Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
submitted by Associated Black Charities
May 2008
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Associated Black Charities (ABC) undertook the “Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study” to address the linkage between the achievement gap and economic stability in Baltimore’s African American community. ABC has a long history as a catalyst for change that supports policy, garners investments and galvanizes community resources to support African American children and families in the Baltimore region. By commissioning this study, ABC seeks to develop and execute a strategy that makes college more accessible to children and families who otherwise would not be able to engage in college readiness, and access services and programs.
More specifically, this project aims to:
• Generate an understanding of African American parental and student awareness, and perceptions about higher education and its associated benefits.
• Generate an understanding about the resources available through schools to engage K-12 students in preparation for entry into, and completion of postsecondary education.
• Identify barriers both that are real and perceived that interfere with students’ pursuing post-secondary educational options.
One does not have to look far in order to see evidence of the economic disparities that exist in Baltimore City. In comparison to others in the state of Maryland, Baltimore City residents are trailing behind in high school graduation rates and number of persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Most importantly, the median income in Baltimore City is dramatically lower than the statewide average.
Economic Indicators Baltimore City Maryland African American Population 64.8% 29.5% High school graduates 68.4% 83.8% Bachelor’s degree or higher 19.1% 31.4% Median household income $29,792 $57,019 Persons Below Poverty 21.5% 9.2%
Table 1-1 *Data from the US Census Bureau reports 2000-2006 http://quickfacts.census.gov
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Unfortunately, the family and community economic indices cited above can be traced back to the challenges faced by the local public school system. The Baltimore City Public School System has yet to meet the performance standards mandated in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Although many will agree that the controversial federal legislation is not the sole determinant of any school system or even an individual school’s success, the data in Table 1-2 clearly shows there are children who are negatively affected by the flaws of the educational institution that is responsible for catapulting children out of poverty and into the economic sufficiency that a college education can provide.
Educational Indicators Baltimore City Maryland High School Attendance Rate 82.7% 92.3% Graduation Rate 60.05% 85.24% Drop-out Rate 9.56% 3.54%
Table 1-2 *Data from the 2007 Maryland Report Card www.mdreportcard.org
According to the College Board’s annual publication, “Education Pays 2007: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society,” there are significant financial implications for those that earn a college degree including:
• Higher levels of education lead to higher earnings. Over a working life, the typical full-time, year-round worker with a four-year college degree earns more than 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.
• Median lifetime earnings for the typical individual with some college but no degree are 19 percent higher than median lifetime earnings for high school graduates with no college experience.
• The typical college graduate who enrolls at age 18 and graduates in four years earns enough in 11 years to not only compensate for borrowing to pay the full tuition at a public college, but also to make up for wages forgone while in college.
• College-educated workers are more likely than others to be offered pension plans. Among those who are afforded pension plans, college degree-holders are more likely to participate.
This study provides invaluable insights about the barriers that children and parents in Baltimore face when navigating the college access process. It will explore ways in which existing college awareness and access programming can be leveraged, and it details specific actions that can be taken to make information related to college more accessible. The data is clear: college awareness, access and ultimately retention leads to a much greater opportunity for long-term individual financial security. Hence, it is in the best interest of the greater Baltimore community to take aggressive steps to empower children and parents to engage the resources to make this happen.
2 Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
II. DATA ANALYSIS
A. Intensive Interviews – School Personnel
Intensive interviews with school personnel, such as teachers, counselors and principals, provide insight into perceptions beliefs, and practices of African American students and parents. The data from the interviews helps generate solutions to help increase African American student and parent participation in higher education in Baltimore. These structured interviews allow a comparison of answers by using the same set of questions to obtain data.
School personnel as agents of the school comprise an important research context in this study. Classroom teachers have the greatest amount of contact with individual students during the cycle of a school day. Guidance counselors are charged with the task of support outside of the classroom. At the middle and high school levels, counselors chart students’ life courses by disseminating information about educational and career options. Principals, as school leaders, fulfill a broader vision of school leadership and orchestrate the delivery of resources to entire school populations. There are 11 intensive 60 minute audio-recorded interviews of school personnel consisting of classroom teachers, guidance counselors and principals at the elementary, middle and high school levels. This design is represented in Table 1-3.
School Personnel Elementary Middle High Total Number Category School School School of Participants Teachers 1 1 1 3 Counselors 1 1 2 4 Principals 1 1 2 4 Totals 3 3 5 11
Table 1-3. Distribution of teacher, counselor, and principal intensive interviews
Intensive interviews with school personnel provide data that offers insight into the challenges that confront students. This data also supports many of the ideas that were expressed during the focus groups. When honing in on questions about existing and needed community resources to support college access and retention, in addition to the various barriers that parents and students face, much of the data points to three central themes:
• Lack of knowledge of community programs and support; • family and community barriers; and • an expansion of out-of-school time programming.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Lack of Knowledge of Community Programs and Support
Intensive interviews with school-based staff reveal they posses are varied degrees of knowledge about community-based college access programs and services. Some school personnel are well aware of pre- college community resources. Other interviewed staff seem to have a very minimal connection to the surrounding school community and no knowledge of the availability of college access opportunities in the communities. School personnel agree that students who do not live near the schools they attend would prefer to engage in out-of-school time programming that is closer to their homes. All interviews reveal the critical need for more community programming to support and reinforce the importance of pursuing post- secondary education.
“Educators or counselors are part of the problem because they decide who we give info to. All kids should be allowed to college info. – If they can breathe, they can come to the workshop or assembly. – Students expect us to know, to be the experts. We have the power, the info, but we turn out to be a problem.” -Female, African-American Middle School Guidance Counselor
During the interviews, some teachers and counselors admitted that they sometimes unconsciously interfere with all students having access to pre-college resources. Teachers and counselors disclosed that more often than not they serve as the gateway to college. Consequently, students who do not have a positive relationship with school staff or who do not have a pre-existing relationship with teachers and counselors, and who have a weaker academic record can be overlooked and in some cases purposely denied pertinent information related to college access.
Family and Community Barriers
School personnel perceive there to be three major barriers for students as it relates to family and community barriers:
• lack of access to information about college access; • lack of parental support/involvement; and • family stressors related to poverty.
School personnel agree that most parents have a strong desire for their children to ultimately have a successful future. Parents are not always fully engaged in college awareness activities; therefore, they do not have the information needed to encourage their children to take advantage of school and/or community resources. Another challenge cited by the interviewees is the expectation that students enter the workforce and begin to support themselves and their families. These additional responsibilities can place limitations on students’ schedules making it difficult for them to have time to devote to out-of-school time opportunities. In addition to work-related obligations, many middle school and high school-age students are responsible for providing childcare to younger siblings and other family members.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
School personnel cite short-term and long-term financial pressures as a barrier to college entry. School personnel suggest that the cost of college is a major concern for students and parents. Families display an apprehension to taking out personal loans to finance college tuition. Moreover, according to the interviewees, parents do not clearly understand that a college education can immediately and positively affect a family’s socioeconomic status.
“Drug abuse is a barrier. Some kids will be out at night looking for a parent that is on drugs and did not come home. Some ask to leave school to do this.” - Female, African American High School Principal
Widespread drug use and distribution is a real distraction that students face when worrying about their own personal safety and their family’s well-being. More often than not, the drug problem interferes with the family to focus on school work, high school graduation and college preparation and entry. School staff also indicate that when parents are using drugs, they are not available to have a consistent presence and provide support for their children.
Teachers, counselors and principals all agree that African American males are most at-risk of being lured into illegal activities. As a result of trappings of drug distribution and addiction, young African American males are profoundly and negatively affected and they do participate in pre-college programming at the same rate as African American females. The information from the focus groups supports this notion as well.
School personnel acknowledge that lack of strong academic preparation, the ability to gain college admittance and financial aid affects students’ ability to purse post-secondary education. Low academic skills are cited throughout all of the interviews as a barrier to high school completion and college entry. Not only are students struggling in school, too often they do not see themselves as “college material.” In addition to the fear of failure in higher education, low academic performance is a barrier to college acceptance. In addition, children and parents are not aware of the availability of pre-college and remedial programs that are geared toward preparing and transitioning students with weaker academic skills into college. As stated in the discussion of access to resources, teachers and guidance counselors often do not share information about college access with students who have low academic skills and do not seem serious about their academic work.
Expansion Out-of-School Time Programming
Teachers, counselors and administrators all report a need for more resources in the community that support school initiatives including academics, college preparation and parental involvement. Such programming is limited in availability and in scope of work and reach. Some school personnel suggest more access to sports and music programs may increase students’ motivation to succeed academically. School staff also support programs that link job training and stipends as a means of exposing students to the financial benefits of a college education. All school personnel interviewed agree that community programming should include a more intentional effort to involve parents.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
B. Focus Groups
Given that the family is widely understood as the primary socializing agent and that children are agents in educational engagement, we begin with the family as a point of departure. Fifty-two individuals participated in focus groups. Six focus groups with African American parents/caregivers, children and adolescents at all three levels of elementary and secondary education were conducted. The focus groups were divided by school levels and comprised of approximately 10 participants of various backgrounds. Each focus group was audio-taped using a digital recorder and lasted for approximately 60 minutes. Focus group participants were recruited through networks including school parent teacher associations (PTA), school principals and community-based organizations. When possible, an effort was made to recruit the parent/ caregiver of the children who served as focus group participants. The focus group design is represented in Table 1-4.
Total Focus Group Elementary Middle High Number of Participants School School School Participants Parents/Caregivers 10 8 9 27 Students 12 10 3 25 Total 22 18 12 52
Table 1-4. Distribution of Parent/Caregiver and Student Focus Group Population
As we know, socio-economically vulnerable families are faced with dire challenges despite their desire advance. The information from the focus groups points to three major issues that affect high school completion and college entry. These concerns are real distractions in fully engaging the college access process:
• access to information and availability of resources; • financial challenges as a barrier to college access and support; and • personal and family challenges.
Access to Information and Availability of Resources
All of the parents who participated in the focus groups have a strong desire for their children to complete high school and enter into college. Parents also share intense frustration from not knowing how to navigate through the processes of preparing their children for the future. Parents know they do not have equal access to information about various programs and financial support. Parents also discuss the disparities surrounding the availability of information based on the school the child attends.
When asked about their knowledge of community resources, the majority of the participants scoffed at the question, revealing the frustration of not having any of these resources in their communities. Several parents shared stories of not being able to travel outside of the neighborhood due to limited transportation. Others shared unease about traveling outside of their communities where programs exist because of safety concerns their children face.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Personal and Family Challenges
The focus groups with parents yield very personal information and emotions as participants share their experiences of growing up in Baltimore City. Focus group participants openly admitted to challenges such as lack of money, substance abuse within the family and caring for other siblings. As revealed by the groups, this is a common theme where families are forced to make choices regarding immediate needs versus longer range planning for things like college. This information mirrors the data given in the interviews with school personnel.
“With my son, my oldest, I signed him up for the Big Brother program and they offered him a female. What was the purpose there?” -African-American Mother
Although a few fathers were present in the focus groups, the majority of participants were single mothers. The mothers agree that the lack of male role models greatly affects children’s lives. Some of the parents sought out mentors for their children, only to find that they were placed on waiting lists or the absence of resources all together. Parents felt very strongly that there need to more mentoring programs available, especially for young men. By connecting boys with other males who have graduated from college, the participants felt their sons might take more interest in college access programming.
Many students agree that drug use can affect their ability to complete high school and college entry. They explain that parents and family members using drugs also hinders their ability to focus on college.
Financial Challenges as a Barrier to College Access and Support
“If I pay for it this month, can I make it next month? Or can I have enough for this year? If I can get through the first year and keep my grades up, there’s sometime you fail your grades ‘cause you’re worrying about the money for the next year and if you’re smart as they claim and you score good on those tests, why should you have to worry for your money for four years when you already proved that you’re smart and you can learn? And then that burden’s come back onto the parent because the parent would have to take her money out of the household to try and make it – and books was crazy. You pay $60 or $40 or much more for a book. I had to go up to school and tell ‘em that they lost their mind with the price of the book. I had no idea that books cost that much. So again, that was another problem to my family and budget.” –African American Mother
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Some parents shared their personal experiences related to trying to attend college and spoke of the intense stress of having to decide between going to school and meeting basic human needs.
“I think college is a place so you can – when you leave from college you get a job and get money so you can move into your home and not be out on the street.” -Female, African-American Elementary Student
Students at the elementary and middle levels are very excited to have the opportunity to talk about high school and college. All of the students communicate the importance of finishing high school and express an interest in going to college to “get a good job.” The boys associate college with the opportunity to play professional sports. Few students had actually visited a college or university. When asked to name colleges and universities, several students could not. When asked about why some students do not complete high school or go to college, the student participants responded with similar issues raised in the school personnel interviews such as concerns about not having enough money and the pressure to sell drugs.
“Drugs. Gangs. Drugs and gangs on every corner.” - Male, African-American High School Student
Students at the high school level are also excited to participate in focus groups. Many indicated that they had never experienced sitting and talking about this topic. Some were planning to apply to college while others spoke frankly about the responsibilities associated with addressing immediate needs for themselves and their families. Some participants saw college as a waste of time and had no desire apply to college. Frustration about not having enough money, selling drugs and gang involvement were openly discussed. Students indicated that these pressures are a very real part of their lives, especially for the young men in the group. Both female and male students talked about teenage pregnancy as having an adverse impact on high school completion and college entry. As with the focus groups of elementary and middle school students, the question about naming colleges and universities was asked, and although some knew the names of several institutions, there were three students who struggled with naming local universities. Also, akin to the elementary and middle school students, the majority of the high school students equate going to college with access to meaningful employment; however, students across all grade levels are conscious of other ways outside of completing high school and going to college to make money, including illegal activities. In addition to conceptualizing college as a place that helps one attain “a good job” and because of recent movies depicting college life, several of the students expressed the idea of college as being fun and also providing the opportunity to meet other people.
In short, parents overwhelmingly agree that there is a need for more mentors and greater access to information about pre-college services, college admissions and financial aid. Students want to know more about financial aid and how to balance the competing demands of participating in out-of-school time activities and working. Students also need a stronger connection to the colleges and universities throughout the region. Mentorship opportunities, increased exposure of colleges and universities and bridging the information gaps are concerns that both the children and the parents share.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
C. Out-of-school time Programs
The benefits of out-of-school time programs are widely documented and include improved academic performance decreased teenaged pregnancy, and decreased participation in high-risk health behaviors (Eccles and Gootman, 2002). Out-of-school time programs are understood as those activities that engage children and adolescents when they are not in school, whether before or after school during the school week, or on weekends. Telephone surveys with the program staff of each out-of-school time program were conducted to determine the population served, activities and other resources provided to participants, and the availability supporting resources for participants.
As a part of this study, researchers were able to document 34 community resources by using school staff leads and internet research. Although not exhaustive, this list provides a framework for understanding the reach and impact of community resources in Baltimore. These types of community resources are demonstrated in Table 1-5.
Type of Community Resources Number of Each Mentoring with College Preparatory 20 One-Time Initiatives 8 After School with College Preparatory Component 2 Fully Devoted to College Preparatory 3 Other 1 Total 34
Table 1-5 Distribution of Types of Community Resources
The analysis of community resource data in Baltimore yields two major themes:
• lack of collaboration among organizations; • challenges associated with organizational capacity
Lack of Collaboration Among Organizations
There are many one-time, isolated experiences and not enough long-term initiatives such as summer programs. Most organizations surveyed agree that if there were a mechanism for them to collaborate and leverage their resources, they could potentially have a greater impact across the city. Organizations that sponsor one-time events on an annual basis currently do not refer program participants to longer-term activities. By working together, organizations could create a stronger pipeline of young people and parents participating in college-access activities.
Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
The Challenge of Organizational Capacity
None of the out-of-school time programs have a coordinated effort in place to maximize student and parent participation. Limited organizational capacity and fiscal constraints interfere with community- based organizations to perform outreach activities to attract large numbers of parents and students. Program staff also admit to having limited ability to measure the long-term effectiveness of their individual programs. As we see in other research and in our own data with school personnel school, students and parents, mentoring services are a vital component to increasing the number of young people involved in college awareness and access programming, especially for low socio-economic and potentially first-generation college students. Many out-of-school time programs are only offered once annually and do not provide participants with a long-term sustainable experience. Limited funding is a barrier for many organizations. Financial constraints affect how often programs can be offered, the length of the programs, staff capacity, and initiatives to measure influence in the lives of Baltimore youth, thus increasing their outcomes for students.
D. Colleges and Universities
Identifying and developing strategies for increasing African American student enrollment in, and completion of post-secondary education is a central over-arching goal of the Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study. This study documents existing formal outreach activities conducted by Maryland’s two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities by utilizing a telephone survey instrument constructed in Table 1-6.
Institutions of Higher Education Number of Institutions Surveyed Two-Year Community Colleges 6 Four- Year Public Colleges and Universities 13 Four-Year Private Colleges and Universities 12 Total 31
Table 1-6 Distribution of Outreach to Institutions of Higher Education
Analysis of the college and university data reveals two major themes:
• minimal coordination of college access programming among multiple academic colleges/departments within a particular college or university; and
• narrowly targeted outreach efforts to specific student demographics groups.
10 Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Lack of Coordination Among Multiple Programs Within Institutions
Out of the 31 colleges and universities contacted, six institutions have multiple programs across various departments that are not necessarily working together and coordinating outreach activities. The lack of a coordinated communication effort often leads to decreased impact and confusion on the part of children and parents. Navigating the university system and connecting to individual programs offered by the various academic departments is overwhelming and intimidating. Several colleges and universities expressed a willingness to initiate a more coordinated communications strategy so that the community can more effectively utilize the resources of higher education institutions.
Lack of Aggressive Outreach to Students and Parents
The most compelling information from this data reinforces the fact that colleges and universities do not conduct sufficient community outreach efforts. Although college and university representatives regularly partner with the local school system to educate students about admissions and academic programs, the institutions typically expect students and parents to seek out information via the internet and college visits. As the other data sets depict, parents and students need help with accessing and understanding information related to college preparation, college admissions information and options for financing college. The execution of a more intentional community- based outreach strategy would demystify the college access, admissions and financial aid process. Several institutions expressed a desire to partner and make pre-college opportunities more accessible throughout Baltimore City. Colleges and universities also expressed a desire to participate in a multi-media advertising campaign that would have a much broader reach into the greater Baltimore community.
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Associated Black Charities Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
III. Conclusion and Next Steps
The rate of entry of Baltimore City high school graduates into college is dismal (See Appendix E). More importantly, understanding the perceptions and realities of youth and their parents surrounding barriers to high school completion and college entry is a critical step in reversing the current trends of college admissions. The data gathered from all the sources is consistent; the distribution of information is inconsistent, the resources are limited, and there is more work to be done, especially at the community level. By creating a community-centered strategy that widens the pathway of college awareness and access and retention, individuals, families, and communities will prosper and grow.
The Baltimore community would benefit from the presence of a lead agency responsible for the coordination of a citywide college-awareness and college-access strategy. The partnership should include community-based organizations, school district personnel and representatives from local college and universities. Together, these organizations would seek to expand the availability of pre-college services; develop a multi-media campaign that leverages existing resources and expands marketing efforts targeted at communities with historically low college attainment rates; and ensure all students and parents regardless of school, neighborhood, or socio-economic status—have equal access to post-secondary planning resources.
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1114 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201 T 410.659.0000 Toll Free 1.888.450.5836 F 410.659.0755 www.abc-md.org
For more information about this report and Associated Black Charities’ work on the Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study, please contact Diane Bell McKoy, President and CEO, Associated Black Charities at 410-659-0000 or dmckoy@ abc-md.org.
Acknowledgements
The report was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is based on interviews and focus groups with Baltimore City parents, students, school personnel, and community organizations. Information was also shared by local colleges and universities.
We greatly thank and acknowledge the team who worked on this project:
Tisha S. Edwards, Principal Investigator Visionary Solutions, LLC
Marie Langenes, Research Assistant
Irona Pope, Parent Liaison, City Springs Elementary-Middle
Malinda Rhone, Project Assistant
Carolyn White, Research Assistant
Arvenita Washington, Senior Research Associate Phoenix Cultural Resources
Design: Lori Fields Visual Concepts and Solutions, LLC
We wish to thank all of the parents, students, and school staff for their honesty and willingness to provide insight for this project. Appendix A Intensive Interviews School Personnel
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
APPENDIX A Intensive Interviews – School Personnel (Questions and Response Grid)
Teachers, counselors, and principals as agents of school comprise a second research context in this proposed study. Classroom teachers have the greatest amount of contact with individual students during the life cycle of a school day. Counselors are charged with the task of support outside of the classroom and at the middle and high school levels charts students’ life courses by disseminating information about educational and career options. Principals, as school leaders fulfill a broader vision of school leadership and orchestrate the delivery of resources to entire school populations. Eleven intensive sixty-minute audio-recorded personal interviews consisting of nine participants, one teacher, counselor, and principal for elementary, middle and high school populations were conducted. This design is represented in Table 1-2:
School Total Personnel Elementary Middle Number of Category School School High School Participants Teachers 1 1 1 3 Counselors 1 1 2 4 Principals 1 1 2 4 Totals 3 3 5 11
Table 1-2. Distribution of teacher, counselor, and principal intensive interviews
17 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
The interview tool presents a series of fifteen questions. The interview response grid depicts responses to three critical questions (numbers 7, 14, and 15) that we have chosen to highlight. These questions yielded feedback that gives the strongest sense of the challenges Baltimore city parents and students face. This data also shows the knowledge of available community resources and community access points needed based on school personnel perceptions.
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study: Making College Accessible to the African-American Community Intensive Interviews with Teachers, Counselors, and Principles Updated 11/20/07
1. What is your school/grade level?
Elementary Middle K-8 High
2. How many years have you worked in the Baltimore City Public School System as a guidance counselor? ____ Did you serve as a teacher before becoming a guidance counselor? Yes/No ____ If yes, for how many years? ______
3. How old are you?
4. Please describe your race/ethnicity.
5. Are you a product of Baltimore Public Schools? If yes, what resources were available to help you go to college? What was it like being student in this system?
6. What programs or other resources exist at your school to assist students with either exposure (college fairs, college field trip, information sessions, etc.) to information about college and/or access (skill development, SAT Prep, other special programs, ongoing counseling, mentoring etc.) to prepare for college entry? If this is new information, get the contact information at the end.
7. What programs or other resources exist in the community to help students (and parents) gain access to information about college and preparation for college entry? If this is new information, get the contact information at the end.
8. How do you think African American parents/caregivers feel about college for their children?
Go deeper with this question regarding the following prompts if it does not come up in their initial answer. Make sure their answer isn’t a simple yes/no, but ask them to explain their response.
9. Do parents/caregivers think college is attainable? Why or why not?
Is there anything else you would like to add or feel we have left out of this interview?
18 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
10. Do parents/caregivers think that working immediately after high school is more important than going off to college? Why or why not?
11. At your school, do parents/caregivers seek out information and other resources to support their children in going to college? Why or why not? Do you think they feel comfortable about using the resources provided at your school?
12. Do parents/caregivers feel that their children are needed to supplement incomes and/or perform other responsibilities at home? Why or why not?
13. In what ways are parents/caregivers are a barrier for their children to go to college?
14. Please comment on the following barriers that may hinder African American youth in Baltimore City Schools from going to college? If you do not feel the item is a barrier please explain.
Access to information Parental/Care-giver Support Finances to go Supplementing income at home Drug Abuse Skills Perceptions about college Incarceration Child-care Are there any others you would like to mention?
15. What kinds of school-based or community-based programs are needed to encourage students to go to college at your particular school/grade level?
19 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Interview Response Grid (Questions 7, 14, and 15).
Interview Responses to Question #7: What programs or other resources exist in the community to help students (and parents) gain access to information about college and preparation for college entry?
Respondent Profile Response Female, African American Middle Sororities and fraternities helped with SAT prep. Churches help with financial School Guidance Counselor aid. Urban League holds college prep night. Upward Bound. Female, African American High Healthy Teens at North Ave. and Pennsylvania; Business aspects, college School Guidance Counselor readiness; Kids on the Hill – art and mass media after-school; Druid Hill YMCA has leadership program; Upward Bound with BCCC; Dr. Kevin Daniels, pastor, church partners with the school assisting wherever. Male, White Middle School Community resources: Pioneers, a group of senior citizens read with the Principal students; Kiwanis improvement projects at the school, fire prevention, fund a musical; Director of Friends admissions and other magnet schools do presentations. Male, African American High There is no real push to enhance college. School Assistant Principal Female, African American The school itself does not have much for college at this level. Our partner, E Elementary School Assistant Mortgage Solutions provides persons of various occupations. They talk about Principal their job and the education needed to have the job. E Mortgage arranges for college students, especially Morgan State engineering students to visit school and bring the robots they have made.
Dec. 20, tomorrow, the kids in this school will be spotlighted on radio: 1010 AM, 11 a.m. Arranged by mortgage company.
Patricia C. Jessamy, Baltimore States attorney, talks to the students. They can easily relate to her an ask questions.
Title 1 supplemental education, of course.
Retired volunteers come and read to the children and listen to them read.
Hopkins’ Experience Co-workers project, retired people get a small stipend to visit children. Their health benefits go up if they don’t sit home alone. But this program is only for K, 1, 2. It is the upper grades that need someone to talk to the most.
Mentors are needed for one-on-one visits.
Mental health/anger management is taught be UMD social work grad students. Six of them come once a week and each of them works with two students. So only 12 students are helped. All of them need it.
99% of the problems begin at home. Parent involvement is almost non- existent. They only show up if their kid was hurt but not if their child was the perpetrator. Parents have negative attitudes.
20 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Female, African American Highland library in walking distance with new computers. Tutorial services Elementary School Teacher by college students at a church, includes dinner and a snack and recreation. The kids love it. Parents are responsible for transportation. She has four in her class who attends and never misses – two are African American. She can see a difference in reading, math, and attitudes because of the tutoring. One could not sound out words when she started. Female, White Middle School To be honest, I am not sure of the programs that exist in the community. Teacher Female, White High School BCCC and MEOC along with other colleges prepare generic programs Guidance Counselor on college and financial aid. The Jewish Community Center and Elijah Cummings also sponsor special programs. We also attend the college fairs in Pikesville and/or Convention Center. Female, African American This is a city-wide special education school. I am not too knowledgeable Elementary School Guidance about what is in this community. Kids go to the library. Students from Loyola Counselor have worked with us as mentors in the past. We are trying to develop a mentoring program with the PAL program.
Coppin State University has a mentoring program with boys age 5 to 15 but on a sliding scale fee that parents have to be responsible for. Female, African American High College Bound works closely with local colleges and universities to try to get School Principal kids to understand or to have a vision of college. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority does a weekly fall and spring SAT prep course for students and offer it to all students in the city. I don’t know how many churches are working with students in the community. Female, White High School Difficult question to answer because we are a city-wide school and students Teacher are from outside of the community. We are working on making a better connection with the community but I really don’t know and it is really important to kids to stay in the areas where they are from.
21 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Interview Responses to Question #14: Please comment on the following barriers that may hinder African American youth in Baltimore City Schools from going to school. If you do not feel the item is a barrier, please explain.
Barrier list: Access to information, Supplemental income, Involvement in Selling Drugs/Drug Abuse, Parental Support, Skills, Perceptions about College, Incarceration, Finances, Child Care
Respondent Profile Response Female, African American Middle Respondent ranked barriers on a scale from 1-10: School Guidance Counselor Access 9-SAT is mandated and city pays for it one time, and a bus ticket to go. School has info for people without a computer.
Parent support 4-Yes, they are a barrier.
Finances 2-Yes, it is a big barrier.
Supplemental Income 5- Yes, income is more important now, not 4 years from now. Slightly aware of money made after college. It is not a necessity. Income is a necessity. College is a burden and “I am done paying!”
Drug abuse 3. Parent may not be accessible to fill out documents or facilitate completion of process. Long-term effects on child: limits how much can be learned, academic ability, absent a lot. This issue is hidden an honors student or a dirty, smelly kid could have drugged parents. We find out when talking to the child and find they are staying with their grandma and have not seen the parent in 3 weeks. At this school, 35-40% are living with adults other than their parents. Nine out of ten times, drugs are the reason.
Skills 1- Many are not getting what they need to graduate H.S. – about 40% here. Two-thirds of my students are not really being educated. We separate low and high level by testing, NCLB. Lottery for Freedom and Renaissance Academies where the curriculum is set up for high level kids. If an 8th grader reads at grade 2 level, remedial reading cannot be JUST in summer, but IN the curriculum all year. There are 3500 eighth grade students that should be in H. S. but 40 of them are still here. Bad influence of other kids causes trouble such as fifth year in middle school.
Perceptions about college 3 Perception is that it is out of reach.
Incarceration 2- Most definitely. They did not get forms filled out and missed deadlines.
Child care 6- Not always, but if there is not day care in place….
22 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Female, African American High Access – generally good but kids still have to go by the guidance counselor School Guidance Counselor office because guidance counselors wear a lot of hats. Some self initiative is needed.
Parent support – yes because not information. Still reside in same area where they grew up so it is scary to them when their child wants to go far.
Finances – definitely. More so for middle income, can not get aid and do not have savings. All parents are concerned about their kid or themselves taking out a loan. We have to do a lot of education about that.
Supplemental income – yes on a small scale.
Drug abuse – yes
Skills – yes especially in special education. Lack of confidence, doubt. (50 out of 300 in Special education at the school)
Perceptions- Yes because of a media story such as Virginia Tech, Parents do not want their children to be far because they would not be able to get to them in the case of a Virginia Tech.
Incarceration – Yes. If the student, financial aid and college admissions are affected. If the parent, the state pays for them as wards of the state, plus child care. Students want to get out of here so college looks good.
Child care – Yes. First because it decides where you go in order to work and go to classes. 2nd: affects schedule at school.
Other- Academics is a major factor.
Male, White Middle School Respondent rated all of the barriers number 1(on a scale of 1-10) with the Principal exception of skills rated at a 5
23 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Male, African American High Access to info: high barrier School Assistant Principal Parent/caregiver support – low barrier
Finances to go: minimum barrier
Supplemental income: low barrier
Drug abuse – high barrier
Skills – high barrier and there are minimal expectations because of job market not working for people they know.
Perceptions about college –
Incarceration – major barrier
Child-care – major barrier because some students have kids of their own
24 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Female, African American Access to info – yes, because we do not have that at this level, but talk about Elementary School Assistant careers and jobs. Principal Parent support – Yes, because we do not have participating parents, no volunteering.
Finances – Yes. These parents are not motivated to find access because they are not even motivated to send their kids to school!
Supplemental Income – not at this level, no known “runners” if I can call them that.
Drug abuse – Yes, at home, not the kids themselves at this level.
Skills – Academic skills at this level, no. They are given the proper instruction, but they do not come to school everyday, and are lacking parent support.
Perceptions about college – do not know really. Long pause. Can not answer that honestly, but I would like to ask some 5th graders.
Incarceration – Yes. If one or more parents are incarcerated, then the child is most likely with a relative. Not a stable home. They do not see things like we do – there is no stigma attached. I am sure they do not brag about their parent in jail, but there is no stigma. Kids see a lot. A grade one child was brought in by the police and then taken to the hospital where her mother was dead. This child’s attendance will be light. Another 4th grade girl, age 9, cute, and could be quite pretty come day has a 24 year old Mom and two younger siblings. She is living with an aunt who says the Mom was a bad girl just like the 4th grader is now. No school ethics and responsibility. No education or responsibility is instilled.
Child care –not with this population, not at this age.
Other-No
25 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Female, African American Access - 10, no barrier Elementary School Teacher Parental support - 4
Finances to go to college- 5
Supplemental Income - 5
Drug abuse - 6, none in her class this year
Skills - 5
Perceptions - 5, If a parent does not know about college, students need help from someone else. Parents may not know anything about college life.
