What can my state do?

States' first step in enhancing college preparation is to examine what makes early intervention programs effective.

Evaluation studies indicate that the most effective early intervention programs can at least double college-entrance rates for participants.

In general, effective college preparation programs include the elements discussed below. Furthermore, states can help more students get into and through college by developing a statewide K-16 agenda.

Provide high-quality instruction

Successful programs emphasize course-taking and skill-building in core academic content areas such as reading, math, and writing. Students need access to:

• The most challenging courses
• Tutoring
• Classes specifically designed to support academic achievement

In Houston, Texas, Project GRAD incorporates research-based programs into a K-12 school reform strategy. GRAD focuses on reforming math, reading, the instructional environment, and parent involvement.

Across all groups of students, Project GRAD students outperform their peers in comparison schools in math and (in some cases) reading, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. At the high school level, the number of graduating seniors has almost doubled. Also, today four times as many students go on to college than did before the reform strategy was initiated.

Offer financial assistance and incentives

Effective state financial aid strategies (such as those used by Indiana and Oklahoma) raise educational aspirations by:

• Identifying promising youth early
• Creating incentives for rigorous coursework
• Rewarding good behavior
• Providing generous, need-based financial assistance

Contracts that oblige the state to support tuition for students who maintain good grades and behavior teach responsibility. Such contracts also encourage states commit to helping at-risk students over the long term. For instance, Oklahoma students who receive OHLAP scholarships are more likely to enroll in college and less likely to need remedial education than non-recipients.

Assign a "guide" to each student

It is important to designate an adult to monitor and guide each student over a long period. This guide might be a mentor, program director, faculty member, or guidance counselor who assists students through the college admissions process and with other more personal issues.

This approach is used at "The Met," a small, personal high school in Providence, Rhode Island that has one-third the dropout rate of other high schools in that city. Of the first graduating classes in this school, 85% have gone directly to college, and 82% remain in college two years later.

Appropriately support educational aspirations

Efforts that encourages youth to desire to attend college must be culturally sensitive and involve peer groups in order to succeed.

For instance, California's "Puente Program" began as a community-based effort serving underachieving Hispanic students. Today, this program is supported by state and university funds.

The Puente program includes a rigorous two-year college preparatory English curriculum, mentors, and counselors from the Hispanic community to work with students and parents. The staff's cultural background and expertise benefits students. Evaluators have found that Puente students are more likely to:

• Value college
• Want to be a good student
• Understand what's needed to apply to college

Puente parents also are more likely to be involved in their children’s schooling. While evaluations saw no measurable academic differences (such as high school retention, GPA, or course-taking), Puente students did enroll in four-year colleges at twice the rate of non-participants.

Develop a statewide K-16 agenda

Transferring effective early-intervention practices into a statewide K-16 agenda helps states ensure that all high school youth are prepared for postsecondary education. These principles can help guide the creation of such an agenda:

• Consider all relevant state goals: Early intervention programs can do more than assist overall education reform. In the bigger picture, these efforts also can further other statewide, long-term goals such as fostering a more educated citizenry and increasing state economic competitiveness. Starting from this broader perspective can yield potential synergies between various programs, entities, and funding sources that might not otherwise be apparent.

• Consider systems as well as students: Resources are wasted when states focus only on the students who need help "right now." It pays to think long-term by enhancing the systems serving first-generation youth:

  Schools

  Community organizations

  Partnerships

  Higher education institutions

When states address systemic gaps and weaknesses, future needs for early intervention declines.

• Involve players beyond the K-12 realm: Schools and K-12 systems should not have to shoulder the entire responsibility for early intervention efforts. Other organizations that can bring complementary responsibilities and talents to the table include:

  Higher education institutions (which articulate college-level competencies through admissions requirements and placement tests, and that also prepare teachers)

  Businesses (employers of high school and college graduates)

  Municipal and state governments

  Community organizations

• Let local entities determine the details: The best state role in developing early intervention programs is to create broad goals for success, as well as multiple mechanisms to improve schools and student achievement through early intervention improvement. However, states should allow considerable flexibility in how schools and local communities make those mechanisms work for them and their young people.

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Closing the Achievement Gap
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