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A new U.S. Department of Education grant will provide nearly 500 middle school students in Wards 7 and 8 with a bevy of college readiness resources and more than $20,000 in scholarships.
Through Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), these students, spread across eight District public and public charter schools, will connect with college and career readiness coaches for academic and socioemotional support throughout middle and high school.
GEAR UP, valued at $21 million, will also sponsor college tours, enrichment activities, and interactive workshops that expose parents and families to postsecondary options, preparedness and financing. The program represents a partnership between the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and the DC College Access Program.
Katreena Shelby, principal of Kramer Middle School in Southeast and first-generation college graduate, called GEAR UP a great opportunity to expand ongoing efforts to help students pursue a college education.
Kramer students recently visited University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware. Shelby said that trip inspired questions about how to raise grade point averages and become more attractive to college admissions officers.
In recent years, other college tour opportunities brought students to Virginia State University, University of South Carolina, and Clark Atlanta University. During upcoming tours in the D.C. area. Students will visit Howard University in Northwest, Bowie State University, University of Maryland College Park, and Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Shelby told The Informer that, with GEAR UP, more students can go on college tours. She also said that Kramer administrators would be better able to engage parents in difficult, but necessary, conversations about how their children can secure a college education without accruing debt.
“This will be a game changer,” said Shelby, an alumna of Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. “It’s not just about whether students heard about college. It’s about being able to show them a pathway [to college] as early as fifth grade. We’re going to see a lot of retention with students who benefit from this grant. It’s pivotal for parents who aren’t college graduates.”
A National Question of How to Diversify Colleges and Universities
Other District schools participating in GEAR UP are: Excel Academy, Hart Middle School, Johnson Middle School, Friendship Public Charter School Southeast Middle School, Kelly Miller Middle School, Sousa Middle School, and Friendship Public Charter School Blow-Pierce Middle School in Northeast.
GEAR UP comes to D.C. schools just months after the U..S. Department of Education hosted the National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.
During the July summit, Biden-Harris administration officials and college administrators discussed how to expand access to higher education in the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling that ended race consciousness in college admissions. Participants listened to panel discussions that explored how to increase access to grants, ease transfer from community colleges to four-year postsecondary institutions, and better connect colleges to K-12 students in underserved communities.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon of July 26, Gary S. May, chancellor of University of California, Davis, explained how he diversified his student body after California abolished public sector affirmative action in the 1990s. Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University in Northeast, also delved into how she engaged D.C. high school students and graduates via dual-enrollment and a collaboration with Generation Hope, a nonprofit that helps teen parents navigate college.
In his keynote address, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona encouraged post-secondary institutions to foster a “culture of belonging” by defraying tuition costs for students representing historically marginalized communities. He alluded to future summits dedicated to bridging the gap between colleges and K-12 institutions at the state and local levels.
This year, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) released its report, titled “The Most Important Door That Will Ever Open,” showing how college recruitment practices hinder diversity efforts.
Practices cited in IHEP’s report include heavy recruitment of students from wealthy communities, legacy admissions, early decision and early action deadlines, and “demonstration of interest” policies that disadvantage students without the resources for campus visits.
Mamie Voight, IHEP president and CEO, said it’s on post-secondary institutions to increase their outreach to low-income communities, especially after affirmative action’s abolishment.
“If colleges are spending a lot of their resources recruiting in high-income neighborhoods, they can shift that to low-income communities and communities with first-generation students,” Voight told The Informer.
“When you think about legacy admissions, some of those institutions provide legacy students with perks like special interviews throughout the admissions process, special lunches or in-state tuition to legacy students who live out of state,” Voight added. “Those institutions could recoup those costs and put it toward needs-based financial aid.”
Ensuring Students Go to, and Complete, College
In October, National Student Clearinghouse confirmed that college enrollment increased for the first time since the pandemic, despite a decline in freshmen.
Community colleges accounted for nearly 60% of enrollment this fall.
However, it remains to be seen how many of those young people will successfully matriculate.
In 2020, OSSE reported that nearly 53% of 2020 high school graduates enrolled in a college or university within six months of their graduation. By 2021, that rate declined to 51% . Black students experienced a decline of 3% within that time period.
In its March 2023 report, D.C. Policy Center criticized OSSE’s collection of post graduation data, saying that more information about who’s completing their postsecondary education and where could help improve college and career outcomes.
According to the report, less than 10% of D.C. high school graduates will acquire a bachelor’s degree within six years of graduating.
An OSSE spokesperson cited data on its School Report Card that includes details about college enrollment among DCPS graduates, as well as information collected via the DC Tuition Assistance Grant scholarship. A report released by the agency this year reviewed the progress of D.C. high school graduates toward college credentials over the course of a decade.
Gregory Spears, principal at Friendship Public Charter School Blow Pierce Middle School, told The Informer that GEAR UP will push his campus further along in its mission to prepare students for high school and ultimately college.
Spears said that, for years, he and teachers at Blow Pierce Middle School have met that goal by encouraging a supportive, rigorous classroom environment that prepares students for Friendship Collegiate Academy or Friendship Technology Preparatory High School, should they choose to go to either campus.
Spears reflected on instances when students, under the direction of staff members, learned about college life beyond academics. Last school year, teachers, many of whom are HBCU alumni, represented their Divine Nine organizations during Black History Month. Students also met Georgetown University volleyball players.
With the promise of scholarship dollars, the GEAR UP program could encourage more parental buy-in as staff members expose students to the idea of college, Spears told The Informer.
“We want to provide opportunities and we want students’ lives to take them places. The GEAR UP grant will be able to help them do that,” Spears said.
“This will open the door to pursue these conversations with parents. We [currently] have conversations about what we’re doing now and how we can set up students for sixth, seventh and eighth grades. This allows us to expand our scope and widen the gaze of our possibilities.”