Developing College Readiness within and across School Districts: The Federal Role

N

11

School Districts; Government Role; Program Development; College Readiness; Federal Government; Partnerships in Education; Transitional Programs; Shared Resources and Services; Change Strategies; Systems Approach; Community Involvement; College School Cooperation; Incentives; College Preparation; Educational Administration

California; Georgia; New York; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Texas

1553-541X

Despite some cuts to the nation's oldest Federal College Access Programs, known as the TRIO programs (e.g., Upward Bound), new education policies have emphasized college and career readiness. In 2010, Congress approved the College Access Challenge Grant Program, which aims to increase the number of low-income students who are ready for college. Waivers of No Child Left Behind Act requirements have been granted to thirty-four states and the District of Columbia in exchange for adopting College and Career Ready standards, among other policies. Race to the Top applicants, which included forty-six states and more then 1,000 local education agencies, were also required to show that they had adopted those standards, and two consortia won Race to the Top grants to develop assessments, scheduled to premiere across the nation in 2014-2015, based on the Common Core State Standards. These are important developments. Unfortunately, however, they are not enough to ensure that all students graduate high school ready for college. In this article, the authors make suggestions about how to reframe current federal policy to promote a community-wide college readiness agenda, using lessons from U.S. school districts and their local communities. These recommendations focus on developing incentives and supports so that schools can learn from each other, build social ties across schools, and engage and sustain stakeholders in building a community-wide culture of college students. [Included with this article are three "sidebars": (1) In the Field: The Providence Children and Youth Cabinet; (2) In the Field: State-Supported Data Sharing between K-12 and Postsecondary Institutions in Texas; and (3) Preparing Students for the Transition from School to the World in Savannah, Georgia (Alethea Frazier Raynor).]

ERIC

12

2014

EJ1046350