Mike Falick's Blog

Spring Branch Students Offered Scholarships Totaling $16,388,024

Spring Branch is a District focused on ensuring that our students are prepared for college and post-secondary success.  As part of that commitment, and given the increasing costs of college, our Post-Secondary Counselors work hard to identify and promote scholarship opportunities for students.  These efforts resulted in $16,388,024 being offered to Spring Branch ISD seniors in 2007-2008.  This is an increase of approximately $1.5 million over 2006-2007.  In addition, the percentage of students receiving scholarships also increased from 21.22% to 26.36% of our students.

The Christian Science Monitor Examines Why Good Students Don't Reach College

One of the items in our District's Five Year Education Plan that I believe is critical is the creation of true student advisory periods to ensure that each student has an adult on the campus who is completely vested in that student's success.  I believe this is an essential component if the District is really going to be "the premier college focused District in the State.

As a result, I found this article from the March 19, 2008, edition of the Christian Science Monitor to be very interesting.  The article reports on a study of Chicago Public School students and why good students don't reach college.  The report's findings include:

• Going to a high school with a college going culture makes a big difference
• Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
• Applying to multiple schools
• Getting steady support from teachers and counselors throughout the application process

__________________________________________________________

from the March 19, 2008 edition Why good students don't reach college    Support during the complex application process is key, a new Chicago study finds. By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Chicago When it comes to attending college – one that's a good match – going to a high school with a collegegoing culture makes a big difference. So does filling out the often-overwhelming Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), applying to multiple schools, and getting steady support from teachers and counselors throughout the tortuous application process. The lack of those things explains why so many Chicago Public School students don't get to college, or settle for a lesser education, according to a new study that spent three years examining the "potholes" on the road to college. Eighty-three percent of CPS students aspire to a four-year degree, but about 40 percent of those don't even apply for one, the study found. Among top-achieving students, only 38 percent enrolled in a school that matched their qualifications. The study, by the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research, focused on CPS students, but it highlights challenges faced by students everywhere – especially those who are the first in their families to apply to college. "This is a national policy issue, especially for cities and urban areas," says Vanessa Coca, a researcher for the study. "Wherever you have parents who don't have access to the information, you're going to have students who are lost in the process." A 2006 Consortium study had shown that of every 100 Chicago high school freshmen, just eight will have a college degree by their mid-20s. The question for Ms. Coca and other researchers was why.          Some of the most illuminating answers emerged from the in-depth studies of individual students. There was Jennie, a bright, hardworking Latina student who planned to go to a four-year college. She thought she needed to decide a career first, though, and worried about burdening her family with loans. Without guidance on how to search or apply for aid, she ultimately settled for a local community college. Or Sabrina, a top student with a 3.77 GPA, who considered applying to a number of good colleges across the country. After a scholarship fell through, she accepted a full-ride offer from a small Florida liberal arts school she'd never applied to. It was rescinded over the summer, and Sabrina ended up working a retail job in the fall, her college plans put off indefinitely. In addition to lack of adult guidance, the study found many students tripped up over complicated FAFSA applications. Yet those who completed the FAFSA form on time and were accepted into a four-year college were 50 percent more likely to enroll. Latinos – who are less likely to go to a four-year college than any other group the study looked at – were also least likely to report filling out a FAFSA.          "If there was some simplification of [FAFSA], or students were getting more support, we'd see more kids going to colleges," says Coca.

The Spring Branch Collegiate Challenge Mentoring Program Recognized as One of the Best in Texas

The Spring Branch Collegiate Challenge Mentoring program pairs adult mentors with high school juniors and seniors.  The mentors help these juniors and seniors through the college and scholarship application process.  Our program, which began in 2000, is one of 20 programs recognized as an Exemplary Program by the Texas High School Project.

This recognition has earned Spring Branch a grant in the amount of $42,500 to expand this program to Stratford HS and Spring Woods HS.

The District's volunteer partners are Chapelwood United Methodist Church and Memorial Drive United Methodist Church.

Much more information about this program is available here.

Spring Branch to Host College Nights October 30-31

As part of the District's support for the Board's goal of becoming the premiere college focused district in Texas, Spring Branch will host its annual College Nights on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 30-31, from 6:30p - 8:30p.

