MOCAN

There are few more poignant moments than when students cross the stage and receive their high school diplomas. At that moment, families, district and school administrators, teachers, and everyone else who has helped the student get to this point see so much of their time and effort realized.

Borrowing a page from every commencement speech ever written, that K-12 culmination is also a new beginning and, for many, a new pathway toward college and/or career.

As students take their first steps toward that new pathway, how many district and school personnel really know where their students are going? Unfortunately, the answer too often is “no” or “not really.”

Sure, most schools monitor acceptances and conduct senior exit surveys to better understand students’ post-high school plans, but that knowledge is too infrequently paired with practice that ensures students fulfill their plans.

A few months ago in this space, we wrote about summer melt, a phenomenon that affects 10-40% of high school students intending to matriculate to a postsecondary institution. We offered suggestions like making sure to measure summer melt, creating college transition checklists, building a summer melt program, and using the National College Attainment Network summer melt toolkit to be proactive.

Incidentally, federal funding from the American Rescue Plan (and the other COVID relief legislation) can spur these kinds of partnerships with institutions and/or community-based organizations like college access programs. Probably the biggest takeaway is that any use allowable for Title I spending is allowable here for the recovery and relief funding, which in and of itself greenlights a large swath of activities, including those to prevent summer melt.

One key practice left unconsidered was how to forge stronger connections between K-12 districts and school and the postsecondary institutions to which their students matriculate. When we talk about the “silos” between the K-12 and higher education sectors, what that looks like in practice is that districts and institutions don’t have consistent, meaningful, or productive contact that could benefit students. Existing connections might include scheduling tours for students to visit a campus or getting more posters for the counselors’ suite, but K-12 and higher ed need outreach to build deeper, sustained, less transactional relationships.

Our sense from talking with districts and schools across the country is that substantial proportions of their students matriculate to a handful of institutions, with a long tail of additional institutions getting one or just a few students each year. Our other sense, unfortunately, is that few districts and schools have close professional contact with the institutions welcoming most of their graduates. That lack of contact makes it so there is no formal hand-off of students, and they can fall through the cracks, or “melt” as described above.

This summer is coming after a decidedly difficult year, and everyone involved in education wants, and deserves, a break. But given that FAFSA completions are down, college applications are down for first-generation students and those from low-income backgrounds, and students are changing their college plans, there is no rest for the weary, unfortunately. The high school class of 2020 saw a nearly 7% decline in fall enrollment, and the leading indicators for the class of 2021 are not optimistic.

Now is the time for school district administrators to look at their senior exit survey data or, even better, their previous National Student Clearinghouse StudentTracker data to see which combination of institutions comprises the largest proportion of students’ destinations. (By the way, summer is the best time to update your StudentTracker Graduates file so that it is ready to go when fall enrollment data become available).

Next, conduct outreach to those institutions, through the admissions or financial aid offices or student support services. See how district and college or university staff can work together to ease students’ transitions. Maybe that is as simple as the university co-creating or developing a college transition checklist (or reviewing an existing one for accuracy and making any needed additions). But maybe it’s a more intensive partnership that includes personalized outreach to students that can answer their matriculation questions. The possibilities are endless, but none of them will come to fruition without there being contact between K-12 and higher ed. Summer is the right time to do this because both sectors know this is a perilous time of year in a particularly perilous moment for students, and there is a concrete goal for both sides: making sure students achieve their postsecondary aspirations. Let’s break down the K-12/higher ed silo and forge the connections that can help students in the class of 2021 and beyond.

Show-Me FAFSA Challenge winners announced

Eleven public high schools in Missouri are being recognized for helping students plan financially for higher education. In an effort to promote completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) among high school seniors, the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development (MDHEWD) launched the Show-Me FAFSA Challenge in October 2020. The competition ended April 1.

Public high schools throughout the state competed with each other for scholarship prizes. Schools were automatically entered and sorted into three groups based on size. Each group competed for prizes in four categories, including highest completion rate, most improved completion rate, greatest percentage of lowest income students filed, and most innovative strategy. Random drawings were held to decide the winners in categories where there were ties. The Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation and the Missouri College Access Network are sponsoring the scholarship prizes.

“In spite of challenges created by COVID-19, many schools were still able to help their students take this important step to understanding their financial aid options for college,” said Zora Mulligan, commissioner of higher education. “We were excited to see several schools exceed the 60 percent filing goal, and we look forward to continuing this competition next year.”

Winning high schools include:

Highest Overall Completion:

• South Holt High (South Holt Co. R-I) 73.7%
• Bayless Senior High (Bayless) 66.3%
• Rockwood Summit Sr High (Rockwood R-VI) 57.7%

Most Improved Completion:

• Collegiate School of Med/Bio (St. Louis City) +37.1%
• Chillicothe High (Chillicothe R-II) +33.4%
• Marquette Sr High (Rockwood R-VI) +44.2%

Greatest Percentage of Lowest Income Filers:

• Alton High (Alton R-IV) 100%
• Northeast High (Kansas City 33) 100%
• McCluer High (Ferguson-Florissant R-II) 89.3%

Most Innovative Strategy:

• Charleston High (Charleston R-I)

There were nine schools that reached the statewide FAFSA filing goal of 60 percent. Chadwick High (Chadwick R-I) was the winning school chosen based on a random drawing held for that overall prize.

Winning schools will designate one of their graduating seniors who will attend a Missouri postsecondary institution in 2021 as the scholarship recipient.

For more information about the competition and to view the FAFSA tracker, visit https://dhewd.mo.gov/ppc/fafsachallenge.php.

This post was created and released by the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development. 

White paper highlights mental health on college campuses

The Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development (MDHEWD) will host a webinar, Thursday, May 13, as part of its Bridges to Success Equity Webinar series.

InsideTrack, an organization that has provided support for higher education institutions for 20 years, will give a virtual presentation on meeting the needs of Missouri’s community and technical colleges.

Thursday’s webinar is the latest in a series of monthly presentations given by educators and advocates aimed at promoting equity throughout Missouri’s colleges and universities.

MDHEWD’s Office of Postsecondary Policy recently published a corresponding white paper on inequities in student mental health services.

“Technical and community colleges play a vital role in higher education in Missouri,” said Dr. Mara Woody, assistant commissioner of the office of postsecondary policy. “Not only do these schools prioritize the state’s workforce needs, but they also provide low-cost, high-quality education and serve students who may be typically underrepresented at four-year universities.”

The corresponding white paper covers the mental health crisis on college campuses, the ways in which it was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how schools can use technology to find solutions. 

Monthly equity webinars have been offered since September 2020. Next month’s webinar will be held June 10. Download the recent white paper, register for the upcoming webinar, and view recordings of past webinars at dhewd.mo.gov/equity_project.

This post was created and released by the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development.