A different kind of glass ceiling…

By Willy Tully, February 2008 Guest Blogger

The barriers that prevent Minnesota students from enrolling in college are often erected well before the senior year of high school.

A study, conducted for the Minnesota State Legislature by Ghere, Moore, and Schelske in 1999, shows that, "students begin self-selecting for high academic achievement as early as third grade, and courses that students take in middle school and early in high school are closely related to future college attendance."

Choices relating to academic rigor and extracurricular participation, as well as peer influence, shape a student’s perception of what they can achieve. At the same time, reserved space in honors courses, the cost of summer programs, and a lack of knowledge about (or access to) postsecondary choices exacerbate the innate barriers. Underperforming middle school students are funneled into high school programs that are unchallenging and that will not provide the requisite spark needed to excite the passion for learning present in every young person.

In actuality, students are constructing their own ceiling as they progress through a K-12 education. The unfortunate parallel is that our educational system is designed to reinforce these limiting "self" selections.

This makes me angry, and I hope it makes you angry too.

Schools are under-funded, teachers and counselors are under-paid, there are abhorrent socioeconomic and racial disparities in education, and schools located just minutes from one another are miles apart in the quality and breadth of educational programming they can offer. But now is not the time to despair. Indeed, now is the time to repair and rebuild. We must champion community cooperation – we must be pioneers for freedom and equality in education.

With the tools and the might, we must reach up and shatter that glass ceiling, for the limitations posed on individuals prevent this community from reaching its truest potential – from reaching greatness. And greatness is possible.

Comments

[Debbie Boyles]

Here's a new report that supports Willy's assertions — and offers some steps that will reduce barriers to college. From Aspirations to Action: The Role of Middle School Parents in Making the Dream of College a Reality (download the PDF; see Executive Summary) suggests that many parents don't have the necessary information to help their children make the important early choices that can put them on the path to college. Their recommendations include:

• Schools and counselors must reach out to parents and students to explain which courses are necessary for college and why it is important to plan for college in other ways.


• Groups that advocate for Latinos, African Americans, low-income families, immigrants, and others should distribute materials that increase college knowledge in all their outreach campaigns.


• Financial institutions should support financial literacy campaigns that reach local schools and diverse public audiences.


• Investment in early intervention programs must be increased.

Check out the report for all results and recommendations.

[Paul C]

What's your take on more individualized curriculum for students at the MS and HS level? Would that help or hurt? (My bias: I used to teach at a progressive, project-based high school where each student, with the help of their teacher/advisor, designed their own curriculum.)

It seems like more programs like that could help, as a student's curriculum could constantly be scaffolded and updated to push them towards college readiness, regardless of where they are in when they enter high school (or middle school). It would put pressure on teachers and parents to make sure that the student isn't self-selecting a curriculum that limits their options - the glass ceiling that Willy mentions - but equiping schools with the ability to individualize more would be a positive thing, in my opinion. Other thoughts?