From the District's website:

Spring Woods High hosts district's annual College Nights program

College Fair Questionnaire
List of Participating Colleges/Universities
SBISD Post-Secondary Planning website

College Nights 2007, a two-evening informational program designed especially for high school students and their families, will be held for a fourth year on the campus of Spring Woods High School, 2045 Gessner.

The evening programs, organized as one-stop “shopping” events, will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 30-31. In recent years, up to 3,000 people have visited the campus each evening.

More than 200 representatives from regional, state and national colleges and universities, both public and private, as well as technical and military-related institutions, are expected to attend this popular, two-day planning event focused on higher education options.

Students should attend their high school’s scheduled College Night. On Tuesday, Oct. 30, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., students and families from Stratford and Spring Woods high schools and Westchester Academy for International Studies are invited to learn more about college cost, size, undergraduate majors, housing and the application process.

Students from Memorial and Northbrook high schools and SBISD’s School of Choice should attend the second evening session, also held from 6:30-8:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Students and parents are encouraged to review the list of college fair participants, locate the schools they want to interview and use the College Fair Questionnaire to record their information. This questionnaire is found on the SBISD Post-Secondary Planning website. A list of participating colleges/universities is also posted there and updated weekly.

“We hope to have all Spring Branch ISD juniors and seniors interested in pursuing post-secondary education in attendance at College Nights 2007. We encourage them and their parents to come and gather information on individual schools, talk with college representatives, and pick up literature which will help them in their post-secondary planning,” said Hortencia Vega, SBISD coordinator of post-secondary guidance and counseling programs.

Each evening, special presentations will also be held by the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A& M University, two of the state’s largest and most popular institutions. Other popular school choices that will be represented include the University of Houston and Houston Community College (HCC) Northwest.

As a part of SBISD’s increasing focus on preparing all students for higher education, high school campuses are creating a College Room where students can read or pick up school catalogs, view university-related materials online, watch college DVDs, or use computers to access the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and other college-related materials.

For more information, students and families should contact their high school counselors or SBISD's Post-Secondary Guidance and Counseling Program at 713-464-1511, ext. 2265.

USA Today Editorial Calls for Transforming High Schools: Supports Spring Branch's College Focus Goal

Today's USA Today contains an editorial that adds further support to the critical importance of a college degree and makes suggestions for moving students to college success.
_________________________________________________________________
Opinion

The new high school
Wed Oct 10, 12:20 AM ET                            

A generation ago, a high school diploma was a ticket to America's middle class. Today, that ticket is far less likely to guarantee admission.

Among the numbers that tell the story: In the 1970s, workers with college degrees earned 36% more on average than those with high school degrees. Now that gap is 76%.

Hundreds of jobs that pay salaries high enough to qualify as middle class, such as bank tellers and teachers' aides, require at least a two-year degree. Like it or not, college has become the new high school.

This reality is why forward-thinking educators and government officials are looking for ways to ensure that more high school graduates go on to get associate, if not bachelor's, degrees. That's especially important for poor and minority students at risk of falling even farther behind and becoming part of a permanent underclass.

Some of the best ideas for promoting post-secondary education are coming from state leaders and a new book, Minding the Gap, that lays out an initiative by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These proposals include:

* Making community college tuition free. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick recently proposed tuition-free community college as part of a larger package that includes universal preschool and longer academic days. Expensive, yes, but a wise investment.

* Boosting college applications. Maine legislators are considering requiring all students to complete at least one college application. It sounds odd, but individual high schools have tried this with positive results. Simply applying to college can open students' eyes to opportunities and scholarships they might not otherwise know exist.

* Giving students a chance to earn college credits in high school. Students in better-off schools have long been able to earn college credits through Advanced Placement courses. New experiments, called early college, expand on that. At Harbor Teacher Preparatory Academy outside Los Angeles, most of the recent graduates walked away with both a high school diploma and enough credits to give them a head start in college.

By 2012, labor-market economist Anthony Carnevale predicts a surplus of 3 million workers with only high school degrees and a shortage of 7 million workers for jobs that require some college training. The time to address that gap is now.

Most Lucrative College Degrees: Nine Out of 10 Employers See Higher Competition for Qualified Graduates, According to a New Survey

CNNMoney.com has just posted an article on the top paying jobs for college graduates.  Clearly engineers are in demand.

_____________________________________________

Most lucrative college degrees

Nine out of 10 employers see higher competition for qualified graduates, according to a new survey. Why it pays to be a nerd.

