Seventeen schools from nine states will start the 2015-16 school year with new hope and support, as recipients of the “Closing the Gap” awards, sponsored by national non-profit College For Every Student.
In January, College For Every Student, which helps underserved students get to and through college, ready to enter the 21st century workforce, announced a nationwide search for middle and high schools serving low-income students in need of college readiness support.
“Over the last 30 years, the gap in college going and degree attainment between youth from low-income households and their higher income peers has risen steadily,” said College For Every Student President & CEO Rick Dalton. “The ‘Closing the Gap’ awards will help us reach several thousand low-income students and get them on the path to college success.”
The College For Every Student program is tailored to fit the needs and culture of individual schools and engages every CFES Scholar in three high-impact practices - Mentoring, Leadership Through Service, and Pathways to College.
Fifty-two schools from 21 states applied for the awards and all were in “real need and excited for the opportunity,” reported Tara Smith, Vice President of Programs at College For Every Student.
“Over the last two months, we conducted interviews with schools, trying to determine which had the best leadership and commitment to move students toward college success,” Smith added.
Friendship Central School in Friendship, NY and Miramar High School in Miramar, FL have been selected for full funding for three years of CFES programming.
“We are ecstatic to receive the ‘Closing the Gap’ award because it will help our students see that college is an affordable attainable goal,” said Friendship PreK-12 Principal Donald Putnam. “The CFES program will help provide valuable resources for our grades 9-12 students by giving them a more in-depth look and understanding of the process of being college ready,”
The following schools will receive partial support for the next three years
Aiken New Tech High School, Cincinnati, OH; Alamo Middle School, Alamo, TX; Austin Middle School, San Juan, TX; Bedichek Middle School, Austin, TX; Bertha Sadler Means Young Women’s Leadership Academy, Austin, TX; Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy, Austin, TX; Jaime Escalante Middle School, Pharr, TX; Kennedy Middle School, Pharr, TX; LaGrange Senior High School, Lake Charles, LA; Liberty Middle School, Pharr, TX; Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School, Pharr, TX; Lyndon Institute, Lyndon Center, VT; Murphy Middle School, Alamo, TX; Ronald E. McNair High School, Stockton, CA; Webb Early College Prep Middle School, Austin, TX
The CFES program has been successful for more than two decades with 99 percent of CFES Scholars graduating from high school and 95 percent attending college.
The Closing the Gap awards are part of College For Every Student’s commitment to scale up and help one million low-income youth attain college degrees by 2025.