National College Access Network (NCAN)
Student Success Toolkit — Exploring the Alignment between Student Academic Achievement Outcomes and College Access Intervention Programs Using Participatory Action Research
Clockwise from upper left: Dr. Tia McNair of Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U); Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon of CUE; Catherine Carney of East Boston High School; and Claudia Gutierrez of the Community Academy of Science and Health
In July 2010 CUE and the National College Access Network (NCAN) formed a partnership to strengthen the college-going culture at two high schools in Boston, Massachusetts—East Boston High School and the Community Academy of Science and Health. Both schools have large populations of black and Latina and Latino students, racial/ethnic groups who have been historically underrepresented in higher education.
The Student Success Toolkit demonstration project was designed to help teams of school-based practitioners understand the inequities that exist in college preparedness and access among their students. CUE and NCAN trained teams of administrators, teachers, guidance counselors and college access providers on how to use and analyze student data; implement action research methods to investigate the data findings; and change school policies and practices to more effectively promote college access for all of their students.
Among the issues uncovered during the project was the finding that students had high aspirations to pursue a college degree but lacked the knowledge on what they needed to do, or they received the information too late in the application process. Other findings included a lack of coordination between college access programs and similar school-based efforts, the need for more relevant outreach to students’ families, and the need to better inform teachers on the postsecondary options available to students.
Findings from the demonstration project will be used to strengthen Success Boston, a city-wide effort to double the number of local students who earn college degrees.
Says Marsha Inniss-Mitchell, director of the college readiness initiative for Boston Public Schools (BPS), “Implementation of the Student Success Toolkit has really supported BPS to build stronger alignment with college access and success partners, begin to strengthen the college-ready cultures in all district high schools, and think about ways to better incorporate the use of data in our day-to-day work.”
For Catherine Carney of East Boston High School, participation in this project “was the first time we had the time and tools to connect achievement data to our college access curriculum and have our guidance counselors sit down and plan with our TRIO partners. We were able to develop some discrete plans for improvement, and I look forward to implementing them (during the 2011-12 academic year).”
To read the full report Using Data and Inquiry to Build Equity-Focused College-Going Cultures, click here.
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