By Rob Kelley, CNNMoney.com staff writer

July 12 2007: 6:37 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The salaries of new college graduates jumped across the board this year as demand increased, according to a new survey.

Nearly nine out of 10 employers reported that they're seeing more competition for new college graduates than in past years, according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

"This continues the positive trend reported in the Winter and Spring issues of Salary Survey," Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director, said in a statement, referring to the association's quarterly report.

The results suggest that the increased hiring is translating directly into higher average starting salary offers.

The students who made out the best were chemical engineering majors. They earned an average 5.4 percent more than last year, bringing their average to $59,361, according to the survey.

Computer engineering majors were offered $56,201, up 4.8 percent.

Mechanical engineering grads offers' rose 4.6 percent to $54,128. Electrical engineering grads' offers increased by 3.2 percent to $55,292. Civil engineers earned $48,509, up 5.4 percent.

Computer science majors saw salaries rise 4.1 percent to $53,396, while information sciences grads received a 4.6 percent increase to $50,852. (Most expensive colleges.)

The average offer for economics graduates (business/managerial) was $48,483, while finance grads received a mean of $47,239. There is no prior data for these majors because they were grouped together in earlier studies.

Management of information systems majors posted a 4.2 percent increase to $47,648. Marketing graduates averaged $40,161, up 6.1 percent.

Accounting grads' average rose 2.3 percent to $46,718, while business administration and management graduates saw their average rise 3.9 percent to $43,701.

Good news for liberal arts

Liberal arts graduates also saw broad increases. Political science majors' offers averaged 5.9 percent more at $34,590. English majors' averages rose 5.3 percent to $32,553.

Psychology majors averaged $31,631, up 4.7 percent, while sociology majors earned 3.5 percent more at $32,033.

History majors were offered an average of $33,768, up 3.3 percent.

Collegewise Provides a Host of Information and Counseling for Students and Parents About the College Application Process

Collegewise provides counseling for students and parents alike on applying to colleges.  The company's blog, Wise Like Us, covers the application process, choosing colleges, admission trends, standardized testing. To Interview or Not to Interview

It also covers the small rebellion by liberal arts campuses against the widely followed U.S. News college rankings.  You’ll also find links to photos of 18 college campuses around the country like UC Santa Cruz and the University Texas at Austin.

Collegewise is updated frequently.

You Can Take Free Online SAT and ACT Test Preparation at the College for Texans TOPCAT Website

The College for Texans website is loaded with good information about college.  The website describes itself as follows:

"Here is everything a Texan needs to know about preparing for, applying for, and paying for college or technical school.  And it's all in one up-to-date, easy-to-navigate megasite almost as big as the state itself.  An remember: $4 billion is available every year to help Texans attend college."

The website including these very useful sites:

• preparing for college
• applying for college
• paying for college
• getting through college
• career planning
• financial aid and
• free online test preparation for College Admissions Tests (SAT and ACT)

Spring Branch Council of PTAs Scholarships: Applications Being Accepted Until April 2

From the Spring Branch PTA Council February Newsletter:

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED.

The SBISD Council of PTAs is accepting scholarship applications from SBISD graduating seniors and from SBISD teachers. These scholarships help our seniors with college expenses and help our teachers by providing funding for their continuing education which directly benefits our students.

Scholarship application forms are available from the Council of PTAs web page on the SBISD website.   The deadline to submit your application is Monday, April 2^nd at 4pm.  Applications may be mailed or delivered to the Administration Building.

This past year the PTA Council, with the help of the Spring Branch Education Foundation, awarded 26 scholarships to Graduating SBISD Seniors and SBISD Educators. Awards typically range from $500 to $1,000.

For questions or more information, please contact Council Scholarship Chair, Warren Mathews at: warren.mathews@wellsfargo.com. Scholarships will be awarded at the Council of PTAs Awards Night on Tuesday, May1st at 7PM in the Administration Building Board Room.

Report: Dropouts cost Texas $31B

This recent Austin Business Journal article is yet another that highlights the significant cost to the Texas economy due to students who drop out. The article puts the cost at $31 billion based, in part, on U.S. Census Bureau data revealing that the average annual income for a high school dropout in 2004 was about $9,000 less than a high school graduate.

The Alliance for Excellent Education report referenced in the article is available here.