Incarceration-7
Child care-9 –No Black parents that she knows of need child care
Other: parental involvement in her classroom - 2. Some are illiterate but they could do art her. She cannot get parents to help in the classroom and is frustrated by that. She said that it is amazing how many young parents cannot read.
26 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Female, White Middle School Access to Information- Lack of seeking out information and pursuing Teacher information as well as trying to fully understand what it takes is definitely a problem
Parental/Care-giver Support- Parents lack of understanding of the process, what is involved in preparing for college and being marketable as a candidate for college prevents many black students from attending college
Supplemental Income- Many of the children will have to help supplement their parents’ income and usually it is their mother’s income
Involvement in selling drugs- Many African American boys are becoming sucked into dealing drugs rather than pursuing college
Skills- Many students are behind and I do not think many African American parents realize how much extra time and resources it takes to get their child caught up and to get an extra edge so that their child is prepared for college
Perceptions about college- I think they are so focused on the now that college does not seem like the answer. Since college is not a “silver bullet” that will bring immediate results many parents are apprehensive about the benefits. They get that in an abstract sense college is important and great, but they do not fully understand what all goes into the process.
Incarceration- Many African American boys especially become involved with the law and end up not pursuing college
Others- Fear of Cost- Many black students have to incur debt in order to pay for college. I think the debt scares many black students and parents to the point that they end up trying to work first with the result being they never end up going back to college. Students need to see college as an investment (like a house)—you take out a loan and pay it back over time because in the end it is an asset and will increase your overall wealth. Black students (coming from backgrounds of poverty) especially do not see it this way.
27 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Female, White High School Access to Information-1 Guidance Counselor Parental/Care-giver Support- 2
Finances to go- 4
Supplemental Income- n/a
Drug Abuse- 7
Skills – 3
Perceptions about college- 9
Incarceration- 8
Child care- 5
Other: medical/mental health issues- 6
28 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Female, African American Access to information -Lack of information. Lack of parent involvement Elementary School Guidance but also transportation is an issue because we are a city-wide school. But Counselor overall, access points have increase; you have to make yourself open to the information
Parental/Care-giver Support – This varies greatly but I see this as a barrier.
Finances to go – I don’t see this as a barrier if the child has done what he needs to do. There is money from universities if the child has done what he needs to do to prepare himself.
Supplementing Income at Home – This is a barrier sometimes. Some parents are of the opinion that once a child has reached a certain age they need to contribute at home..
Drug Abuse – I think this is an increasing problem with the parents and puts kids in situation where they don’t have a stable support system and have an increased chance of becoming users and not furthering their education. I have 5th graders that already smoke marijuana.
Skills – We have kids that can’t get out of the remedials. There has been some changes with college readiness state-wide but most Baltimore City kids lack behind because of academic and social variables.
Perceptions – Some students have never left their neighborhoods so it is hard for them to conceive of themselves at a college or university, especially if it is out of the area.
Incarceration – This is a tremendous problem. This gives a lack of parental supervision and support and kids end up in foster care or kinship care. If you get a record, they are not going to get financial aid. They need to think about how their choices and behavior will impact their futures.
Childcare- There are resources at schools that help with this for a nominal fee.
29 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Female, African American High Parental/Care-giver Support Some parents do not see college as a reality or School Principal priority because it wasn’t one for them. Parents went to high school and then they went to work. Some parents are disconnected with how we are trying to connect kids to college.
Access to information -Access to information is a barrier because there are not community resources centers parents and families can utilize.
Finances to go - Finances are barriers for parents and families.
Supplemental Income -Supplementing incomes is a barrier.
Drug Abuse Drug abuse is a barrier. Some kids will be out at night looking for a parent that is on drugs and did not come home. Some ask to leave school to do this.
Skills -Lack of and/or low skills are a barrier.
Childcare - Sometimes, childcare is a barrier.
Female, White High School Parental/Care-giver Support - I don’t think parents and guardians are Teacher barriers. They feel that it is important for them to go to school and will do whatever they need to do to help. Some parents don’t understand what we are trying to do in the building. Lack of day to day regimes of having high expectations for students in schools.
All Baltimore City Schools have College Bound so it isn’t about access for students. I don’t think parents know all of the information and resources given to students. Parents’ aren’t invited into the building enough.
Finances to go - Finances are a large concern. Decisions are made largely on this and families are scared to take out loans.
Drug Abuse and Solicitation - A lot of Baltimore students are in the drug trade for the money, especially the males.
Skills - Skills are a barrier. We have 50% of our freshman class that enters school that is on an elementary reading level. Math and higher order thinking skills are also very low for entering college.
30 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix A
Interview Responses to Question #15: What kinds of school-based or community-based programs are needed to encourage students to go to college at your particular school/grade level?
Respondent Profile Response Female, African American Middle Educators or counselors are part of the problem because they decide who we School Guidance Counselor give info to. All kids should be allowed to college info – “If they can breather, they can come to the workshop or assembly.” Students expect us to know, to be the experts. We have the power, the info, but we turn out to be a problem. Educators are worse than the parents, she says. Female, African American High Can not think of any. Maybe more admissions counselors can come here to do School Guidance Counselor presentations. Male K-8 School Principal Beacon Schools in NY --true community schools with lots of family support. (Matthew Hornbeck) Open more hours and on weekends. Social service referrals. A safe haven, Josh Sharsteen in BCPS is interested in the model. This principal would like his school to be a pilot Male, African American High We need more after school programs. There needs to be more capacity in School Assistant Principal terms of space, staff, funding etc. to increase student participation. We need more sports and music programs to attract students after school to link to academics. The can help motivation for kids to want to go to school.
Female, African American Parents keep popping up in my mind. Instill in them the desire for a better life Elementary School Assistant for their children. Teach them that as a parent, it is their responsibility to make Principal sure the child goes to school and takes all that is offered. Benefits will come along. Simple things – the school cannot do everything. Good attendance, Be respectful. People hire people who come to work everyday.
Classes on responsible parenting. How to make sure your child has school success.
Why is attendance and being on-time important? At 8:15 am, reading starts. If you come at 9 o’clock, you have missed all the phonics for that day.
How to best support your child’s school. What volunteer work can be done in the school? Walk the first graders to the bathroom before lunch.
The Police Athletic League (PAL) is in the building. They have homework help the first hour and then free time the last two hours. PAL closes this Thursday and Friday and you know there will be children in the building because their parents made no other arrangements. PAL sent a note home and Assistant Principal sent a note home, but parents will ignore it.
On Thurs. and Fri., parents whose children are left at school will be called to come pick them up. If the school cannot reach the parent, the child goes to Child Protective Services. Baltimore City School Police will do the transport but a staff member from the school has to go along – down on Gay Street but may have moved to Howard.
Parents. Parents. Parents. They get angry if we wake them up to get their kid to school.
31 Appendix A • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Female, African American The loss of the Boys and Girls Club in the neighborhood can be seen in Elementary School Teacher behavior of the children.
Speakers for young children such as Career Week like we used to have years ago.
Counselor for elementary schools to talk on whatever is on the kids mind. This teacher holds circle time every Friday at 2 pm: turn off the lights and talk about what they want to be when they grow up or what they are concerned about home. A counselor could just ask simple questions.
Media time—video, more tangibles, more resources for visual learners Female, White Middle School Honest conversations from people who look like them and who came from Teacher a similar background to talk about the realities of the process, how it is worth, and building up self esteem so that they do believe they can endure the financial and personal hardships that are a part of going to college. Also forming PACTS for groups of students with a mentor that can be a constant support throughout high school and college would be extremely beneficial. Female, White High School Skills training; Job and vocational training for students and families. Guidance Counselor Female, African American We need to have programs that enhance long-term career goals for students. Elementary School Guidance We also need more workshops for parents with a stipend component and Counselor provide daycare and dinner to be incentives for parents to come. Female, African American Community Resource Centers; For the last two years we have worked with High School Principal Morgan State University in preparing teachers. There is a vision of linking all grade levels together (Elementary, Middle, and High School) where a career plan is being developed and monitored. Elementary kids should be exposed to college beginning in preschool all the way up to 12th grade. We can partner with community organizations to do this and to expose them to careers, teaching them professional standards, and the kids can have to opportunity to earn money too. Female, White High School After school help beginning at a very young age that provides meals that is Teacher safe and focuses on and reiterates skills learned in school. In general there needs to be the belief that Baltimore kids can go to college.
32 Appendix B Focus group Transcriptions
Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
APPENDIX B Focus Group Transcriptions
Given that the family is widely understood as the primary socializing agent and that children are agents in educational engagement, we begin with the family as a point of departure. Fifty-two individuals participated in focus groups. Six focus groups with African American parents/caregivers, children, and adolescents at all three levels of elementary and secondary education were conducted. The focus groups were divided by school levels and comprised of approximately ten participants of various achievements. Each focus group was audio-taped using a digital recorder and lasted for approximately sixty minutes. Focus group participants were recruited through networks including school parent teacher association (PTA), school principals, and community-based organizations. When possible, an effort was made to recruit the parent/caregiver of the children who served as focus group participants. This design is represented in Table 1-2.
Focus Group Total Number Participants Elementary School Middle School High School of Participants Parents/Caregivers 10 8 9 27 Students 12 10 3 25 Total 22 18 12 52
Table 1-2. Distribution of Parent/Caregiver and Student Focus Group Population
To protect the anonymity of participants, names have been deleted on the focus group transcripts. Other breaks in the transcripts are due to inaudible recordings that can not be deciphered.
33 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #1: Okay, guys. So were gonna use this tape recorder, so again, I need you to speak up nice and loud. So the reason we’re here today is we’re gonna talk about what it means to go to college, or to want to go to college, okay?
And so the first thing I want to do – I’m gonna use this chart to help me take some notes. I want to go around the room and I want you to tell me what you know about college. What is – what’s college? What’s college? Go ahead, XX. I’m sorry. Go ahead, sweetheart. What’s college? What do you think college is?
Male #1: College is something –
Female #1: Nice and loud.
Male #1: College is something that you go to at the ______.
Female #1: Say it again. College is something –
Male #1: That you go to – at the – to get good grades.
Female #1: Something – college is where you go – Someone help him out. College is where you go – Go ahead, XX.
Female #2: College is somewhere where you go after you graduate from 12th grade.
Female #1: Oh, after. Is that what you’re trying to say? Oh right. Good. This is what you do after you graduate – it’s hard to write on this wall, so my handwriting’s a little messy – 12th grade. All right. Good. Yes?
Male #2: De.
Female #1: XX. Thank you.
Male #2: College is some – college is this school that you grow – that you go to get your Master Degree, or any other degree that you want. It helps you get a good job.
Female #1: Master’s Degree and any other degree you want. That means you get to choose. Great. Any other to get a good job. Okay. This is really hard to write here. Okay. Elijah.
Male #3: ______.
Female #1: Nice and loud. Remember the tape recorder.
Male #3: College is like –
Female #1: Right.
Male #3: – really, really ______.
Female #1: Let’s help him out. We’re gonna have XX help you out a little bit. I think I know what you’re saying, but we’re gonna have Cherie help us out.
34 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #3: College is a place where you graduate and you want to put your application in.
Male #3: That’s what I was talking about.
Female #1: Oh, great. That’s good. She helped you out, right? So it helps you get your education. Why is it important to get an education? We have all these hands up. Who hasn’t spoken yet?
Female #4: I’m ______and I’m in ______. So you can get a job.
Female #1: Okay. What else? Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Male #3: College – you go – you get educated so you can do whatever you want. You can be a professional person.
Female #1: So you can be a professional person and you get to do whatever it is you want. Okay. XX, did you have your hand up?
Female #5: Yeah. College is the place you to go to get – so you can get a real, real good job.
Female #1: Real good job. Okay. Okay. Some other people said that, too. Some other people had their hand up that didn’t speak. XX, did you have your hand up earlier? You want to tell me what you think college is and why it’s important?
Female #6: I think ______when you get – might get a good job and you be good.
Female #1: Okay. When you get a job and a place you have to be good when you’re there. Is that what you’re saying? Okay. XX.
Female #7: College is a place that you can learn and get your education. And then you get your degree – you get a diploma.
Female #1: Okay. Get a degree. Okay. Okay. I saw your hand up earlier.
Male #4: If you’re in school you have to listen. When you, like, get a job, you have to listen to what your boss says so you can do it.
Female #1: Okay. Good. Good. Good.
Male #4: College – ‘cause college is the place that helps you, like, get whatever you want to be. Like, if you want to be a professional basketball player, it helps you get there. If you want to be a football, it helps you get there. If you want to be a archeologist, it helps you get there.
Female #1: Oh, wow. Okay. So you’re saying it’s important – if you like sports, it’s important to go to college. But you also used a really big word. Archeologist. What is that?
Male #4: Archeologist is someone who try to find things – dig and find hidden things.
Female #1: Hidden tombs and hidden artifacts? Wow.
Male #2: ______down.
35 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #1: Oh.
Male #3: Archeologist call ______found.
Female #1: Wow. Okay.
Female #3: I think it’s good to go to college, because it’s like a campus. You can do whatever you want there. You got – first you have to go the college, the place that you need to go.Then you have to go to another place. When you’re in college ______you’re gonna play on the football team. You could play ______and you might be on TV.
Female #1: Okay. Good. Good. Good.
Female #6: I think college is a place so you can – when you leave from college you get a job and get money so you can get into your homes and not be out on the street.
Female #1: Very good. Very good. Okay you guys. You said some really important things about why it’s important to go to college. So what I heard almost all of you say was that it’s important to get an education so you can get a good job. Well, what are the steps that you have to take? What are the steps that you could take now, while you’re in elementary school – middle school and elementary school, and even when you go to high school – what are some of the important steps you have to take? What’s your job right to help you get to college? We’re gonna start on this end this time, okay?
Female #7: When you go to college you get good grades.
Female #1: You have to get good grades. You have to get good grades. So what happens if you don’t get good grades? What happens if – hold on – what happens if you have one class, and maybe you didn’t study? Maybe you don’t have the best grades. What can you do to still get good grades? Cherie.
Female #5: You might fail.
Female #1: Well, you might fail, but what can you do so you won’t fail?
Male #1: You can – you can did – don’t fail, you can study more, and you can focus, and don’t be disrespectful.
Female #1: I love how that is so important. You have to be respectful and you have to study, right? And what else, XX?
Male #4: You can study to try your best.
Female #1: You can try your best. Okay. And XX?
Female #8: You can go to summer school.
Female #1: You can go to summer school. In the summer you can ask your parents to let you go to summer school if you know you need some extra help, right?
Male #4: You can be respectful so – you can be respectful to the teachers so they won’t fail you and you can –
36 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #1: So being respectful is important because –
Male #4: Being respectful is important because someone can might ask – if you have to come back and ask the teacher to, like, write a report and see how good you are so you can get to a good college or high school.
Female #1: So you’re saying if you’re nice to people, if you’re respectful, later on you can go to your teacher or your principal or your guidance councilor, and you could say, “Could you write a letter for me to say I’m a good person to go to college?” Is that what you mean, a recommendation letter? Great.
Female #2: You should come to school on time and get a ______or sit in the corner and get a book and study something.
Female #1: So if you come to school on time, or even early, you can read. You’re saying it’s good to read, even when you don’t have a homework assignment ______read, it’s still good to be reading all the time, right?
Female #2: Yes.
Female #1: Wonderful. Yes, DeQwan. Did I say it right?
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: Okay. I got ______.
Male #1: You should be respect for people. You should be respect for your teacher so they can be back to you, like, the respect you give them. And they might fail you ‘cause you been disrespectful. ______ask you.
Female #1: Okay. Why – okay, so respect if important. I don’t think they can fail you just for being disrespectful, but you have to be respectful ‘cause if you’re not, what happens when you’re not respectful? Where do you get sent? What happens? Elijah.
Male #3: You get sent to the principal’s office.
Female #1: You could get sent to the principal’s office.
{Crosstalk}
Female #3: You have to be aggravated.
Female #1: You can aggravate someone else? Is that what you’re saying?
Female #3: You have to be aggravated to learn, so you can learn.
Male #4: Like, she mean like, motivated to learn.
Female #1: Oh. Motivated. Okay. Yeah. You have to motivate yourself.
Female #8: And you can fail if you’re being an ______, they gonna send you to the principal’s office –
37 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Male #2: And you won’t be in class, right?
{Crosstalk}
Male #2: And they could send you and you would miss too many days.
Female #1: Okay. That’s right. That’s right. If you miss too many days from school, whether because you don’t come to school or if you get in trouble and you’re not allowed to come to school, you could fail that way.
Male #3: If you miss a lot of school, and the other people that didn’t miss school do work, you’re not – you’re gonna miss a whole bunch of work, and you’re not gonna what to do then. And you’re gonna have to stay – and you’re gonna have to go to summer school to get the work done.
Female #1: Okay. Great. Great. Can you hold your thought for one second?
{Wihispering}
Female #1: Hold on. Let me make sure – let me do a count you guys. I’m sorry. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Okay.
{Whispering}
Female #1: Okay. And ______, if I don’t have a permission slip, I can’t legally have them. Did we check them all? Okay. Okay. Can we – okay. Okay. I’m sorry, guys. Hold on second. How many people in here – how many of you kids want to go to college? That’s everybody. Great. Great. Shanice, what do you want to be – or what do you want to be when you grow up, or what do you do in college?
Female #7: I want to be a nurse.
Female #1: A nurse. That’s wonderful. Do you know that they always need nurses? And that nurses get paid very well? Good.
Female #6: I want to be a teacher when I grow up.
Female #1: You’re gonna be a teacher. Oh, we need teachers. We need good teachers. Teachers help everybody figure out what they want to be when they grow up.
Female #6: I want to be a teacher because if kids are stuck on a problem that they don’t know, I can help them.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #2: I want to be an archeologist.
Female #1: An archeologist. So you want to dig and find stuff. You want to travel the world. That’s wonderful. Okay.
38 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Male #1: I want to be a karate master.
Female #1: A karate master? What you gonna do with your karate? What are you gonna do?
Male #1: I’m gonna ______black belt. I have a yellow belt now.
Female #1: Okay. So then – oh, you’re a yellow belt now. So you take karate. Okay. So, will you teach other people and other kids how to do karate once you become a black belt?
Male #1: When I get – when I get a black belt, I want to have my own karate school. I’m gonna be my ______.
Female #1: Your gonna be an entrepreneur. You’re gonna be a black belt and an entrepreneur. You’re gonna have your own business, your own school to teach other people. That’s wonderful.
{Crosstalk}
Female #1: You guys. Hold up guys. Remember, we’re recording, so we can only have one voice at a time, okay?
Male #3: I want – two things I want to be.
Female #1: You want what, sweetheart?
Male #3: Two things I want to be, a preacher and a dentist.
Female #1: A preacher and a what?
Male #3: A preacher and a dentist.
Female #1: And a dentist. All right.
Female #3: I want to be nutrition and a doctor.
Female #1: A nutritionist and a doctor? Wow. That’s a lot of schooling. That’s very important.
Female #8: I want to be a lawyer.
Female #1: A lawyer. Wonderful.
Male #1: I want to be two things. I want to be –
Female #1: Sh-sh-sh-sh.
Male #1: -- I want to be FBI, and I want to be a football player.
Female #1: Wow, you want to play ball and you’re gonna be an FBI agent. That’s excellent.
Male #4: I want to be a baseball player.
39 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #1: A baseball player? Okay, and that’s great, too. What are you gonna do when you’re finished playing baseball.
Male #4: Be basketball.
Female #1: Be basketball. Excuse me, we’re gonna be respectful. We didn’t get to go over all the rules, but we know this is a really sensitive tape, right? And if you guys, even if you’re whispering, it’s going to pick that up. And so I really need to be able to hear one person at a time. So you’re gonna be an athlete. What are you gonna do when you get a little bit older? You know, ‘cause most athletes are kinda young. So what are you gonna be when you get older?
Male #4: I’m gonna be a cop.
Female #1: A cop. All right. And what do you want to be?
Female #7: A marine.
Female #1: A marine. Good. Are you gonna fight for the country? All right. Yes, Deshaun.
Male #2: My name’s DeShaun.
Female #1: DeShuan, I’m sorry. DeShaun. That’s why the accent mark is there. I apologize. But the only way I learn is if you correct me, so thank you.
Male #2: When I get older, I’m gonna be – when I get old I’m gonna retire.
Female #1: You know what, if you start off young enough, you can retire when you, you know. Very good. You ______, sweetheart. No? You didn’t? Okay, I’m gonna take your comment, and then I’m gonna start another question, okay?
Male #1: Well, when I’m a karate master, I’m gonna ______teach in the world.
Female #1: Oh. Okay.
Male #1: ______I’m gonna go to karate ______.
Female #1: All right. Okay. So you guys said some really important and interesting and exciting things. Can you close the door please? About why it’s important to go to college, and some of the things that you want to do. And everybody in here wants to do something different. And you know it takes hard work. Some of you said it takes learning how to be respectful, so people can respect you and to also help you out along the way. So hard work, good grades, staying in school.
Male #3: ______?
Female #1: Yes. Go ahead and add something.
Male #3: Also, you can – if you want to do something, like he want to be a marine. He got to be really tough to be a marine. And all that stuff that you think and be tough.
40 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #1: Okay. Okay. We’re gonna take one more comment ‘cause I need to get to the next question
Male #4: Don’t they have to – don’t they have been training in Annapolis and Maryland?
Female #1: They do have a naval academy in Annapolis. Though, that’s important to know where things are. It’s important to know what schools you want to go to and where they’re located. Right? So what would be – why would some kids not want to go to college? Or why don’t they go to college? Okay? I’m gonna go around. I want everybody to talk. So I’m gonna start here, at this end this time. And I want –
Male #1: You started on that end.
Female #1: Did I start on here? I’m sorry. Thank you for correcting me. I’ll start on this end this time. Can you tell me why some kids don’t go to college or don’t want to go to college?
Female #7: Some people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they don’t want to learn nothing. They don’t want to be nothing.
Female #1: Why not?
Female #7: I don’t know.
Female #1: You don’t know. Okay. We’ll think about that some, okay? But thank you of that.
Female #6: Everyone’s not going to go to college because they don’t be going to school, getting a good job, and getting very smart, and going to college. They don’t want to do that.
Female #1: Why don’t they want to do it, though? Who wouldn’t want to do that? Why not?
Female #6: Maybe they don’t like school.
Female #1: They don’t – they might not like school. Okay.
Female #3: Some people don’t go to college because, well, when they was – if they was in school, and they dropped out of school, they wouldn’t learn anything. And if – so now, if they in college, they don’t want to learn anything else, so –
Female #1: But why do people drop out of school?
Female #8: Probably because they don’t like school.
Female #1: Why not? Why don’t people like school? What’s not to like?
Female #3: Because, well, I guess –
Female #1: You get to say “hi” to all your friends. You get to learn stuff.
Female #3: I guess –
Female #1: You get to go to recess and lunch. Well, I guess you don’t have recess.
41 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #3: I guess they don’t want to go to school because of the work.
Female #1: Because of the work. Well, okay –
Male #4: Some people don’t go to college because some people can’t afford it.
FEMALE #1: That’s a very good answer.
Male #4: And some people don’t get scholarships or grants or anything.
Female #1: Wow.
Male #4: And they have to go to ______. They can’t –
Female #1: You know a lot. You know a lot about this grant stuff. Okay.
Female #7: I think people don’t want to go to college because, when – all their friends are not in college. And if they go to college, they gonna be missing their friends. And their friends is gonna be on the street selling drugs and stuff.
Female #1: Selling drugs and stuff. Okay.
Male #2: I think some people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they think they can do free stuff outside of the –
Female #1: Like what?
Male #2: They think they can be free to sell drugs or drive cars. No, they won’t have cars. They can just steal their way ______.
Female #1: Just kinda do crimes and bad stuff if they don’t go? Okay. Okay guys, be patient. We’re coming around.
Female #3: I think people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they’re not grateful and they just don’t want to go to college.
Female #1: Why should they be grateful?
Female #3: Because if you want to get your education, and if you wanna learn stuff, and if you do want to do stuff that’s good, you better go to college. Because, if you go to college, you get to learn a lot of stuff.
Female #1: That’s right.
Female #8: People don’t want to go to college because they don’t want to learn more.
Female #1: Why wouldn’t they want to learn? All of you guys said that if you go to college, and you do well, and you learn something, you could get a good job. You could meet lots of interesting people. Right? Why wouldn’t people want to do that?
Female #3: Because they won’t get – won’t want to get another one to work.
42 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #1: They might not want to go get a job? Okay.
Male #1: I think ______won’t be –
Female #1: DeQwan?
Male #1: Some people don’t go to college because they think they can go out – they can go and do other stuff. But they don’t know, when they be out and had nothing or go nowhere. And they gonna be outside asking people for money and stuff.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #5: I think some people don’t go to college ‘cause some people think school is boring.
Female #1: They think it’s boring. Why? Why would they think school’s boring? You want to think about it?
Female #5: Yeah.
Female #1: Thank you. Joseph.
Female #7: Some people think that going to college is not important enough than doing everything else.
Female #1: Why not?
Female #7: Because some people want to be on the streets all day selling drugs, and sometimes wind up going to jail.
Female #1: Wow. But that’s dangerous. Why would someone want to do something that’s dangerous and that hurts other people?
Female #7: I really don’t know.
Female #1: I don’t if we – I don’t know if any of us know. Okay. I’m gonna come right to you, sweetheart.
Female #2: Why is some – what ______?
Female #1: I said why would people want to do something that’s dangerous and –
Female #2: Oh. People will use the ______‘cause they don’t care about nobody else. They only care about themselves. And they think everything is for them. But it really for people who ______other people’s feelings.
Female #1: Wow. Okay.
Female #3: Some people don’t want tot go to college because they – some people think that college is hard.
Female #1: They think it’s hard. Okay. Why would they think it’s hard, if they haven’t been there? How can you know something’s hard unless you try it? I don’t know either. I think you had your hand up, Cherie.
43 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #3: People think it’s hard because they never been to college. They just don’t want to go to college and they just think it’s hard because the work they had, like in elementary school and high school, is not like the one’s in college.
Female #1: Mm-hmm.
Female #3: Because some of the ______here is hard ______. You have to put ______, but if you go to – when you go to college, it’s much harder.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #3: People don’t go to college because some kid’s may die, and they might go to a foster home. And the foster home people who run it might not be a good a person. And they get zip. And they get scholarship and grants. And prevent them from going to college.
Female #1: So you’re saying that sometimes it’s hard because kids might not be with their parents, or they might be in foster care. Or they might not have the family support they need. Is that what you’re saying?
Male #3: Mm-hmm.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #4: Some people don’t go to college because they tease the people that do go to college. They think it’s hard for him to go to college, they think it’s hard, too.
Female #1: Okay. I’m gonna come back to you, okay? Anything else? Okay. All right, we got – I’m gonna take these last two, and then I’m gonna wrap up and ask just a couple more questions.
Female #7: Some people don’t want to go to college because they think that some the MSAs are hard. But you just gotta try your best to get through.
Female #1: That’s good advice. That’s good advice.
Male #2: Some people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they think they go to college ______but they don’t think well. And they didn’t go to school. And –
Male #1: Okay. I think I understand what you meant. And Elijah, we’re gonna finish with you for this question. You want me to come back to you? I’m gonna come back to you, okay?
Male #3: I think some people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they don’t want – they want – they think they get up out like the others. I think people don’t want to go to college ‘cause they want to drop out with the other people.
Female #1: So they might not want to go to college ‘cause some of their friends have dropped out, and they want to hang out with their friends or be like their friends? Okay. Well you got – some of you said some important things. Some people said, “Well, what if you don’t have money to go to college?” I think you said, “You might not have money to go to college.” What do you do if you don’t have money to go to college? What can you do?
Female #8: Find a job.
44 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #1: You can find a job. It might be hard to work and go to school, but it’s an option. What else can you do? What if you don’t want to work? Or what if you’ve taken something really hard and it’s really hard, and you can’t work?
Male #4: You have a student loan.
Female #1: You could get a student loan. What’s “a loan” mean? What does that mean? Does anybody know what a loan is? What’s a loan?
Female #7: It’s when you loan something, but you have to pay it back.
Female #1: When you borrow something, you have to pay it back. Sort of like a banker through the school where you go. They might have a loan program.
Female #6: I got a good one.
Female #1: Okay, you got a good one. Go ahead.
Female #6: Or save your money.
Female #1: Or save your money? How many of you in here are already saving your money? You have a piggy bank or you have a bank account?
{Crosstalk}
Female #1: Or are you spending your money at the mall and going to the movies? Or are you saving your money?
{Crosstalk}
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Okay. So we just said something really important. Even if you don’t have money to go to college, right? There are other options. You could work. You could find a place to work, and they might actually pay to help you go to college. You could take out a loan, where the school will loan you money or the bank will loan you money, or the government, there are different loans programs. But you have to pay it back. Okay? Or you could save your money. Start saving now. You’re not too young to save money, right. Okay. And you had your hand up for a while.
Female #2: I think you can find a night job that pay you the right amount. You can find another thing the right amount. So you save it up and if you’re really ______you can see how much money you got.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #6: You ______too long, can you ______and find some money under your ground.
Female #1: Oh. Okay. So how many – okay, let’s think about this. What colleges do we know about? How do we know about college? I want everybody to tell me a college that they know about. What do you know?
45 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Male #2: I know
Female #1: DeShaun.
Male #2: I know in your ______, Morehouse.
Female #1: We just ______to someone.
Male #2: Morehouse.
Female #1: Morehouse. Where’s Morehouse?
Male #2: Morehouse is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Female #1: Okay. Very good. Tell me what college you know about.
Female #7: ______.
Female #1: ______State University. Very good.
Female #6: ______.
Female #1: You don’t know about a college? You know about one college. One? No? Well your homework tonight is to go find out about a college, okay? All right? And you’ll come back and tell Miss XX tomorrow – I mean on Monday about a college you found out about? Okay.
Male #4: I don’t know one ______.
Female #1: You don’t know either?
Male #4: No.
Female #1: You guys hold on. Hold on. Remember I’m recording and I can’t have any other noise. You know the name of a college here? Or away, it could be far away. Ah-ah.
Female #6: I don’t know ______it.
Female #1: You don’t know? You have to find that out tonight, too.
Female #6: It starts with an “L.” I don’t know how to pronounce it.
Female #1: Okay. Will you find out tonight?
Female #6: Mm-hmm.
Female #1: Okay. Hold on, you’ve gone already. Give me the name of one college you know about.
Male #1: Florida State University.
Female #1: Florida State University. And how do you know about that University?
46 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Male #1: I know about that University ‘cause I know about their team, the Florida Gators.
Female #1: You know about the team And how did you know about Morehouse?
Male #2: I know about Morehouse because sometimes I go on the Internet and find good colleges.
Female #1: You can go on the Internet. Wonderful. And how did you know about ______?
Female #7: I go on the Internet and researched it.
Female #1: You researched colleges on the Internet. Good. Elijah, can you tell me the name of one college.
Male #3: University?
Female #1: University.
Male #3: Yes.
Female #1: Of?
Male #3: The University of.
Female #1: What state do you live in?
Male #3: Baltimore.
Female #1: Well, there is –
Male #3: The University of Maryland.
Female #1: In Maryland. Those are two different ones. There’s UB and University of Maryland.
Female #8: I know one.
Female #1: Hold on. We gotta get everybody. We gotta be fair, remember. I’m coming sweetie. I know have a lot of kids in here.
Female #2: He stole my answer.
Female #1: Well I know you know another answer, right? So when you go home tonight you’re gonna find out the name of another University, right? Right? You promise. And you’re gonna tell Miss Polk on Monday? Okay. It’s okay. It’s fine. They’re doing a great job. They’re doing a fabulous job. XX.
Female #9: I don’t know.
Female #1: So what do you have to do tonight?
Female #9: Homework.
47 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #1: Huh?
Female #9: Homework.
