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星期二, 9月 16, 2014

Success Boston and Boston Public Schools teach College Knowledge this October with College Month

Success Boston and Boston Public Schools teach College Knowledge this October with College Month

BOSTON – College is a family choice, and college planning begins in Kindergarten. These two themes will guide a City of Boston initiative, College Month, from September 27 through October 31. While College Month 2014 may target Boston high school students across the City, Success Boston and Boston Public Schools plan to spark early college awareness in students and families of the state’s largest school district.

Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston launched College Month in 2006 to promote Get Ready for College Day activities for BPS eighth graders, as well as the distribution of a newly-developed BPS College and Career Guide. Eight years later, College Month is sustained by BPS and the community partnerships of the Success Boston College Completion Initiative. Success Boston, launched in 2008, is a partnership of the Office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the Boston Public Schools, the Boston Foundation, the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston Private Industry Council (PIC), and more than 50 higher education and nonprofit institutions. The initiative is working to double – to 70% – the six-year college completion rate of BPS graduates.

College Month is a multi-pronged college readiness strategy that combines the collective ways teachers, community organizations, and higher education institutions are talking with BPS students about their futures. “College Month is entirely student-facing,” said BPS High School Network Superintendent Mary Skipper. “It puts students face-to-face with the reality that college planning begins now – no matter which grade you are in.”

College Month 2014 will begin with a College and Career Fair on September 27 at the Madison Park Technical/Vocational High School in Roxbury. The Fair’s sponsors, BPS and Boston Scholar Athletes, expect more than 800 students and parents to connect with 90 colleges and universities from across New England and as far away as Georgia.

Then, on the night of October 1 at the Boston School Committee meeting, School Committee members will kick off October by showing their alma-mater pride in honor of the City and District tradition.

Each week in College Month will highlight a “college knowledge” theme. Students across elementary, middle, and high schools will participate in age-appropriate college awareness.

Week 1: Empowering Students and Families through Financial Aid: uAspire, a non-profit Success Boston member dedicated to helping students apply for and receive financial aid, will reach nearly 1,000 students during College Month through its Afford College 101 Workshops. Adam Reinke of uAspire wants families to know that financial aid is an accessible process. “The workshops empower young people for whom finances must play an important factor,” Reinke said. uAspire is available free of charge to help all students and families with college affordability needs or questions. Last year, College Month financial aid lessons reached as early as first grade, where students saved pennies to learn decision making and to start individual college savings.

Week 2: Ensuring Student and Family Planning and Preparation: The Boston Scholar Athletes, a non-profit organization partnering with A-List Education to offer SAT preparation in 18 BPS high schools, will host College Admissions Awareness week. Along with college and university open houses, and scholarship and college essay strategies, Boston Scholar Athletes expects that College Month will help students and families think about the benchmarks of college planning before sophomore year, such as PSAT and SAT testing. Boston Scholar Athletes will launch its scholarship during Admissions week and hold Tweet Chats along with other non-profits to engage students via social media.
To support students’ college planning, BPS has partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), and the Department of Higher Education to launch an online post-secondary planning portal, Your Plan for the Future (YPFF), available at 22 high schools in its pilot year. Each student will have access to individual college readiness data and a wealth of information, tutorials, and application tracking through YPFF. 

Week 3: Bringing BPS Alumni Home: University of Massachusetts-Boston student and BPS graduate Jean Charles is one of 1,800 students supported by transitional coaching models through Success Boston. A Success Boston Student Leadership Committee member, Charles developed an alumni engagement strategy with the National College Advising Corps. Placing recent college graduates as college advisors in 15 BPS high schools this September, the National College Advising Corps’ Boston Chapter and BPS alumni leaders will reach nearly 8,000 students during Alumni Engagement week.

According to Charles, a graduate of the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science, BPS alumni bring a powerful message of college success. “BPS graduates represent different languages, cultures, and high schools,” he said. “That diversity translates well into college and career success. There are BPS graduates everywhere doing amazing things. I want to share that and help promote the great opportunities that college offers. There’s an entire network of people out there who can help every high school student build a future.”

Week 4: Connecting College and Career Readiness: Boston Private Industry Council (PIC), also a Success Boston member, will distribute student take-away cards with degree attainment and total lifetime earnings, and “hot jobs” in sciences, technology and healthcare. According to PIC’s Josh Bruno, teachers used the cards last year in math lessons to conceptualize the value of a college education and career options. Students in early grades will meet with professionals across industries to understand connections between college and career.

Students and families can ask questions pertaining to college, financial aid, and career by using the hashtag, #CollegeMonth.

Boston Public Schools and non-profit partners will extend the lessons of College Month well beyond October 31. In collaboration with Success Boston, BPS is planning follow-up College Boot Camps and in-school initiatives to ensure college knowledge is a daily lesson.


Learn more about and engage with College Month:
Twitter: @CollegeMonth
Twitter Chat: #CollegeMonth #SuccessBoston
Instagram: @CollegeMonth


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