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Research Shows » Kids in TASC middle school programs improved their math scores and school-day attendance, compared to non-participants. Kids in TASC high school programs passed more Regents exams and earned more credits than non-participants. |
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Middle school is the crucial time to get kids thinking about college, and to motivate them to consider their college and career goals. The decisions kids make during these years - choosing a high school, exploring career options, taking school seriously, and developing a group of peers who are supportive - can either enhance or hurt their ability to progress from high school to college.
But many middle school students in New York City are not thinking about how the decisions they make now will affect their ability to do college-level work or attend colleges that match their interests. And many of their families have little access to networks of advisors who can guide them through the tricky landscape of college applications, financial aid and college choice.
After-school is a largely untapped but effective venue for supporting and encouraging young teens to start down the path to college, and for bringing their families into the process with step-by-step information. The bridges that quality after-school programs form between schools and communities, and between families and schools, have great potential to help put youth on the path to college.
Early college preparation helps students develop the intellectual curiosity, academic ability, social values and personal resiliency they need to succeed in school, career and life.
College PLAN Program
Whose advice is a younger teen most likely to heed? How about an older teen?
College PLAN (Peer Leaders After-school Now) puts trained, informed and motivated high school students to work mentoring and influencing middle school students to get on the path to college. High school students from TASC's After-School Education Apprenticeship program receive intensive training on how to help younger kids take practical steps toward college. They are trained in goal-setting, the workings of financial aid and how to go about selecting a college. The trained teens then match up with groups of middle school students in after-school programs.
The high school students lead workshops for the middle school students on topics that include the basics of college, or "College 101,"; how to choose great high schools; how to use tutoring to their benefit and how to think about potential careers. Together, middle school students and After-School Education Apprenticeship program participants visit local colleges and businesses to see them in action.
The emphasis is on making college real for students in middle school, while also preparing high school students to reach their college goals. A popular workshop activity is for a younger student to identify a real-life role model who has a college degree, and then fill out an actual college application for that person.
The benefit to younger students is plain: they will know how to get to college, be part of a group of peers who want to attend, and begin to form a student-and-family support system for the college application path ahead. The high school leaders also benefit by developing a fuller understanding of how to chart their own way through the college application and admissions process.
The College PLAN program is supported by Time Warner.
