 3.What is your school’s ninth grade retention rate. What is it disaggregated by sub-populations? 4.What programming options are currently available for academically challenged ninth graders?

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia 5. What academic interventions are currently in place when ninth graders begin to struggle? 6. What data do you gather on ninth grade success? What additional data are you considering collecting if any? 7. What initiatives are currently in place to provide for effective transition for students from grade 8 to grade 9? 8. What strategies are in place to assist ninth graders who are struggling readers?

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Every Middle to High School Transition Program should contain one or more of the following: A plan(s) to create enhanced transition for students from grade 8 to grade 9; A plan(s) to identify ninth grade students at risk of failure; A plan(s) to implement instructional and organizational strategies that focus on student motivation and academic success; A plan(s) to focus on improving literacy among ninth grade students. (Source: Reinventing the Ninth Grade, Dr. Gary Fields, International Center for Leadership in Education, 2005).

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Planning a Effective Middle to High School Transition Program Who What When Where

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Things for Consideration Transportation Curriculum Partnerships

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Schiller defined academic transition as “a process during which institutional and social factors influence which students’ educational careers are positively or negatively affected by this movement between organizations.” K. S. Schiller, 2004

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia A school administrator once noted: “ although kindergarten is very much like first grade, grade 5 is very much like grade 6, and grade 12 is very similar to the freshmen year in college, grade 8 in the middle school is nothing like grade 9 in the high school

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia January 2006State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Alice J. Funk Lead Regional Resource Manager GEAR UP/ACCESS Virginia State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Virginia Highlands Community College Abingdon, VA (276)