Female #1: Homework. What’s your homework? You’re gonna find that name of –
Female #9: A college.
Female #1: A college or a university when you – and you’re gonna come back and tell Miss Polk on Monday.
Male #4: In D.C. – when I was in D.C. – is that the college?
Female #1: Yes. Baltimore City Community College.
Male #4: And XX College.
Female #1: And Bethel College. Okay. Very good.
Female #7: Georgetown.
Female #1: Georgetown, in D.C. Okay. How do you know about Georgetown?
Female #7: I seen it on the movie.
Female #1: You’ve seen it in movies? Okay. And how did you know about the Community College and Bethel College? How did you know about it?
Male #4: ‘Cause my cousin aunt went ______College. And my sister used to go there.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Good. Good. Good. I’m gonna come back to you.
Female #5: Morgan State University.
Female #1: Morgan State University. Where’s Morgan State University? Shh. Where’s Morgan State? I know you know where it is.
Female #5: I forgot. I forgot. ______.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #7: UCLA.
Female #1: UCLA. You went all the way to where?
Female #7: Los Angeles.
Female #1: All right. How do you know about UCLA?
Female #7: It was in our book.
48 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #1: It in your book? Your schoolbook for what – what subject?
Female #7: Reading.
Female #1: In your reading book. Wonderful. Okay. I see. I’m gonna take a couple more hands. Kiera.
Female #6: I think it’s called Leona College.
Female #1: Loyola. Okay. Good. Good. And where did you hear about that?
Female #6: When I was with my cousin, we were riding in the car, and I saw it.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #2: Northwestern College located in Chicago.
Female #1: Okay. Did you say Northwester earlier? Or you tried to say it. Okay. Very good.
Male #1: Oregon State. Oregon State University.
Female #1: Okay. And Elijah.
Male #3: ______.
Female #1: Say it again, sweetheart.
Male #3: The University for Learning.
Female #1: The University of Learning? I’m not familiar with that one, but you know what? Maybe I don’t know. I’ll research it when I get back. Okay? Okay guys, you’ve said some really important things. Let me look at my notes. I have to look at some notes. You guys have told me what you think about college. You told me what you need to do to get to college. You told me why college is important. Why else is college important besides what we named earlier? We said to get a good job. Buy why else would you want to go to college?
Female #5: College is – what was the question?
Female #1: You were raising your hand and doing all this and you don’t have an answer for me? I said why else would we want to college besides to get a job?
Female #5: You want to go to college because you could get your Master’s Degree.
Female #1: You can even – when you finish college, guess what? You can still keep going to get higher and higher degrees. Very good. You were trying to get out of your seat a minute ago.
Female #6: Tell me what the question was again.
Female #1: Okay. I’m gonna tell you the question one time. We said it’s important to go to college because we want a good job. Buy why else is it important to go to college besides getting a good job?
49 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #7: Get your diploma.
Female #1: Okay. Well, you’re gonna get your high school diploma, then when you go to college, you’re gonna get your college degree, right? But why is it important? Why is it important just having that piece of paper, right? Oh, oh.
Male #1: It’s important to go to college because you go to pre-k to 12th grade and you learn a whole bunch of stuff. When you go to college, you learn some more stuff in your brain.
Female #1: Okay. You learn even more stuff. Elijah, you ready?
Male #3: I think college is important because if you want to get your education for learning, you might not end up in the house or end up living. You might end up dead.
Female #1: Okay. So you said it’s important, you know, for living. And it’s also important, you said, to help you get a house and a home and make a home for yourself. Okay. Hold on. Why do you think it’s important to go to college, besides just to get a good job?
Female #6: Because to get a good job.
Female #1: And why else?
Female #6: To be smart.
Female #1: Okay. Well, you know, everybody that’s in college doesn’t have to be extremely smart, but why else? Those are good answers, though. Those are very good answers. Charisma.
Female #9: You go to college to get more money.
Female #1: To get more money. Okay. It’s important. It’s important.
Female #7: To get a good education.
Female #1: Yeah. That’s important, too. But I have one for you. Guess what? College is fun.
Male #1: It is?
Female #1: Yeah. Why would college be fun? Oh, why would college be fun?
Female #5: Because you get your degree. You get to meet new friends.
Female #1: You get to meet new friends.
Female #5: You get to ______.
Female #1: Yeah. You get to hang out. You get to do things. You get to join clubs. You get to – clubs are fun. You get to play sports. You could play music. You can – how many of you like to – have you ever been in a play before? Have you ever been in, like, a dance competition? Or have you ever wanted to learn how to make music? Have you ever wanted to, like, dissect an animal?
50 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Group: Yeah. I want to dissect a frog.
Female #1: Okay. Doesn’t that sound like fun stuff? Did you ever want to know how – well I don’t know about an elephant.
{Laughter and crosstalk}
Female #1: Okay guys, but listen to this. Did you know that there are all kinds of sports teams at college? You can swim. You can ______. You can play football. You can play soccer. You can play tennis. You can play golf. You can do martial arts. Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh. You can – who saw “XX?” Who saw that movie?
Female #5: I saw that. We got a step team.
Female #1: You have a step team here at school?
Female #5: I’m a stepper.
Female #1: You’re a stepper? You’re a stepper, too? Okay so you can do all these – I can’t believe that none of you said that college would be fun. You get to meet people from all over the world. Yes.
Male #3: One time when I got out of school, my father came to pick me up and he went to the college and he let me help him dissect a frog.
Female #1: Oh really? What college did he go to? Do you remember? Was it in town?
Male #3: Hun nuh.
Female #1: Okay. But good. That’s a good one. Charisma.
Female #9: I forgot.
Female #1: You forgot. I was wondering ‘cause you been saying all the answers. I gotta be fair, right?
Male #4: You can go to – it’s also important to go to college because once you get a job, you keep going. Every time you get a degree, you get more and more money.
Female #1: In a lot of cases that’s true. Or if you go to college – let’s say we all go to college. And let’s say Joseph learn how to make his own business, right? And let’s say Kiera had an idea. So you two know each other. You have this great idea. You work with Joseph. And then the world’s the limit; the sky’s the limit.
Or let’s say Shanice is a nurse. She goes to nursing school. And – I didn’t even find your name out. Say it again.
Male #5: XX.
Female #1: Tishon, he is, you know, working at a hospital. And he knows about a job opening for a nurse. You make connections. You make contacts. So it’s important to know people in all these different settings. Did you remember?
51 Elementary School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #6: You go to college and you can’t hardly see one of your family members.
Female #1: You said if you go to college you can’t see your family members?
Female #6: You can.
Female #1: Oh. You can. Okay. Okay. And last one.
Male #1: Like, if you know somebody, like, when you’re little. And then you grow up; you might see that person again in college.
Female #1: You might run into them again. And you might make new friends.
Male #1: And you can introduce them to each other.
Female #1: And then you can introduce them. So if Kiera and I are friends. And she didn’t know Cherie, I could introduce them and maybe all three of us could be friends. Or maybe she’s on the step team. Maybe she could teach us and let us know how to get on the step team, right? Yes?
Male #2: I’m ______. If you’re in college and you see this person. And you went up to them and you all started talking. And you all find out you all cousins and you all can ______and play the games that you want. And your cousin here is a family member.
Female #1: Very good. Very good. Okay guys, so we’re gonna finish this off. I want to ask how many of you all have been in a program, or thought about being in a club – I don’t know if you have clubs here – or been on a field trip to a college? Has everybody been to university or a college before?
Female #8: Yeah. I been to one.
Female #1: Did you go with your school?
Group: No. No. No.
Female #1: Who did you go with?
Male #1: My mother.
Female #1: You went with – your mother took you?
Female #7: And my grandmother.
Female #1: And your grandmother. Who took you?
Female #7: My sister, her father, and my mother.
Male #2: I had a basketball game there.
Female #1: You had a basketball game.
52 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Students
Female #8: My grandmother, my father, and my ______. The program in Robotics. They took me.
Female #1: What was it called?
Female #8: Robotics. They took me to John Hopkins University.
Female #1: Okay. Robotics. Okay.
Male #4: My cousin.
Female #1: Your cousin.
Male #4: And my sister.
Female #1: Good. Very good. Okay. Hold on. Let me get the last person, ‘cause you guys gotta go to lunch.
Female #7: My aunt, my mother, and my cousin, and my brother.
Female #1: Very good. Okay guys, you were a fantastic group to have this focus group with. Now you can tell your friends, “Guess what? I participated in a focus group. And we sat around and we shared ideas about what it means to go to college and why it’s important.” So if you have a friend that says, “I’m not going to college. I’m gonna do something else. Or I’m – it’s not important.” You guys can tell them why it is, right? Okay. Thank you guys so much.
53 Elementary School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Interviewer: Okay, we’re recording this on April 11th. Please speak loudly.
Interviewer: And I’m XX, as XX said earlier. Okay, so before we start, we’re just gonna go through some brief ground rules to make sure everybody’s on the same page about how we’ll work on the focus group and to make sure that we’re respecting each other’s ideas. The first – let me just reemphasize that we will not be sharing your names, so if you really have something strongly to say that you think somebody else might disagree with or whatnot, feel free to say that. Feel comfortable to say whatever your thoughts are. This is only gonna be helpful, as Teesha said, if you talk and if you share honest answers about what you think. This data, again, will be used to create a strategy for your community, so it’s really important to capture that on the tape. With that in mind, please be respectful to each other. One person at a time. If someone says something that you don’t like or disagree with, we’ll work through it, and I’m sure we’ll be fine in this group because we’re all here to talk about kids and helping them finish high school and get on to college. The session will not go past an hour, so if we kind of get stuck on one question, I’ll take privilege as the facilitator to kind of move us along, so please don’t think I’m being rude or anything, I just want to make sure that we’re mindful of your time. We want to get you out of here in an hour and we’re starting a little bit late, so I’ll kinda move the conversation along. And please, if you have cell phones, please put ‘em on vibrate or turn them off or silence them. That way we won’t have any distractions on the tape. And lastly, please take care of yourself. If you need to get up, walk around the room, if you need to go to the restroom or anything, please do that. You don’t need to ask. Just go and come back as soon as you can. And we signed the consent forms already? Okay, we have some consent forms for you to sign, just meaning that you understand why we’re recording you, why we’re asking you these questions, and that you understand at the end you’ll be getting your $25.00 gift card, and so Teesha has those and she’ll pass those out momentarily. Any questions so far? Good. Let me just – I might check periodically to make sure this is recording and it is.
Interviewee: That’s a tape recorder?
Interviewer: Yes, ma’am.
Interviewee: Sure kinda little.
Interviewer: Yeah, technology.
Interviewee: ______Interviewer: Wonderful things. Interviewee: That’s good.
Interviewer: So we’ll just go ahead and start. You can pass those out as you go. I’m just gonna ask a general question and we’ll go – we’ll do round robin or if you want, you can jump in as long as we’re being respectful. But let’s just start off thinking about African-American students in Baltimore. How do you think students feel about completing high school and going off to college, whether they’re boys or girls?
Female #1: I think we have a problem right now. We have a large number drop out because No. 1, the school system doesn’t have programs that meet those kids’ need, meaning that years ago we had machine shop work for the boys, home economics for the girls, sewing, and that’s how I got involved and stayed because I was able to sew and I made my living off sewing clothes. I made clothes for people and what has happened, the teachers don’t – the ______teachers are not as patient like they used to be, so therefore, if I – between 5th or 8th grade and I’m
54 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Parents
already – and then 16 is my age where you can drop out, so I don’t think about college. I don’t think I can go to college. I don’t think college is for me.
Interviewer: Right, right. That’s very interesting. Does anybody else have anything to add to that?
Female #2: Could you say that question again?
Interviewer: Yes, ma’am. How do you think students, African-American students, feel about going to – finishing high school and going to college here in Baltimore? African-American students?
Female #2: Oh, I agree with Ms. ______to a point but you also – you have to address not only the students but you have to address the complete family because if you don’t have that structure at home, like Teesha said, she had a mother – she’s a mother and her husband’s there with her, it’s kinda hard on a single parent because she had 2 sons. That father is there for her sons and most cases, it’s just the mother and at times, a mother can raise a son but it still needs that father image there and a lot of times, especially for boys, when they leave out the house, there’s a female there when they come into the school but you see females. There’s not that many males that will not – in elementary school, that’ll work in the elementary school and it’s kinda hard. And then they see these other males on the outside and to them, for some of ‘em, it seem like there’s a positive role model and they think what they’re doing is great. So they see them making all that money and they think “I don’t need to go to college. I don’t need to do all of that” and it distracts them and we need – I think in order for our – and I’m focusing on the males. I have females. More than likely, a female will go to college, like Teesha said, but I think we need to go in these colleges and get these strong males to be a role model for our boys.
Interviewer: Thank you for that. I just want to welcome you two that just came to the group here. Just to recap, we are taping everything. Your names will not be used, so feel free to speak freely, and we are sharing answers about how we think African-American students feel about completing high school and going off to college. We’ve had two people share ideas so far. Anybody else? Yes, ma’am.
Female #3: I wanted to say also, sometimes the males can’t be at home and it don’t always mean anything because some men was just in the house for the mom and not for the children, so they see ______they don’t even care. “Mom and dad don’t care, why should I care?” and there’s so much ______out around them, you know like ______said. I mean it’s like – again, “When I turn 16, I don’t have to go to school,” so they just don’t care about a lot of things that’s going on. Female #4: Some males don’t ______male role model themselves ______with my son, my oldest, I signed him up for the Big Brother program and they offered him a female. What was the purpose there? Because they didn’t have no males available.
Female #5: I think they need to change that law about 16. As a parent, what rights do they have to tell my – I mean they tell my child that he or she can drop out at 16 but the law states I gotta take care of this child until he or she is 18, 20. If they can’t go to school, why should I sit up there – even if I went out and got programs with them, got help for them, I mean I went the extra long mile to make sure that my child is in school, I bring this child to school, I might even sit in there with him and he or she leave out the back door. There’s nothing said or done. They need to change that law about children dropping out at 16 years old.
Female #6: Not even – and right with that is if like for this ______most of the schools that – most of the kids that go to the school ______and they ______I understand are here
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for education but it also should be the – you know the school to help them, show them. I just think some of these kids have never seen nothing outside of the projects. They never seen a play, they never seen a orchestra, they don’t even know what a college is and I have seen plenty of kids come out of high school with 90s or 80s graduated but still they’re in the projects ‘cause they’re scared to go any further.
Female #7: And you know – also take a – like you say, parents have to be a role model for kids because sometimes ______if you have parents have low self-esteem in the home, childrens will follow _____ with their parents ______having low self-esteem, sometime the childrens will follow this low self-esteem, so as parents, we have to be able to build our children up and let our childrens know that “you can do it.” Time has changed from when we was kids to today for where they are, so we need to let our kids know “we want it better for you than when we didn’t get the hand.” It’s a lot of things that they give now that they’re offering for these kids today that we didn’t have.
Female #8: Well, how did we know about it? ‘Cause a lot of times, you don’t know about it. It’s by word of mouth or you have to go through this channel and that channel, so even if I ______about some of these things, you know what I mean? And by me having kids _____ and I have a kid in the school that’s mixed races, I see the difference in their school involvement. My son, he’s just in the 6th grade, came home and said, “I want to go to XX.” “What do you know about Poly?” “Oh, it’s an engineer school. My friend told me all about it.” You know, I mean whereas with my kids, my other kids ______about the high schools ______so it was – then it was my job to go and tell him about it and it’s a big difference even – ‘cause all the parents don’t have the resources to know about the free day or the dollar days at the museums and stuff like that. That makes a big difference in a child’s life because they get to see other things other than what’s going on around their neighborhood.
Female #__: You know and another thing that ______but I know about for my daughter and like I tell her that she can make it because ______I know childrens don’t learn on the same level. Some childrens learn slower. Some childrens learn faster. Well, my child, when she learns a little slower, but like I tell her, “It doesn’t matter how you learn long as you get that education” and I let her know, sometimes you might have somebody might say something that disencourage you, but don’t let mean things that people say to you disencourage you. Move on because life don’t stop for nobody. Life gonna pass you by whether you ______not, so you need to just keep on, try the best that you can, but get that education that you need.
Interviewer: Thank you for that. That was an important statement. Thanks for all of the answers for that. Let’s recap and go back over this question and I’m gonna ask each one of you to just give me one or two words to tell me what you think African-American students feel. So if you could sum it up in one or two words, I’d just like to go around and get some ideas about how you think they feel about completing high school and going to college. And I’ll start with you, Mrs. XX.
Female #__: I don’t want to answer that question. I had something for the ______question. I hold back some information because a lot of times when – what happened in Baltimore City Department Social Service keep our males out of the house. The way the system’s set up, if a man needs a skill to work, nothing’s offered to him so therefore – I want my husband, my man, my children father, to be with me in the house, so therefore I have to say you’re not here and I have to get a Welfare check and get skills ______find some work. That’s our biggest problem. What happened to Baltimore City that the same thing don’t happen in the
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county? Five years ago, the Welfare ______organization, we brought this up on the table because we feel it wasn’t fair. When you lived in the town and you was white and you didn’t have no employment, they let a skill center, that’s something you can learn to go get a trade or something so you can work and stay in the house and at the Baltimore City, ______policy wasn’t there.
Female #__: I just want to say a few things. Is there but you have to enforce to Social Service that I’m not going to a ______program, I’m going to a training program and my training program, it was a 40 hours a week and I had to volunteer some hours but I still got around that ______is there but with them programs like with all other programs, if you don’t dig around and just sometimes you just have to say “I’m not doing it” to find out what else is available. You’ll be pushed into doing what they want you to do.
Male #1: Well, how do you find – the thing about that is, how do you really find the resources that’s out there when – all right, like for my son, my son got – he takes medicine ‘cause he’s like hyper and he needs all the attention that he can get. My son is smart as I don’t know what, but the thing that concerns me about him is his math. He’s got a low math thing and some teachers, they don’t try to work with him. Instead of working with him, they go, they just throw him to the side or throw him to the wolves and it’s like – that’s a lot of concern for me because I’m always up there a lot. I see what the teacher be doing and I see how she teaches. And she a good teacher, but the thing – my thing with her is she’s got to bring a skill to him that he can follow and all the stuff that she’s teaching, he can’t do. He’s taking his time but he’s not completing everything that he needs to complete because she’s not really showing him the way to do things. Instead of showing him, she just rushes through it and you can’t rush through it with him.
Interviewer: So let me make sure I understand what you’re saying. You’re saying that, with the example of your son, some students may feel like they can’t finish high school or they can’t go on to college because they don’t have a skill or have an interest in a skill because it hasn’t been nurtured in school, is that one thing you’re saying?
Male #1: Right.
Interviewer: And what were some of the other concepts that we’re thinking about?
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Female #__: Family structure. We talked about the – how the males who were not involved in education, how that can be a distracter and it sends a message to kids that they don’t need an education because they see other men in the community making money without that education, so it’s a mixed message, and this issue of parent access to information, that even if you’re a parent who want to do everything, if you don’t have access to the information, a lot of times you miss out because you just don’t know what’s going on. It’s not disseminated equally. Every school’s not getting the same information. Every child’s not getting the same information and every parent isn’t getting the same information so that puts us at a disadvantage because we don’t have the information. I think those are the kind of things I heard, right?
Female #9: Do they still have mentors out? Because I know when I was in high school, they had mentors out ‘cause like my brother, my little brother, he’s 16 and it’s like he want to do everything his home boys do and he don’t go to school at all and my mother tries her best.
Interviewer: You went to Baltimore public schools as well?
Female #9: Mm-hmm.
Interviewer: Okay. Thank you for that. Okay, let’s talk about how do you as parents feel about your kids going off to college if they end up going out of the city or the county, out of the state? How does that make you feel as a parent? How would you – would you support your kids in making those decisions?
Female #10: Well, I would support my children because I would want them to better themselves, not always be in the same community. Unless they go out there and then be able to grow going around other people that – doing the same thing, trying to reach ______for better. Matter of fact, I have children on their way ______one doing – she’s in the 11th grade going to the 12th grade and I’m pushing her, even though she had a baby but I’m pushing her to know “Because you had a baby, that don’t mean anything. You can do it because it’s people have lived in the projects and became doctors and lawyers,” all these type of things, so I do let them know “You can do it” and I will want her – I really want her to go off and go to a college somewhere, not ______to be around ‘cause sometimes you have children that “Oh, I’m gonna go” and they stay in the community and they wind up not finishing because they got their girlfriends and the boyfriends and a lot of time, they won’t finish or go to college and I want my daughter and my son go to college and I would rather for them to go off and I would greatly support them.
Interviewer: Anybody else? Anybody feel differently about that or have you – do you have friends or family members that won’t let their kids think about going off to college or want them – they want them to stay home and maybe work or maybe they’re afraid that it’s too far or it’s too expensive?
Female #11: It wasn’t my choice – well, it was and it wasn’t. With my girls, I got 3, I had to think about that ‘cause they’re girls. I have one that’s 27 and she went to Poly and, you know, with your first child, kinda – I don’t know – I was kinda strict. That was my child and she went to Poly. I was devastated when they said that she had to go to Poly because she had to go from here all the way over there by herself, but I got used to it. And then when she graduated from Poly and then as soon as she finished Poly, John Hopkins pulled her right then – job. And then while she was on the job, she went to college and because she’s in the lab or whatever, she still had to take courses every now and then. My second daughter, she’s a legal secretary, but we all sit down and we discussed it to see what they want to do. I had a little input in it, but
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it was up to them. I wasn’t gonna force them. I let ‘em know how I felt about them going to college and they made up their mind because I didn’t force it on them. I think if you sit down as a family, if you can, and discuss what they’re gonna do, what they plans and everything, how you gonna do it and all of that, I would recommend that every child go to college, but it’s really up to the child. If you force it on ‘em, I mean, you can’t force nothing on – you know how these kids are. But if you sit down and just have open communication with them, just talk to them, and come up with some kind of agreement, eventually it’s gonna be their decision and you hope and you keep your fingers crossed that they do go to college. With this third child, I don’t know. She’s only 8, so I don’t know.
Interviewer: But thinking about what you went through with your older two, what kind of strategies will you think about with your youngest one that’s in elementary school?
Female #11: Let me let you in on a little something. When I was pregnant with her, I was in school. This child hates school at this point in time because she’s been here, even when I was working – well, I’m still working, she was here from pre-K and she’s here now. She’s here from 7:30 in the morning (what time y’all?) ‘til 7:00 at night ‘cause I do after school and she’s in the after- school program. Right now I’m just dealing with her far as going to school. This child hates school but she’s smart. So hopefully she will learn to like it and maybe one day be a teacher, and I do want her to go to college, but right now, I’m not thinkin’ that far.
Interviewer: I think – I’m sorry, Ms. Pope, we had her next and then –
Female #__: I came in to ______with people who had kids that was going to college. Some of whom, they were scared and they – I have a cousin actually who had a scholarship to play ball at Florida State and his mama just was like, “Oh no, you’re not goin’ that far.” I have had – my best friend that I grew up with, she went to Spelman but her mother worked two jobs, she worked while she was at school, her mama sold candy – everything under the sun to keep that tuition up, but they just couldn’t keep it together, you know what I mean? And with my oldest son, ‘cause he’s in the 6th grade, he pick up pennies everywhere, roll ‘em up, take ‘em to the bank. His bank – to him right now, his motivation to get outta high school, first off, is that I offered to pay for a week all expenses paid in Jamaica, and he like ______, but I do want him to got to college, so I need these pennies and stuff, so I think is – what you talk to and what you show the kids on TV ‘cause we don’t do the rap videos and stuff. We do stuff like “The Great Debaters,” “Stomp The Yard,” you know, stuff that get them excited about going to college, you know what I mean? So we – I think it’s what you talk to them and tell them about and show them about college, because when I was going, he was like, “Well, why you come home and then you go back?” I said, “Because at college, you don’t have to be there all day. It’s when you want to go, you can pick your class” and so he understand the difference between college and just regular school, you know what I mean? ‘Cause he’s like, “I’m scheduling all my classes at night so I can just chill all day.” I said, “That’s fine, too, long as you go.” You know what I mean?
Interviewer: I’m gonna come back to two things that you said. I wanted to hear your comment and then I’ll come back to some of these.
Female #__: You know, one fear thing that I – we never mention college in my house or raising children because we just barely have food to put on the table and ______the next month rent and it was pretty hard but in my – on my husband’s side from Virginia, education came first with them. My mother ______it came – we talked about it but it wasn’t pushed hard because finances was always being a problem. We barely just could make it and I felt the
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same way with my kids but in the school here, by the school had different curriculum here, they had a Spanish teacher ______, they had teachers who was in the military, and my children are totally excited over uniform. Anybody got a uniform on, they goes wild and it’s because they see somebody with a uniform, I think it was drilled in their head, “That’s what I want to be. I want to have that uniform,” and that’s what I have. And because the teacher, who was ______was in service, they ____ recruited 20 children and put them in the reserve, so when she came out of school, she – before she came out of school she was in the reserve, she had that monthly check coming and from there it was talk about education. I didn’t know anything _____ going on to college _____ until Upward Bound program, Morgan Upward Bound program, and that ______, then I was going regular ______you couldn’t tell me nothin’ on that campus but then when we sit down – that’s fine, but there were still times when you gotta talk about what the course ______. If I pay for it this month, can I make it next month? Or can I have enough for this year? If I can get through the first year and keep my grades up, there’s sometime you fail your grades ‘cause you’re worrying about the money for the next year and if you’re smart as they claim and you score good on those tests, why should you have to worry for your money for four years when you already proved that you’re smart and you can learn? And then that burden’s come back onto the parent because the parent would have to take her money out of the household to try and make it – and books was crazy. You pay $60 or $40 or ____ for a book. I had to go up to school and tell ‘em that they lost their mind with the price of the book. I had no idea that books cost that much. So again, that was another problem to my family and budget. ______do well ‘cause you get all the books, ‘cause you make it, this grade, so as a parent when you work, one of the things you don’t say to ‘em, you don’t talk – in my house, I can talk about college because I have told ‘em, I just can’t afford. Let’s pray on it and we’ll take one step at a time and I had that fear for a long time and when my daughter graduated ______I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. The name – they called her name and she went ______because the struggle we had to get there and the ______I had to go through the whole time to make sure that she made it and where my youngest son, when he graduated from Morgan, he wasn’t even here for his graduation because ____ they joined ROTC, that’s _____ pay for my children education so therefore I had to ______with two sticks like drumsticks because when they called his name, I was gonna make sure they’d know he wasn’t there because he was away in Texas at your place, Antonio, Texas, for the training and so therefore I made ______everybody – I got everybody’s attention. “Oh, you’re so happy. Where is he?” I said, “Down in Texas, in a uniform.” That’s all I knew and talked about but I found him – when they put programs in the schools, information to your student, because the teachers here encourage her and him what school they need to do and told him what subject they was good in and that’s what they need to focus, that’s where their foundation is, so if they do that now ______students and let them know, “You’re not gonna be good at everything but you do have a subject that you’re good in. Focus on that and the rest of the things you can work it out.” I think we need – and I think the money should always be there for the families that really need it and I don’t think the parents need to give up their rent money or food on the table. We ate beans and soup and rice every morning for breakfast for a month. I’m not ashamed to tell anybody. I got my bean soup today for my lunch. I had a pot of beans goin’ at least twice a week _____ because that’s all I could afford because if my child is interested, when she left here to go to ______– and that was a long way from here – early in the morning, I wanted to make sure that she had some spendin’ change and was able to keep her subjects going. So it’s a lot and it’s worse now than when I had to raise my kids. It really is. Each time they had the hard time _____ the children don’t see college as real open for them because they hadn’t got a good foundation in the elementary school XX and subjects that they’re interested in.
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Female #__: I don’t think it’s pushed like it should be. My personal feelings when they started the uniform program was my kids was being trained to be a blue-collar worker and I’m not having it. And that’s when I really began to teach and talk college to them – and with them and showing off in school, I tell my kids every day, somebody died so you could sit in that classroom so don’t – take advantage of it ‘cause it’s not a right, it’s really a privilege, you know what I mean? And it’s really up to the parents to just install education in their kids, even if you don’t have a desire for it. At least let them have a desire for it.
Female #__: You said it – that’s the key. Parents need to, but they don’t. Not all parents because if you look around in the community and _____ you have – this classroom should be full of parents. You should be getting so much feedback from this community, it would blow your mind.
Female #__: They have ______
Female #__: I don’t mean to sound like that, but –
Female #__: ______. This row should be full. It really should be. When we have meetings, it’s the same people. Maybe a little bit more but – and that’s sad. If we could get to these parents, if we could get to the ones that’s – that need to be in AA or – what is it? Narcotics, I don’t know – NA, I mean –
Female #__: But they don’t feel they have a problem.
Female #__: Until they own up to it, we gonna have the ones that don’t want to go to college and then you may have a few, even they goin’ – even though they see their parents goin’ through issues, they may say, “Hey, I’m not gonna do this.” But it’s people like us that have to sometimes reach out to other folks’ children and kinda like pull them in and say, “You can do it.” We do it every day. All of us in here do it every day with these kids in here. These kids come and it’s hard when you see a child that come in, and sometimes they come in real late, that’s hungry, may not come in until about 10:00.
Female #__: And smellin’ like pee.
Female #__: Have not taken a bath, have not eaten, have went to bed about what – 3:00 in the morning? But we see these kids come in here, we – they’re not thinkin’ about college. They’re not thinkin’ about elementary and then you see this child and he say, “I’m hungry” and you can’t – you have to find some food for them, which we do give them food to eat. We have to be the ones that try to say, “Well, you go and have a good day today,” even though they may smell, you still hug them because they have feelings and the only time they may have a meal or the only time they get any kind of affection or love, they have to come here. So it’s a lot goin’ on. Then, on top of that, they have to get a education. How they gonna do all this? But some of ‘em do. Not all of ‘em, but some of ‘em do. And then you may have some that’s on medication.
Female #__: That’s just an excuse –
Female #__: But you still – and the parent don’t give it to ‘em but you still have to deal with that child. You try to deal with that child the best way you can. So, far as they’re concerned, just getting’ up comin’ here is a chore. But you try to work with ‘em. You really try to reach out to ‘em and you try to work with ‘em. Sometimes it’s successful, sometimes it’s not, and sometimes we are drained but you get up, you start over, and you do it again.
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Female #__: And why is monies not offered to the black institution like there are to the other institutions for college?
Interviewer: Just to answer your question, I think some of those are private-run and the other ones are public, so they get the state dollars, but we can probably talk a little bit about that off the tape. But let me just go back and recap some of the information that you all shared. One of the No. 1’s that I heard was about money, having finances to go. You actually mentioned savings, starting thinking about saving earlier. So you said your son collects money and you go to the bank with it. How many of you all do this with your kids or you have heard that other people are teaching kids at earlier ages, this age, elementary age, about saving? Not that –
Female #__: My son have a penny ______. He learned ______goin’ in there like ______.
Female #__: My son, and I don’t – I’m not – my son went to a white elementary school and he had a _____ come in and every Friday, a banker would come in and get their deposit and take it to the bank.
Female #__: We used to have that here, too.
Interviewer: What was the name of that program or bank?
Female #__: ______reward. The bank was Sun Trust and he’s still got that but he had already had one that – when he was like 3, his birthday, he was like, “I want to open a bank account,” you know, he’s always just had that in mind, so I took him into M & T and that’s the one he take his rolls of pennies to and put in there with his deposit slip, so it is more what you talk about, even with kids that ______and they be talkin’ about ______I’d be like, y’all know y’all could make a hundred and somethin’ thousand dollars a year if y’all go to college and get the Sunday paper and get to showin’ him – showin’ little different jobs that offer that, you know what I mean? So.
Female #__: My baby, he have a bank and he like to save because, matter of fact, I started out saving ______and he’s saying, “Well, Ma, you gonna share this?” He ______put some money in there, too, so, you know, he’s into saving. That’s one good thing about my baby. He’s into saving.
