By BRIANNA LUSK, Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Printed courtesy of Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, CA
The Imperial County Office of Education’s Higher Education Week is wrapping up today at local high schools but there’s much more that goes on throughout the school year.
Together Expect and Achieve More-Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (TEAM GEAR UP) is just one example of the work done day in and day out to get more of the Valley’s children into college.
Betsy Lane, director of TEAM GEAR UP, is starting to see how the program is already making an impact on the Valley’s youths.
The Imperial Valley Press spoke to Lane about how TEAM GEAR UP fits into the larger picture of having more Imperial County students achieve their dreams of going to college.
Q. What is TEAM GEAR UP and what does it do?
A. Together Expect and Achieve More-Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs is a federally funded partnership grant between the Imperial County P-16 Council, 11 Imperial County school districts and the Imperial County Office of Education.
The mission of GEAR UP is to increase students’ preparation for and participation in post-secondary education opportunities, while increasing families’ knowledge of those opportunities and issues that affect access like financial aid.
Another major purpose for the work of the P-16 Council and TEAM GEAR UP is to change the culture of families such that it is realistic for them to believe their children can obtain a college degree. Historically, many families in Imperial County have believed that this opportunity was not possible for financial and other reasons.
Q. This week is Higher Education Week in Imperial County. How does the mission of this week relate to TEAM GEAR UP’s work?
A. We know 41 percent of jobs in the state of California in the next five to 10 years will require a four-year degree. Awareness of the opportunities for post-secondary education, through activities like Higher Education Week is crucial to increasing students’ understanding of the possibilities that exist for their educational futures.
In addition, Higher Education Weeks provide needed support and information for families of prospective college students.
Q. Why is it important to start the post-secondary education conversation at such an early age?
A. Students who are prepared academically in middle schools for advanced courses at the high schools have an increased probability of completing the course requirements for entrance to the University of California and California State University systems. In fact, if students do not pass Algebra I by the ninth grade, they are already at a disadvantage for meeting eligibility requirements to attend a four-year college or university.
Q. What has TEAM GEAR UP accomplished so far?
A. Local efforts that began last year in 13 Imperial County middle schools have seen growth in the support of programs like Advancement Via Individual Determination; Math, Engineering, Science Achievement and academic tutoring. Seventh- and eighth-grade students write six-year college action plans that include goal-setting and academic coaching.
More than 820 seventh- and eighth-grade students voluntarily participated in college readiness academies over the summer where they received instruction in mathematics, language arts, college readiness and MESA activities as well as participated in college visits.
In schools across the country since 1999, GEAR UP has been very successful, raising the graduation rate of low-income students in GEAR UP high schools from approximately 52 percent to more than 84 percent.
Q. What can parents do to help their student succeed in preparing for college?
A. Parents can make it known that attending college is the expectation. They can ask their children, “Where are you going to college?” not, “Are you going to college?”
Parents can also get informed concerning college entrance requirements and play an active role in the classes their children take at the middle schools and the high schools. Parents can make sure their students are taking courses not just for graduation, but to meet the requirements of the universities to which their children plan to attend.
Q. Several years from now what results do you hope to see TEAM GEAR UP achieve?
A. Equal access to a college education for all students who wish to go. It’s true, not all students will go to college but it is our belief they must be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that exist upon graduation from high school whether they lead to immediate careers, college degrees or advanced degrees.
>> Staff Writer Brianna Lusk can be reached at blusk@ivpressonline.com or 337-3439.