LearnmoreMN Blog

Helping students individualize the college search process

By Adrienne Diercks, February guest blogger

Over the past decade, the number of students choosing to go to college after high school has increased significantly. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 21.8 million students will attend college as of the fall of 2013, which is an increase of 6.5 million since 2000. This increased interest in attending college has also created an environment where college is no longer seen as a choice but an expectation.

For the past 21 years, Project SUCCESS has been helping students visualize the future of their dreams and create a plan to get there. As a part of this work, I have seen personally how this new college-going culture has affected the way students and families visualize and prepare for their postsecondary futures. More and more often, students are embarrassed or feel like they are letting people down if they are unsure about going to college. Others are convinced that they should go to college, but are finding that, while college access services help with completing the steps to apply and gain acceptance, those services are not helping students ask and answer the most critical question in the college selection process: Why do I want to go to college?

With all the benefits a college education entails, if a student is not inspired by the why of going to college, then they are more likely to disengage from that experience or travel down a path that will lead them to an outcome they did not foresee, intend or desire. Regardless of a student’s socio-economic background, home environment or level of achievement, if they are not excited and invested in their future direction and actually see themselves in that future, they risk a larger chance of experiencing obstacles and potential failure.

As adults supporting young people, one of our roles is, of course, to help them get them into college. I would argue that another, more important role, is to help them visualize how they will be successful in that experience and to help them access the tools they need to make that vision a reality. When a student sees college as an option, that student should also have a good sense of why they are pursuing that college degree. When that happens, young people are more likely to fully embrace the college experience and be on the right path to creating the futures they have envisioned.

Helpful colleagues leave me amazed

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

Talking about what I have learned about creating a college and career readiness program while still in the midst of listening, re-tooling and re-grouping has ended up to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected. But as educators…I mean actors say, “the show must go on.”

Developing relationships, both personal and work related, with team members in other offices is becoming a key part of my work. Nothing that is worth doing can really be accomplished by just me. But what I can accomplish with someone else or a lot of someone elses is amazing! Help and the sharing of knowledge continue to come from the most unexpected places and people.

Example 1:

Last night I sent out a request to all the folks who office here at the Plato Blvd. building, asking if anyone had a copy of the game of LIFE I could borrow. I also included a brief explanation of why I needed it.

• Five different people offered to loan me the game, and I only knew one of them.
• As if that wasn’t enough to make me smile…an offer of assistance with the project was also sent. This individual is not only an expert in the field, but also has personal relationships with outside organizations that they are willing to use to assist in the development of the project.

Example 2:

A project currently being worked on is “The Journey to College and Career Readiness Begins in Elementary School” (affectionately known as “the coloring book”). This document is a prime example of how developing relationships can increase the value of a project.

None of us dreamed that finding a few pictures (suitable for coloring) of people in different occupations, genders and ethnic backgrounds would be a tough task. We could not have been more wrong. After much Internet surfing and hours of calling co-workers, a coloring book figure was found that had a young lady in a hijab painting a picture. The drawing was copyrighted by Amir Al-Zubi. It was not exactly what we wanted, but rather the best we could find.

Amir Al-Zubi was contacted for permission to use the drawing and we explained how and why we wanted to use it. As email requests like this had been sent out before, expectations were not high. We were contacted within 24 hours and exchanged several emails to clarify exactly why we wanted to use this drawing, and how important it was to the success of the project. In the end we were offered the use of the original drawing, as well as one that was much more appropriate for our use.

So I leave you with this…

Tell people about your work. Ask for assistance. You’d be surprised how many people want this effort to succeed. And try not to be as amazed as I am about just how generous people can be.

If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment. I’d love to hear about your experience.

Dream your way to college and career readiness

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

What would you do if someone said, “Create a way for all of our students to be college and career ready; and develop ways to engage our families and the community in this process”? That is sorta the situation I stepped into when joining the Saint Paul School District’s Office of College and Career Readiness in 2012. With a background in postsecondary education, corporate project management and strategic meeting management — of course I started with a list! It was not until much later that I learned I should have started with a DREAM.