Female #__: ______gets an allowance.
Interviewer: ______gets an allowance?
Female #__: Yeah. It all depends on how she ______. And we had – we were sellin’ hot dogs or somethin’ this week and she had money home but she refused to spend it ‘cause she would leave out the house and say that she don’t have any money and poor Ms. Butler, she would get the brunt because she would send Ms. Butler down, not send her down, but Ms. Butler would come down and say, “XX don’t have no – Sheree left her money at home.” So she has a way of saving her money and spending mine.
Female #__: I think that’s how all of ‘em do.
Male #__: See, with my son, he know that I collect a lot of pennies and I’ll put it in a little jar. He’ll go around and find a penny and like, “Daddy, I found this penny for you” and he’ll put it in his pocket until I get him on the weekends and he will save it for me and he will have at least about 20 pennies in his pocket saved for me.
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Female #__: I don’t mean to cut you off, but I just have to say, my son was upset because white people used to come in our neighborhood and search our ______for pennies and he said, “If they’re gonna do it, I might as well do it ‘cause I live down here.” ______and leave with bags full of pennies.
Female #__: They would. They actually would.
Interviewer: I’m sorry – you had a comment? And then I’m gonna see how much time we have left and then I think we have a couple more questions to wrap this up a little bit.
Female #__: With my bank, I opened up my daughter a savings account. It won’t start until she turn 8. On her 8th birthday, it will start. They will actually take – well, I haven’t put the amount, but it’s gonna be like between $40 and $50 out of my check, every check, and it’s gonna go into her savings but she cannot touch none ‘til she turn 21.
Interviewer: What bank is this with?
Female #__: With the credit union.
Interviewer: With the credit union? Okay.
Interviewer: We have about 20 minutes left.
Interviewer: About 20 minutes? Okay, good. Okay, another theme that I heard you all talking about – oh, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry – we haven’t heard you. We want to make sure we hear your voice, too, I’m sorry. I meant to try to get you earlier, so please – we’re gonna look to you for some of these answers. So to go on with this notion of finances, how many – how do you think parents and students, mainly students, know about access to financial aid or to scholarships or to grants? Is that a possibility that you hear maybe your students talking about or information you’ve gotten from the schools?
Female #__: Well, they used to go to ______and when they first stay there, they had the parents come in and just was adamant about – and they would send reminder letters home, “Did you sign up for Upromise,” which is a college fund, and I was – that’s how I started. Then when you just – you got in on that, you ______scholarships or ______search engine, you get a whole bunch of ______, you know what I’m saying? So if you ______it comes down to knowing. Some people just don’t know.
Interviewer: Well, it sounds like probably some people don’t have access to technology to look on the computer and if some of the forms might be very long or complicated, maybe that’s a barrier.
Female #__: And then, with the rent office, long as you live in public housing, you can go to college free, but a lotta – again, a lotta people don’t know about it. I happened to find out about it because I had to go over to the rent office and this was back in the 80s, and they said – I said, “I need to go to college.” She said, “Well, you can go to college as long as you’re in public housing,” and the social worker told me, and I had been living there for about 5 years and I didn’t know. But then when I found out, I started tellin’ everybody. So like you say, there’s information out there but if you don’t ask, they won’t tell.
Female #__: That’s the ______scholarship, ain’t it?
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Female #__: Mm-hmm. ______could go.
Female #__: Sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Female #__: And it’s a lotta stuff out there just like – like our 8th graders, they’re getting ready to leave here and Ms. ______, she’s really good with these students far as gettin’ ‘em ready for citywide schools. At one time, I didn’t know nothin’ about citywide school until my daughter’s teacher told me about it. I thought she’d just go to a regular high school. I didn’t know nothin’ ‘bout no citywide school. I thought anybody can go to any school in Baltimore City, but you had to have a average for it and I must say, this year, our students here, over 50% of our children’s going to a citywide school, high school, Poly, ______, I mean – a lot of times they don’t know anything about that but long as you keep your grades up – and we let ‘em know how hard it’s gonna be. It’s nothin’ like this school here. It’s nothing – high school is totally different and you have to tell them that and then we have students come back that left last year and come back that tell these kids what they’ve – what to expect at these high schools and then Ms. ______took them to – I think it was City or Poly, one of them, she took them to let them know, you know, to let them see. So it’s out there, but if you don’t have the information –
Interviewer: So access to information is one of the most –
Female #__: It’s the most important thing of all.
Female #__: ______after-school programs for when they’re not in school. Not the programs that are just in the school but outside ____ community ‘cause them kids don’t have nothin’ to do –
Female #__: ______recreation center ______
Female #__: They don’t have nothin’ to do.
Female #__: I’m tired of playing freeze tag and stuff with other people’s children.
Interviewer: What school-based or community-based programs do we know about in the area or do they have?
Female #__: They done closed ‘em.
Female #__: ______Pleasantville?
Female #__: We won’t have _____ down here, so that’s ______
Female #__: Right, but ______basketball player?
Female #__: ______
Female #__: But even if XX kids go down there, they still have a problem. There’s still a problem because the kids from that development ______Perkins kids comin’ down here ‘cause my oldest son, he travels by hisself. He get on his bike and go – drive down the ______and he went by and he said all them people from – what is that? ______“They startin’ trouble. I ain’t goin’ down there no more.”
64 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Parents
Interviewer: So it’s about territory? It’s kind of –? Some of the programs are very territorial?
Female #__: Yup.
Female #__: Even with the summer camp the rent office offered. My kid – one of our children’s shoes got thrown off the bus by somebody from ______so it’s like –
Female #__: It’s kinda hard. Even during the summer, there’s really – unless you have the money to pay for a recreation thing for your child, it’s hard. You’re not gonna see too many children goin’ to summer camp and all of that stuff because you don’t have the monies for it and –
Female #__: They do have scholarships, but you gotta start in like January and be on a list from last year – it’s just a lotta red tape.
Interviewer: Do these programs – the ones that just recently got closed and also the ones that you have these neighborhood issues, do they have a college component where they teach kids about college or –?
Female #__: No.
Female #__: You said the ones that “just recently got closed” – they always were closed. I mean they –
Female #__: We had a boys and girls club thing right there and I been down here – what? Ten years and it hadn’t been open since.
Female #__: It’s gone.
Interviewer: So the question is, any of the after-school programs, Saturday programs, or summer programs –? Do you think that any – any of ‘em that you’ve heard of or that kids are involved in, do they have a college access? Are they – I’m not talkin’ about just runnin’ around outside. Are they exposing kids and talking to them about college? Any of the after-school, Saturday, or summer programs?
Female #__: The only exposure that they got ______talkin’ to them about college is that –
Female #__: We have after-school here and that’s been goin’ on for forever and they do have a – but the problem is with that – with the after-school program, parents don’t like pickin’ up their kids.
Female #__: Or everybody’s not accepted in that after-school program.
Female #__: ‘Cause it was full. It was really – because of the school closing, we got X number of kids here, so it was – it’s full, but – go ahead.
Female #__: What she was saying is that some of the counselors are college students and unless you got a nosey kid, like mine, they would never know. My son could tell you what college all his counselors went to, what they was taking now, what they had to do to get there, because he’s nosey but he likes – you know like he ______and he showed me the pictures like he ______and he’s takin’ up social work or whatever, whatever, whatever. His parents ain’t rich so he gotta work, too, and you know what I mean? But a lot of ‘em are at college but they don’t –
65 Elementary School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Interviewer: That’s good to know. You have a bout 10 minutes.
Interviewer: Ten minutes? Okay, I’m gonna wrap this up. Earlier when we were talking, I heard some of you saying that you would tell your children or – that having a child is not a barrier to going to college. Do you feel that some students think that, oh, they have a child or they have children, this is a barrier, there’s no options for going to college?
Female #__: I was – I had my son when I was 16 and I finished school and everything and I was trying to go to college but I couldn’t do my work, go to college, and take care of him, so I had to stop going. But I would like to go back.
Interviewer: Anything else we – thank you for sharing that. Anything else about childcare? Any – again, I guess it’s – I’m hearing that there are no programs but would that be something – if there was a program that addressed the issue for child care –?
Female #__: I think there – I think there’s a program ______for child care if the parents knew that ______college and it wouldn’t be no burden ______. I think that’s our biggest hold-up ______at all and for the males – ‘cause a lot – males are very smart. People don’t give them –
Female #__: They need to go to college and they don’t realize that they have the right to apply for those grants like anybody else and ______so people can see where they at. When they don’t do that and decide to go out to make money, then they ______involved in unlegal stuff and then the next thing we know, they’s locked up because they ______and they have the ability to go to college, to learn something, have a skill and come out here and be productive.
Interviewer: You just said something key. We didn’t talk about incarceration yet, people in prison or having records, and we touched a little bit about drug abuse, but can we talk about that very briefly and how that impacts kids and students thinking about going to college? I’m looking over here ‘cause we haven’t really given you the opportunity to talk, but – anybody? How do you think that impacts – the issues of incarceration and drug abuse or even selling drugs – how, in your experiences or who you’ve talked to or –?
Female #__: I have a personal experience. My mother. She used to do drugs when I was younger and then she stopped doing drugs and then she became a alcoholic. Me, over the years growin’ up as a child, seeing what she was doing, that never stopped me and I’m blessed because right now I could be every bit of a drug user, a alcoholic, and some more, but I learned from looking at my mother, what she was doing and the other family members that was doing the same thing. I’m very blessed and I try to talk to some of the kids here that no matter what you see your family do, you don’t have to be that because I’m a prime example. I could be every bit of something that I’m not right now and that’s a good thing. So it don’t impact sometimes.
Female #__: It could be positive or negative for some children. Some children just can’t get around it ‘cause sometimes the oldest kid ______parents are addicted to drugs, the oldest kid go out and do things that make sure the rest of the kids are okay and the rest of the kids look at it like, “I’m not goin’ through this” or some of ‘em look at it, “Well, I wanna be like my sibling,” but it’s a positive and it’s a – it could have a positive and negative effect.
Female #__: And a lot of children don’t have no one there when their parents are doing drugs and being alcoholics. They don’t have no one there to talk to them about what’s right and what’s wrong because I didn’t. I had no one to talk to me because it was always my mother was doing drugs, my uncle – everybody I lived around was doing drugs and drinking and I had no one
66 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Parents
to talk to. I raised my sister. There was plenty of times where, when I went to high school, my sister was in elementary school. I was late for high school every day to make sure she got to school, then left school early to make sure she was picked up on time because I know my mother wasn’t gonna do it. There was times I had to ask other people for money just so she can get her books because you don’t want children – when they go back to school, they don’t have books and clothes and stuff. That’s – that will break a child’s heart. And then when I got older, I worked and I moved away from my mother and it was still the same problem. I made sure my sister had money, clothes, books, and to this very day, I’m my sister’s best friend ever because she know –
Interviewer: Thank you so much for sharing ‘cause it’s important to hear. I know it’s hard, but this is –
Interviewer: That’s why we’re doing this work, so that it’s not so hard. So we can lighten the load for somebody else.
Interviewer: And so people can know that they can be just like you.
Female #__: Yeah, and because you know – and I know where you’re coming from because I’m like you. When I was 17 in high school, I had 5 children right behind one another and I had to go back to school to finish up and I waited ‘til ______years ago I was able to put my foot in the college door when I went to CCB and when the city offered those courses, that’s what helped me along because I worked for the city, the city offer you these courses, so I went to the class –
Interviewer: So knowing that there’s employment that will help you – there’s certain jobs, so there needs to be information about jobs and resources that’ll allow you to work but also give you opportunities to take classes or to supplement –
Female #__: ______that don’t know what college reimbursement is, don’t know what benefits is and all that kind – it’s not funny, but it’s – when you think about it, it’s like – ‘cause my niece was a CO. She didn’t what her ______was, she just knew they took money. She didn’t know what college reimbursement was. She just figured, “Oh, whatever,” you know what I mean? They don’t know ______
Female #__: A lot of the times, they focus is not on college. They focus on makin’ it one day at a time to see where they go from there and that’s the hard part ‘cause I don’t think they lookin’ into the future. They just dealin’ with what comes next, like when you said a baby. We have girls in here, and it’s sad to say, but are tryin’ to have babies and we’re talkin’ to ‘em and talkin’ to ‘em and that’s the sad part. They think that havin’ a baby and goin’ on Welfare is the thing and that’s not the key – but see like – and we have classes for these girls here and try to talk to ‘em but you have to be really careful when you’re talkin’ to these girls about certain situations because of the law. It’s sad when you got a 13-year-old that stays out half of the night and do what she wanna do and come in when she wanna come in but – and they’re not thinkin’ about college. They thinkin’ about what they want at that time. The key is to change their minds, you know –
Female #__: Their way of thinking.
67 Elementary School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Female #__: Yes, because it’s – right now, it’s not working. It really isn’t and it’s sad because when you look at it, she think that she know it all and you look at this child and you know where this child’s gonna be 10 years from now. Houseful of babies, maybe on drugs, and you really have to look at it like that sometimes and you hope by just talkin’ to this child or to these girls that it gets through there some kinda way and it’s hard. I have never seen girls like this in my life. I mean, they can tell you stuff that you wouldn’t even think of doin’.
Female #__: The TV run our children. They feel they don’t need to learn nothin’. They think they grown. A lot of stuff they have on TV, they don’t need to have on it for children and – but also, the TV also is the parent in the home and what’s teachin’ our children. That’s wrong. As long as we got that, they would never think about higher education or college. They don’t realize that gettin’ a college degree, it makes a different ______that is available for you and your experience ______because my daughter had gotten – since my daughter had that experience of finish school with the military, I had a opportunity to go all in Europe, and I loved that Venice, but I had to come home. I was never so happy ‘cause we all from public housing lotta time, people in public housing don’t feel that they can move out to do this or that. But I got 44 people out of the projects and they’re homeowners. They’re buyin’ their homes. I’m workin’ in another group right now. College education open the doors a lot for my family and I got it through my children. They taught me and that’s how I made it through that. So I’m a real proud and happy mother. I got one granddaughter born in Germany. She don’t have United States citizen and she don’t want it. She likes goin’ back to Europe. She likes Germany, that sorta thing. So education, higher education, ______
Interviewer: Thank you, Mrs. Pope. Thank you for those last comments. We’re gonna – let’s quickly – let’s just go around the room and let’s recap. Let’s say something about if we were makin’ a plan. If this group right here was makin’ a plan to change some of the things that we’ve talked about today, what would be some of the most important things that we would need to address? So I’ll give you a few seconds just to think about that. Thinking about what everybody shared and I’m just gonna start on this side of the room and we’re just gonna go around and just say a couple brief things and then we’re gonna wrap up, okay? So if we’re makin’ a plan, what kind of programs would we need to make or what kind of – how would we give each other access to these – to information about resources, about grants, about programs, about jobs? If we were makin’ this plan, what would you think is one or two most important things to do? Okay, I’m gonna start with you, Ms. _____.
Female #__: I think it would be mental health counseling and mentorship because –
Interviewer: Mental health counseling and mentorship?
Female #__: Right ‘cause in order to change a person’s way of thinking, you gotta start with what they’re thinking in the first place.
Interviewer: Thank you. Miss Tameeka?
Female #__: Repeat the question please?
68 Multiple Speakers • Elementary School Parents
Interviewer: If we’re makin’ a plan, this group, based on all the information we shared today, what would be some of the most important things we’d need to put in that plan? And I gave some examples of – we’d need to start this type of program, give me an example what that would look like or we need to, as she said, utilize mental health services, counseling. Some of the other people talked about savings and money and some people said knowing about different jobs that let them do this. So what would you think would be something really important for us to consider?
Female #__: Different programs, like computer programs, anything to help them to get where they could be. Lettin’ ‘em know.
Interviewer: Community programs?
Female #__: Yes.
Interviewer: Should there also be other things inside of the school to help or –?
Interviewer: Did you say “computer”?
Female #__: Mm-hmm.
Interviewer: Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you said – okay, I’m sorry. Thank you.
Female #__: Technology and computer.
Interviewer: Technology and computer.
Female #__: I think more learnin’ things for development.
Interviewer: So like skills?
Female #__: ______like at the school ______after-school programs and stuff.
Interviewer: Okay.
Female #__: Well, ______questions, but –
Interviewer: You can restate it any way you like.
Female #__: Yeah, but I mean – I ______bring out a lotta ______. I don’t know how to put this. Go on to her.
Interviewer: Okay, I’m gonna come back to you, though. I’m gonna come back to you. Go ahead.
Female #__: I would say programs for parents because there are a lotta parents – me personally, I have a cousin who do not know how to read and her children went here and I’ve tried to get her to come over here to read, learn. She didn’t want to come, so – but programs for parents to get them over here to learn, just like the children because a lotta times when the children _____ their parents learnin’, that encourages them more to learn.
69 Elementary School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Female #__: Make information available to each community by zoned area. I guess you’ll say, “That’s too far. That’s too big.” No, like Perkins and maybe just like Little Italy and, you know, in sections. Bring that information to the community. Make it known in the community like we do have a rec center over there, stuff like that.
Interviewer: Okay, and how would we do that? With flyers, with emails, with phone calls?
Female #__: Flyers, emails – everybody in the project don’t have a computer, so I mean mail, word of mouth, television, TV, they put – if anything happens in Baltimore, it’s always flashed on the television so why can’t they flash that on TV? Cable, internet, I mean all of that.
Interviewer: Wonderful. Thank you.
Male #__: I would say for me, more recreations for the kids.
Interviewer: More recreation? Okay.
Male #__: Yeah because by them bein’ out here, they – doin’ – on the streets, we want to get them from the streets and learn more in the inside ______they can build their skills back up.
Interviewer: Thank you. Yes, ma’am?
Female #__: I would say support ______always ______as something outside the family can help ______give them encouragement.
Interviewer: So support from outside of the family? So community support, school support, maybe even –
Female #__: As far as teachers and police ______
Interviewer: Okay. Teachers, police. That was an important one, to bring in more support from the police in terms of these issues. Okay. Ms. Pope, the Pope of the City, can you please finish the last comment for us? I’m so sorry. This is a really sensitive recorder. If you could say it nice and loud.
Female #__: If we look at our total needs of our children and see that the education program accommodate those needs of our children and we as a whole family stay involved and talk about complete education, I mean go all the way through school and college because whatever they interest is, that they need to learn more and more about it and it would make a big difference.
Interviewer: Okay. Thank you all. Thank you so much for your time. You know, this focus group will help push these issues forward in a positive way. When the entire research is completed, we will – we hope to follow up with you and let you know what we’ve done with the research and where it is. As you know, these things take – it’s a process and so as soon as we know something or know what the next steps are, we will share that information with you. So thank you again.
[End of Audio]
70 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Facilitator: -- make more money. And or if a Baltimore, it could be a better Baltimore, but we need to get the African-American population back to my ______. We need to get us out of McDonald’s and out of Office Depot and we’ve got to get us into the courtroom and into the hospital.
So, Miss Bowman thought you guys would be a good group of students to sit down and talk with us about what are some of the things we can do to help get kids to go to college and what are your thoughts about college or if you’re thinking about college or if you’re not thinking about college and why not.
So this is just a discussion. The conversation is going to be recorded, as I said when you signed the consent agreement. We won’t use your name.
We’re going to write a report and we’re going to come up with suggestions and you are helping me to write this report by giving me your feedback.
We won’t say your name so you don’t have to worry about being embarrassed or ridiculed, but it is very, very important that you be honest and open and that you communicate with us so that we can have a better sense of how to meet your needs. So I’m going to turn it over to Miss Bowman.
Miss Bowman: Good afternoon – is it afternoon yet? Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for responding and being willing to participate in this focus group. Before we get started, let’s introduce ourselves. Starting with –
Female: I’m Jessica Linton and I’m in the sixth grade.
Female: I’m ______. I’m in the ______.
Female:; I’m ______and I’m in the eighth.
Male: I’m ______.
Female: I’m ______.
Female: I’m ______.
Male: I’m ______Johnson ______.
Male: I’m ______and I’m in the seventh.
Female: I’m ______. I’m in the sixth grade.
Miss Bowman: Before we get started we’re going to actually go over some ground rules. Take a look at the rules. I’m going to ask you to read them starting with – let’s start with ______read the first one.
Facilitators, which Miss Edwards and I, facilitators.
Female: Facilitators are here to ask questions and listen; not to give their opinions.
Miss Bowman: ______.
71 Middle School Students • Multiple Speakers
Male: Be honest. The more open and honest you are, the more helpful your thoughts and ideas will be. ______.
Female: Be respectful. You can disagree without being ______.
Male: Everyone’s asked to participate. You’re here because we believe you have valuable insights to contribute to the project.
Female: We are on a strict time schedule. The session will end in 90 minutes. Please don’t ______the facilitator has to cut you off ______.
Female: No distractions; please turn off your cell phones and pagers.
Male: Take care of yourself. Help yourself to the refreshments and use the bathroom ______.
Female: ______one way. ______.
Facilitator: Okay. Now ______has gone over the consent forms with you.
Female: Yes.
Female: We’re going to do the ______?
Facilitator: Yes; let me just make sure everybody understands the agenda. This is kind of what we’re going to try to do today. We’ve already done the welcome. We’re reviewing the agenda with you now. The goal of the session I talked to you about it. The goal is for you to give me some feedback. We have questions to ask you and so that you can tell us what we can do to help kids going to college.
Miss Bowman has reviewed the ground rules with you. Does everybody understand the ground rules?
All: Yes.
Facilitator: Okay; great. We’ve done introductions and now we’re going to go on to the questions and answers and then we’ll wrap up. Great. Any questions before we get started? Yes.
Female: How many times will we meet?
Facilitator: Just today. Just today. You’re getting paid $25 for 90 minutes of conversation. That’s pretty good.
Female: ______to take me to the movies.
Facilitator: I know. Okay. So we’re going to watch just a little bit of Coach Carter. This is one of my favorite movies and this is a segment about education and this is just to get the conversation going. [Plays film]
Okay. So, that’s what we’re going to be talking about. It’s like what does it take to get to college. What can you do and what can we do. Okay; everybody on the same page? Alright; Miss Bowman ______.
72 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Miss Bowman: How do you feel about college and as far as school, describe what college is, what it means and who is it for? Let’s start with ______.
Facilitator: Before we do the questions, Miss Bowman’s going to send you the questions again, but if you’ll say your name loudly and when you speak you want to be speaking into the recorder, okay. ‘Cause we’re not taking notes and we’re recording the conversation. So the student names one more time and say them loudly.
Kristin Connelly: Kristin Connelly
______
______Johnson: ______
Danielle Harvey: Danielle Harvey.
Alexandria ______: Alexandria ______
______: ______
______:
Justin Langston: Justin Langston.
Facilitator: I want to remind you that when you answer Miss Bowman’s question and actually Miss Bowman I’m going to sit you near the recorder so they’ll be directed towards you. You want to speak loud because that recorder is recording our conversation. Okay.
Miss Bowman: How do you feel about college, describe what college is, what it means and who is it for. Kiera?
Kiera: ______--
Miss Bowman: Speak louder and tell us your name.
Kiera ______: My name’s Kiera ______and I feel that college that you will need it because if you want to excel in life and you want to succeed and become ______and college is for us.
Miss Bowman: And who is it for? What does it mean? What is college?
Female: College is a place where people go to ______get education to be what they want to do with their life.
Facilitator: ______answer that. What is college to you?
Male: To me college is a place where for high school people that just graduated and it’s like a step up from high school and then what’s the other one?
Miss Bowman: Who is it for?
Male: It’s for people that want to excel and take a step up from high school.
73 Middle School Students • Multiple Speakers
Facilitator: Is college for everybody?
Male: No.
Facilitator: Who says no? Tell me why no.
Male: I say no because not everyone wants to do something that involves a college degree or something and also some people don’t want to go to college ‘cause maybe they didn’t like school and the work was too hard so when they finish high school they just want to see if they can find themselves a job – finish – start life off.
Facilitator: Who else said college is not for everybody?
Female: Me.
Facilitator: Why?
Female: Why? Because some people, like he said, some people just don’t like school, like they didn’t like school ______. They don’t like to go to like all these big colleges and universities and stuff ______people who go to ______. And ______like small community college ______.
Miss Bowman: Okay. Describe some of the barriers that hinder African-American students in Baltimore from completing high school and going to college. XX, what are some of the barriers?
Facilitator: What keeps people from getting a high school diploma? You’ve heard about it and some of us have family members who dropped out of high school. So tell us what keeps kids from going to high school. Everybody think of one thing. Going to high school, completing high school and going to college. We’re going to go around. Everybody think of something.
Miss Bowman: Avante, tell us. What are some barriers for not going to high school?
Facilitator: Who’s speaking now?
Avante: ______.
Facilitator: We’ll come back to you. Let me ask the question. Who knows – raise your hand if you know somebody that dropped out of high school.
Female: I know somebody ______.
Facilitator: Okay. That was the next thing I was going to say. Raise your hand if you know somebody who went to college but didn’t finish. Okay. So now what I want you to do is think about what would make somebody drop out of high school or not finish college? Justin?
Justin: They might not have enough money.
Facilitator: Okay. Money -- are you talking about in high school or college or both?
Justin: College because college is expensive and it costs a lot and you have to work hard for it.
74 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Facilitator: Okay.
Female: Can I just say like why a person ______.
Facilitator: Uh huh.
Female: Well the person they were in college, but then they left. She said the teachers in her college are always talking about you’re not going to make it and you’re dumb and you’re stupid. They like discriminate her from her college.
Facilitator: Okay.
Male: Some people did not go to high school and college because ______to learn. Some people just don’t want to learn and so ______[Interference from cell phone].
Facilitator: Okay.
Female: Well, high school I ______about college.
Facilitator: Because?
Female: The person who I know who dropped out of college was – he had children; he had a child when he was in college so he dropped out ‘cause ______kid, his child and then he started working ______.
Facilitator: Okay. Danielle?
Danielle: The person I know who didn’t complete college – they dropped out because they didn’t think they had the skills to achieve in college. They didn’t think that they had everything that everybody else had and they felt left out in certain things, circles and stuff.
Facilitator: Okay; very good.
Male: Well I don’t know anyone who dropped out of college.
Facilitator: Do you know anybody whose dropped out of high school?
Male: Obviously ______drop out of high school and college ______. It’s maybe ______person ______drop out of high school and college.
Facilitator: Melvin?
Melvin: The person I know who dropped out of college they had a job and they had to work more than one shift and they was planning on going back, but they didn’t have enough money.
Facilitator: Okay. Kristin, can you think of anything?
Kristin: People might not go to college because they think they can’t do well in the work and they probably think it’s going to be too long. Facilitator: Too long or too hard?
75 Middle School Students • Multiple Speakers
Kristin: Too long.
Facilitator: Did you think of anything?
Female: The person that I know who dropped out of high school is he think that he don’t need to go to school no more.
Facilitator: Do you know what made him think that?
Female: No.
Facilitator: Do people drop out of middle school or do they wait till they’re in high school
Female: Some people, like I know a person who dropped out of middle school and he said that he wanted to be with his friends ‘cause they was in high school and they dropped out of high school. He wanted to be with his friends and he wanted to ______.
Facilitator: Okay.
Miss Bowman: How do you as students feel about completing high school and going to college? Let’s go the other way. How do you feel about completing high school and going to college? Take your hand down.
Female: It’s important for two things ‘cause they have to learn how to do other things in life and succeed.
Miss Bowman: So how do you feel about completing high school? Do you think it’s important is what I’m hearing?
Female: ______.
Miss Bowman: Melvin?
Melvin: I think it’s important to finish high school and go to college ‘cause if you want to be somebody or get a good job, get a lot of money and ______you should finish college and high school, but if you drop out of high school it’s going to be hard for you in college ‘cause you might not know a lot of stuff they teach in high school.
Facilitator: Very good.
Miss Bowman: XX.
Arkeef: I think it’s important to finish high school and go to college because lots of people that want good jobs and you’re not going to be able to find one if you drop out of high school and then ‘cause if you drop out of high school it’s really going to be hard work ______, but if you go to high school and then try to go to college you have a better chance of succeeding and getting a good job. Female: High school and college are important because if you want to excel yourself and challenge yourself and be a productive citizen, you need to challenge yourself. Go to high school, go to college, get a degree and get a good job.
76 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Female: Well, I think high school is important because college is ______high school ______to go to college. In college in this world ______a lot more technology and stuff and everybody ______what’s out and what’s new, whatever, and you need all that stuff. And you don’t want to have a job; you want to have a career ______.
Male: So me I think high school and college is important because it’ll help me succeed in life and help me – well, it’ll make me smarter and then the field I want to go into which is science and then so when I get over there it’ll be easier for me to do it.
Female: My thing is I think that high school is very good for you to finish because in order for you to go to college ______that you came so far through middle school ______high that you should not want to not go to college. So I think it’s very important that you should go to both so you can excel ______.
Female: Well, in my opinion for high school and college is that if you go to high school and then when you get out and ______you what you wanted to be, I mean, you won’t have to get a degree to go to college and do what you want to do.
Female: Education is important. You’re going to need that, need a job and need to be a manager or an owner or a business worker or an employee just excel.
Facilitator: Well, it’s interesting. They all agree that college is important. You guys are a lot smarter than I was ‘cause in middle school I didn’t think I was going to college and I wasn’t interested in college. I thought education was important, but I wasn’t really interested in college. Does everybody here feel like they’re going to go to college?
Female: ______.
Facilitator: Is there anybody who wanted to do like I wanted to do, which was to graduate from high school and go get a job and I was kind of tired of –
Female: I used to, but then I thought about it ______.
Facilitator: What’s changed your mind?
Female: Well, like my aunt one day she asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up and I said either I want to do criminal justice or a pediatric surgeon and she said well for me to do that I would really have to really go to college. I can’t just go right to the hospital and think I’m ______like that.
Facilitator: So understanding what you needed for your career helped you to know that you have to go to college in order to do those things. Is there anybody else who doesn’t think that they want to go to college? Everybody’s going to college. Okay; good. Miss Bowman: What are some of the variants you face or have seen your friends face in terms of schooling? What are some barriers that you’ve faced or have seen some of your friends face?
Male: Well, a variant I face –
Miss Bowman: Or challenges I guess you –
77 Middle School Students • Multiple Speakers
Male: -- or a challenge that I face when going to school is trying to find time to study ‘cause I like watching TV a lot and certain shows come on that I want to watch so I got to try to cut those away and find time to study.
Male: I would agree with him, but some variants I face is like I ______be in extra curricular activities in the school and to get home ______what I did and then finish my homework and then ______study for tests or things I can do in school.
Miss Bowman: Melvin?
Melvin: ______face is stress ‘cause if you have after school subjects and they can take a long time and then when you finish you still have to study and do your homework and projects and like he said, you got to find time to study when some of your favorite shows on, that cut time away from ______to study.
Miss Bowman: Alexandria?
Alexandria: Well, like you, my ______very involved in a lot of things so like we’re involved in church, we’re involved in our school, we’re involved in everything else and then when ______get home ______so everything gets put on me and I got to do homework, now I got to do everybody else’s stuff that I have to do what I want and then like stressed out and I don’t want to do the ______.
Miss Bowman: Someone ______over here.
Facilitator: Kiera, did you have something to add? What are the barriers you face in terms of education? Anybody else want to add anything? Okay.
Miss Bowman: Okay. What would help you finish school and go to college? And what would help you change your mind about going to college? For the most part all of you said you want to go, right? Well, what would help you finish high school? What do you think is required?
Male: Trying to make the goals to get into the ______because in order to get in that I have to finish high school and maybe finish high school, too. So in order to do that ______.
Miss Bowman: Kiera?
Kiera: ______like how good are you in high school and basically academics.
Miss Bowman: Alexandria?
Alexandria: I think you need support ______your friends ______interested in like, but I guess the urge to really do what you want to do.
