Aspirations: Overcoming Barriers to Success through Pre- and Post-secondary School Partnerships

The goal of this study is to improve understanding of how participation in learning and teaching partnerships between elementary classrooms facing high barriers to success and college classrooms can: 1) influence the knowledge of, interest in, and aspirations toward post-secondary education in populations less likely to explore college; 2) impact college students’ sense of civic knowledge, civic learning, civic reflection, and civic efficacy. Qualitative evaluation methods designed by Lafayette College’s Landis Center for Community Engagement in collaboration with elementary school professionals measure the success of these goals. Collaborators include students and faculty from a college level civil and environmental engineering class and student, faculty, and administrators from two different elementary schools. Research is conducted with elementary school students and teachers and college faculty and students enrolled in specified community-based learning and research courses at Lafayette College. These courses are part of Landis Center for Community Engagement-sponsored program, Connected Classrooms. Connected Classrooms partnerships pair college classrooms with elementary school classrooms. College faculty and elementary school faculty collaboratively determine where the academic content of their courses align. Once a subject area is determined, college students begin working in small groups to develop a learning module that teaches the younger students’ key educational points. The elementary teacher works with the college students to ensure that the material is appropriate to the grade level and coaches the groups on how to communicate with younger children. Students from the elementary school then visit the college classroom where the college students will deliver their modules at an approximate 1:2 ratio. Preliminary data indicates the program has a positive impact on the younger students, primarily on attitudes about higher education and perceptions of what college actually “looks like.” These data also suggest the development of civic knowledge, civic learning, civic reflection, and civic efficacy qualities in participating college students. The overall program has begun to expand across K-12, with links tied to programs being introduced beyond elementary in middle school and high school. Introduction While the importance of preparing for college while still in high school has been widely recognized both through research and through practice, much less is known about how introducing students to college while still in elementary school will impact students’ aspirations toward pursuing post-secondary education. In particular, this study seeks to determine how early exposure to college through a teaching and learning partnership called “Connected Classrooms” with Lafayette College will affect the attitudes and expectations of students at elementary schools facing high socioeconomic barriers to success. Connected Classrooms is one of a number of strategically aligned scaffolded programs within an overarching program called Aspirations spanning K-12. Collaborators for this study include students and faculty from a college-level civil and environmental engineering sophomore class (Lafayette College) and students, faculty and administrators from two different elementary schools within the Easton Area School District (EASD), Easton PA. This study is part of a burgeoning body of research on the importance of early exposure to college toward maximizing post-secondary academic success. The goal of this study is to improve understanding of how participation in learning and teaching partnerships between elementary classrooms facing high barriers to success and college classrooms can: 1) influence the knowledge of, interest in, and aspirations toward post-secondary education in populations less likely to explore college; 2) impact college students’ sense of civic knowledge, civic learning, civic reflection, and civic efficacy. Background and Motivation College Aspiration and Barriers to Success Students whose parents did not attend college often have to overcome barriers in their pursuit of higher education that students whose parents have attained at least a bachelor’s degree do not. As early as the eighth grade, first generation students have low expectations about their ability to attend college [1]. While high expectations and encouragement from parents are the strongest predictors of whether or not a student will pursue higher education [2], many parents of potential first-generation students have limited exposure to post-secondary education and are unable to provide these supports. Due to a lack of knowledge about the college application process and misinformation or ignorance about financial aid, parents tend not to encourage post-secondary education because it seems like an insurmountable barrier [1]. They may overestimate the cost, underestimate access to financial aid, or worry about how to make ends meet while enrolled. Some parents of first-generation students, particularly those of low income, may view postsecondary education as an impractical endeavor meant for wealthier students and so might actually discourage their children from trying to enroll, seeing immediate employment as the more practical option [3]. These students might also feel that attending college will disrupt an intergenerational working class dynamic and will alienate them from their families [4]. Firstgeneration students who do attend college most often choose less-selective or two-year schools that are close to home, despite eligibility to attend a more selective school [5]. Some reasons for this include the cost, access to work, the need to support the family household, and time to finish the degree [6]. These barriers and misunderstandings make potential first-generation college students less likely to attend college. Only 53% of 12th-grade first-generation students expect to earn a bachelor’s degree and 68% plan to enroll in high school immediately after high school, compared to roughly 90% of students whose parents earned at least a bachelor’s degree [4]. Fewer students actually enroll in post-secondary education than aspire to in high school, indicating that delaying enrollment makes students less likely to attend at all [5]. According to a 2001 National Center for Education Statistics report, only 54% of students whose parents had earned a high school diploma enrolled in college, and only 36% of students whose parents had not finished high school enrolled. Conversely, the same report found that roughly 85% of students whose parents had at least a bachelor’s degree have gone on to pursue a post-secondary degree themselves. Overcoming Barriers The U.S. Department of Education has recognized these barriers to education for first-generation college students and has established the TRIO programs in an effort to help students overcome them. These programs provide grant funds to institutions of higher education to fund educational interventions for low-income and first-generation college students. The Upward Bound program and the Talent Search program focus specifically on helping students get to college. The Upward Bound program provides interventions in the form of tutoring, mentoring, counselling, work study, and cultural enrichment to help students succeed in high school and move on to post-secondary education. Similarly, the Talent Search program provides academic tutoring, financial aid counseling, career counseling, mentoring, and workshops on navigating the postsecondary application process. In 2006, the Pell Institute on Higher Education conducted a focus group study with firstgeneration students in Texas who had recently completed either the Upward Bound or Talent Search pre-college education programs. The purpose of the focus group was to determine which aspects of the program had the greatest impact on their college aspirations and expectations. Going into the program, many of the students believed that they could not get into college, and even if they did, they would not be able to pay for it [7]. They further rationalized that college was not a necessary step toward finding employment, so that it was impractical and unnecessary. Despite initial low expectations, students involved in the pre-college education programs were able to point to specific aspects of the program that helped raise their aspirations and expectations for attending college. These included: the practical connection of college to a career interest, information on how to pay for college, filling in academic achievement gaps, engaging with college role models, and persistence in messaging about the importance of college. Through the focus group, Engle [7] also discovered that waiting until the junior or senior year of high school to talk to first-generation students about college expectations was too late to have measurable impact. First-generation college students often have very little information regarding college, and so the application process can be overwhelming for them to undertake in so little time. According to the focus groups, early and regular exposure were shown to help alleviate some of this anxiety by breaking “college” down into manageable pieces. “Get[ting] the message out about college to all students as early as possible” can help students connect to the programs and services at their schools and in their communities that can help them realize their college aspirations and expectations. In keeping with the concept that early intervention can positively impact students’ college aspirations, Long Beach Unified School District has partnered with Long Beach City College, California State University at Long Beach, and the City of Long Beach through the Long Beach College Promise. According to the Long Beach College Promise website, the purpose of the partnership is to improve “college preparation, college access, and college success.” T