Great reading to get one going
on a Monday morning, better than coffee I might say. Enjoy and share with
many.
Sincerely;
Ricardo Marmolejo, Director
TRiO/Upward Bound Math &
Science
College of the Sequoias
915 S. Mooney Blvd.
Visalia, CA
93277
o: (559)
737-5401
c: (559)
355-4289
f: (559)
737-6144
TRiO...it works!
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/25/AR2009102502488.html>
A LIFT ON THE ROAD TO GRADUATION
FEDERAL PROGRAMS HELP DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS SUCCEED IN COLLEGE
BY DANIEL DE VISE
WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
OCTOBER 26, 2009
Khawar Malik had written just one 10-page paper in four years at DuVal High
School in Lanham, and his teacher had given him an entire year to finish it.
High school left him unprepared for college. So, Malik, 19, entered the
University of Maryland through its Academic Achievement Programs division. He
spent six summer weeks in the academic equivalent of boot camp, learning all
the reading, writing, math and study skills he would need to keep pace with
other freshmen. By the end of the sixth week, he had written another 10-page
paper and several shorter ones. Today, he is an English major.
"If I didn't have this program, I wouldn't be here right now," said
Malik, a sophomore who has a 4.0 grade-point average.
The federal Student Support Services program, launched during the Nixon
administration, is part of a larger effort to help disadvantaged students
overcome academic and cultural barriers to success in higher education. The
program is part of TRIO, a group of national initiatives that have proven their
ability to raise the odds that a disadvantaged student will stay in college,
get good grades and graduate.
Yet supporters say the programs have languished through years of fiscal
neglect. Total funding to the TRIO programs -- $848 million in the fiscal year
that began this month -- has risen about 1 percent in the past five years. TRIO
serves 838,591 students, fewer than it did in 2003.
The support programs are closely linked to the federal Pell grant, a $25
billion fund that helps students from low-income families pay for college.
Unlike TRIO, funding for Pell has increased by more than one-third over the
past three years. A student aid bill that cleared the House last month would
add $40 billion to Pell over the next decade but does not address TRIO.
Advocates say the support programs are key to the success of students who
receive Pell grants. Money, they say, is not enough.
"You can give them all the money in the world," said Arnold Mitchem,
president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, a nonprofit organization
in the District that supports the TRIO programs. "But if you don't address
the confidence issues, the skills issue, you're not going to make it."
Mitchem contends that the Obama administration will get a better return on its
investment in Pell by expanding the programs that support Pell students. About
23 percent of Pell recipients receive bachelor's degrees within six years,
according to federal data, while an additional 29 percent get associate's
degrees. Such statistics prompt some critics to contend that Pell money is
largely wasted.
Federal data show that 29 percent of all postsecondary students complete a
bachelor's degree in six years and 10 percent attain associate's degrees.
But when Pell is combined with the support programs, the graduation rate rises
by about 10 points, according to Mitchem's agency.
At the University of Maryland, the TRIO program is housed in an academic
building across from Memorial Chapel. On Wednesday morning, students popped in
and out of small classrooms to learn study skills and seek supplementary
instruction in reading and math. Program directors do not consider the classes
remedial. Instructors teach college-level material, but at a slower pace.
"We give the students an elongated approach to dealing with the
concept," said Jerry Lewis, executive director of Academic Achievement
Programs.
One classroom functioned as a collegiate study hall, with students seeking help
from tutors or from their classmates. A young man turned his notebook to a
classmate and asked, "How do you know if the function is even, odd or
neither?" The classmate helped him solve the problem.
In another class, an instructor led several students through a list of
multiple-choice graphing problems. "For these kinds of problems," he
told them, "you always use elimination."
The six-week boot camp is the starting point for about 100 freshmen a year at
Maryland, students who otherwise would not be admitted. Typically, they have
good grades but lower SAT scores than other U-Md. students, and they come from
high schools that offer less-rigorous classes. All but a handful make it
through the summer program and gain freshman status.
Students remain tethered to the support programs for their first two years,
taking supplementary classes, learning how to deal with professors and
roommates, and getting advice on how to manage their time.
About 92 percent return as sophomores, a higher retention rate than for the
university as a whole. Two-thirds of program participants receive their
diplomas. That is lower than the 81 percent graduation rate for U-Md. as a
whole but higher than the national average for students from low-income
families in four-year colleges, which is about 40 percent, according to program
officials.
Stephanie Trimnell, an 18-year-old freshman from Laurel High School, arrived at
U-Md. with the sort of academic deficits that lead many disadvantaged students
to drop out. After the six-week summer program, she was placed in Math 003, a
developmental course that covers high school algebra. But one thing she has
learned is confidence.
"They motivate you. They inspire you," she said. "Everybody's
pushing you toward being a better person."