Male: Motivation; like if you want a lot of money when you get older –
Miss Bowman: Speak louder, please.
Male: Motivation; like if you want a lot of money when you get older, ______and if you want like a good house and good car you got to learn how to pay bills and other stuff ______.
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Miss Bowman: Okay. Anybody else? Chris? What do you think it takes to finish high school?
Chris: You have to stay focused and listen to the teachers what they say ‘cause it is true.
Miss Bowman: Anyone over here? Justin?
Justin: You could join clubs and stay over time at school and study and do all your work.
Facilitator: Who feels like they’re stressed about school? School stresses you out. Okay; tell me what stresses you about school? What’s stressful about it? Danielle?
Danielle: When I come to school everybody’s pulling you every which way. You have extracurricular activities you have to complete your class work.
I’m a part of the NAO team and we have to leave at 2:30 to go to games and then you have missed work that you have to complete. Then I have homework and then I have to go home and I have to clean my room. I have to do everything and I don’t have ten arms. I’m not super woman so I can’t do everything.
Facilitator: And that makes you feel a little stressed out then? Okay. Alexandria?
Alexandria: ______teachers – just a lack of communications ______everything due in one day and then you building up all that stress and then like Danielle said, I’m in everything. I’ve been in almost everything that this school’s had from like I was little. It’s just a lot of stress. Like you have to go home and then you have all that homework and stuff ______.
Male: Like ______stressing most of the multiple projects that’s due in one day because they give us a lot of projects to do, but before we got to do our project, we got to finish our homework so we can complete that. Then we got to complete our projects all at one time. They’ve got the ______and the other materials to finish. So that’s stressing me out.
Female: ______and like certain teachers – I guess I can just say certain teachers work with different students differently and the teachers that I had, they worked me extra hard and for some reason there’s just like a lot of work that they give me more homework than they give everybody else and that stresses me out, too. It’s like real tiring.
Female: Well we get a lot of homework and you have to write like two paragraphs and think about what you’re going to write about and what you’re going to say to the teacher when you go up to her and write it and say what you’re going to think about and when you get a lot of assignments for the month and do a lot of reports and things like that.
Facilitator: Do you think that that stress that you’re experiencing, is that going to keep you from your dreams of going to college/
Female: No.
Facilitator: So you’re just going to manage it.
Female: Yes.
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Facilitator: Alright; so we talked about what the challenges of areas are. What could we do as a community to support you guys going to college? I don’t want to talk about what schools can do, but what do you think we can do in the community to help you get a college degree?
Male: Maybe for some people help raise money because like from financial ______or some kind students have to get through, they might not have a lot of money to cover it and plus the books ‘cause they cost a lot of money. So maybe a ______or something for some of the students that’s going to college [Interference from cell phone]
Facilitator: Anything else? What can we do? Anything else? What should we do as a community to help you get to college?
Male: Same thing ______said. Also they can help you out like keep supporting you in different school activities.
Facilitator: Anything else? What can we do to help you guys get to college or get more kids to go to college? What about the kids that you go to school with who aren’t thinking about going to college? What can we do to help them?
Male: Maybe we can have like – in a year or two we can have like a kind of gathering – like some people have ______to students about how important high school is and how ______.
Miss Bowman: If I can, how did you learn about college? What do you know about college? Do you know any colleges around our state? Let me see. Let’s go Melvin.
Female: ______BCCC.
Female: That’s where my sister goes to.
Female: I know a lot of college ______like the University of Maryland and ______. That’s where I want to go. I want to go to Harvard Law, but I can’t go unless I get a job and I pay for myself unless I ______.
Facilitator: How did you choose the college you want to go to? How do you know you want to go to Harvard Law or ______?
Female: I was watching Legally Blonde [Interference from cell phone] ______. I said I want to ______and I was ______.
Male: Another school ______State University. That’s the school my brother attended. It’s a historical Black school and he got there from a ______from a scholarship from athletics.
Facilitator: Great. What sports does he play?
Male: Football and basketball.
Miss Bowman: What do you know about colleges Kiera? Have you ever been on a college campus?
Kiera: Mmm hmm. I’ve been to ______, I’ve been to ______.
80 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Facilitator: How’d you get there?
Kiera: My aunt ‘cause we was taking my ______Christina. It was her first day of ______and so she showed me around. Like she was showing ______cultures and it was ______and then she showed some of the teachers and the classes and ______.
Facilitator: How many of you have been on a college tour? Been on a college campus and seen one?
Male: Oh, I have.
Facilitator: How’d you get there?
Male: When I used to play ______football, we played on a college field, Gilman ______.
Facilitator: Okay; Gilman is the high school. Good high school, but a high school.
Female: Both my brothers are in college.
Facilitator: Where do they go to school?
Female: University of Cincinnati and ______.
Facilitator: Okay; and you went and visited them at the school. Okay.
Miss Bowman: What about you Avante, what colleges have you been?
Avante: I went to Potomac State College in West Virginia and I went to Northern State University.
Facilitator: How’d you do that? Who took you to those?
Avante: Well, the first year I took my brother down there – Potomac State and Northern State we went on a trip ______grade.
Facilitator: What school? Avante: ______well, when my brother was ______school, he ______he went to a college tour with my cousins. Every year they have one and they go up to some and North Carolina and South Carolina or all around the state. Then they show you different colleges that you can go to on a tour bus.
Miss Bowman: Now, if we could reflect, when you think about – you said you watch TV after school and all that, can you think of any colleges or universities that are being advertised while you’re watching television?
Male: I can’t remember the name of it. It’s some school and they talk about electronics or something.
Facilitator: Like ITT; those kind of schools.
Female: ITT, ______Strayer. But those aren’t really ______big colleges. They’re not really colleges ______. It’s not something that – I’m not saying that they’re bad schools, but that’s not something I would want to go to. It’s not really a real degree. You can’t really get like a real big job –
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Facilitator: How do you know that?
Female: Because it’s just like the bigger and the much more known that your college or university. Those are people who ______school.
Facilitator: Who told you that? How’d you learn that?
Female: I didn’t learn it. It’s just that I was kind of like it’s just an opinion.
Facilitator: No; I’m not saying it’s a wrong opinion. I’m just interested how you know that ITT and Strayer are not the same as College Park.
Female: I’m not saying ______.
Facilitator: Okay; I’m just saying. Did you want to add something, Kiera?
Kiera: ______with that.
Facilitator: Do you guys have any friends who are saying that they don’t want to go to college?
Female: Mmm hmm.
Facilitator: Does that influence you at all? If they don’t want to go does that make you not want to go?
Female: No.
Female: No; that’s why ______to make them go.
Facilitator: Okay; so you’re trying to influence them to go.
Female: Yeah.
Facilitator: So if somebody gave me – say I was a millionaire and I came to you and I said name one thing I could do that would help more kids in Baltimore go to college, I want you to each think of one thing. I’m a millionaire.
Oprah has given me $20 million. What would you tell me to do with my money if I said my money is only for helping kids go to college?
Female: Give us ______.
Facilitator: But how is that going to help kids go to college?
Female: I don’t know no real child that’s going to turn down money and not go to college.
Facilitator: So one thing I could do is pay the student. Okay. What else could I do?
Male: Like I said before, ______of the community and like guest speakers about the college.
Facilitator: So, like community college fairs ______college event. Okay. Alexandria?
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Alexandria: Pick a student; but not just pick any student. Like pick a student getting good grades or doing ______like getting good behavior and stuff. Somebody who really needs it. Like not somebody who ______to ______.
Facilitator: So some type of scholarship fund. Okay. Danielle?
Danielle: Make college more appealing. When most people think of college, they think of people sitting in a room and listening to somebody talk to them when personally I don’t like sitting and listening to people talk. Make the activities, extracurricular activities for students, make classrooms more interactive; things like that.
Facilitator: ______anything else?
Miss Bowman: No; I think they did a great job.
Facilitator: So is there anything anybody else wants to add? Did everybody get to say at least something? Okay. Who has heard that college is expensive? Alright. With that, the cost of college would that be a barrier for you if you think about the cost? Are you concerned about that?
Male: Yes.
Facilitator: Okay. Who thinks that they’re getting an education and is preparing them to go to college? If the work you’re doing is going to prepare you maybe?
[Crosstalk]
Facilitator: Okay.
Miss Bowman: What do you mean?
Female: ______on me. I don’t know. Just like ______they focus so much on behavior, especially for certain people ______not ______. Facilitator: Right.
Female: They a little crazy. ______and get to nothing and not be assigned stuff. Then they don’t even get to in class and then they get mad at us because we were like, you should have ______web site ______the web site. Then you get all upset and they scream and yell and they focus so much on behavior issues when they could just ______onto class.
Facilitator: Okay. ______.
Miss Bowman: ______.
Male: Same thing she said. They focus too much on behavior. They don’t focus a lot on how we learn. We just expressing the way we learn and they don’t like say you – somebody acts up in class and they spend too much time on them, their behavior that we don’t get the lessons ______.
Facilitator: Mmm hmm. ______.
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Male: Sometimes like some teachers can’t control their classes so it doesn’t benefit the class so the class can’t learn the lesson plan so you can’t go through the whole lesson plan. So that’s a disadvantage to the students.
Facilitator: Okay.
Miss Bowman: Kiera?
Kiera: I agree with Melvin ______because like in certain classes they will focus on maybe ______student’s behavior what they doing and they’ll ______the whole rest of the ______about that and then they ______discussion about their respect and behavior and then by the end of the period they’d be fussing at us because _____ they didn’t get finished with their lesson plans instead of putting the child out or giving the principal something to handle the child. They don’t know how to handle it so ______lecture it’s not going to help the kid. We need to get our lesson plan through.
Facilitator: Okay; Alexandria.
Alexandria: ______even if they do go get Mr. ______or somebody, like a principal, they take the children out and they still be like, “Now you see what you did? You see what you did? That was the wrong thing. Y’all shouldn’t do that.” Then they keep talking about it and then before you know 75 minutes gone by and time to go to the next period.
Female: They be like, “See, see, see, now y’all in trouble. Now y’all got to ______.
Miss Bowman: They’ve done a great job.
Facilitator: I think that they are very, very, very enlightened. That’s the ______. Everybody wants to go to college. That’s pretty good. I’m interested to know where did you figure out – is it because your parents told you you have to go to college?
Male: No. Female: In a way.
[Crosstalk]
Female: Because in my family like we don’t have a choice.
Facilitator: So when did you start hearing about college? What age?
Female: Well, I heard about it when I first entered middle school ______like they issued a choice; if you want to excel throughout middle school and high school, you can go to college, but if you want to act the fool, you’re not going to make it to college. So I made the choice then I wanted to go to college.
Facilitator: And for you it was middle school. When did you first hear about college, Melvin?
Melvin: Later years in elementary.
Facilitator: Who introduced it to you?
84 Multiple Speakers • Middle School Students
Melvin: Children around me and my parents and commercials and a lot of ______. ______‘cause like the whole application process and stuff like I’m really irritating ______well you got to do this in college and high school and that’s what my ______and last time ______college. And then I heard it again when they was talking ______.
Facilitator: Okay. So do you think it – your parents tell you more about college or your school?
Male: My parents.
Male: My parents.
Facilitator: At school you don’t hear a lot about – do your teachers talk about it?
Male: No ______. She tells about high school ‘cause first before we have to deal with college we have to go through high school.
Facilitator: But you don’t hear a lot about it at school.
Male: No.
Facilitator: Primarily at home.
Female: Yeah.
Facilitator: Okay. That’s good to know.
Miss Bowman: Yeah. Thanks ______.
Facilitator: Alright; is there anything anybody else wants to add to the conversation as we think about what we can do about college, is there anything that you can tell me that’ll help me to write this program? Anything anybody wants to add? Okay. Very good. Thank you very, very much. You did an excellent job.
[End of Audio]
85 Middle School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Female#1: And so I think mom’s have the busiest job period, so I really appreciate you taking time to come and meet with us today. I asked Cross Country to partner with me, I’m an educational consultant for Associated Black Charities. We have a grant through The Gates Foundation to go out into the community and talk about how we can make college more accessible for African American children. Particularly if schools are going through all of this reform and make plans to improve Baltimore city school district, what can we do, parent side, community side, to make sure we have the information that we need so that we can be supportive of our children going to college.
And so the purpose of this conversation is to get feedback from you in terms of suggestion that you have, perceptions that you may have, information that you could share, that could inform us in terms of what we can do to make college more accessible. The reason that Associated Black Charities is so interested in this is because they’re going to be launching an initiative called, “More in the Middle.”
And More in the Middle is about growing the middle class African American class in Baltimore. Of course one of the ways that you grow the middle class is by having a more educated population of voters. So higher education is a strategic framework for closing not only the achievement gap, but also the income gap. So that our children can be in jobs where hopefully they are paid in equal status as their majority counterparts.
So that’s what we’re here to talk about. I’m going to be facilitating the session, Miss XX is also going to be our co facilitator and we’re just very very thankful that you’re here. We’re going to sit down and be a part of the discussion. The only thing I’m going to ask is, we are recording it, so you’ll have to speak up really really loudly to make sure we get everyone’s’ voices because we’re not taking notes. Okay? Alright. So.
Female#2: Good morning, once again, my name is ______Bowman. I’m school counselor for Cross Country. And as Miss Edwards mentioned, we’re going to be co facilitating this project. Let’s take a look at the ground rules. I don’t want to read them to you, so I’m going to ask you to read them aloud so we can kind of discuss them. No. 1., I’m sorry let’s go back, let’s introduce ourselves first because I don’t think I know everyone, I’ve seen your faces, and I’ve seen your child names
Female#1: I just want to stop the background noise and ______you’re going to have to help me.
Female#3: Good morning, my name is Nicole Leonard, and my daughter, I have two daughters here at Cross Country, a seventh grader, Alexandria Leonard, and a fourth grader, Amanda Leonard.
Female#4: Good morning my name is Linda Harvey, I have an eighth grader, Danielle.
Female#5: Good morning my name is Ebony, I have two sixth graders, Rodney and Joyce.
Female#6: Good morning I’m Erica Kelly, I have two nephews here, a fourth grader and an eight grader
Female#2: Okay, great. We’re expecting parents coming in, Mr. XX, I just saw him park his car. Let’s go over the ground rules, initially. Let’s go around and I guess you can read them, I like to read to people, if you could just go around and read them.
Female#3: I’ll begin. No. 1. Facilitators are here to ask questions, and listen, not to give their opinions.
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Female#4: No. 2. Be honest. The more open and honest you are, the more helpful your thoughts and ideas will be for the project
Female#5: No. 3. Be respectful. You can disagree with the idea, but don’t criticize the person.
Female#6: No. 4. Everyone is asked to participate, you are here because we believe you have valuable insights to contribute to the project.
Female #3: No. 5. We are on a strict time schedule. The session will end in 90 minutes. Please don’t take offense if the facilitator has to cut you off and go to another question.
Female#4: No distractions, please turn off your cell phones and pagers.
Female#5: Seven. Take of yourself, help yourself to the refreshments and use the bathroom if you need it.
Female#2: Okay now that we’ve gone over the ground rules ‑
Female#1: We’ve got another person coming in here. Dad duty. We’re glad to have a dad. Male#1: That’s why I’m here.
Female#2: That’s good, that’s good
Male#1: ______meeting
Female#2: That’s right.
Male#1: ______
Female#1: Are we showing the clip?
Female#2: Yes we will
Female#1: Cause I don’t want the questions.
Female#2: Okay. Is it cued?
Female#1: Martin’s going to help me. Okay that’s fine. You’ll only need one. Come on over dad, there’s a seat right over here. Let me move out of the way. ______are going to give each of you an informed consent document are going to go over that with you. Okay. This is an informed consent document for focus group participation, More in the Middle, which is the project that we’re working on, making college more accessible to the African American community. This research project is designed to examine the connection between the achievement gap, college preparatory resources, and the economic stability in Baltimore’s African American community. You’ve been asked to be part of a focus group concerning perspectives of higher education that will be audio recorded. Your participation will also help us to document existing resources that help African American students complete high school and enter into college. Most importantly, the findings will be instrumental in developing a strategy for addressing the racial achievement gap in Baltimore City. In reporting my findings, I present the ideas and opinions of educators and guidance counselors that are discussed and recorded. This is wrong, this should say parents, but don’t worry about it. However to protect
87 Middle School Parents • Multiple Speakers
the participants identities, I will also refer to you using a XX as well as a synoam for the school. You should feel protected to say your true feelings about the subject matter without feelings of retribution. In focus groups with others, I will constantly remind participants about privacy and not to discuss their participation or the participation of others outside the group. Any data I collect will be locked in a file cabinet, or entered into my personal computer that is password protected. As a part of the focus group process, and respect for privacy of other participants, I am requesting that you not discuss the proceedings or disclose any information outside of the focus group. Your participation and cooperation in this research is completely voluntary. Participants will be provided a one time monetary compensation of $25.00 in the form of a gift card. If you have questions, either prior to or during the research, please do not hesitate to contact XX Edwards, that’s me, at (410) 659-0000. Your signature indicates that you have decided to participate in the research, and understand the information presented in this document. So we’ll need everyone to print their name, sign, and date, the document. And if you could pass those to Erica, Michael will take them from Erica. Just pass them around that way.
Female#5: Can I get an extra one from Michael?
Female#1: Yes, of course. Actually I’ll give you a blank one, you can take with you.
Female#5: Okay.
Female#1: And have it there. Let’s see if Mr. Robert got it back up if we can get started. And once again, there is coffee and juice here, please, please, please take some.
Male#2: How’re you all doing this morning? Happy holidays to you.
All: Thank you
Male#2: ______. Well thank you so very very much, parents for responding. And being a part of what I believe is really an invaluable opportunity to give input and work along with, as we look at what I think we all desire for our children. And how you can give input and discuss this, so I want to welcome you here and say thank you to ______Foundation, and sharing at this time.
Female#1: Thank you, thank you.
Male#2: Alrighty, well you all have fun, okay? And don’t spend up all that money. I’ll just come and see you, Miss Ross, got to get a little something ______. How you doing sir?
Female#1: Okay, so the way we’re going to kind of get the juices flowing, because we don’t know each other, and to get the dialogue going, we’re going to just see a clip from one of my favorite movies, which is Coach Carter. I don’t know, have all of you seen this movie?
Female#5: I’ve seen it.
Female#1: Have you seen Coach Carter?
Male#1: I have not. Female#1: You have not? Oh Lord. That’s the first thing you need to ask.
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Male#1: That was a school movie right?
Female#1: Yes.
Male#1: I think I missed it.
Female#1: Okay this is the first thing you need to ask Santa Claus for if you haven’t seen it, it’s a great movie. Because this movie is about the things that we must do, the sacrifices that we make to get our kids ready for college, so we’re just going to use that to get us going this morning. And I have a mom who specializes in DVD operations. So scene 16, right? Can you turn the lights off?
Dialogue from movie: Here’s a story out of California that’s getting national attention. The entire boys’ basketball team at Richmond High School has been benched. The highly ranked Oilers have a perfect season on the court, but some players were in big trouble academically. And in an unprecedented move, Coach Ken Carter canceled practice, locked the gym and sent his players straight to the library. Now, at the start of the season, I understand you made all of your players sign a contract before they could join the team. What exactly were the conditions of that contract?
The contract states that the players must maintain and that the players must attend all their classes and sit in the front row of those classes.
Well, Coach Carter, it’s an unusual strategy, and a risky one in a sense, in light of your team’s winning record, but I think there’s gonna be a lot of people out there pleased to learn that at least somebody still cares about the concept of a student athlete. Thanks a lot for joining us today.
I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m Coach Ken Carter of the Richmond High School basketball team. Oh, yeah. I need to ask you a favor. My team is studying in the library, and I’ve been trying to tell them that brains and beauty are a perfect combination. Know what I’m saying?
I mean, I’m Worm, baby. How would you like to watch the Worm work?
Hey, where did you get that backpack?
Watch out, Too Short. Why study earth science or history or algebra?
Getting good grades in those subjects, combined with basketball skills, can get you into college.
Girl, you should’ve bought it. I would’ve worn it.
Female#1: Okay, great thank you. Okay I’m going to put on the recorder because we’re going to go into the official part of the discussion.And we’re going to ask one more time, because the recorder wasn’t on when we did the introductions again, if we could go around one more time and just state your name, because when we transcribe it, we’ll put your comments to your name. So if you could just say your name very loudly.
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Female#3: Nicole Leonard
Female#4: Linda Harvey
Male#1: Johnny Dowd
Female#5: Ebony Richardson
Female#6: Erica Kelly
Female#2: Okay. First discussion question, how do you feel about college? Erica?
Female#6: I feel it’s good, because not only can it ______give you a job opportunity, but it can also help you grow and develop as an individual. So I think it’s a very good option for people, for kids, if they don’t have anything else they don’t want to do. If they don’t want to travel the world or something else, it can help you grow and mature.
Female#2: Okay.
Female#5: I think it’s a great idea because it close the gap between African America mainly, and the rest of the, and other nationalities. That’s how I see it coming from an immigrant. When I came here, that’s the first thing I noticed that, a lot of African American or Blacks will stay behind because of lack of education.
Female#2: Mr. Dowd?
Male#1: Well I think it’s great because I have a son, and according to statistics, we have more African American men locked up in jail than we going to have in college, so I think it’s a great thing, and I will press my wage to get my son to get a good education through college.
Female#2: Miss Harvey?
Female#4: In my household and in my parents household, college was a must. You didn’t have the option of not stopping at high school, it was the continuation of education.
Intercom: Miss Bowman? Miss Bowman
Female#1: She’s on her way to the office. Sorry.
Female#4: So in our household, as in mine, the continuation of high school to college was one that was going to be made, no matter what. So Danielle’s older brothers have completed college, so she’s next. Female#1: Does she, do you think she feels that that is an expectation for her already?
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Female#4: Absolutely. She knows that education in our house is not play time. From elementary school, the idea has been with all of my children, is that education is most important. There’s nothing more important than education. Sports are great, music is great, drama is wonderful, but education is the key. That’s what will get you in life what you desire. So that’s what we do in our house. And I’m sure everybody else here does the same thing.
Female#3: I would say education is a priority, a college education is definitely a priority. Unlike in, what’s your name? Female#4: Linda
Female#3: Miss Harvey’s situation, I didn’t, even though education was stressed in my household growing up, I cant say that a college education was stressed. It was just something that I knew I wanted to do for myself. And I was actually the first in my family to get a college degree. From a four-year degree, we had a ______of AA degrees. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s a mandate. Professionally speaking and even in society, even economically a bachelors degree is like a high school diploma. And so if we expect to turn the tides for our families economically, I stress to you, my girls that a college education is a must. There really is no option. They even know now, they’re beginning to say, “Well I want to go here,” so we’re working on it now.
Female#1: What are some of the barriers that you think African American students in Baltimore from completing high school and going to college? We hear a lot about the high school dropout rate in Baltimore, of course you know if you haven’t completed high school, college is definitely not an option. So what do you think some of the barriers are for our kids to complete high school and then to go onto college?
Female#6: Well from what I see, believe it or not, in the poor communities, they do say that college and education is a “White thing.” So just the perception of it. Also costs, how are they going to pay for something? And also for some high schools, it’s never even mentioned, they just, the kid is expected to go onto school and graduate, but they don’t mention the parents, sometimes the parents don’t mention anything beyond that.
Female#1: Okay, very good.
Female#5: I think that there is a lack of support, they not supporting enough by the community, they don’t have had ______work. And then, the second part is financial issues. They don’t have issues so far as lets say around Christmas or around holidays, if the children don’t have everything they need that puts stress on them. And sometime I was married to a man who dropped out of high school because he was teased in school, he was bullied, because he didn’t have funds to buy the proper shoes or clothes, so he dropped out of high school, lack of clothing, so, that’s another addition
Female#1: Very good. John what do you think some of those barriers are for African American students to complete high school and then to go onto college?
Male#1: Well, to me, I see that today we have a lot of single parent, where they have to work and a lot of time kid’s are really not pushed to go to school, they’re really not pushed to go to the library, they’re really not pushed to instilled in them that that is a roadmap for their future. If you get an education, because without an education, you really cant make it in society, everything now is computerized and you must know computer skills,
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you must go to school and learn, and it’s not like in the olden days. When I was coming up, I didn’t have a change to even go to school, ______. And we had to go in the field. And I promised God, if I ever had children I wanted my kids to do better than me. I dint learn anything until I was almost 18 years old. And after I had kids, then I started learning through my kids, that’s the most of how I got my education, through my children. And I promised to God, I said, my kids, I want them to be better then me. I’m going to do my best, and I’m going to send a prayer now. I have a daughter and a son, and I’m pressing everything I can to get my kids to do better than me, because this has been hard, it’s been hard. I take them to the library, I let them know how hard I’m working, I work ______. I have a daughter finish college, I have a daughter have her masters, now she’s working on her PhD.
Female#1: Wow
Male#1: I’m really really trying, and we just have to stay focus and push our children, and start delivering then. I keep expressing to them, “I want to see you all succeed. Don’t hang with bad crowds, get your education. Once you get that, no one can take your education away from you.” And I never had that opportunity, I don’t know what it feel like to really read a book, I’ve not read one book. Never.
Female#1: That’s wonderful, that’s a great motivation. I think if we our honest, that most of it started from that place from our families. We all come from a place where education was denied to us. That’s what this is about, is how do we make sure that now we don’t deny it from our selves. And I think that, what you talked about John, is, you don’t have to be college educated in order to have those aspirations for your children, in order to have those values for your children. It has nothing to do with where we start, it’s got everything to do with where we are trying to take our children. So I think that that’s a great testimony to what is possible just by whatever challenges or barriers that we think that we are experiencing. Linda let me hear from you, what do you think some of the barriers are that hinder African American students in Baltimore from going to high school, complete high school and going to college?
Female#4: Well I work in the realm of social services, and I can tell you working with teenage parents, teenage pregnancy is No. 1 in my book. We have so many of our parents who start at age 16 with more than one child. These girls are having babies at 12 or 13 years old, and they like John said, they don’t get the support they need at home. Once they have that child, it’s sort of cast aside, they live from pillar to coast, they live with the boyfriend’s mother, the aunt, the grandmother, and that’s the way their lives become. They become transient, because at this point, at that very young age, they’ve done an adult act and now they have adult responsibilities, but we all know that they’re still children and there is no support. A lot of these children out here who are having children are also raising their siblings, because mom and dad are out there doing that thing, doing the drugs or what have you. We have a lot of our parents who come who are 16 and 17 who are raising younger siblings, and then trying to get an education for themselves. So we as parents have dropped the ball. We as parents have not provided the support in this community for these children. We also in the school system have not continued this support. Because I can tell you that my daughter has been in this school since kindergarten, and there only a handful of parents that I know, that I have seen from the group of kids that she’s gone to school with, and that could be 40 to 50 children. And I know this mommy, I know this mommy, but the group of children she’s been educated with, you never see these parents. So when you talk about support, there’s support in the home and there’s support in the school. Because I need for teachers like Miss Bowman and Miss Spencer to know that what you’re trying to do here I am reinforcing at home, so life
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has taken it’s toll on the African American community. When I was growing up and when my husband was growing up, it was, if you got in trouble down the street, everybody spanked your butt until you got home and then you waited for momma and then she was going to get you too, because there was that wrap around support of the community. Everybody cared, because everybody wanted to see Johnny, and Greg, and Susie make it, because they wanted them to do better than they did. So there are a lot of things out there, our community. I sit, I work in Park Hines, and it’s a travesty. It really is a travesty. We see children destroying property, doing drugs, selling drugs. We use to run eight, and nine, and ten year olds off our playgrounds after they smoked their blunt, in the middle of the day. Where are the truancy officers? Where is the support from the city? If mom can’t do it, then maybe the officer can come and make sure that that child, that somebody gets somebody’s attention, to say, “Okay Mrs. Smith, if you’re not able to get John to go school, then let’s just, you just need to go to jail for that.” Because we need to impress upon you how important it is for this child to get an education. Especially one that’s free.
Female#1: Absolutely, absolutely
Female#3: I would say kind of piggybacking on everything that everyone has already said, but particularly with Johnny said, about, it’s about how we’re socialized, and we have lost something in how children are brought up within some of our inner city communities, where there is not enough emphasis on education, and on success the long way. It’s on the bling bling, the quick access, the money, what I can get right away. And those values have been lost, and they aren’t just lost by the parents, but they’re lost by the community, they’re lost in the schools, it’s lost even by the officers. When Linda was saying about how when I was in elementary school, if I got sick, I use to have to get a slip to walk home, and the police would stop you if you didn’t have that little slip, and this was just in the 70’s. If you didn’t have that little slip, you were getting in trouble. But you see kids now a days just doing whatever they want to do, driving here, I saw a bunch of boys playing basketball in the middle of the street, I was like, “Go to school!” And the emphasis has lost, and what we see as important, you go, come home, it’s amazing as how you as you transition diverse city neighborhoods, what you see, young kids, three and up just outside, now let it be a hot day or a nice spring evening, a school night, they’re out till 11:00pm, 12:00am. Just what our emphasis is, has really really shifted and I think that programs like this opportunity need to be widespread to try to reenergize some of that emphasis within the community.
Female#1: Now we have another participant, Karen. Karen I’m saying you’re name because I need to get it into the recording. Let me ask you, what do you think some of the barriers that you think hinder African American students in Baltimore from completing high school and going onto college?
Female#7: Well basically everything I was thinking it has been said. So I think family values, and support all of that ties in together. And everything everybody said I was thinking, so it’s the same thing: family values that goes back to the basic things. They’re not getting what they need from home, and so therefore it goes out into society, and we’re lacking in so many things, and we need it to come from as they say, family to school, everyone has to have a hand in it. And if we all do not work collectively together, we are losing these kids. And we all see it everyday. Everyday. And it’s just so disheartening for all of us to see it, and I work in the school system too, I am a school teacher, I just left school, and when I look down the hall and I see what I see, it breaks your heart. Because we feel like we not making a real difference these days. And there’s only a few of us that’s actually trying, so we’re losing the race and we need help. And it builds you up, because I know, it’s like this
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gentlemen, we want to help kids to do well, but we want the other kids to do well. It’s not just about my son, it’s about all of those kids, and I really get built up about it, because I see the need, and I only see but a few people trying to make the difference, but it’s going to take everybody to make a difference.
Female#1: Absolutely. Erica?
Female#6: Well also when I wanted to say is a lot of times people think it’s just the inner city communities, but they did an article in the Baltimore Sun, recently showing that African Americans in the suburbs are having the same problems, the same achievement gap, they go on the Owens’ Mills, or different high schools out in that area, they’re going on to college, but they’re dropping out at the same rate as African Americans in inner city areas, so I think it’s just like a disconnect. Maybe, when I went to, one time when I was in law school people were talking about, when you were taking a property law class, and we were talking about why blacks were being denied property in certain areas, because stealing is illegal, and they were talking about why stealing occurs and other African American issues. And it was a lot of White people there, and they were all talking about money, and the White people were just saying, “Well I think a problem is family values, family values.” Black people were getting upset, but, I think to an extent it is true, that it is family values and not mainly ______myself and other African Americans who were at the law school, we came from families who advocated college. But it is true, a lot of family values, single parent homes, they’re not valuing education. It is true.
