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ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Hat Trick Choreographing a Romance Evolution of a Biology Professor Sweet Rewards Academic Stepping Stone Chancellor's Column Development News Factoids Newsmakers Accomplishments by faculty and staff… |
Academic Steppingstone At-risk
students sometimes need a place in the middle as a springboard to higher
grounds. City
Middle College, a collaboration between City College and nearby Garfield
and San Diego high schools, has proven a successful place in between for
students seeking to better themselves. Using student mentors from City
and faculty and staff from both Garfield and City College, the program
desires to transition students from the alternative high school to City
College. Since fall 2000, the program has grown in stature and enjoyed
success. “Most
of the middle college projects in California deal with regular high schools,”
said Ron Manzoni, vice president of Instruction at City College, and one
of the program’s founders. “We focused on an alternative school.
We started out with the idea that some of these students would eventually
move toward our vocation al programs. We then discovered that more than
half the students who participated were finishing their high school work
earlier.” City
Middle College seeks to improve the high school dropout rates by improving
academic performance, heighten the self-image and self-esteem of students,
improve the rates of previously high-potential, low-achievement students
and enhance college and career options. The target student is 17 to 19
years old, has completed less than 50 percent of the required credits
needed to graduate from high school and comes from an economically challenged
and culturally diverse background. The
classes, comprising two weeks at Garfield then six at City College, incorporate
study skills, values clarification, college success strategies, job search,
resume writing and interview techniques, among other learning concepts,
and had been limited to 25 students per session, but that number doubled
after the March 2000 session. “The
interest from students at Garfield doubled, which is unusual for this
type of grant program,” Manzoni said. “One of the keys to the
success of this program is student mentoring at City, so when we doubled
the number of students, we also doubled the number of mentors.” Mentors
in the program wear pagers and are available to students for counseling
and advice 24 hours a day. “The opportunities in this program for
mentors are wonderful,” Manzoni said. “They get to do intensive
work with the students and see the positive results of that work.” “The
high school completion is exciting,” Manzoni said. “The completion
rate for students who go through this program is running at 90 percent.
Eighty percent of the students go on to take classes at City College.” Manzoni
says the program has a five-year grant in place, and after that, the City
Middle College program is expected to continue under alternative funding
sources. “The program has become so popular that it is a challenge to decide who to select,” he said. “We have twice the number of applicants as space available, but we’re working hard to get as many people involved as possible. The potential for this program is exciting.”
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