With a practical approact-I, school counselors can

make great strides on the journey to creating

college-going

BY K R l S H A R V E Y

cultures in their schools.

We've all seen them - the lcids who

would experience great success i1; col-

lege but have never even considered

applying. Perhaps their parents aren't

college-educated and are convinced a

college degree isn't necessary. Pel-haps

there are financial issues involved, and

they don't thinlc there's any way they

could, afford it so they don't even con-

sider it. 01- perhaps their self-esteem is

low, and they thinlc they'd I'ail a t college.

,Helpingthese students realize that,

yes, they can attend college should be

a schoolwide effort, one the school

counselor is uniquely positioned t o

lead. O n e of'the best ways to accoln- '

p l ~ s l ~ this is by creating a ~ o l l e ~ e - ~ o i n g

culture in you r school.

The term "college-going culture" is

ubiquitous in today's school environ-

ment literature. What isn't as common

is a definition of exactly what this term

means, why it's important and ho\v

schools can achieve ~ t . \JJitliout this

inrormation, schools struggling t o get

students to perf'orm a t grade level are

unlilcely to discover how raising expec-

tations can actually Ilelp, not hurt,

their students' perfor~nance.

With some basic infor~nation and a

practical, step-by-step approach,

school counselors can help t rans lb~*~n

their schools' cultures in ways thal will

significantly improve students' lives.

WHAT IS A COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE?

There are mally dirrerent definitions,

but one of the most common is the

one used by the College Baal-d in

" ~ o l l e g e ~ d @ : Creating a College-

Going .Culture." Theye, a college-

going culture is c1el;ncd as a n

environment "that Lpilds the expecta-

tion of postsecondary education for all

students - not just the Lcst students.

It inspires the best in e\rel3; st-uclent."

A school with a college-going culture

is one where the goal for students is

not s i~nply to p a d u a t e I.'rorn high

I W W W S C H O O L C O U N S E L O R O R G

school but to obtain a college clegree.

It means creating an atmosphere

where all st~idents are engaged in a

~-igorous c ~ ~ r r i c ~ ~ l u m that adequately

prepares them (01. the academic

clemancls oC' postseconclary education.

WHY DON'T SCHOOLS HAVE A

COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE? Many

schools don't have college-going C L I I - tures because faculty and aclministra-

tors there believe college advocacy ~.

and planning should be done at home.

The problem with this approach is

that, unfortunately, many st~rdents.

who have the potential to succeecl at

college don't receive this type of

encouragement and support at home.

Research has repeatedly shown that a

Family's income and experience with

collcge are better predictors oFa stu-

dent's enrollment in college than the

student's academic pei.formance. I n

these situations, creating a college-

going cultu~.e can go a long way

toward reducing the achievement gap

between rich and poor students.

Some schools don't have college-

going cul~ures because many ol' their

students.aren't performing wcll in

less-ch;~llenging courses, and they [ear

increasing the rigol will only r e s ~ ~ l t in more Failing sluclenls. Jus l the oppo-

site OCCLII .~ . According to the -

Education T ~ L I s ~ , scl~ools that raise

acadenlic standards find student per-

formance irnp~.oves.

Other schools don't develop a col-

lege-going culture b e c a ~ ~ s e they are too

Focused on other priorities they believe

are more important, S L I C ~ as testing or

addressing drop-out rates. What these'

schools fail to realize is that these

things are not n ~ ~ ~ t u a l l y exclusive. On

the contrary, having a college-going

ci~lture can actually help schools

achieve many of their other objectives.

HOW DOES A COLLEGE-GOING

CULTURE HELP SCHOOLS MEET

THEIR GOALS? Simple. By emphasiz-

ing the many lifelong benefits of a

college degree, schools can shirt stu-

dents' t'ocus From the short term to

the long term. Ln doing so, schools

help students see the value O F their

in middle and high

school and why it's in their best inter-

est to do well ancl work hard.

St~~clents who believe a college

degree will increase their standard of - living in life and see the connection

between doing well i n school an.cl get-

ting into colle'ge are 16uch rnbre Iilcely

to care about their perForniance on

state and national tests. 'They're also

more Iilcely to improve their atten-

dance and grade-point averages:A

college-bound student sees the value

of staying in school, instead oFdrop-

ping out, and is interested in a more

rigorous cur~.ic~~lurn.

Assess Your Culture 'I'o get an accurate picture ol' its

existing cultu~.e, a school should eval-

uate itsell'both quantitatively and

,qualitatively.

A quanlitative measurement O F a sec-

ondary school's college-going culture

14 A S C A S C H O O L C O U N S E L O R / N O V . D E C 2 0 0 7

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One way to obtain this type O F information &om students is to simply

aslc them for it. Schools s h o ~ ~ l d con-

tinually r e q ~ ~ e s t this inFor~nation not

only L'ro~n the s t~~clcnts themselves but

also Lorn parents. Include ~-eq~lrs ts in

newsletters, 011 the school's Web site

; ~ n d at parent conferences. Often, stu-

dents and parents have never provid-

ed this info'rmation because they

didn't tliinlc schools were interested in

it. A school that sets goals to improve

its college-going cultu~-e and assigns

someone, often a school counselor, to

own this inFor~nation sends a message

to the school c o m m ~ ~ n i t y th. '11 - ' ~t cares

about these types of things.