Female#1: So let’s push on that a little bit, because I do think that, in order to be, we are trying to be solutions oriented. But in order to come up with the right solution, you’ve got to know what the problem is, right? Okay, so what I’ve heard is in terms of barriers, one of them is, lack of support for particularly, single family households, that there’s a lot of pressure around work and around meeting those day to day demands, and so those families, a lot of times don’t have the support they need to stay focused on the kids and make sure the structure is in place for them to be able to take advantage of an education. The other thing I heard was, this issue of the younger that you have children, the more at risk you become of not being able to provide your child with a quality education, because again, there’s so much stress, you’re a child trying to raise children, and whether those are your children that you conceived or children that you take on, those responsibilities from other family members, that becomes a big distraction for that child, and they are not able to focus on their education, and they are not able to model that in the home. The other thing that I heard is, this issue of community support. So when we have these kinds of issues, there’s not resources, there’s not community support, an example of truancy officer. You used the example of if someone did something wrong, even if that mother fell short or whatever the case may be, there was a lot of people waiting to pick put the slack and to hold the child accountable. And then the other thing I heard, is that even though we have reached a certain place or plateau of understanding, we recognize that there’s a whole lot of other people out there that have not reached that, and it’s kind of disheartening because we’re concerned about our children, but we’re also trying to figure out what do we do about everybody else’s’ children. Did I hear everything correctly? Okay. And then I also heard financial stresses of the individuals in school, particularly true when you get to middle school and high school, if you’re in a family where it is very economically stressed and there are pressures on kids to get jobs and to contribute to the household, so that they can have the basic necessities, but that becomes a distract or, so you end up either getting overly focused as a child, on helping to meet the family’s needs, or you’re torn between education and work because there’s some basic needs in the household that aren’t being met. Is that what I kind of heard everybody
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say? Okay. Very good. So, other than finances, because I heard about financial aid is a big issue, if you think that you’re coming from, or if not even if you think you’re coming from an impoverished community, even if you’re middle class or upper middle class, paying for college is a huge issue, and so the finances of going to college is an issue.Are there any other kind of institutional barriers that you think, other than the kind of stuff around family values, can you think of anything, any institutional barrier that keeps our kids from going to high school and then going onto college.
Female#4: One is really prevention. I’m a social worker and one of the things that, we kind of go through these transitions, and the biggest push now is emphasis on working with this 0-5 population. So you have a lot of preparation for ready to learn, success by 6, and all that type of stuff, prevention for the child entering school, but you don’t have a lot of preventive type programs for kids on that middle and high school realm that will prevent them from getting into dysfunctional types of behaviors and full engaging themselves, and to behave using activities that are more positive. Ergo, it’s very easy for them to get caught up in drugs, it’s very easy for them to get caught up in sexual activities or things of that nature because there aren’t those types of productive supports that are put in place on that middle school and high school, and I think that that’s something to look at.
Female#1: I want to go deeper in that, because I think that that’s important. If you could think that what, if Associated Black Charities, got 40 million dollars from The Gates, and they said, “go to Baltimore and create a program or create resources where college can become a reality for a wider group of children,” tell me one thing that you think that we could do to support, and the only caveat I want to put on that is not school based, because we’re going to assume that the school has job to do, the school has budget to do that job, and we understand that those resources are strained, but if the school is doing their job, what is it that we could do from a parents perspective or resources we could provide parents or to galvanize the community, what, because the community doesn’t have a budget of resources, right? So, if The Gates foundation came in and said, focus on parents and communities, and what they need in order to get their kids to go to college, can you just dream of something ______
Female#7: One thing is, we need to transition from job development to career development. Because job development is what you moved towards, and we need that for those people that college is not their thing. You can’t argue that everyone is going to be college material when that’s going to strain that. But if we focused them on career development, mentors, lawyers who can, people who can model: doctors, teachers, social workers, career development, and what are the different things that they need to do and learn along those career paths, what are the options that they need to make now, in preparation, to help them think long term instead of short term.
Female#1: Okay, very good.
Female#4: I think that, I will state this on tape, I am a huge Oprah fan, so let me just put that out there, huge Oprah fan, and my dream for ______. On Oprah show there was gentleman by the name of Mr. Canada, who I believe was, is in Harlem, and decided that when was able to get back to the community, that’s what he would do. And right now he has developed an entire school community within Harlem, and they service 10,000 children. They not only service the children, but they service the parents. And they have what they call a “Saturday school.” And they teach parents of young children, on things such as, basic things as: how to take care of them physically, what are good means of
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discipline Slapping, beating, kicking, cursing is not discipline, that’s abuse. Talking to your child in tones that are civil, and giving them instruction that’s what parents are supposed to do, you’re not supposed to slap, hit, beat, and a lot of parents use that as a method, but they have developed this entire community in Harlem where they are serving 10,000 students. Not only are they servicing them in school, but they have provided them with free medical care, they have a big emphasis on physical education, and they’re developing that thought process in the children in the school, but also brining the parents in, because parents are physically responsible for being in tune with what the school is doing. They sign a contract; the children get to stay in the school as long as the parents are involved. As I said earlier, my daughter’s been in this school, and there are some parents I would never know, because I’ve never seen them, because they never come to school. So that is, I think that’s a program that you could look at, if you were going to get 40 billion dollars, you wouldn’t necessarily have to build new schools, but you could take a certain group of students, you could take all of the middle school students out, and get parents involved in that kind of a program. Bring them in a develop things like job development, but career development. A job is what gets you the money you need. A career is what keeps your life alive and gives you the confidence that you like in life, and it sets standards, especially in what career is. So I think that’s a model that somebody should definitely look at, because if it works in NewYork, it could work in Baltimore. And I think there’s so many parents out there who have the desire to have their children to do better than they did, but there aren’t any resources. I write grants, for ever grant that is published out there, for ever RFP that’s out there, there are 15,000 people trying to get that same $10,000.00. So what if the Black Charity is just one of them? You all put RFP out, there are probably 5,000 people who apply for that $50,000.00, and it’s just not going to go far enough. So parent’s get discouraged, even parents out there working those jobs and doing the best that they can, they don’t know where to look. And the school is really where they look. They look for information from people like Miss Bowman, “Just give me a drop, tell me what I’m supposed to do and then I’ll take it from there.” But people just don’t know where to look.
Female#1: Okay very good. We’re going to come back to you.
Female #4: Good. Not a problem.
Female #1: Okay, Johnny, so if there was, if there was someone, Oprah called me and said we’ve gonna help Baltimore. We’re going to give you some money. We want to, the goal is this money has to be used in the community, and it has be used for the purposes of getting kids to go to college and to graduate from college. What, what, what’s something we could do?
Male#2: Well I would say we have a lot of churches in our community. I would say let’s get some programs in the churches, some computers. In every neighborhood there’s a church, and we can bring our kids in and ask the school programs have money to pay people to teach our children after school programming. We don’t have that animal.
It turns out in my neighborhood, I’m right off of North Avenue, we have a library right there, and we’ve got eight computers in the library, and most of the time four of those computers are done. So we only have four or five computers that are working. We’ve got kids standing up against the wall waiting to get on a computer. Sometimes they get discouraged, they’ll walk away and leave. It’s, it’s real hard. A lot of them are trying, but they get disappointed because the resources are not there.
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But I said we need more computers, we really need people in our community, like the churches. And I don’t know there some more work the churches need to do. The churches always preach about it takes a village to raise a child, but they’re really not putting no money on how our children, everybody putting anything in the city hall, but the churches are making millions and millions of dollars here and they are not investing in our children, and we need to put some pressure on the churches in our neighborhoods to help buy resources for our children, to help school supplies, to help buy clothes for children who can’t afford it.
These are some of the things that the young people look to that, they’re really not getting no help, and they go do things trying to make money, and they get locked up, arrested. Girls don’t have no ____, why are they getting pregnant? Because there’s really nobody out there, like the churches don’t even come to the community. Don’t even talk to them. No one even try to influence them to even come to church.
And if you get them to come, then talk to them. Try to get them into their education. We don’t have that anymore. We don’t even have recreation in our community anymore. Our kids don’t have nothing to do.
A lot of recreation is gone. They don’t have not money to put like security ____ these people for security to come. But we can put security, we can have kids in the community to come. We don’t have that. We need money for recreation. We need money for a lot of ___. We need money to help in the library, a better conditioned library.
Female#1: Okay, very good. Very good. ____, what is your suggestion?
Female#5: I would just reinforce what they said, actually what like community needs computers that, for example, computers, they come into donate computers every Saturday. They come to Cross Country ____. They ____ for families that not afford computers or children know how to use computers.
I remember when I used to teach my children how to use computer. Now only they are going to college because they only, I have PowerPoint and I forgot because I didn’t use it for a while. My daughter would have me make my slides.
So why not donate one computer to every household, but the Internet is not accessible. ____ you can have $9.00 or $20.00 a month just to pay for the Internet. Let the school pay for it. Let the church pay for it.
And also, most of all, have after school. If you don’t have the children with their community work, with their homework, they will not have the courage. I know sometime I work to 7:00, when I get home at 8:00 my child is crying. Why? Because I was not there to help.
So sometimes I work, when I have time I help her do her homework over the phone. I have to go hide in one of my patient’s room and help my daughter with her homework. So one cry, one doesn’t. They twin. So let the community help them. Let’s help them with homework after school.
Can, can the school have a lot of it. We moved from the counties ___, city schools in ___ Baltimore, but if you help the children, you, you like push them, you give them a boost. If you don’t they get frustrated and a child who gets frustrated will not finish their school, will not go farther. It’s not working.
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I don’t have a computer. I can’t do my homework. That’s where it should start first.
And then the third plan is that community give back. Each house deserves a computer. That’s all. For Christmas don’t buy them toys. Oh those toys, they need computer first, and when they need computer make sure they do their homework at least for a matter of ____. You can ____ or mathematic help whatever. Just do that first. They can do homework instead of going for the music and everything.
Because if you don’t have them, they have PCs they go and just ____.
Female#1: Very good. Very good. Karen, what would we, what should we do?
Female#7: I’m thinking that I like the idea that you came up with ____ about having the school where we actually teach parents, prepare them to be able to help their kids. So I think if you teach the parents, and then from that point we’ll be able to move and motivate the kids to do that.
A lot of times because the parents don’t have the skills that they’re needing, so the child is lacking, and then sometimes the parents are embarrassed. So the child’s doing the best that they can, then they go out into the community and get into things that they should not be into because they don’t have anywhere to go. They don’t have the resources, like he was saying the churches, the recs. We need all those places to be in place so that they’ll have somewhere to go and people watching them. We can monitor them.
If they don’t have anywhere to go, a lot of them end up on the streets doing drugs, whatever it is. These girls are coming in claiming that these ____, because they’re not educated. They don’t understand what it is that they need.
So again, if we had something like a school or facilities for them that’s going to take away a whole lot of the problems that we have today. We have all these big churches, as he’s saying, and a lot of them are not doing the best that they can. Like you said, all what the kids should have, we should have computers in all of the homes, not only people who work everyday, but the people who don’t work. They want the best for their kids as well, and we always harping on the things that we need, and sometimes I have to step back and say you know what Monique, there are some kids who don’t even have the things you have. And you have to let your kids know that, because they assume that everybody has everything. No they don’t. No they don’t. And we need to be able to provide for them all.
We need all of these things in place so that when they get to college they are going to want to go. You don’t have to try to make them. They’re going to want to go. They going to be excited about it. They going to be motivated. And we can do this if we all come together, the churches, educate them in these schools, and have facilities that they need.
And I think it’s going to turn itself around if we have those things in place. They always talk about Sheila XX, about Baltimore, Charm City, and we don’t have books and just some basic things. That’s a shame. We ____ cut it.
I need to see some things happening. So I think if we had those types of facilities it’s all going to pan out eventually.
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Female#1: Erica, what is it, school based or community based programming that we need to encourage students to go to college?
Female#6: Well I agree with what everyone has been saying, but also too I would like to, it’s not necessarily a program, but I know I think it’s Planned Parenthood, the billboards around the state that say virgin is not a dirty word. I don’t give it up. I don’t give in. And when they did that, they knew the pregnancy rate had dropped dramatically enough where they keep doing that.
And I think something similar can be done. ____ watch ads, make billboards, maybe about college is cool or you’re smart enough to go to college, or don’t waste your life.
Female#7: Just some affirmations.
Female#6: Right ads on TV. I know when I was younger they had after school specials. They were like low budget, low budget.
By they always had a good moral. A lot of kids liked them, and I think maybe along something like that. I know somebody had said that A Different, the show A Different World, I don’t know if you remember that, but that made a lot of kids want to go to college. A lot of kids, it can influence people. That’s why people spend millions marketing the Wii and Playstation.
The thing is if kids see that they’re going to ask questions, and you’re going to get excited. We’ll say I never thought about that. Like I never thought about saying oh virgin isn’t a dirty word. I know virgin’s not a dirty word, but that can actually get people, like the juices flowing and stimulate conversation.
Female#1: Rene, is there something you can add?
Female: No, they took it all.
Female#1: They took it all. Come on Rene.
Female: But I can say that, and I guess it’s kind of far fetched, because I would really like to see some type of program where parents are really held responsible. It, it, I was just talking to a class this morning, and I guess out of 30 something kids, 12 or 13 did homework.
And not today, instead of fussing I said well why? Why didn’t you do your homework? I had other things to do. I had, and you know some of the things, with a couple of the kids I knew that the responsibility was taking care of younger siblings. I just would like to see something where parents are held responsible.
And it will come with the education. It will come with the different programs. I don’t think some parents are really grasping the fact of how they’re destroying their kids’ lives putting these responsibilities on them.
And we have to remember that our kids are kids. We cannot bombard them with this, that, this, school, oh you have to pass in school. You have to do this. We have to educate parents first, because the kids are getting frustrated, and that, they’re not just going to drugs anymore. It’s the gangs. It’s the gang ____.
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Female#1: So let me recap again. I want to make sure that I got –
Female: Can I just add one more thing ___.
Female#1: Of course. Female#4: I think that the other thing, going back to the whole everything everybody said, but particularly around the job and career pieces, and focusing and moving them towards college if there’s a way that those youth can be given stipends that are comparable to a part‑time job for doing these educational types of things so that they could go away, they could work, but it’s like working to learn, and that will take the pressure off of having to try to get the nicest newest tennis shoes out there or doing whatever.
Because, and also some of the pressure other family members may be putting on them prior to maybe either economic constraint themselves or, I hate to say it, ghetto minded and not real focused about you need to get a job. You know how many times _____.
But I’ve been working for DSS for 15 years, so I know what I say. The ghetto fabulous mess. And if you could really focus those energies on that, then that where that child can get the income by still focusing on what can I do to be better. And then because of that I hate to say pardoned, but I think that we could put all of the programs on there we want to for adults, but adults, sometimes you can lead somebody to the water, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to drink it.
And there are a lot, not as many as there should be, but a lot of programs out there for adults. But we don’t have as much for, again that higher end, middle school teenage piece. And from where I sit as a social services professional, maybe that’s because in my world I know those resources to send to parenting.
But in my role I don’t know those resources to send a middle school or high school student.
Female#1: Okay, very good. Okay, does anybody else want to add anything before I –
Female#7: Can I just say along with what she’s saying.
Female#1: Okay.
Female#7: So I’m thinking incentives given the kids, we know what the parents definitely need. We need them to bring the kids into a little bit more, have them providing different incentives like the stipend and some other things, because the other things, if you tell them if you do this, it’s almost like you have to bribe them for what you want, even though you know they’re supposed to be doing it regardless to what. With my own I’m not going doing anything because you’re supposed to do it. But we know that everybody is not like that. But come up with some ways in which we can encourage them to be motivated to do what we need them to do, which is to eventually think about going to college. And so come up with different types of incentives to stipends, to whatever it is, coupons, something for the market, something that would help the family. Not just about themselves, but to help the entire family to get them where we want to. I know, or the high school and even middle school level that works given them whatever it is. They will work towards it.
Female#1: Okay. Great. Great.
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Female#4: And one last thing, I know it’s a little off to the left of what the question was, but I think that as a community that is concerned about our children and the possibility of doing better in life, whether it be going to college or getting a career, whatever it is, I think that where we have all failed is that we don’t start talking to our children about this until they’re in the eighth grade.
If you start talking to your infant, if you start talking to your four year old, if you start talking to your child when they’re in the first grade about positive things, and about education and how good it is, and no matter how stressed mommy gets, because see we put our adult issues on them. And then we expect them to handle it.
Because if I’m frustrated, everybody in my house is going to be frustrated, because I’m not going to be happy until you are. And that’s basically, no matter what your economic level, if mommy’s having a bad day, you seen ____, if momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy.
If we start talking to our children at increments and always talking about the positiveness of education and treating those the way you want to be treated, and putting those values in them early on, then you don’t have as much of a struggle.
The other thing that I wanted to say too is that when you come to some place like Cross Country, and these children repeat in affirmation every single day, that gets down in their souls. And regardless of how mean I am to Danielle, and how much I mistreat her, and whatever it is I do, she can always go back to that secret place and find me an affirmation and know that inside herself I’m okay, because this is what I know I can do.
And so those kinds of things don’t cost you anything. It doesn’t. There’s no price tag on it. You just need to start off as young as you can with these children, putting that positive in, because positive begets positive.
Female#1: Anything else you want to add to that? Okay, I want to recap to make sure I heard all of the ideas that we need to do more in the area, particularly for kids in middle school and high school, a career development type programming, which has a mentoring component and an education component.
I heard about resources for parents. That we need to educate parents. We need to have some programming in place so that we can empower them with information skills so that they can be able to respond more appropriately to children, and to support them in their goals and aspirations.
I head parent accountability. That we have a big issue where we do have a population of parents who really don’t understand how the decisions they’re making today is directly impacting their kids’ futures.
So by giving these children all of these added responsibility, that is a distraction and it is going to be a consequence in the long term in terms of those kids being able to complete high school and go to college.
The other thing I heard is about community resources, and we need to get the faith based community involved, and that we need after school programming. We need recreational facilities, and we need churches to be a part of the investment strategy, and to be part of a resource strategy for parents and students.
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What I also heard from you is that technology is a big key to getting kids excited about education and getting them information that we, one of our goals needs to be able to figure out how to get every family a computer. It assists with homework. It assists with kind of the immediate needs, but it also can assist with long‑term information gathering and those kinds of things.
What I heard from you was what, tell me.
Female: Oh I was just talking about how we need to pull in resources, not only for the parents, but for the kids as well and the incentives.
Female#1: The incentives, right. We agreed that that’s a great motivator for kids, is that if we have something that they’re actually working towards in terms of their journey for college and then what do you we have from you Erica?
Female#6: An ad campaign.
Female#1: Oh yes, which I love. Media. How do we use the media as a resource to message college? I love that. How do we use the media to our advantage? And you talked about the billboards and the programming that used to be on TV for us and had lots of positive messages.
And I also liked the affirmations, like starting early. That’s something that you can’t do early enough. That if you start building that foundation then hopefully when they’re having to make those choices there is something in them that is a moral XX, that helps them to make better choices that puts them on the pathway to college.
Female#5: I have one more. Since children watch a lot of BET, every children, every family here knows that there kids spend two to three hours a day watching BET. Why not write them a letter so they can come up with like schoolwork, community service, something positive, not only the bling, bling, because that’s all you see on BET.
And I come home from work, I say turn it off. They always on BET or listening. But what’s in there? Nothing about school or college, nothing. We can write them a letter.
Female#1: So we need to partner with the media. We need bigger ads. How do we get more programming for education? Absolutely. Very, very good. Very, very good. Was there anything else? Those are some great ideas.
Okay. The last question that we want to ask you about is, is information and access. And you guys have hinted to some of this, but one of the things that we’re finding is this issue of what Linda spoke to that parents come to schools for community, for information. And sometimes that information is available to them, and sometimes it’s not, depending, I think upon the school your child goes to.
So can we talk a little bit about what kind of information or access to information is needed to promote students in completing high school and going to college? What are some of your ideas about how we can get information out to the masses?
School I think is an excellent resource, but we know that there are disparities across the city in terms of how functional schools are. So if you take schools out of the equation, what are some of the other ways that we can get information out there once we decide what we’re
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going to do? We’ve got to get people to take advantage of it.
So how do, how do we get information out there? Start with you again Nicole?
Female#3: I would say the churches could be a good one in terms of posting information there and bulletins going out to community bizarres, community activities, that they have different neighborhood festivals and everything. And pediatricians could be a way.
Female#1: That’s a good one. Everybody has to get immunized, right?
Female#3: Getting the information out there. I was thinking malls, but I don’t even know how effective that would be in our culture. Sort of like how we have, people have, like the kind of canvassing, they have their little thing and they come up to you at the mall and you don’t feel like being bothered.
____ I don’t know how many younger people you would get that way. You may get some parents that way. They’re just really some kind of in your face neighborhood types of canvasses.
So often you drive by the confusion, but how about stopping and pulling over in the midst of it, and informing them about what some of the options are.
Female#1: Okay, Linda?
Female#4: Well ____ is just right up my alley, so. One of the things that I have to, and am responsible for as the director of my center is outreach. So going to the laundromats, going to the specialty stores where we know our folks shop, going to, you know let’s go where the ladies are getting their hair braided. Let’s go to the nail salons.
Let’s go to Stop, Shop & Save, and instead of me standing at the door trying to grab you, have several people, make a campaign where we’re just going to go onto the intersection of Park Heights and Cold Spring Lane and we’re just going to have ten people, we’re just going to inundate them, and not a sole that gets through this intersection is not going to talk to us.
And you can do it. You can truly do it. You can truly do it. The other thing, I’m going to steal Erica’s idea before we get to her, is the media. The media is perfect, because when you were talking about the posters, because we work with teen parents we use a lot of those posters. And my favorite poster in the whole world is a baby takes $785.00 to raise per month, how much is your allowance?
When you’re 16, allowance is a thing in the day. I don’t think these kids get allowance. They just say I want and boom, they get it. Not in my house, but they have to work. But I think that the media, you look at people like Tim XX, who is the educational report, let’s put him to work.
____, which I love, but nevertheless, let’s make Tim responsible. Channel 11 is supposed to be the No. 1 station. Let’s make you come out in the forefront and really hit these stories with positive. We gave an all city prom for the parents in our programs who are getting their GEDs and we had Channel 11 all set to come, well they didn’t show up because they had two shootings and a fire. We got kicked to the curb.
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A positive story about teenage parents who are on welfare, but who are struggling to make a better life for themselves and for their children, and we got bumped because of two murders and a fire.
Female#5: Because they pick the negative.
Female#4: ___ all those kids, and I’m going to go on record saying this was primarily an African American activity, and we don’t get positive press. We don’t get it. Now if you all in the store shoplifting, oh we going to get the press.
But if you are doing, come on now it’s true. Seriously. Let’s not call a spade a spade. That’s just the way it is. But we need to make the powers that be, The Baltimore Sun, The Examiner, Channel 11, we need to make them responsible.
Why aren’t you coming out here to cover these positive stories about these positive children? There are White kids in the county raised a thousand dollars they’re on TV. Let our babies ____ and raise $50,000.00 and you don’t even hear about it. You don’t even hear about it. So we need to make people accountable to us, because there’s a lot of positiveness that’s going on in the African American community. A lot. There are people in communities who are doing after school programs. There’s a lady in Park Heights who have been doing an after school program with her own money for 13 years. Have you ever heard of her?
Female#1: No.
Female#4: Now Mark XX featured it on his program. Mark Steina’s the radio.
Female: And it’s talk radio.
Female#4: It’s talk radio, and we don’t listen to talk radio. It’s not the bling, bling. We don’t want it.
Female#1: Okay. Very good. Rene.
Female: Okay, the media, now one thing, as Ms. Harvey was saying, and it just bothered me, because it’s kind of far fetched, but as far as accountability, my son said to me this morning, coming to school, Mommy, how come in the Black neighborhoods they have the big, the flashing light with the big police badge, but when you go to the Jewish neighborhood they have those little blue lights, no big police thing or nothing?
And this, as you can see it just troubled me, because I’m sitting there thinking, why is that? Why is that? And we talked for a while, but accountability. Sheila Dixon, Sheila Dixon, Sheila Dixon, Sheila Dixon do something. Do something, because here at Cross Country I know what we went through at the beginning of the year just to get some textbooks in here, even after Dr. XX okay.
That’s Year No. 2. That’s Year No. 2, because we didn’t even have textbooks last year. And talk about the money that we were going to get. Accountability, I can’t say anymore. That’s the word. Female#1: John, what, what can we do to get information out to the community to promote kids going to college?
Male#1: Well I think that ____ neighborhood associations and we get involved and if everybody be a part of the neighborhood association passing the ground root for every area, and we have a lack of people in the neighborhood association.
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And when you’ve got a good strong neighborhood association, you control what comes in your neighborhood, because everybody’s involved. If somebody’s a stranger, somebody’s going to know about it, somebody’s going to call the police.
____, I am the vice president down there, and we are covering that area, and we have a strong neighborhood association, and this is the way that we can get a lot of information. Another thing is that we need to get our young people involved working with us so that they can reach the young people in their area, that they can bring their thoughts to us and we can be able to share through them.
Like a station like ___ 92Q. 92Q has a lot of negative on that radio station. We need to get through to ____. We need to _____ change ____ to our children. And we can get that ___ all down. There’s a lot of information that comes through that radio station, and we need to get our kids involved, our kids distribute like you were saying, flyers or whatever information to their peers, and bring it all together. We all have to work together. And that’s what makes us stronger.
Female#1: Thank you.
Female#4: And can I just throw this in there? We’ve got to change our children’s minds. We’ve got to catch them now. We can’t wait until they’re adults. A-nd if they so much sense what we’s all been saying here, you’ve got to change their minds. We’ve got to refocus them.
And God knows I love all people, but for lack of a different way of putting this, Jewish people start out with you’re going to be a lawyer, you’re going to be a doctor. And when they get there, that’s what they are.
Male#2: But you’ve got to have the resources. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have that money.
[crosstalk]
Male#2: I’m not disputing that, but my point is it’s good to bring the thought to the child. I knew what I needed in South Carolina. I wanted to school bad. I couldn’t go, because I was controlled by the White man that I had to work in their field. And the same thing happened today to some of our children. They want to, but they don’t have the money or no one can reach out to give them the resource that they need to get them to where they’re going.
And the next thing we look forward to is sex or drugs. I, I chose sex over drugs, because I wasn’t taking drugs. I didn’t have the education or knowledge. So we have to, any type of motivation, I wasn’t getting the love that I needed, so I found the sex part.
There were drugs exposed to me, but I didn’t want that. So that’s how I ended up going to sex, and this is what the kids are stilling dealing with today. Give them hope. Hope. That’s all they need. Someone showing that they care. And that’s what we ___ a lot of times, and I’m telling you, you’ll be amazed that some kids just need hope.
Female#1: I agree with that. Okay. What can we do to get information out to support kids going to college?
Female#5: Just two words I would say, community resources, and the media.
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Female#1: Okay. Very good. All right.
Female#4: You know it has been said.
Female#6: I don’t know if this would be appropriate, but I know, I think, I’m not sure my sister, she had I think WIC, and I think Work Together. She had to go to an educational class. I thin if you want to target the people in need, I think if they want to get welfare, any type of social services, make them attend a 30‑minute educational class every month or something of that nature.
Also too, I remember I was looking, someone had told me a few years back they have free summer camps. So I went to ____ Park where they had the community center resource area and they, and the women told me, she said we used to have over 200 community centers or free camps. But we don’t. We have like 40, because they’ve been cutting back and cutting back and cutting back.
I think if they started some more community centers, and within those community centers have different programs, age appropriate, they’re always, ____ that’s fine we want kids to have fun, but problems with attitudes, was age appropriate. Because to me, BET is not on in our house because to me it’s a poor example. They way they show ____. I had to turn ____. And I’m always so offended.
I guess I’m close to kind of being like the anti‑mean woman. But I’m not, it should not be used ____ and I want them to be one of them. I want them to think this way of women or that way. So talk to them and reinforce it that way as well.
Female#1: Okay, all right Ms. Bowman, and so is there anything you want to add, questions?
Female#2: I just want to thank you for participating in this focus group. I know that there are going to be pleased with your comments, and I mean like your children make me proud all the time, so I was glad you were able to take time from your busy schedule to come and talk with us.
And you are so on it. I mean I didn’t want to chime in to say too much, but you’re so on it. But however, I did want to say that we, we have this peripheral school council. It’s called College Ed, we’re supposed to share with our students starting in the 7th Grade. It’s okay, but I think it’s best for children to go on a college campus. And I always want that several of them, I’m going to tell you a quick story.
I took, when I was a counselor over here at ____ Middle School about four years ago, I took a group of young people to the Naval Academy, and in doing so the children are ____. They didn’t want to go. They didn’t turn their money in, because they didn’t know. My thing was let’s take them there, because the only time the children in that community saw men in uniforms was the police. Okay, so they protested and all, but anyway as we were riding down there, I heard a little girl say, this brought tears to my ears, she said why is it so clean down here? Okay. And then I heard another child say well you know Ms. Bowman I’m glad I came, because I can go to Shake and Bake any time.
One of the lack of resources in this school system is the lack of money for field trips.
Female: Absolutely.
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Female#2: Lack of money. You have to go through so much to get a check. And this is the terrible thing about it. We went to the Naval Academy. You can’t go and sit down and eat until all the officers are there. They toured the campus of course, and got a chance to see the ____and meet some of the officers.
We sat down, we ate. The African American officers came over to sit with our students, okay, to eat with them and talk with them and all that, and the disappointing thing is as of last year, the City had not paid their bill.
So we went there about four years ago, and I am so embarrassed. I am so embarrassed. We took, the children paid me $6.00 and I turned it into the business manager. God in heaven only knows where the money is. I’m still, and I feel so embarrassed to call the Naval Academy to see, because we went back and forth about two or three years trying to get them to pay the bill.
And they haven’t paid, as of last year they didn’t pay the bill. And I’m so embarrassed to call to find out if the bill is paid.
Female: Or to schedule another trip.
Female#2: Or to schedule another trip. But you know –
Female#4: That’s one of the things that, I mean I have very little money, but what little money, if there’s the child sitting next to my daughter who could use it, I’d be happy to sponsor a child, because you know what, I know the teachers take out of their own to buy stuff. And if I have, if God blesses me and throws a$100.00 down from heaven, I don’t have a problem sharing that, because I think that we, I go back to my original quote, we as adults force our adult issues on children.
And children are always the victims. I don’t care what it is. If I’m having a bad day, you’re going to have a bad day. If I don’t have money to pay the rent, you’re going to suffer. If I don’t have money to buy food, you’re going to suffer.
We don’t make children our priority. We are our priority. If you take the time to give birth to a child, you are accountable. My parents are still accountable for me. I know what they say about that. But that’s just the way, and I think, the other point that I wanted to make took, when we talk about parents, we need to incorporate grandparents as parents. There are a lot of grandparents that are raising their grandchildren.
I mean there are a lot of extended family that are raising these children. So when we talk about recruitment and getting the word out, we need to be going to some of these senior activity centers, because some of these seniors look, just sit there and watch the number of grandparents that pick these babies up. They might not be the custodial parent, but they spend a lot more time with these children then their parents do, because the parents are working.
I know one little boy who stays with his grandmother during the week, because mom works. So just how much influence does she have on this child? She’s the one we should be talking to about college, because she has more conversations with him than mom does. Not because mom chooses to, but because of life circumstances.
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Female#1: Very, very good.
Female: If I could, Ms. Bowman brings a good point even about the college tour opportunity. I mean similar to that transition in the 80s and 90s with Different World. A lot of very few and far and between do you hear of those college tours for those historical Black colleges. But we don’t even have to go far. If you were looking to spend money in Maryland, you could go to take kids to Morgan, to ____, to Eastern Shore, _____. Right within the state just to show them other areas where they could go, and then to see children or youth that look like them getting an education.
Female: Are there grant, I’m sorry, are there grant possibilities that would sponsor something like this?
Female: Instead of you trying to get a check.
Female#1: Let me end our recording, and then I’ll answer any questions that you have. I first want to say thank you to all of our participants. You guys have been great. Every time I think I know it all I sit down with somebody and they can always tell you something else or give you something to think of in a different perspective.
I had a couple of parents, I have to say that were here at 9:00. So I want to say thank you for being patient with all of us who weren’t here at 9:00. And I just, I really appreciate it. We ended up getting a very, very good group of dialogue, and this is information we are going to be sending to the Gates Foundation, and we are very hopeful that they will make a sizable investment in making college more accessible to our students. But thank you very much.
