Springfield Schools looking to boost number of grads going to college
SPRINGFIELD — When they were seniors, 56% of the city's class of 2024 said they planned to go to college. By September 2024, 39% of the recent graduates started their first college classes.
The numbers don't get better. This September, 28% of the 2024 graduates are continuing to their second year of college.
If past classes are any indication, many won't continue. In the class of 2018, 20% graduated from college in six years and 22% of the 2017 graduates completed a degree in six years.
A years-long effort has boosted the high school graduation rate. Now educators are turning their efforts to make sure students have what they need to have the career of their choice, said Springfield Superintendent Sonia E. Dinnall.
Dinnall has listed four priorities for the schools, with one being post-secondary success. The others are teaching college and career readiness, enhancing middle schools and ensuring all second-graders are reading on grade level.
"We want all students to have the appropriate knowledge to follow their desired path," she said.
A team of about a dozen educators has now gathered data on college success to see where they need to go next. Officials are also looking at students who have chosen other pathways such as trade schools, apprenticeships and military training to reach their goals, Dinnall said.
"We want better outcomes. We want to close the gap on what kids say they want to do and what actually happens," said Yolanda Johnson, chief of student services. "We have to begin to find out what the obstacles or barriers are."
Data show 25% of all residents in the city live below the poverty line and 83% of students are considered low-income. The best way to lift the entire community from poverty, especially young people, is through higher education, said Rosa Valentin, director of multilingual learners.
Especially concerning is 34% of Latino students, who make up about 68% of all students, continue on to post-secondary education which is below all other ethnic groups, she said.
After seeing the data Thursday night during a School Committee meeting, member Denise Hurst questioned to the extent to which the problem is financial, especially for the students who don't return after they finish their first year.
Since the surveys are self-reported, she also asked if some of the students who said they planned to go to college are just telling teachers what they want to hear instead of it being a goal they want to work toward.
Why more students are not heading to college is complex. The data will give educators a starting point to find more about the reasons and how to help students who truly want to go on to earn college degrees but have something holding them back, said Terry Powe, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and professional development.
Those dozen educators and others will work with family members and students to find out more about why some students dropped out and the challenges faced by those who remained in school.
Dinnall said she hopes to create a system so students receive a hand-off and when they head to college, they know what support systems are available for financial aid advice, tutoring and other issues.
Dinnall said teachers are also using the school department's Portrait of a Graduate , a community and student-based study of what students need to know to prepare them for the future.
She said she also wants to learn whether students felt they unprepared for the academic rigor of college, what skills they were missing and what classes were helpful.
The School Department has a summer program to help students prepare for their first year of college. It also provides assistance to make sure students' applications and financial aid forms are completed and they know about scholarship opportunities, said Rose Boulay, administrator for Springfield Promise.
During the summer program, staff check in with the students to make sure they pay their bills, set up housing if they are living on campus and know how to rent or buy books inexpensively. They are also there if students have financial questions. In one instance, they found a laptop for a student who didn't have one, Boulay said.
The biggest problem is students are typically working over the summer, so they sometimes have problems connecting with them, Boulay said.
One of the issues is also making sure students find the right fit when choosing among the options for college. While some will thrive at a small local school, others will do better at a large university. There are also historically Black colleges, single-sex colleges, and students have to decide if they are better living at home or on campus, she said.
Another factor students have to consider is community college is now free, so that will help those with a limited budget, she said.
more news from Western Massachusetts
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
