Berea College GEAR UP Partnership

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Berea College GEAR UP Partnership

• Mom and Dad Go to College
• Presented by
• Charles Cash, Assistant Principal
• Cindy Saylor, GEAR UP Coordinator

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Madison Southern High School

• Madison Southern is located in a Rural Community
  in Central Kentucky
• The County serves over 10,000 students through
  the district
• Madison Southern is one of two high schools in
  the county
• The school serves 9th through 12th grades
• Approximately 1,100 students enrolled
• Over 47 free and reduced lunch status
• GEAR UP Co-hort serves 550 students

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GEAR UP Program Implementation

• Teacher/Administrator experiences with GEAR UP
• Role of new GEAR UP Counselor
• Educating students on GEAR UP opportunities
  (surveys, interest, and cognitive scores) began
  with 6th grade students
• Teacher/parent involvement critical aspect
• First generation college students
• Mom and Dad Go to College

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Research Basis

• Parent Surveys 2005-2006
• Surveys show that 84 of parents want their
  student to obtain some form of postsecondary
  education, but only 15 of students have spoken
  to someone about college entrance requirements or
  paying for college.
• Reclaiming the American Dream Report, October
  2006
• By contrast, only one of four parental
  supports was statistically significant the
  parent and student visiting at least one college
  together. Unlike other forms of parental support,
  such as checking homework, encouraging students
  to take the SAT or ACT, and discussing college
  applications, campus visits appear to make
  college and its accessibility much more
  tangible.

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Parents and the College Myth

• Parent expressed concerns about college life to
  school-based staff and regional staff during
  parent nights held at school.
• Concerns included alcohol, drug use, sex and
  abandonment of moral/religious beliefs.
• College myth and popular culture.
• There is only 1 kind of college
• Toga, Toga, Toga
• Decided to target parents who
• had little or no college experience,
• expressed concerns about sending their student to
  college, and/or
• identified by school staff as feeling
  disenfranchised from the college planning process.

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Program Design

• Since our target audience had misconceptions and
  concerns about college life we decided to plan
  Mom and Dad Go to College Trips based on
• Schools that provided tours and other services on
  Saturdays
• That were located within 2 hours drive of
  parents home community, and
• That could provide on-campus events for our
  families (sporting, cultural or arts events).
• In future years, we planned on introducing
  parents to campuses farther from our home
  community.

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Program ImplementationStructure and budget

• To make every family feel welcomed we would
• Use charter buses
• Provide for all expenses - food, events costs,
  etc..,
• Budget-wise this meant
• Arranging charter with costs ranging from 500 to
  1,000.
• Budgeting for food and events at 20 per
  participant.
• The average cost per person, including travel,
  ranged from 10 per person to 57 person. These
  per person costs greatly affected our recruiting
  strategies and future program formats.

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Program Implementation Recruiting

• The Recruiting Process
• GEAR UP Counselor identifies our target group of
  students and parents based on our criteria.
• Initially, recruiting was done through direct
  mailing to selected homes. This did not provide
  an overwhelming response.
• Parents needed direct contact via phone and
  in-person to help them realize that they and
  their student were being invited to this event.
• The 3X Rule Once by phone or in-person to
  invite, once by phone or letter to check-in and
  one more time by phone or letter to remind three
  days before event.

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Program ImplementationRecruiting cont..,

• Changed our recruiting strategy to involve the
  student, this gave parents a little more
  motivation to participate.
• Invitations changed to include a cancellation
  policy and emergency contact form.
• Reminder letters and calls always a good plan.
  Parents may call to cancel when they get your
  message, but at least you know whats going on.

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Program Formats

• First Mom and Dad Go to College visit
• Berea Colleges Celebration of Traditional
  Music. QA session with college students,
  college tour, meal on campus and attended a
  concert featuring traditional music.
• Benefits close to our home, staff support and
  freedom to explore campus

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Madison Southern
Mom and Dad Go to College Event
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Cultural Event Traditional Music Concert
Charter Bus
Campus Tour
Cafeteria Experience
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Program formats cont..,

• Several subsequent visits were structured with
  host colleges and their admissions departments.
• Most college admissions departments where
  receptive to our visits, but a few of our target
  schools didnt have the staff available to work
  on Saturdays.
• All events included a campus tour, meal on campus
  and a family event on or near campus.
• Benefits Admissions offices handled most of the
  arrangements, often resulting free food, events
  and logo materials for parents and students.
• Disadvantages Admissions offices try to sell
  their school to the student and the parent.

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(No Transcript)
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Program formats cont..,

• Mom and Dad Go To College visits include
• AMSP College Reality Store
• This event was arranged through Appalachian Math
  Science Partnership at several colleges in
  Central Kentucky. We attended this event
  Hazard Community College, University of Kentucky,
  and Eastern Kentucky University.
• Freshman students attended Reality Store at
  Kentucky State University.
• Morehead University, Cumberland College, Union
  College, Georgetown College and Somerset
  Community College/Technical School, and
  University of Louisville.

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Evaluation Tools and Results

• Before we began these events ,we created an
  evaluation tool that measured
• parents previous college experience,
• revealed parents pre-conceived notions about
  college and the concerns they felt about college
  and their student.
• Parents were given a pre-survey while traveling
  to our host college and asked a few
  post-experience questions during the return trip.
• Staff were also asked to note any observations
  that could be used to gauge program efficacy.

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Evaluation Results

• Survey resulted showed that the majority (60) of
  parents in communities that were within 20
  minutes of a college had been on a college campus
  at least once in their lifetime.
• The majority (58) of parents that had been on
  campus had attended a sporting or cultural event.
  
• The remaining who had been on a campus, were
  either there as labor or traveling through campus
  to reach other destinations.

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Evaluation Results cont..,

• Only 15 of parents that were more than 20
  minutes away from a college reported being on a
  college campus.
• The majority had been on-campus for sporting
  events while a few had or where in the process of
  attending classes.
• The most reported belief of parents was that
  their child might not be able to go to college.
• The most reported concern parents had was that
  colleges were too big and that their child would
  get lost.
• The second most reported concern was that there
  would be too many bad influences on campus.

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Post Evaluation

• Only 1 parent reported that they had been
  uncomfortable going on a college campus, but
  observations from staff indicated that many
  parents appeared to become more relaxed during
  their time on campus.
• Parents and students who had expressed concerns
  about their child being able to attend college
  displayed a Maybe we can make this work
  attitude to program staff.

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The Future of Mom and Dad

• Mom and Dad Go to College trips are taking in
  the fall and spring semester to various schools
  in Kentucky.
• KHEAA as been invited on many trips to address
  parent questions and concerns about paying for
  college.
• If colleges that hosted College Reality Stores do
  not continue programming, Berea College GEAR UP
  is considering taking up this project.

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The Future of Mom and Dad cont..,
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Q A

• Any questions?
• If you would like more information feel free to
  contact us using the information contained in
  your packet or download powerpoint from
• http//www.madison.kyschools.us/ms/staff/gearup.ht
  m
• Thank you for your time.