[End of Audio]
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Female #1: Okay. So speak nice and loud. I may have to come up and walk around because it picks up – it’s probably gonna pick up me doing this with the paper, so. All right. How do you feel about college? Describe college to me. What’s college? Go ahead.
Male #1: Ahh.
Female #1: Nice and loud.
Male #1: I think college is a good thing.
Female #1: Why? What is it? What do you do when you get there? What’s the purpose?
Male #1: You try to complete your goal. Something like that.
Female #1: That’s good. You’re completing a goal. That’s excellent. And what else? Who else can describe college for me? Go for it. Speak nice and loud for me, please.
Male #2: I think college is kind of a waste of a time. Waste of time.
Female #1: Why? Tell me. That’s okay. He’s entitled to his opinion. But you have to explain your opinion. You have to back it up.
Male #2: I think it’s a waste of time for 50%. Then I think it’s a real good – it’s real good for 50% because you go to college, it’s like you learning stuff, but still you’ve – still ain’t nothin’ that – just like being in school. You just learnin’ stuff. And then the 50% chance I think it’s good is because when you get to learn stuff and you get to learn more opportunities to do stuff in life and get further. Or whatever, like that. That’s what I think of college.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Well, tell me again, why do you think it might be a waste of time?
Male #2: Because it’s, like, you just learning something all over again. So it’s like you learning that same subject.
Male #1: Un-huh. It ain’t –
Female #1: Okay. Tell me what you think.
Male #3: To me college is just a place where I can further my education.
Female #1: Mm-hmm.
Male #3: That’s about it. And get a better job.
Female #1: Get a better job. Okay. I haven’t heard from you yet. Tell me what you think. When you think of college, what do you think? What comes to your mind?
Male #4: I don’t know.
Female #1: You don’t know. Okay. What about over here on this end?
Male #5: I think it’s, like, a place for higher learning, so you can, like, expand your knowledge, get a
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better job, more money.
Female #1: Okay. All right. Come on. Don’t be shy.
Female #2: I want to go to college. I think college – everybody should be required to go to college ‘cause it helps you know what you want to be in life. And you go there – you go to college to be a ______person. I can’t put it any ______.
Female #3: To be successful in what you want to be.
Female #2: Thank you.
Female #1: Okay. Excuse me for one quick minute. I’m gonna pause this. XX. I think – Miss Edwards, I think you’re gonna have to – ‘cause it’s gonna pick up on here. Play and see if it’s recording. And if it is, you’re gonna stop it and go to the next one. I think these are all free.
Female #4: So.
Female #1: So play. That was nothing. Let’s – that was something from earlier. So we’re gonna play on five. e’reW gonna stop, and we’re gonna – see there’s nothing on there.
Female #4: Right.
Female #1: So we’re gonna –
Female #4: Go back to five?
Female #1: Yeah. Let’s go back to five and then we’re gonna hit record. Okay?
Female #4: When I start?
Female #1: Mm-hmm.
Female #4: Do you have a copy of that?
Female #1: Un-huh. But I can give you that one. I know what I’m gonna ask them.
Female #4: Okay. I don’t know whether they have to be introduced to – what schools they were from?
Female #1: Because when I came here the parents was like, you know they have to be done by 10 to 6. So I just jumped into it.
Female #4: We need to – okay, we’ll need to have a sign in sheet with their grade.
Female #1: Is that it?
Female #4: Put their grade and have them put what school.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #4: See. This says elementary. This is the one.
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Female #1: Okay.
{Crosstalk}
Female #4: Do you guys get a permission slip that your parents had to sign?
Female #3: No. Miss XX forgot to give us one. She said she forgot and she was gonna bring them.
Female #1: Who was this?
Female #3: Miss XX.
Female #1: See. I thought she said she’d give them to me afterwards.
Female #4: So did you get slips for your parent to sign?
Group: No. No. No.
FEMALE #4: Okay. How do you all know Miss XX?
Female #2: We don’t. Miss Marcy just –
Female #1: Miss Marcy is from the XX Center?
Male #5: Yeah.
Female #4: Okay. This is what we’ll have to do. Write the names and their phone numbers.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #4: We’re giving each one of you all a $25.00 gift certificate to the movies. However, I can’t give you the gift certificate until I have your parent permission slip stuff. Okay? So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna have Miss Marcy – I’m gonna send Miss Marcy the permission slips ‘cause I don’t think I have the permission slips here. But I’ll give – or you guys go to the Ken Center every day?
Group: Yeah. No. Yeah we do. Except on Friday. ______.
Female #4: Okay. Do you have emails?
Male #5: Yes. We do.
Female #4: Okay. Give us phone numbers or emails. If you don’t go to the Ken Center, I can email you the permission slip. We’re trying to get the permission slip situated.
Female #5: Permissions slips. They don’t get their passes until they bring them back to me.
Female #4: That’s what we just told them.
Female #5: Okay. And where is your mother? At home again?
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Female #4: And what I told them is I will –
Female #5: ______mother? ______. They come the same like anybody else.
Male #3: ______.
Female #5: Why didn’t you tell me that when you came in?
Male #3: Well, ‘cause you were ______.
Female #4: I can email them.
Female #5: No. We’re not emailing them. We give them the slip and they bring it back. If they don’t bring it back to me tomorrow then that mean they don’t get their pass.
Female #4: Okay.
Female #5: Everybody knew ______. That’s important that we have permission slips. I gave them to her and ______office. ______.
{Crosstalk}
Female #4: What’s your name? Make sure I have your email address. So we want their names, emails, phone numbers, and grades so we know who have here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Very good. And then we’ll take care of – we’ll give her the – you know, you’ll take care of it from there.
Female #5: Yes.
Female #4: Okay. All right.
Female #1: Okay. While I’m asking these questions – I know we’re kind of on short time. I’m gonna pass this around. I want you to put your name, email, school, grade, and phone number.
{Crosstalk about emails}
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Female #1: If you don’t know it, don’t put it. If you have it – this is just so we can make sure we get you the gift cards. So if we can’t get you by phone, we can reach you by email.
Male #4: ______email.
Female #1: So it’s better if you can put both. But if you don’t have one or you don’t want one, that’s fine. But we’re gonna use those two ways to find you to make sure you get your gift card. Okay?
Female #3: I’m gonna just put email down.
Female #1: Okay. Please, can you print so I can make sure we can read everything? And I have a lot of stuff in this notebook, so please don’t spill it ‘cause I don’t have anything else for you to write in. Yes?
Male #2: I ______.
Female #1: Because of the data. We’re doing this to see if we can get enough data by making –
Male #2: All ______?
Female #1: No sweetheart, what grade your in.
Male #2: Oh.
Female #1: Okay. All right. So we’re gonna continue. So I need you guys –
Male #2: That’s not my answer. I’m just doing about something.
Female #1: Okay. That’s fine. Hold on. Let me get the tape back on. No. Wait a minute. Is this back on? Okay. So we’re continuing from where we left off. So guys, I need you to be real quiet ‘cause this thing is sensitive. But go ahead, you’re gonna change your answer and then I’m gonna ask my next question.
Male #2: Oh yeah. I thought about it. And college, it ain’t really a waste of time. It do help you a lot. It do kind of help you though life and stuff. And it do get you farther, so I just – that’s all I wanted to say. And I think about it and things.
Female #1: Okay. Anybody else want to talk about what they think it is or why it’s important? Or who it’s for. Who’s college for?
Male #1: Me.
Female #1: It’s for you?
Male #1: Yeah ‘cause I’m going in the NFL.
Female #1: Going to the NFL.
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: So in order to play sports you need to be associated with a college, right?
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Male #1: Yeah. And you got to have good grades.
Female #1: And you have to have good grades.
Male #1: And I’ll go for XX.
Female #1: And what?
Male #1: XX.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Anybody else?
Female #5: It’s for anybody.
Female #1: It’s for anybody. Good. Okay. Everybody agree with that?
Group: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Female #1: Okay. So I think I heard a few answers that says college is important because you can better yourself. You can get a good job. Is that it?
Male #4: That’s ______.
Female #1: That’s it?
Male #5: No.
Female #1: What else?
Male #2: Well, I thought you were saying to us –
Male #3: Hold up. Could you say that again?
Female #1: Is that all it’s good for? It’s only good for getting a better job and to better yourself?
Male #2: No.
Male #5: College just get you experience that you don’t have when you’re in high school.
Female #1: Okay. Good.
Male #5: Like, all them things you can’t do, like, go to college is the usual.
Male #4: No.
Male #1: Meet new people.
Female #1: Meet new people.
Female #3: Travel.
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Male #2: And make sure you don’t get ______of other people.
Female #1: Travel. It makes you a what?
Male #2: It make sure you stay respectful to other people and stuff.
Female #1: Okay. All right. Anybody else?
Female #2: It’s for what you want to be in life.
Female #1: For what you want to be in life. So let’s go around the room. What are you guys thinking of being?
Male #1: A football player.
Female #1: Okay. And after a football player, then what?
Male #1: A barber.
Female #1: A barber. Maybe have your own business?
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: All right. So for – to be an entrepreneur, to learn those business skills. Good.
Female #3: I want to be a pediatrician, but if –
Female #1: A pediatrician. You got to go to college twice. You gotta go to regular college, undergraduate. And then you go to med school for that.
Female #2: I’m gonna go to ______, or I might be a cosmetologist.
Female #1: A cosmetologist. Okay. Good.
Female #3: I’m being a pediatrician. I’m gonna study pre-med ‘cause I want to be a special pediatrician for the neonatal doctor for premature babies.
Female #1: Wow. Okay. That’s all right.
Male #3: I want to go to the NBA.
Female #1: NBA? Okay.
Male #3: Yeah. And then I want to be an accountant.
Female #1: And then you want to be an accountant. Good. So you can take care of your own money, right?
Male #3: want to go to the NBA.
Female #1: NBA? Okay.
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Male #3: Yeah. And then I want to be an accountant.
Female #1: And then you want to be an accountant. Good. So you can take care of your own money, right?
Male #3: Yeah.
Male #5: I’m gonna be an artist.
Female #1: What are you gonna do?
Male #4: I’m probably gonna be a football player, but for plan A, I want to be in construction.
Female #1: Construction worker. Okay. Good.
Male #5: I want to be an artist.
Female #1: An artist. Okay. What about over here?
Male #6: I want to be an actor. If that don’t work, I want to be a chef.
Female #1: An actor and a chef. Good. Good. You guys. I need full attention so I don’t hear a whole bunch of voices. What’d you say?
Male #5: I don’t know.
Female #1: You don’t know? Okay. That’s fine. Sometimes people go to college and then figure it out once they get there. What about you?
Female #2: I want to be a judge or I want to go to WNBA.
Female #1: Okay. Good. Very good.
Male #6: I want to be a rapper slash ______.
Female #1: Okay. I got you already, right? I got everybody? Okay. Good. All right. So what do you think some of the barriers are for kids to not be able to complete high school and go off to college? What are some of the things that happen that don’t allow kids to do that.
Male #5: Drugs. Gangs. Drugs and gangs.
Female #1: Drugs and gangs?
Male #5: On every corner.
Female #1: Is that a big – are gangs a big problem in Baltimore.
Group: Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. You should know.
Female #1: What gangs are there?
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Group: XX. Bloods. Crips. BFM. XX. XX. XX. XX.
Female #1: All right.
Male #2: Bisexuals and Vagina.
Male #1: What are you all doing in gangs?
Male #2: And ______.
Female #1: And what – and I heard somebody say –
Male #5: Drugs.
Female #1: – drugs. Is that – do you thing that’s a bigger thing?
Male #5: Oh yeah.
Male #2: Lots of drugs.
Female #1: Do you think it’s a problem that people are using or selling or both?
Group: Both. Both. Both.
Female #1: Okay. So who wants to talk about that a little more in-depth? Hold on. Hold on. We’re gonna – I’m gonna try to get everybody’s – remember, we’re on a rushed schedule ‘cause some of you have to get out of here. Go ahead.
Female #2: What was the question?
Female #1: Well, what is the problem preventing kids from finishing high school and going to college. You guys said drugs. And I asked is it selling or is it doing drugs, or both? And so some of you wanted to speak a little more on it. So you raised your hand.
Female #2: I think it’s using.
Female #1: Using it. Okay.
Female #2: ‘Cause their minds blank out. An it mess up – it can mess out your mind and stuff.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #5: I know it –
Female #3: I think it’s both and I also think another reason why people don’t go to – drop out of school and go over to college is because their families are probably not financially stable. And they can’t take of them. Or they don’t have enough money to go to college.
Female #1: Okay.
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Female #3: Or they been too busy selling drugs that they can’t get a job and stuff like that, or go to school.
Female #1: Okay. And you were going to say something?
Male #6: Oh. Most ‘cause if you sell it, like, and you get caught, and you go to jail, you miss out a lot of time out of school.
Female #1: That’s true.
Male #4: I say selling drugs is like a 50/50 thing. Like, it’s a good thing because they ain’t ______this stuff. ______business, like, at your business. And then they get a big ton of money.
Female #1: And it’s dangerous, right?
Male #1: Depends on how you do it.
Female #1: Hold on. I’m gonna get him, and then I’m gonna come to you.
Male #4: What?
Male #2: I disagree with him.
Female #1: Go ahead. If you’re gonna –
Male #4: ______.
Male #2: Because, drugs – I understand what you’re saying, but it isn’t the thing at all. ‘Cause you ain’t learning nothing. You’re killing yourself.
Male #4: Disagree with that.
Male #1: Using drugs, you’re killing yourself. Selling drugs is two different things.
{Crosstalk about doing and selling drugs}
Male #3: And people can’t always do drugs. So, hey, you guys sell drugs, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Male #2: But it’s always a way to go out there and find a job.
Male #3: Not all the time. You can’t.
Male #2: I don’t want him to be.
Male #3: You a ninth grader. You can’t even get a job if you wanted to.
Female #1: Shh. But you know what, both of you – both of you have some interesting –
Male #6: Shh. Shh.
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Female #1: Both of you have some interesting points. And we said in the beginning we’re gonna respect everybody’s idea. You know, it’s not easy for a lot of people and a lot of families. And sometimes people resort to doing something that’s not the right thing. But we’re here to find out how we can get more kids to finish high school and to go to college. Because college does offer some opportunities where you don’t have to do certain things. And so it’s a conversation. We can respect everybody’s ideas. Okay, everybody had different situations.
Okay. Someone mentioned – I think you mentioned about some people don’t have the finances to go to college. Well, what are some other options if you don’t have the money to go to college?
Female #2: Scholarship. Or you can go to loans.
Female #1: Scholarships or loans, okay.
Male #1: Or you could – what’s that thing that’s on TV. If a –
Male #5: You can go to the army. And won’t they pay for your college?
Female #1: The military will pay for your college. Or you can work. Some people work and go to school. Some people actually find jobs where the jobs will help pay for you to go to school. They might have certain programs. But you have to know about them
Male #1: Job Corps. That’s what I was trying to say.
Female #1: Job Corps. Very good. Very good. And I haven’t heard you say anything. What do you think? You got to say it – now look, here’s the catch. We’re giving you these gift certificates so you have to participate to get a gift certificate. So at least think about something a little later, okay? All right.
Do you think – what do you think about people having children at a young age or people going to jail at a young age? Does that have any effect on people’s potential to finish high school and go to college?
Group: Yeah. Yes. Yes.
Female #1: In what way?
Male #1: Because the people having babies, can’t they put you out?
Male #5: No.
Male #3: They can’t put you for that.
Female #2: No. They got a ______school you can go if you’re pregnant.
Female #1: Okay. We’re gonna let you speak.
Male #1: They might have to support their kids instead of supporting their funds for college.
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Female #1: Okay.
Female #3: They be too busy to support their kids
Male #1: Too busy?
Female #3: Too busy – what if you can’t find a babysitter to watch your child? You can’t take your child to school. Most schools won’t let you.
Male #3: At that ______they do.
Female #3: Unless they got a daycare center at schools, like XX
Male #2: Didn’t you say when young people going to jail affect their what?
Female #1: Affect them completing high school and going to college.
Male #2: I’m just – I don’t think so because they go to jail, I think it will make them buckle up and then make them want to go to high school and really finish college even more. If they go to ______‘cause some people do go to jail ‘cause of the experience.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #2: I think young ______having babies affecting ______because they having babies. You take care of them and the babies can waste up their time. They waste their time.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #3: I would say going to jail, the only thing wrong about that is you get a record, and you do miss, like, time out of school, like a lot of time. And having kids, it’s not necessarily true, this girl’s last statement ‘cause there’s a lot of kids now that go to my school who have babies and all that. And they got daycares at the school where they still get their schooling and go ahead about their business.
Female #1: Mm-hmm. So you’re saying if there’s a daycare there – are you saying that if there’s a daycare at the school, that shouldn’t prevent them from completing high school and applying to college?
Male #3: Un-huh.
Female #1: Okay. And I know you’re – I’ll come back to you ‘cause you’re filling that out but what do you think?
Male #6: Jail ______-- it takes you a lot of time off. You can’t get work done.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #6: And then again, it takes time from work to take care of your child –
Female #1: So the time factor affects your being able to finish.
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Male #4: Same with him.
Female #1: Same with him. Okay. Okay.
Male #2: I thought in jail, I know people go to school in the jail. I heard that somewhere
Male #3: It is.
Female #1: I’m not sure. It might be.
Female #3: I think it is, and if that’s so, then I don’t think that jail should stop you from getting an education.
Female #1: Okay. You were going to add something?
Female #2: I don’t think it’s the answer. It would affect me because when you in jail, you can still get your education, then you can test for something what you want to be. And they let you XX. But they get their education free in jail. ‘Cause my uncle ______. And he want to be an engineer.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #2: And they can come and be an engineer without no degree or nothing, but they just got tested in jail. But I don’t think that’s weird.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #3: I still disagree on that because even though you can get trades for out of jail, you still miss time out the regular school period. And even though, like, you miss out on other things that done in school that could have gotten you ahead or moved you up in different programs. Stuff like that.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. I’m gonna ask you guys this question. I’ll let you finish off, and then I have a new question to ask.
Male #1: Jail is also a good thing for – no, ‘cause like jail can show you real, like, if you in there for a certain amount of time.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #3: Like drug addicts, if they in jail they can’t use drugs, so they gotta get clean.
Male #1: Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
Female #1: Let me ask you this. How do your parents feel about – how does your parents or your caregivers feel about you going off to college? Like if you wanted to go away to college in a different city or a different state, how would your – hold on, I’m gonna go around the room. I’m actually start on this side, ‘cause I been getting a lot of comments, which is good, but let me make sure I’m getting everybody to answer. How do your parents or your caregivers feel about you – or even your friends, if you wanted to go to college away from Baltimore?
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Male #2: Good.
Female #1: You’re still filling – you’re still filling yours out so we’ll go over here. How would your family feel about you going away to school, like out of town or out of the state?
Female #2: Well, my parents would take me out because they know that I’m going out there to get an education.
Female #1: Mm-hmm.
Female #2: So they’d take me out.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #5: Same with me.
Female #1: Same.
Male #4: I don’t know.
Female #1: You don’t know how they would feel?
Male #4: No.
Female #1: Would they feel –
Male #4: I think they’d ______staying here in Maryland.
Female #1: Why?
Male #4: I don’t know.
Female #1: Would they be scared for you to leave or they want you to stay so you can help work and contribute to the household? Or –
Male #4: I just think they would probably want me to stay in Maryland.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #6: They – I don’t think they would have any problem with – basically going out to do what they wanted me to do anyways. So –
Female #1: Okay. Nice and loud.
Female #1: I never really thought about my – I ain’t said to my mother nothing me going to college. But I think she would be proud of me because I’m going out to get my education and I’m succeeding what I’m going to be, and to better myself.
Female #1: Okay. Thank you.
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Male #2: Well, my brother been important about education. I don’t think they have a problem with it, but I think at the same time, I do. So un-huh-un. I don’t know.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #3: My parents – I don’t have a choice about going to college or not, ‘cause they know I’m going. And they will miss me, but if I’m going out there, they want me to get the best education I can get. So if I were to go out of state, they would know it would be for a good reason. So they wouldn’t mind.
Female #1: They’d support you to go.
Female #3: They’d support me. There you go.
Male #2: I think my parents would be happy, me going out of state ‘cause, like, there’s better colleges out of state than just in Maryland.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #1: My parents, they’d say, “Yeah.” ______NFL. So yeah.
Female #1: So they wouldn’t mind?
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: Okay. So how many of you in here really feel like you’re gonna go to college? You want to go, and you’re gonna go?
Male #1: Me.
Female #1: And if you don’t feel like that, then you have to tell me why. Okay? Un-un-un, that hand was down. Go ahead. And it’s okay, I mean, we said in the beginning we might have different ideas about things. That’s okay. But tell me why not.
Female #2: I don’t want to go to college. I mean I do want to go college, but –
Female #3: You’re not going.
Female #2: Huh?
Female #3: You’re not going.
Female #2: Yeah. But I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t know.
Female #1: Well, what would be a reason? Shh, shh. What would be a reason for you not to go? You don’t want to go because – fill in the blank.
Female #2: Un-un-un.
Female #1: You don’t know?
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Female #2: No, I don’t have no clue yet.
Female #1: No clue yet? Okay. Okay. That’s fair enough. Go ahead. You were gonna say something?
Male #4: I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh. I want to go to college. I want to meet some new friends.
Female #1: Meet some new friends.
Male #4: That’s the only reason.
Female #1: That’s actually a good reason because the people you go to college with, you don’t know – God bless you. If everybody –let’s say everybody in here went to college, and let’s say you were majoring in business, because after you finish your career, you were going to open up your own business. And you said you wanted to be a doctor. There might be some lawyers in here. There might be some other entrepreneurs. You know each other now, so you might be able to collaborate together. You might need – you might have a law question. And you, for your business, you could ask, you know, someone else in here that studied law. Or you might be interested in getting a job or opening up your own practice. And now you know him who started his business.
So it’s all about social networking. You have friends that know how to do things or have access to things that you wouldn’t otherwise have. Right? So it’s good to meet people from other places. It’s good to have new friends and always be making those contacts. Let me see what other questions I have for you. What would – what do you think you would need – okay, let me go back. Let me go back Have any of you been in any kind of college prep programs –
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: – or any programs that taught you about college or took you on college trips of anything like that.
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: What’s the name of it and –
Male #5: The college
Male #4: The trip thing?
Male #5: Yeah. No. Yeah, that. Be Triples trip.
Female #1: What is it? Oh. Be Triples.
Male #5: Yeah. ‘Cause our middle school, we had the art form, and they had to go our art stuff up there. And we had to walk around there and they had showed us what they do in class and stuff. Like, they can go out and get lunch anytime they want ‘cause they grown enough to control.
Female #2: When I was in middle school, like, all the colleges in Maryland, or some of the colleges came from other places. They came down to school. We had interviews and they told us about it and gave us information and stuff like that. And it was like a college fair, but they came to our school.
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Female #1: Okay. Anybody else?
Male #2: I think when I was in sixth grade, it’s like every time you – people be late, they get a certain amount of stars. There was something that they did. And then after that, you would go to – I think the college was called Loyola College.
Female #1: Mm-hmm.
Male #2: And we’d go there and they would tell up their teachers what they doing and all the other stuff. And then, afterwards, I know we’d eat some pizza and ice cream.
Male #3: That’s all he remembered.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Anybody else? Shh. Okay, well, let’s go around the room. I want you to name two colleges or universities. And if someone says one, you can’t use that one. You gotta use another one, okay? So I’m gonna start. I’m just gonna go around. I’m gonna start. Thank you. I’m gonna start with you. Name two colleges or universities.
Male #4: Coppin.
Female #1: Coppin and?
Male #4: I don’t know. That’s it.
Female #1: That’s it? It could be –
Male #4: Yeah. I don’t know any college right now.
Female #1: Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, you should. You guys, you gotta –
Male #5: MIT and Yale.
Female #1: MIT and Yale. Very good.
Male #2: What’s that school? I forgot. Come back to me.
Female #1: I’ll come back to you. I’ll come back to you, too, if you want to think of your other one.
Male #4: I don’t even know too many names of colleges. Like, none right there.
Male #2: Oh. I know it.
Female #1: What about – there’s several here in Baltimore.
Male #1: I don’t plan on staying in Baltimore. I’m coming back to Baltimore, but I want to go out.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #2: Morgan and –
Female #1: Morgan State University and –
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Male #2: Yeah, and that’s the only one I can think of.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #2: I really don’t know colleges and things like, ______go for a while, you know.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #2: Loyola College.
Female #1: Loyola. Okay. Anything else?
Male #2: I only know one college.
Female #1: Okay.
Female #3: Princeton and Harvard.
Female #1: Okay.
Male #3: LSU and Georgetown.
Female #1: What was the first one?
Male #3: LSU.
Female #1: LSU and Georgetown. Okay.
Male #1: I’m going to Florida State, and Miami.
Female #1: Florida State. Okay.
Male #1: And Miami.
Female #1: And name another – you said, “And Miami?”
Male #1: Yeah.
Female #1: All right. Good. Okay. So if we’re gonna just brainstorm about local colleges or even – not local, but it could be in Maryland, too. What are the other ones?
Male #4: I’m about to leave.
Female #1: You’re about to leave? Okay, thank you, dear. And you have your name on here? Okay. Thank you. Hold on. We’re almost done. We’re almost done.
Male #2: I though we could leave.
Female #1: Did I say we were leaving?
Male #3: Did you tell my momma? Oh.
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Female #2: UNBC.
Female #1: Okay. UNBC is one. Good. Good. There’s Morgan. There’s Coppin. There’s University of Baltimore, University of Maryland, College Park.
{Crosstalk}
Female #1: Okay. So let me – this might be the last question, actually. And then I’m gonna get you guys out of here. Okay? What do you think you would need – what do you think you would need to help you finish high school and to go to college? So if we had, like, a magic wand, you know, and you knew your thing was “I need money.” Or “I need someone to help me with my grades.” Or “I need” – you know. What is it that you would need, if we could make it happen, to help you finish high school and go off to college. Are you snappin’ at me?
Male #1: No.
Male #5: Yeah.
Female #1: Oh. I’m gonna get you. I’m gonna get you. I promise I’m gonna get you. Go ahead.
Female #2: I think we need to –
Female #1: Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh.
Female #2: I think we need support.
Female #1: What kind of support?
Female #2: Like, support from people.
Female #3: From peers.
Female #2: Yeah.
Female #3: And also teachers.
Female #1: From your friends, too?
Female #2: And your family members.
Female #1: And family members.
Female #2: ‘Cause you can’t do it by yourself.
Female #1: Okay. That’s good.
Male #5: ______motivation.
Female #1: Motivation. Okay. What kind of things would help motivate you to go to college?
Male #5: Getting a good job.
127 High School Students • Multiple Speakers
Female #1: Getting a good job. Okay. Or working for yourself. Sometimes you go to college, you don’t just work for someone else. You could be working for yourself, right?
Male #2: Entrepreneur.
Male #3: What was the question again?
Female #1: What – okay. It’s okay. What would you need to help you finish high school and to go off to college?
Male #3: Money.
Female #1: Money. Okay. What do you personally need?
Female #2: People that’s concerned so if you need money you can get into programs to help you. That’s what I need.
Female #1: Okay. Like a certain program. Good. I’m gonna come this way.
Male #1: I know one, well, you can get money from, like, the schools. So –
Male #3: Not all the time.
Female #1: So you need tuition. You need money, right?
Female #3: Scholarships.
Female #1: Scholarships or grants.
Male #6: I need help with my academics.
Female #1: Help with your academics. Okay. And that’s very honest.
Male #6: I need help with my mathematics, y’all, you know. I need a job, they gonna try and put me at cash register. I ain’t gonna –
{Crosstalk}
Female #1: Shh. Shh. Shh.
Female #3: I think I would need motivation. I would need support. Support, motivation, and to lose ______.
Female #1: Okay. All right. Okay, guys. Thank you. I appreciate your time.
[End of Audio]
128 Multiple Speakers • High School Parents
Facilitator: And we’re here at ______Springs Elementary to talk to parents about college access and readiness.
So, my first question is just for each one of the folks that are here, how do you feel about college? What do you think about college? What comes to mind? Miss _____?
Miss _____: I think it’s a wonderful experience.
Facilitator: Do you think every child has to go to college?
Miss _____: ______not has to. I don’t think they have to go, but I think it’s a wonderful experience for them to go. I think they should. I think it’s a good way to direct you what you want to be, what you want to become.
It just helps to bring things out of you, while furthering your education, learning about different other resources about different colleges or what the next goal for you to achieve to make it to where you want to be.
Facilitator: What do you think?
Female: I don’t think that college is too expensive ______afford.
Facilitator: So what do you do when you can’t afford it? What options? Do you think that keeps kids from going to college is the finances?
Female: Well, I think it’s the attitude of your parents. If you ______then they will never think about it or try to do their very best in school ______.
Facilitator: ‘Cause that’s another question I have. What keeps Black children, what keeps African- American kids from going to college? What do you think the barriers are for them?
Female: Self-esteem.
Female: ______the home attitude towards education –
Female: ______education. I know a couple of mine – I have nine of them – most of my children wanted to go to college. The ones who want to go, but want to put it on the back burner is because of the experience that they had in their ______high school and they were just deterred and tired and it was like drudgery.
Even though this one who’s about to graduate this year and he’s 19, so it took him – he had a hard struggle going through school, he wants to go to Virginia Tech because somebody said something to him about Virginia Tech and that he would do well.
But he’s saying, “Oh, but I had such a hard time in high school, maybe I need to wait a little while and take a break; then go on to college.”
Ya’ know that along with that, about the first question that you were asking, a lot of them are being told by their parents or stuff like that, say if the parent was doing wrong or brought up the wrong way, the child thinks they’re going to be in the wrong or ______or what ______situation may be, abuse and stuff like that.
129 High School Parents • Multiple Speakers
So that’s a part where I was saying the self-esteem thing. They not used to – some of the kids if you ask them do you love yourself, a lot of them can’t answer it.
Do you hug yourself. I try to tell my daughter, give yourself a hug and that makes you feel good. Whether you know it or not, it brings out a lot of you ‘cause I know the first time when I done it, when I hugged myself I cried. It was real emotional.
So a lot of them need that; a hug in the morning; to be told you’re going to be somebody instead of somebody sitting up there telling them you’re not going to amount to nothing, you’re not going to do this. That’s where a lot of their downfalls come from.
Facilitator: So we said finances, if they’ve had a bad experience in high school or middle school, family dynamics. So we can have a situation where the family is not possibly pushing the child. Is there anything else we can think of that is a barrier for our kids?
Female: Well, sometimes when we in school, we don’t do well at first ‘cause we figure there’s nothing for us, but once we get – if we had the right kind of teachers that are getting the motivating and ______well. A lot of us went to school after the fact. Not for their home because it had ______and the subjects they was learning they wanted to know more about it and then they like it. That’s how they was able to go.
Female: So identifying directions on who it is that they really want to be, where they want to go.
Facilitator: That’s an issue for us.
Female: That’s a real issue. Most of the time our kids are coming out not knowing who they are or what they want to do or be or go.
Female: No goals. They ______looking at Black History month –
Female: There’s no goals or anything.
Female: Ya’ know, we talk about that. Our leaders role only in Black History month. I asked a question today to the young people, “Who is the highest judge in the state of Maryland in the Court of Appeals?” They didn’t know. Robert Bell, _____ east Baltimore, ______, ______. They didn’t know that.
I said, you can go to court and I don’t care what the judge say, you can disagree and ask to appeal your case. Then it goes to a ______court where judge –
Female: That’s right.
Female: They didn’t know that. It’s new. So a lot of things ______that we don’t know what our ______what they’re doing.
Female: Yeah; and that’ s another thing about stuff that happened years ago. They ______old school again. They need ______school.
Facilitator: What do you mean by that?
