Success Boston and Boston Public Schools teach
College Knowledge this October with College Month
BOSTON – College is a family
choice, and college planning begins in Kindergarten. These two themes will
guide a City of Boston initiative, College Month, from September 27 through
October 31. While College Month 2014 may target Boston high school students
across the City, Success Boston and Boston Public Schools plan to spark early
college awareness in students and families of the state’s largest school district.
Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston launched College
Month in 2006 to promote Get Ready for College Day activities for BPS eighth
graders, as well as the distribution of a newly-developed BPS College and
Career Guide. Eight years later, College Month is sustained by BPS and the
community partnerships of the Success Boston College Completion Initiative.
Success Boston, launched in 2008, is a partnership of the Office of Mayor
Martin J. Walsh, the Boston Public Schools, the Boston Foundation, the
University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston Private Industry Council (PIC), and
more than 50 higher education and nonprofit institutions. The initiative is
working to double – to 70% – the six-year college completion rate of BPS
graduates.
College Month is a multi-pronged college readiness strategy that
combines the collective ways teachers, community organizations, and higher
education institutions are talking with BPS students about their futures.
“College Month is entirely student-facing,” said BPS High School Network
Superintendent Mary Skipper. “It puts students face-to-face with the reality
that college planning begins now – no matter which grade you are in.”
College Month 2014 will begin with a College and Career Fair on
September 27 at the Madison Park Technical/Vocational High School in Roxbury.
The Fair’s sponsors, BPS and Boston Scholar Athletes, expect more than 800
students and parents to connect with 90 colleges and universities from across
New England and as far away as Georgia.
Then, on the night of October 1 at the Boston School Committee
meeting, School Committee members will kick off October by showing their
alma-mater pride in honor of the City and District tradition.
Each week in College Month will highlight a “college knowledge”
theme. Students across elementary, middle, and high schools will participate in
age-appropriate college awareness.
Week 1: Empowering Students and Families through Financial Aid: uAspire, a non-profit
Success Boston member dedicated to helping students apply for and receive
financial aid, will reach nearly 1,000 students during College Month through
its Afford College 101 Workshops. Adam Reinke of uAspire wants families to know
that financial aid is an accessible process. “The workshops empower young people
for whom finances must play an important factor,” Reinke said. uAspire is available
free of charge to help all students and families with college affordability
needs or questions. Last year, College Month financial aid lessons reached as
early as first grade, where students saved pennies to learn decision making and
to start individual college savings.
Week 2: Ensuring Student and Family Planning and Preparation: The Boston Scholar
Athletes, a non-profit organization partnering with A-List Education to offer
SAT preparation in 18 BPS high schools, will host College Admissions Awareness
week. Along with college and university open houses, and scholarship and
college essay strategies, Boston Scholar Athletes expects that College Month
will help students and families think about the benchmarks of college planning
before sophomore year, such as PSAT and SAT testing. Boston Scholar Athletes
will launch its scholarship during Admissions week and hold Tweet Chats along
with other non-profits to engage students via social media.
To support students’ college planning, BPS has partnered with
the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Massachusetts
Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), and the Department of Higher Education
to launch an online post-secondary planning portal, Your Plan for the Future
(YPFF), available at 22 high schools in its pilot year. Each student
will have access to individual college readiness data and a wealth of
information, tutorials, and application tracking through YPFF.
Week 3: Bringing BPS Alumni Home: University of
Massachusetts-Boston student and BPS graduate Jean Charles is one of 1,800
students supported by transitional coaching models through Success Boston. A
Success Boston Student Leadership Committee member, Charles developed an alumni
engagement strategy with the National College Advising Corps. Placing recent
college graduates as college advisors in 15 BPS high schools this September,
the National College Advising Corps’ Boston Chapter and BPS alumni leaders will
reach nearly 8,000 students during Alumni Engagement week.
According to Charles, a graduate of the John D. O’Bryant School
of Math and Science, BPS alumni bring a powerful message of college success.
“BPS graduates represent different languages, cultures, and high schools,” he
said. “That diversity translates well into college and career success. There
are BPS graduates everywhere doing amazing things. I want to share that and
help promote the great opportunities that college offers. There’s an entire
network of people out there who can help every high school student build a
future.”
Week 4: Connecting College and Career Readiness: Boston Private
Industry Council (PIC), also a Success Boston member, will distribute student
take-away cards with degree attainment and total lifetime earnings, and “hot
jobs” in sciences, technology and healthcare. According to PIC’s Josh Bruno,
teachers used the cards last year in math lessons to conceptualize the value of
a college education and career options. Students in early grades will meet with
professionals across industries to understand connections between college and
career.
Students and families can ask questions pertaining to college,
financial aid, and career by using the hashtag, #CollegeMonth.