The third step is to establish strate-

gies ,and tactics For meeting the

school's goals. One great way to taclc-

le this project is to separate the big

strategies from the small ones.

Small strategies are definecl as

things the school can accomplish with

little effort or money and include

activities such as:

Hanging college posters and

pennants i n the hallways.

Having L'aculty wear college

sweatshirts every F~.ida~y.

Starting a college newsletter.

Anno~~nc ing collcge c~itrance exam

clates.

Sctting the del'ault screen on scliool

computers to college Web sites.

Oufcring compi~tcr time to uamilies

to complete tjnancial aid and

college applications.

Inviting recent college gracluatcs to

spealc at assemblics or in cI;~ssrooms.

Inviting admissions oftjcers to

spealc at assemblies or in

cI;~ssrooms.

Hosting a college [air and/or a

1;nancial aid information session.

Instituting a "college O F the week"

pl.ofile.

Organizing or sponsoring campus

visits.

Creating a college corner in the scl~ool.

Starting an a l ~ ~ m n i directory.

Celebrating students' acceptances

Big strategies involvc a much larger

commitment of time and resources.

Usually, they tnlce longer and are

morc expensive to implement t h , ~ n

smaller strategies. Some examples O F big strategies to consider are:

Offering an advanced, r igo ro~~s

cul-I-iculu~n available to all students.

Establishing the curriculum

required for aclmission to local f o ~ ~ r -

year colleges as the curriculuni

reqi~ired for high school g~.acluation.

Offering free SAT and/or ACT

preparatio~i classes.

Provicling the PSAT or PLAN free

to all 10th-gracle students. Providing professional clevelopment

in college counseling.

-1ntegr.ating college topics into the

curriculum. For exalnple, students

in pre-algebra could be given the

following r.atio/proportion problem:

"If two-thirds of the stuclents at U O F I are in the School of

A S C A S C H O O L C O U N S E L O R I N O V . D E C 2 0 0 7

Engineering and 1J of I 11as 35,000 students, how many students a re . engineering major-s?" English language arts st-udents coulcl be

nslted to WI-it-e a college admission essay. I~n~ lcmen t ing a college-aw~arencss

and planning curl-iculu~n such as the College Board's CollegeEd program, which is a classroo~n-

based cu~.riculu~n for stuclcnts in

grades 7- I 2. Pal-tnering with national, fcde~-:ill~

funded programs PI-emoting college readiness for low-income and first- generation college students. Two

such progralns are TR10 and Gain Early Awareness and Reacliness for

Undergraduate I'rograms

(GEARUP). Both programs serve students in grades 7-12. Implementing a college-preparation

program such as Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). A11 elective for undel-perrorming

students, AVID promotes rigorous

C O U ~ S ~ W O I - k and provides tutoring

for students in gl-acles 4-12. r 7 I he fourth step in creating a col-

Icge-going cu1tur:e is measu~.ing the school's progress and cont-inually revising and improving its strategies. Using the methods outlined in earlier

steps, schools sl~oulcl, 011 a regular basis (annually, a1 least) monitor their progress toward their goals. A thor-

ough review or a school's p~-ogl-ess should include answering the follow-

ing questions: Which goals has the school met-? Which goals has it not met? \4Thich strategies andlor- t-act-ics

\vcre most effective in helping the school meet its goals? Wh.y?,

Which strategies andlor tactics were least effective? W h y ? After the school has answered these

cl-iticnl questions, it can begin to set

new goals and establish more effective strategies for the rollowing school year.

The firth, and final, step is to com-

municate the school's I-esult-s.

Unfol-tunately, m a n y schools forget

this critical step. ]/.'a school p~.evious- 1y com~nunicated to faculty, students and parents its college-going goals, those ltey st-alteholder-s will be expect- ing to Ileal. From the school o n the sta- tus of these goals. Schools s h o ~ l d ~ l ' t disappoint then^ by failing to Iteep,

them dated or, worse, send the message that the school no longer

considers having a college-going cul- ture a high priority. Instead, the school should talte evely opportunity

to report on its prog.1-ess, even i f it didn't meet all goals. An honest and open report is more liltely to result in

a more successl'ul year next year. Creating a college-going cult~irc in

a school is not easy, but its rewards

are worth the effort. Scllools having d i f l ' i c~~ l t~ meeting goals such as improving standardizeel test scores

and decreasing drop-out rates have

found that creating a college-going .

culture can help. Alany schools are

also deciding that creating a college-

going C L I I I L I ~ C can help 1.et1ucc [he

~~chier,emc.nt gap bctrveen rich anJ St l l Jen[ j, School c o L l n j c l o r s c;,n,

ancl should, play a Icey role in estab-

lishing S L I C ~ n CII~(LII .C. AS a n aclvocate

For s t~~clents , they a r e ol'ten in thc

best position to scl-ve as a change

agent in school.

i1ei)ic~iteO to i~i~:t.e~~~titig the /1i,.1116er (?/:fi~.~~t-

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