The research on other programs was done. College Connector Training was completed. Feedback from staff collected. Shoot, I had even helped coordinate a way for our office to collect feedback from over 1,000 families and students face-to-face. I was ready.

So I started to write, even wore some grooves into my keyboard as I wrote and re-wrote what my plan would be. The goal was to deliver a simple and well-structured plan of action to my co-workers, when they arrived in August.

Silly me.

The plan was too complicated.

The plan relied on too many entities cooperating with each other.

The plan had no dedicated funding.

The plan was simply a dream. A silly, silly dream.

Or was it?

With the assistance and hard work of many wonderful colleagues, it became clear that the plan might be off track, but the Dream of having our students’ college and career ready upon graduation was very much alive. Here’s how I know:

• Our families and staff are opening up conversations with their elementary students about what they like to do and exploring different careers. 
• Our staff is collaborating with other offices to create and publish what has become affectingly known as the “coloring book.” This is a publication that blends activities and information for our elementary families to use with their children to support college and career exploration.
• More than 5,300 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students can be seen out and about in the community wearing shirts that have their future graduation date on it. (Yes, it’s those little green and yellow t-shirts with either 2026 or 2027 as a graduation date on them.)
• Two-person teams from the Office of College and Career Readiness have or are in the process of “adopting” all of the district-wide parent groups.They are starting and nurturing new relationships with our families and their communities, to insure that we learn what is needed and the best ways to deliver information and services.
• The Postsecondary Ambassador Program was developed through the support of the Saint Paul City’s Mayor’s Office. It is made up of local college students who are trained and then strategically placed within our schools and rec centers, to allow our families and students to see, interact and learn from someone like themselves.
• “It’s Never Too Late to Graduate” campaign has been created and provides support services to students who did not receive their high school diploma.
• The Career and Technical Education Program can jump start a student’s career by preparing them for postsecondary education and training for high-skill, high-wage and high-demand occupations, while they are still in high school.
• The opportunity to earn college credits while in high school, via the College in the Schools classes and the Postsecondary Education Option, is alive and well.

But as you know, there is much more work to be done. Even though my plan initially went off track, with the assistance, support and laughter of colleagues from across the district...the Dream is alive and moving forward.

My next post will share some of the things I learned and how the program plans to move forward. If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment to share your experiences.

Life decisions must not be left to chance

By Dave Ellefson, June guest blogger

Many high school graduates have been sharing handshakes and hugs with family, friends and faculty as they celebrated their recent graduation. Two questions they most likely were asked were: “Where are you planning to go to college?” and “What will your major be?”

From year-to-year a theme may arise where many students are going to a common college or to a group of colleges in a close area. This also applies to certain majors being popular. As a high school guidance counselor, I believe that the purposefulness of these decisions is a key indicator to the success the student will have. All students need to be taught how to make a decision.

I was just talking to a college student who decided to change schools after his sophomore year. Once he started at his new college, he found out he would need to attend an extra year of schooling to complete his major. Wouldn’t that have been an important question to ask before he left one school for another?

Great decisions require students to think about all the important questions that they must answer first. Are students picking a college because a friend is going there? Are they picking a major just because it will lead to a job that may pay a lot of money? How often are high school and college students given a chance to explore their career interests and aptitudes for different careers?

Students also need to think about how they will deal with adversity if it arises. They must have a growth mindset where they understand that dedication and hard work will be needed to achieve their goals. Students need to be taught how to think this way.

What about personal decisions that can get in the way of college success? Our society tends to project an image of what it means to have fun and students may not prepared for college or success when it’s not fun or easy.

When students ask the right questions about their future, have a positive mindset, and set well-thought-out goals — their chances of being successful are greatly increased. Without these ingredients it is easy to lose your way.

High schools must provide more than just the 3 Rs. High schools need to provide the following opportunities for post-high school success:

• opportunities for students to reflect on their future,
• opportunities to explore career options,
• opportunities to access their academic strengths and weakness,
• opportunities to improve on the skills they lack.

Students need to learn and practice persistence. Finally, students must learn to be goal oriented and taught how to create a four- year plan that will help them to explore career options and prepare for post-high school plans.

What ways have you found that help young people to navigate through life’s decisions?