Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)
16. Access Programs, Part 1
As Susan Choy stated in her 2002 study, “To make it to a four-year college, students must complete five steps, usually in this order:
• Aspire to college.
• Be academically prepared.
• Take the necessary entrance exams (such as the SAT or ACT).
• Apply to college.
• Enroll.
Students leave the path at each step along the way, but the greatest numbers are lost because they do not aspire to attend a four year college or because they fail to prepare academically.” (Susan P. Choy, Access & Persistence: Findings from 10 Years of Longitudinal Research on Students, American Council on Education, 2002, pp. 11-12.) http://inpathways.net/access.pdf
To assist at-risk students, access programs have been established throughout the United States. By definition, “College preparation programs are aimed at enhancing and supplementing a school’s regular activities to assist primarily low-income, minority youth who might otherwise not be able to attend college.” (William G. Tierney, Zoe B. Corwin, and Julia E. Colyar, editors, Preparing for College: Nine Elements of Effective Outreach, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005, p. 3.) http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=a9PFfxOPXgcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Corwin,+Colyar,+%26+Tierney,+2005&ots=9Eqbm32W11&sig=fWcIE3txtb3xuE1kjaE5dbmcczs#v=onepage&q&f=false
However, there seems to be no consensus on what constitutes the essential elements of such programs. In a 2005 book of readings analyzing different components of access programs, the editors stated the following: “All activities are not equal and some activities will be more effective than others. Unfortunately, there is very little evaluative data on what works in college preparation programs.” (William G. Tierney, Zoe B. Corwin, and Julia E. Colyar, editors, Preparing for College: Nine Elements of Effective Outreach, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005, p. 2.) http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=a9PFfxOPXgcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Corwin,+Colyar,+%26+Tierney,+2005&ots=9Eqbm32W11&sig=fWcIE3txtb3xuE1kjaE5dbmcczs#v=onepage&q&f=false
Furthermore, in their review of college access initiatives, Watson Scott Swail and Laura W. Perna concluded “The results of this descriptive study suggest that early intervention programs do not necessarily follow any particular model, but still gravitate to many similar strategies, services, and concepts.” (Watson Scott Swail and Laura W. Perna, “Pre-College Outreach Programs: A National Perspective,” in William G. Tierney and Linda Serra Hagedorn, editors, Increasing Access to College: Extending Possibilities for All Students, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002, p. 29) http://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/60559.pdf
Jennifer Lee Schultz and Dan Mueller of Wilder Research examined several programs that sought to assist at-risk students in accessing college. Their 2006 review of literature suggested “key features of effective programs.” As they indicated, “. . . the key features discussed here were frequently found in other literature reviews, program evaluations, and studies designed to measure the impacts of contributing factors. Programs with the best evidence for effectiveness, based on this review, contain many of the features highlighted in this section.” (Jennifer Lee Schultz and Dan Mueller, Effectiveness of programs to improve postsecondary education enrollment and success of underrepresented youth: A literature review, NorthStar Education Finance, November 2006. p. 9.) http://www.mncollegeaccess.org/sites/b862decd-72ee-44b5-80f8-4f0ac42e8716/uploads/NorthstarLitReviewWithoutRICFSum_11-06.pdf
It comes as no surprise that the first program feature scrutinized by Schultz and Mueller was that they “Prepare students academically” [emphasis in original]. As the authors noted: “Multiple research studies have concluded that access to a college preparatory curriculum while in high school is the most critical variable for helping students gain access to postsecondary education (Corwin, Colyar, & Tierney, 2005; Cabrera & La Nasa, 2001; Perna, 2000).” (Jennifer Lee Schultz and Dan Mueller, Effectiveness of programs to improve postsecondary education enrollment and success of underrepresented youth: A literature review, NorthStar Education Finance, November 2006. p. 9.) http://www.mncollegeaccess.org/sites/b862decd-72ee-44b5-80f8-4f0ac42e8716/uploads/NorthstarLitReviewWithoutRICFSum_11-06.pdf Indeed, Corwin, Colyar, and Tierney stated that “. . . academic preparation [emphasis added] is crucial to preparing students for college.” (William G. Tierney, Zoe B. Corwin, and Julia E. Colyar, editors, Preparing for College: Nine Elements of Effective Outreach, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005, p. 8.) http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=a9PFfxOPXgcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Corwin,+Colyar,+%26+Tierney,+2005&ots=9Eqbm32W11&sig=fWcIE3txtb3xuE1kjaE5dbmcczs#v=onepage&q&f=false
Schultz and Mueller also indicated that “It is especially important that students take rigorous mathematics courses during high school, as this was found to be the single greatest predictor of successful college completion (Adelman, 1999). Programs should address teachers’ biases and instill high expectations among school staff as well as among students (Martinez & Klopott, 2002). Additional strategies include providing academic counseling, enrichment, and remediation; teaching study skills; and creating personalized learning environments.” (Jennifer Lee Schultz and Dan Mueller, Effectiveness of programs to improve postsecondary education enrollment and success of underrepresented youth: A literature review, NorthStar Education Finance, November 2006. p. 9.) http://www.mncollegeaccess.org/sites/b862decd-72ee-44b5-80f8-4f0ac42e8716/uploads/NorthstarLitReviewWithoutRICFSum_11-06.pdf
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