Blazing New Trails - Connexions

168 CRITICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
faculty. I think we really care about our students. That’s what’s outstanding. They are not just
a number here. They’re really not.” Another success that was mentioned was the individual
recruitment of students for the rigorous classes. A teacher expressed:
I think that seeking students to enroll in the concurrent courses is our biggest success.
There is funding to help students. Before GEAR UP, many of our lower SES students
had no idea that they could afford the concurrent classes. Being introduced to the
classes has planted a seed. Then, they realize that if they take a college class in high
school, college becomes something that’s very attainable to them, and going to college
is just the next thing that they’re going to do. To me, as far as college-readiness, that
says a lot about the GEAR UP program’s success, seeking our students [from low SES
groups] and calling them individually and saying, ‘Hey, you know what? You need to
take the college class.’
Student support has been provided through the recruitment of students for dual credit,
concurrent, Pre AP, or AP classes with enrollments increasing markedly in these classes. In
addition, campuses are “allowing middle school students to gain high school credits and then
bring them to high school.” A counselor stressed:
The students have really bought into taking advanced classes and made it their own. I
believe now that is helping them in the process and will continue to help them. I
already have parents calling and wanting their children in the advanced classes for this
year.
Another GEAR UP coordinator explained:
One thing that we’ve done this year is that we’ve really focused. We’ve had mentor
programs before, and they were somewhat general, but this year, we focused on
specific students with needs. I looked for somebody that they already worked well
with and had rapport with and I said, ‘Listen, I want you to be this student’s mom or
dad away from home. I want you to have them come to you every day. I want you to
check their homework. I want you to do things until these students are succeeding.’
The teachers have embraced it completely. The mentoring has made a great difference.
Support has also been provided through extra help in team meetings or tutoring. As a GEAR
UP coordinator shared:
There’s a lot of people that are intervening and pulling for these students, and I think
that’s a huge plus because on a given day, I could pick up the phone and call four or
five different people and say, ‘Hey, I’m having a problem with this student. I see this
student is struggling.’ And I’ve got four or five people immediately trying to figure
out, ‘OK, what can we do to help this student?’ I think that’s a huge plus.
The format that was used for tutoring sessions varied among campuses. One campus used
one-on-one tutoring in an after-school setting while another used small-group after-school
tutoring, and still another campus provided in-class one-on-one assistance to students. The
personal rewards to the college tutors as well as for the high school students were noted. As a
college tutor expressed, “Seeing the faces of students light up when they began to understand