How do you get more students to graduate from high school, earn a college degree, and find fulfilling careers? For many schools the answer is adding a college and career readiness program that gives students more opportunities and perspective for their future.
With differences in politics, religion and socioeconomic statuses, America is divided. To help overcome these differences and to create more collaboration, cooperation and understanding, NPR is collecting stories of citizens who are uniting their communities in a series called Participation Nation. In one story, Darryl Burnette, a chef, created a community garden in Harlem, NY. Through this he hopes to teach students about healthy eating habits and urban gardening.  This is a wonderful idea and has the chance to transform our inner city neighborhood, our housing projects and our urban schools.
How did you find the college that was the right fit for you? Maybe you knew you wanted to live in a big city, that the school had the best program in your field, or because your high school friends were going there. Today, most students are swayed by a different measurement of fit. A recent study by Sallie Mae found 69 percent of students chose colleges based on affordability. To make schools more affordable, 51 percent lived at home, 55 percent chose to live with a roommate, 50 percent increased their number of work hours, and 66 percent reduced spending.
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There are many reasons college can be stressful for students. Entering freshmen might suffer a culture shock or fear their heightened level of independence. College sophomores have the stress of picking their academic path that should set the pace for the rest of college and their career after school. With their general classes behind them, college juniors go on to higher-level classes and get heftier workloads. Seniors start getting a taste of the real world as interns and student aids, while having the most difficult classes yet. And this is for the traditional student who has remained on-track to graduation. Due to any number of circumstances, many students’ college career will continue over five or six years.
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The summer break is coming to end and many teachers are already preparing for the new school year. In the midst of planning, organizing, and putting classrooms back together, teachers can also prepare for the new school year by getting inspired by other educators who are making a difference. Whether you’re ready to embrace the new school year or not, the following are some ways you can get inspired to start the year strong and to bring inspiration into the classroom.
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Achieving Student Engagement in the Digital Age
How will technology change the college-going experience over the next decade? Can the plugged-in generation harness their proclivity for technology in ways that their professors can understand? Can professors move from teaching and telling to coaching and facilitating? Can faculty across the disciplines understand enough about technology to give their students the reigns they need to craft and deliver their own interactive learning? Can students have the self-reflection, judgment, and personal discipline  to create the boundaries they need to aggregate and create the content from which they can learn? Can they resist the temptations to camp on Facebook or play video games to join on-line class discussions and make meaningful, thoughtful contributions to their fellow classmates while juggling reading and other self-paced class responsibilities?
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Only 32 percent of students who graduate from high school are academically prepared for college, according to research from the Manhattan Institute Center for Civic Information1. Remedial classes in English, writing, and math are offered at many of today’s community and four-year colleges to address the overwhelming amount of students leaving high school without basic mastery of their core subjects.
Remedial classes are controversial because their worth is questioned in the grand scheme of things. Yes, remedial classes can open opportunities for more students to enter college who otherwise wouldn’t have the academic credentials to pursue an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. However, remedial classes can also offer a false hope to many students.
LifeBound’s three-day Academic Coaching session came to an end today. LifeBound’s lead trainers Maureen Breeze and Jim Hoops had the pleasure of working with a variety of education professionals from around the country who work with students from a wide-range of backgrounds, grade levels, and types of institutions.
Yesterday, our coaches in training put their new coaching skills to the test when we brought in real students and professionals to get coached on one area they wanted to grow in. The following pictures are of each coach and their coachee engaged in a session.
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The achievement gap between low- and high-income students is 30-40 percent higher for students born in 2001 than those born 25 years earlier, according to the National Summer Learning Association. The stigma of summer school is changing as experts find that summer learning losses continue to divide opportunities between low- and high- income students and that students can’t afford to unlearn knowledge every summer as our world standing in education continues to slip.
Haley Justino is a talented student entering her junior year in high school at Cherry Creek High School who has many passions in the arts. Not only is she an accomplished pianist and singer, she also interns for LifeBound and writes for our student blog!
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