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Kendrick: It’s “where you end up that counts.
New Haven high-schools students will be able to take more college prep courses this fall and get federal grants to help pay to take college courses, officials announced Tuesday.
Administrators from the New Haven Public Schools and Gateway Community College made the announcement — of an expansion and creation of college-transition programs that will ensure college readiness for high school graduates — at a press conference at the main Gateway campus in downtown New Haven..
Through the partnership, during the 2015 – 2016 school year, more than 300 high school students were able to take remediation courses — also known as intervention courses — in English and math in their high schools. Currently nine schools offer these courses, which are modeled on Gateway curriculum.
Now the program will expand to more schools in the fall. In addition to the expansion of these intervention courses, for the first time Gateway and NHPS will offer a Dual Enrollment Pell Program for high schools. These students will have access to Pell Grants, previously only available to college students, and will be able to accumulate college credit while in high school.
“Young people have the incredibly opportunity to mold their country, and this program makes sure that students are ready for both their college career and their lives,” said Dorsey Kendrick, the president of Gateway Community College. “It’s not about where you start but where you end up that counts. That’s why our partnership is so important.”
This upcoming school year will be the fourth year of the intervention program, which has been successful thus far in increasing college readiness among students. Based on SAT scores, administrators flag students they believe need extra preparation for college-level work.
High school teachers are trained in the Gateway curriculum to teach intervention classes. Students are able to take a total of three courses — one in English and two in math — before they graduate. This can save students both time and money toward their college degrees, as they would not have to take non-credit, remedial courses in college.
NHPS Superintendent Garth Harries said the school district is actively working to make sure students are prepared for college-level work and do not need to take remedial courses in college. He added that this type of “advanced thinking” should be celebrated and continued.
And so far, Harries does have reason to celebrate. According to Suzanne Lyons, who works with NHPS, 78.5 percent of New Haven public school students that attend college immediately after high school continue on to their second year.
“What’s exciting about our college persistence is that as we’ve dramatically increased graduation rates, our college persistence rate has stayed the same or gotten higher,” Harries said. “So more kids are getting to graduation, and more and more kids are making it to their second year of college.”
Kendrick and Harries, at center, at Tuesday’s announcement.
The press conference did not solely celebrate the success of the intervention courses, however. It also announced the Dual Enrollment Program. For the first time New Haven public high school students will have access to Pell Grants — subsidies the U.S. federal government provides for low-income students to pay for college — and can take courses for free at Gateway.
Tuesday’s NHPS announcement comes on the heels of that of the U.S. Department of Education. On May 16, the DOE announced its “Dual Enrollment Pell Experimen,t” which allocates approximately $20 million for 44 higher education institutions to support high school students taking college courses. Gateway was one of six institutions of higher education in Connecticut to receive the grant.
NHPSs’ Dual Enrollment Program focuses on health careers and automotive technology pathways and is working with Wilbur Cross High School, Dr. Cortlandt V.R. Creed Health and Sport Sciences High School, and Hill Regional Career High School to find students interested in those two pathways. The program aims to work with 100 students during the next school year.
“We’re looking at certificate programs and associate degrees for health careers and automotive technology,” Lyons said. “We’re trying to set up our students on a path to start accumulating those credits before they leave us as high school seniors.”
The programs are just two of numerous partnerships between the NHPS and Gateway Community College. Other joint endeavors include the the Middle College Programs, New Haven Promise, and the Math and English Bootcamp.
Superintendent Harries noted that increased partnership between NHPS and Gateway helps both institutions. NHPS graduates are a large portion of students at Gateway, and so increased communication between the two faculties helps teachers understand the levels of students.
Dorsey agreed, and she added that she believes college readiness programs have doubled the opportunity for students to thrive.
“These kids can succeed,” she said. “They not only gain academic preparation but they gain self-esteem. They know what it’s like to be in a college environment, and those tools will help carry them wherever they go.”