Female: The history, the way how we was taught. The mathematics, the addition, the subtraction and
130 Multiple Speakers • High School Parents
stuff like that. I understand everything changes every year, the different environments and trying to get that person more up to speed, but you can’t go so fast with some of these kids. You have to start from the basics. You cannot –
Facilitator: Do you think that’s what’s keeping them from graduating from high school? Some of them?
Female: Yeah –
Facilitator: Because before you can even go to college you have to first graduate from high school.
Female: Right.
Facilitator: So is the way that we’re teaching children keeping them from ultimately getting their high school diploma. The situation you talked about with your son where it was a struggle. Some kids give up, right. Which says a lot about your child that you are –
Female: Right; he’s determined ______.
Facilitator: Right; so what do you think we’re doing as a public school system that keeps kids – or a community I should say?
Female: I agree with – I didn’t quite understand what you were saying, but ya’ know, I’ve substituted and I volunteer in schools and every time I go into the school to volunteer and I’ll sit beside – and I don’t care what school it is. Doesn’t have to be my child. I just drive ______, stop in a school and go sit beside a child.
Most of the time whoever you sit beside, the teacher will think that you’re their parent and they will begin to start calling on that child a whole lot and after the class is over they’ll come and say, “Oh, are you so-and-so’s parent?” I’ll say no. And see that they’ve given this child attention.
The children will say, “Oh, Miss ______come back ‘cause she doesn’t act like that when a parent’s not in there.” And I know that’s true because like I said all of a sudden they giving this one the attention.
But, I’m a math oriented person, science -______and I like to sit in the math classes. The way that they teaching this new math it is so difficult and so strange, foreign for our children.
I’ll give an example. I was in a class and they were doing cross-multiplying. So they were designing fractions. The lady said, “Flip it. Little girl, I told you to flip it.”
So I’m looking and I’m seeing what they’re doing and I say, “Oh, she means invert.” And the little girl didn’t know what invert meant. I said it just means to turn it upside down; you invert; turn it upside down and then you just go across and multiply.
She looked at the teacher and said, “Why didn’t you tell us that? That’s so easy.” And I’ll go around. But they’re doing it so that the kids are confused. Then I’ll just look at it simply and tell them just how to do it the way that we learned and they’re learning how to do it. So I agree with you.
Facilitator: The teaching strategies.
131 High School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Female: The teaching – that are not getting through. Then we have this two dimensional learning on a piece of paper where we live in a three dimensional world so they have to do a hands on manipulative type thing and that’s where the school programs come in.
Facilitator: Right; you’ve got to ______at the school programs, right.
Female: I’ll teach mathematics with the children say in basketball, shooting pool, bringing games. You can teach them math or the dynamics and physics, geometry. I introduce the fact of the triangle through games and they get it.
Facilitator: So teaching strategies is one of the issues. Because again, in Baltimore where the dropout rate is so high what do we need to do as a community to get our kids to graduate? What’s the barriers? Why are our kids not graduating from high school?
Female: Well, one of the things that this new idea of teaching kids instead of using basic stuff, they say that it’s for ______foreign countries and ______its ______is turned around. We did need those – try to get us to go that way.
But we do a lot of basic stuff, our kids and be reward as they go along and make it real exciting. Like art handcrafts, ______, home economics, sewing; stuff they can do.
Our parents made everything for us and it was appreciated. We need to have that back in school and ______and still making clothes ______open up a restaurant. It’s where everybody goes. They think everything’s so hard when it’s real simple.
Facilitator: What about community basis? We know we have school barriers. What is it in the community that’s keeping our kids from graduating from high school?
Female: Along with what all of us are saying today, like I said when you give a child a certain word, a child don’t understand it and know what it is. I was brought up you give your vocabulary words, you look them up.
They don’t even let the kids look the words up in a dictionary. They have to automatically know what it means or go around asking and stuff. I think they need to bring back the vocabulary.
______the definition of it, using it in a complete sentence. That’s another thing. Complete sentences. A lot of these, they not teaching them complete sentences. They teaching them get straight to the point, the correct answer –
Female: ______.
Female: Yeah; it’s not – I’m just ______--
Facilitator: Right. Right. Right.
Female: ______what you’re saying. Not only are they not doing theirs, but I notice that the teachers aren’t doing it either. They have incorrect English. A lot of foreigners are teaching our children. The children can’t understand them. ______.
132 Multiple Speakers • High School Parents
Facilitator: Right.
Female: I don’t know ______they teasing the foreigners what they language is – this is on the high school –
Female: And I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this –
Facilitator: Yes.
Female: -- along with the teachers, the teachers have to set the example. The way how they come in dressed. That’s a big issue for some of them kids ‘cause a lot of them boys look at them teachers like hey, they revealing their self. That distracts a child.
Facilitator: Okay.
Female: And I done heard –
Facilitator: So lack of professionalism.
Female: Right. And the way how they talk to them, being sneaky about it. They put their hands on kids and it’s your word against theirs, but some of these teachers need to be evaluated their self. They need to see someone or more professional than what they have now.
Facilitator: Okay. Let’s move out of the schools and let’s talk about ______. We know schools is a challenge. Well, what’s happening in our communities, in our homes that’s keeping our kids from graduating from high school?
Female: For one thing they keep the same kind of problems in the same community together. When I was coming up you had a doctor in your neighborhood, a teacher, or a baker or home economics or poor person or welfare. The community was really mixed and ______. As a young person I had something to look forward –
Facilitator: Role models.
Female: Role models. And then they remove all that from us and the way they got it set up now they make us pay higher prices for the house, but we ain’t got nobody in the neighborhood for us to look at. And so why I’m paying and buying this. Who can I look forward.
And where is the implication in the school for me to want to be like Mr. Jones ‘cause he’s a big shot. He makes good money. So let’s role model an engineer person ______--
[Crosstalk]
Female: And that’s why the drug dealers do very well in our neighborhoods because that’s the quickest ______--
Female: What gets them out of that area safe where we can ______--
[Crosstalk]
Female: That’s not doing anything. They just talk big just showing them that somebody likes you. They not really going by that.
133 High School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Facilitator: So the issues in our community are A, we have hot pockets of poverty, right. It’s not mixed income and so kids are missing out on the opportunity to have role models. Then the only people that are role models are the drug dealers; the people who are making the fast money.
So the kids aren’t seeing the benefit of –
[Crosstalk]
Female: They’re making good money.
Female: Yeah.
[Crosstalk]
Female: ______. No activities. There’s no movies. The library’s are open the same time school is.
Female: That’s true.
Female: Understand that. The school closes, the library ______. Holidays, they’re not open. They’re not open on the weekend. ______.
Female: ______have any recreation ______for real for them to go to.
Female: No; we don’t.
Female: There’s nothing for us to do. There’s one crummy roller skating rink; one in the city and then you got to go way out here.
Facilitator: So that gets me to another question. Tell me what, if you were talking to Associated Black Charities, what kind of school-based or community-based programs do we need to encourage kids to go to college? What do we need?
Female: Well, I had, in the school, I want to have the right kind of academics; same as the rich White ______--
[Crosstalk]
Female: I would go out in the neighborhood just to find out what they got so that my children can benefit on that to put it in my neighborhood. Our Black kids can learn, but nobody believes they can learn if you never offer the opportunity.
And a lot of things that goes on that we don’t know nothing about and when we find out about it, we past the age or we don’t have the funds.
Facilitator: Okay. What else. What kind of school-based or community-based programs are needed to encourage students to go to college? School or community-based programs.
Female: I think we need community – community and school-based, but they need somewhere where the kids can go at to be off the street and find that there’s a better way to fast money. Meaning anybody can sell drugs, but can anybody ______that money up.
134 Multiple Speakers • High School Parents
They learning the ______that way. They not ______there. They not learning the ______in your head using your fingers and holding the stuff. They want you to automatically come up with it instead of learning, like I said, going back to the old.
Female: ______the schools, I think that they need to have what’s called like up and down. Up and down programs and then the guidance counselors be guidance counselors like they were when I was ______--
Facilitator: What do you mean by that?
Female: Guidance counselors I guess ______kids in school. They in high school and I actually have a – I can compare because now that I moved into the county I have one child that goes to XX. He’s in county school ninth grade. He was going to City College, but ______good here, too.
And ______goes to ______. And where I love ______and I know those people very well, the guidance counselors, they are more concerned with graduating and numbers and grades and the 75 hours.
______today my son is just starting to go to Clarkville. When I was there I watched all these mixed children, ‘cause it’s a mixture, right; Black, Orientals, everything.
They were flooding in this guidance counselor’s office and they ninth and tenth graders and they were asking for these programs and where to go and they had maybe four rooms to go into and all this lavish stuff out on the table and these nice little programs for them to get involved or go to the career fairs and do all this stuff.
I was only in there 15 minutes and I was amazed at how the guidance counselors were just what they are. Guiding them.
Facilitator: A totally different experience.
Female: Mmm hmm; they were guiding the children. They bring them and they send for them and tell them different things that they can do.
Facilitator: So career counseling, college counseling; you saw all of that happen.
Female: All of that.
Female: ______.
Female: Yeah; they do need to bring that back.
Facilitator: Now we have one more question for Marcia ______‘cause she had nine children. You know we got to get her information in here. Okay. What kind of information or access to information is needed to promote students in completing high school and going to college?
What kind of information do we put out there? How do put it out there? How do we send a message as a community that kids need to go to high school, complete high school and go to college?
135 High School Parents • Multiple Speakers
Female: The ones that come in that help them. Like someone – you know how they bring someone that already achieved something. You know how they get their name and their number and how did they do this --?
Facilitator: Is that ______--
Female: Yes; they need that and need to stick with what they say instead of just coming there, showing up and going.
Facilitator: So long-term ______--
Female: Right; right.
Facilitator: So mentoring is one way. What other way --?
Female: They could have seminars on a regular basis. Not every now and then when you get close to the ______. Like in every semester they should have one once a month.
Female: ______now that’s what I was saying. Like I was saying Second Presbyterian has this thing once a year and we take our kids ______I want you to go to because they’ll have this once a year and they’ll get college students, they’re first year college students, after their first year. So let’s say it’s their second year. So they’re finishing up their first year ‘cause it’s around May. They’ll have four of them at a time and the kids will come in and ask questions. First they’ll talk about their experience and how difficult it was for them, what they’ve learned. It’s really nice.
Facilitator: Your church does this every year?
Female: Every year; and they bring them in front of the panel and kids will start asking questions after they’ve done their presentation of what they felt. Then they’ll ask, “How did you feel about this?” “What was your struggle?”
They’ll talk about their struggle and you better learn this ‘cause if I had somebody who’d have told me this when I was in ______grade I would have done something a little bit different. And that’s really nice ‘cause it’s only once a year. I would like it to see like how you’re saying, like they start matching people up –
Facilitator: Ongoing interaction.
Female: Yes; and this – graduated from Morgan and what she did, she was in the Persian Angels and she had come back to her elementary school and started junior P.A. So the junior P.A.’s and now each one of them have adopted a kid and they’ll follow them –
Facilitator: All the way through.
136 Multiple Speakers • High School Parents
Female: And see that’s another thing. I brought that up even at my church and I bring that up a lot ‘cause I always attend the board meetings sometimes ______talk about how our kids can further their education by sitting up there asking more questions.
A lot of the kids are scared to ask questions. I’m glad they starting to push that you have a voice, talk and I installed that in my children and tell them you have a voice; open up your mouth. If you need to know something, ask. If you don’t know, ask. If I don’t know, I go to someone else that knows.
Facilitator: I want to thank you, ladies, for participating in our focus group. It was small and intimate, but very helpful. We did it in half the time as everybody else does. Alright; thank you.
[End of Audio]
137
Appendix C Out of School Time Programs
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
APPENDIX C Out of School Time Programs
The benefits of out-of-school time programs are widely documented and include improved academic performance, decreased teenaged pregnancy, and decreased participation in high-risk health behaviors (Eccles and Gootman, 2002). Out-of-school time programs are understood as those activities that engage children and adolescents when they are not in school, whether before or after school during the school week, or on weekends. Telephone surveys with a staff member of each out of school time program was conducted to determine the population served, activities and other resources provided to participants, and the program’s supporting resources.
As a part of this study researchers were able to document thirty-four community resources by using school staff leads and internet research. Although not exhaustive, this list provides a framework for understanding the reach and impact of community resources in Baltimore. These types of community resources are demonstrated in Table 1-3.
Type of Community Resources Number of Each Mentoring with College Preparatory 20 One-Time Initiatives 8 After School with College Preparatory 2 Component Fully Devoted to College Preparatory 3 Other 1 Total 34
Table 1-3 Distribution of Types of Community Resource
Specific information on these types of community resources have been individually documented.
139 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: ACE Baltimore Contact Info and Location: David Gaudreau, Senior Vice President, Gaudreau, Inc. 810 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230 p (410) 837-5040 f (410) 837-8093 Time program is offered: Weekly Category of Program/Brief Description:
Mentoring Program that includes college prep • ACE Baltimore’s objective is to give high school young people an opportunity to explore career possibilities in the building professions. This group contains a unique partnership of architects, construction managers, engineers, designers, professional organizations, high schools and universities. Mentors meet with student teams weekly after school for construction site tours, visits to college campuses and team projects designed to inform, challenge and actively engage program participants Program Requirements: unknown Program Capacity: 70 students from five local schools: Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Carver Vocational–Technical School, Digital Harbor High School, Mergenthaler Vocational–Technical High School and Mount St. Joseph High School Operations Budget: supported by community-minded firms and organizations Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
140 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Alpha Phi Alpha Gentlemen’s Scholarship Beautillion Sponsor: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Delta Lambda Chapter Contact Info and Location: Anthony Mills, President PO Box 7087 Baltimore, MD 21216 443-506-3089 www.Deltalambda.org Time program is offered: 10 month program (Beautillion); 1-2 times per month (Go to High School/Go To College Program) Category of Program/Brief Description:
Mentoring program that includes college prep: Alpha Phi Alpha Young Gentlemen’s Scholarship Beautillion for High School Seniors.
• This 10 month program’s aim is to support the educational goals of African American men with medium-range grade point averages (75-80) and lack the financial resources or support needed to attend college. • The Beautillion is a coming out party of sorts for promising black males ready to make their entrance into society. This Beautillion also serves as a valuable college prep resource for the college seniors participating. The program teaches a wide range of skills such as dining etiquette, dressing for success, SAT prep, assistance with completing applications, financial aid workshops, and College Prep sessions where fraternity members share their college experiences An after-school program that includes college prep: Go to High School, Go to College Middle School Program
• This is a national Alpha Phi Alpha initiative and the local Delta Lambda Chapter fulfills this obligation by providing mentoring, tutoring and financial support to the students of Rosemont Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore once or twice as month. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • African American male high school seniors with grade point average around 75-80 (Beautillion)
• Six to eighth grades students at Rosewood Elementary/Middle School (Go to High School/ Go to College Program) Program Capacity: Average between 12 and 16 participants each year for Beautillion; open for more participants Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Feedback from the students, their parents and administrators at the schools involved in the form of letters Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Applications sent to all schools in the city • Alpha Phi Alpha members who work in schools in various positions recruit participants
141 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Baltimore Algebra Project Contact Info and Location: Jay Gillen, Program Director 2526 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 410-338-0670/443-248-9032 Time program is offered: Operates Monday-Thursday from 3:30-6:30 at four sites throughout Baltimore City. Category of Program/Brief Description:
An after-school program that includes college prep • The Baltimore Algebra Project is an after school College Prep Math and Employment program. Students, proficient in math, are paid to conduct study groups with their peers at their respective high school with the goal of helping more high school students do well on state and national tests that determine their college readiness or level of scholarship aid. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • The students who use this service come from six area high schools - Heritage, Doris M. Johnson, Mergenthaler, City College, Poly and Connections. Program Capacity: 300 students receiving assistance Operations Budget: $400,000 for the entire Baltimore Algebra Project. Of that amount, $300,000 goes to student tutors. Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Word-of-mouth • Posters in schools
142 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Baltimore Urban Debate League Contact Info and Location: Pam Spiliadis, Executive Director 1800 N Charles St # 906 Baltimore, MD 21201 (410) 752-2835 Time program is offered: Variable Category of Program/Brief Description:
Fully devoted to getting youngsters into college • Baltimore Urban Debate League offers a College Access program which focuses on giving students not just the desire to go to college but also the tools needed to be effective once they get there.
• One of our college access programs is a one-week summer camp – Countdown to College – at Towson University that gives our rising seniors a head start on the college application process
• The League also offers workshops on financial aid, interview skills, SAT prep
• Features a career panel where professionals from Baltimore city area come and do a round robin panel in which they talk about careers our students have expressed and interest in and what it takes to get into that career.
• Finally the League conducts day-long college campus visits to local schools like John Hopkins, Loyola, Morgan state and Howard University in the District of Columbia. Program builds on its Summer College Access program throughout the entire school year – especially for the older students. Also does college access work at middle schools Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Program for middle and high school students Program Capacity: Unknown Operations Budget: $1.2 million annually, 50% comes from the Baltimore City School System, also get funding from foundations, corporations and individuals. Measurement of success: Surveys, conducts studies to collect college graduation and college matriculation data. Currently working with the school system to collect more data on how our program affects grade point average and attendance. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Teacher’s advertise in schools • Due to the success of the program, it has been featured in local and national media.
143 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: The Black Professional Men (Mentoring Program and Scholarship Fund) Contact Info and Location: Quadre Washington, President PO Box 13362 Baltimore 21203 410-377-1023 Time program is offered: program runs throughout the school year Summer months June-August everyday 8 a.m.-1p.m; Weekends during the school year 1-4 p.m. Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • This male-only tutoring program provides one-on-one mentoring and tutoring, cultural enrichment opportunities and scholarships for College Bound youngsters. • Organization distributes 10 to 15 scholarships to seniors ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • For youngsters in grades six through twelve that live in Baltimore city and Baltimore County • For the last two years this organization has been working with students from the Maryland Academy for Technology and Health Sciences, a charter high school and the middle school students involved in the Kipp Academy’s Knowledge and Power Program. • Participants grade averages range from high to low • Majority of participants are from single parent households or are raised by their grandparents Program Capacity: 15 students Operations Budget: Budget is approximately $22,000 a year Measurement of success: no formal measurement Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Mainly word of mouth • Forming relationships with the principals and counselors at the school
144 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Building Steps Sponsor: THE WEINBERG GROUP and other educational, professional and charitable partners in the Baltimore area Contact Info and Location: Henry Snyder, Program Officer PO Box 1393 Brooklandville, MD 21022-1393 phone: 410.308.4800 fax: 410.704.2177 email: [email protected]
Spoke with Debra Hettleman Plant, Program Director, email: [email protected] Time program is offered: Saturdays Category of Program/Brief Description:
Mentoring program that includes college prep: • Structured as an internship program designed to expose minority students to workplace dynamics and encourage post high school education, with an emphasis in science and technology
• Through a Saturday program, they offer tutoring service, help completing college applications and applying for financial aid, monthly seminars to expose participants to professions in science and technology, and exposure to different cultural events
• Also sponsor an annual achievement luncheon Program Requirements: • Participants must be a high school junior at one of the following schools: Digital Harbor High School, Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School, Woodlawn High School, Randallstown High School, Milford Mill Academy, Forest Park High School • Must also have an interest in science, technology, and/or mathematics • Must have a minimum 3.0 or B grade point average and at least a 90% school attendance record Program Capacity: Unknown Operations Budget: Unknown Measurement of success: Amount of scholarship funds earned by participants, college attendance rates Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: Unknown
145 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Caring for Young Minds Black College Tour Sponsor: Caring For Young Minds Tutorial and Mentoring Service Contact Info and Location: P.O. Box 47336 Windsor Mill, MD 21244 (443) 413-4423 Time program is offered: Annually with follow-up Category of Program/Brief Description: One-time Annual Initiative • This non profit venture was organized to expose students to college life through visits to historically black colleges and universities. Unlike other college tours, this program continues to work with the senior students 2-3 months after the trip in areas such as essay writing and help with the SAT Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Most participants come from the City of Baltimore and the state of Maryland - including Montgomery, Prince George and Howard Counties as well as SC, N.Y.NJ and PA Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: Participants charged a $600.00 non-refundable fee that is supplemented with fundraiser support Measurement of success: College enrollment rates Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Website • Word of mouth • Church and school visits
146 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: College Goal Sunday Contact Info and Location: Karen Jones, Executive Director The Delaware/MD/DC Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators 10946 Golden West Drive Hunt Valley, MD 21031 410-568-8814 spoke with Karen Tong, Senior Account Executive Time program is offered: two hour one day event held in February Category of Program/Brief Description: One-time annual initiative • Program invites college-bound students to a location near them to receive free, professional assistance in completing the required Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). College financial aid officers help students apply for not only Pell Grants, but also private and state scholarships Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Free and open to the public • College Goal Sunday is for rising seniors and adults applying for college. • Many are first generation college students and English Language Learners. • Program targets low-income populations but is willing to work with everyone Program Capacity: average of 50 people at each program site Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Survey of attendees, attendance rates also used to determine population(s) being served Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Public service announcement on cable TV • Ads in high school newspapers • Through the organizations public relations and media relations campaign.
147 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: The College Center at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) JCC College Fair Contact Info and Location: Esther Gunter, Director of the College Center 5700 Park Heights Ave Baltimore, MD 21215 410-356-5200 ext. 612 Time program is offered: n/a Category of Program/Brief Description: Fully Devoted to Getting Youngsters into College: • The College Center is designed to help teens in the Greater Baltimore community who want to go to college but need more advice before making their choice. One time annual initiative: • The center also hosts an annual college fair Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • College fair is free and open to the public Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
148 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Crossroads School Sponsor: The Living Classrooms Foundation Contact Info and Location: Scott Raymond, Vice President of Education 802 S. Caroline Street Baltimore Md. 21231 410-685-0295, ext. 217 www.livingclassrooms.org Time program is offered: Mentors devote on average three hours/month Category of Program/Brief Description: The Crossroads School Mentoring Program • Connects students from Crossroads with professionals who work in neighboring companies. Through open dialogue, arts & cultural activities, field trips and book clubs, mentors and their students are able to build lasting relationships that flourish well beyond middle school. Other: Summer Science Program • Currently working with Dundalk Community College to establish a summer science program.
Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Students are selected by lottery and represent students citywide. Grades are not a factor. • Students fall into all socioeconomic status – 95% are Title 1 • 85-90% are African Americans and 5-6% are Hispanics • Half are behind by one to two grade levels • Sixty percent do not live with a biological parent Program Capacity: Approximately fifty students and forty professionals have participated in the mentoring program since 2002 (Mentoring Program) Operations Budget: Main source is the Baltimore City School system but our Living Classroom Foundation raises additional money. However, the costs of running summer schools are not covered by Baltimore City. Measurement of success: Tracking student performance upon entering high school. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Letters sent to all the local elementary schools and the parents of every fifth grader detailing how their students/children can apply • The Baltimore City school system web site
149 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Delta SAT Clinic Sponsor: Baltimore Alumni Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Contact Info and Location: Sharon Grant, Chair of Education Committee Delta Community Center 2501 Springhill Avenue Baltimore, MD 21215 (410) 664-7860 [email protected] Time program is offered: all day workshop (8:30 a.m-3:30 p.m.) a week before first citywide SAT test session Category of Program/Brief Description: A one-time annual initiative • Delta works with College Bound and Baltimore City Public Schools Student Support Services and other staffers to help students develop various math and reading strategies to help improve their scores on their college entrance exams. • Also conduct workshops for parents that financial aid, options for students graduating from high school as well as scholarship information Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Open to all students of Baltimore City high schools, private and independent schools • Majority of attendants are high school juniors and seniors • Group is highly diverse with participants from all economic groups • Students range the academic performance spectrum Program Capacity: attendance varies each year; previous year had 100 participants Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Sign-in sheet to be submitted to the Student Services Department at Baltimore City schools who will notify Delta of student test performance and college attendance rates. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Delta sends letters to principals and guidance counselors throughout the city. • Mass mailings to area churches • Public Service announcements during the weeks before the event. • Advertisement from “College Bound (which operates in 20-25 area schools, helps spread the word • Partnership with the athletic departments at three area high school to recruit athletes and notices sent to athletic directors in all Baltimore City schools
150 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: EduSerc (Educators Serving the Community) Contact Info and Location: Brian K. Smith, Executive Director P.O. Box 2536 or 12125 Ivory Fashion Court Laurel, MD 20709 (301) 498-2899 Time program is offered: variable Category of Program/Brief Description: • This non-profit educational consulting firm has been dedicated to the development and advancement of youth, adults and the community since it opened its doors in 1986. Today, it is joining the battle to reduce the low graduation rate in Baltimore City schools. EduSerc’s purpose is to motivate young people to pursue their future goals by helping them create opportunities to find out more about their prospective fields. EduSerc sparks student interest by facilitating interaction between youth, parents, colleges and businesses.
One Time Annual Initiative: The Community Scholars Program
• This initiative awards individuals for their academic excellence and community service as well as provide appropriate academic and mentoring support. Individuals must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average or better from their previous school year (8th - 11th grade) to be an EduSerc Community Scholar. One Time Annual Initiative: Annual Career and Professional Development Conference • Seminars center on how to apply to college, how to finance college, how to be successful in a specific career; also features personal and professional development courses • This is a traveling conference which visits individual schools depending on sponsorship Other: Young Innovators Program for secondary school and college students • EduSerc helps businesses and organizations develop programs that unearth the creative talents of young people by exposing them to industry opportunities and hands-on experiences. Through summer programs, in-school industry projects, and innovative competitions, EduSerc collaborates with schools and organizations to develop and enhance their youth development programs.
Other: Seminars and Training for Parents and Teachers
Other: Individualized sponsorship opportunities • Works with its corporate sponsors to provide scholarships for Baltimore area students interested in pursuing careers in the culinary arts, engineering, property management, finance and information technology. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Low income to middle income students Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Percentage of students supported by EduSerc who attend college Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
151 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Financial Aid Workshop Sponsor: The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings United States House of Representative Contact Info and Location: Philisha Lane, Staff Assistant. 2235 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-2007 202-225-4741 Time program is offered: annually Category of Program /Brief Description: One time annual initiative: • This workshop’s purpose is to educate the public about the opportunities available to go to college and how best to navigate the admission process. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • geared toward college bound high school juniors and senior and their parents Program Capacity: n/a Operations Budget: paid for by Congressman Cumming’s office Measurement of success: popularity and anticipation of the event, surveys Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Congressmen mentions it during his normal media campaign • Flyers to schools, churches, community organizations and individual families
152 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Goals for Graduation/Career Launch Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club Contact Info and Location: Deborah Tyson, Unit Director Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club Franklin Square Salvation Army Boys and Girls 15 N. Calhoun Baltimore 21223 410-728-4888 Time program is offered: unknown Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Encourages teens involved in after school program to set goals for academic success and offers support on how to achieve those goals • Program offers tutoring, field trips, resume critiques, help with completing applications, and searches for financial aid • Program also sponsors Career Days Program Requirements: none Program Capacity: Approximately 15 youngsters participate. Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: review of quarterly report cards Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
153 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: HUCC Annual College Tour Sponsor: Heritage United Church of Christ Scholarship and Leadership Guild Contact Info and Location: Lynn Drummond 10 Liberty Heights Ave Baltimore, MD 21215 (410) 542-1204/410-428-8616 heritageucc.org Time program is offered: annually Category of Program/Brief Description: A One-time annual initiative • This is a college tour to HBCUs Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Students come from different backgrounds and socio-economic brackets Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: students pay a $475 fee that covers cost of tour and hotels that is supplemented by monies raised through different fundraising efforts, some students are given scholarships Measurement of success: questionnaire Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
154 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Guide Right Program Sponsor: Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation of Metropolitan Baltimore Contact Info and Location: Dr. Allen Bennet, Foundation Vice President PO Box 1432 Baltimore MD 20213 410-542-7800 or 410-367-9520, www.benchmarkkappas.org www.kappafoundationbaltimore.org Time program is offered: Twice a week – on Mondays and Thursdays from 6-8 at the Kappa House. Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring program that includes college prep • a mentoring/tutoring program for middle school and high school males in Baltimore city and Baltimore county, placing a heavy emphasis on college prep; also provides scholarships to graduating seniors Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Most live in the heart of Baltimore City and fall within poverty level guidelines Program Capacity: Currently have approximately 30 young men participating Operations Budget: $10,000 Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
155 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Kipp Ujima Village Academy Contact Info and Location: Jason Botel, Director 4701 Greenspring Ave # 115 Baltimore, MD 21209 (410) 545-3669 www.ujimavillage.org Time program is offered: operates throughout the school year Category of Program/Brief Description: Other • This is a college prep middle school that works to prepare students for college prep high schools. The school provides special classes that help prepare students for the high school entry tests and maintain relationships with students to track their progress toward college. This village academy has KIPP to College Program which offers high school placement services and alumni services. The school also offers a once a month Saturday school, three weeks of summer school, and once per week tutoring service that serves as a liaison for students and families moving on to new schools • The Kipp Ujima Village Academy is part of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • 90% African American • 88% qualify for reduced lunch programs • Most students read on a third level grade level or below Program Capacity: 340 students (currently serving 310) Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Test scores, the kind of high schools our students are admitted to and alumni performance in those high schools. Ultimately, would like to use college graduation rates as final measure of success. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Direct mailing to families of fifth graders in NW Baltimore • Community visits
156 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Light A Candle Sponsor: Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church Contact Info and Location: Rachel Carr, Program Director Pastor John Heinemeier Ms. Kara Groth, Program Coordinator, [email protected] 1900 East North Avenue Baltimore, MD, 21213 [email protected] 619-709-2452
Time program is offered: Mentors call their students every week and meet with them at least twice a month or more either individually or in a group Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Mentors provide a positive academic and social support for students and remain involved through the students all the way through their undergraduate or training school experience; nurturing their sense of self and helping each mentee establish a workable life plan. The whole premise of the program is to encourage these youngsters to go to college and maintain a relationship with them until they graduate. Mentors offer academic tutoring and planning, take students on college tours in the city, walk them through the testing processes, and help students get PSAT and SAT tutoring Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Youngsters are selected based on their test scores and degree of parental involvement • Participants often come from one parent, low income homes • Participants must have aspirations for college Program Capacity: The program currently has 10 students enrolled Operations Budget: Operates with two grants--$5,000 and $2,000 Measurement of success: Currently working with the Maryland Mentoring Partnership to create tools to measure our impact on these students and their families Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
157 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Maryland Educational Opportunity Center Contact Info and Location: Lynn Drummond, extension 14 2700 Gwynns Falls Pkwy Baltimore, MD 21216 410-728-3400, ext 14 Time program is offered: n/a Category of Program/Brief Description: Other: • The Educational Opportunity Centers program provides counseling and information on college admissions to qualified adults who want to enter or continue a program of postsecondary education. An important objective of the program is to counsel participants on financial aid options and to assist in the application process. The program’s major focus is to encourage and help adults who have dropped out or withdrawn from school to re-enroll in secondary and postsecondary schools and training programs. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Most of our students meet poverty level guidelines--at least two thirds of the clients we work with must fall in the low-income range Program Capacity: Last year served 3,100 clients; approximately 2% from Baltimore city schools Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Percentage of enrollment of drop-outs into some kind of continuing ed program; number of financial aid and admission applications we help to complete and the number of people who actually enroll in the program. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Public service announcements • Radio ads (not frequently cost is prohibitive) • Flyers • Network with other programs that are serving the people. • Counselors outreach
158 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Meet Me Halfway Contact Info and Location: Rita Fayall, co-founder 3910 Barrington Rd Baltimore, MD 21207 (410) 466-6338 Time program is offered: daily; GED course offered Tuesdays & Thursdays 6-9pm Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program: • Provides mentoring support services to improve the quality of life for select students at Garrison Middle (grades 6-8) and Forest Park High School (grades 91-2) in Baltimore. • Also sponsors a GED class for dropouts that meet from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • To be part of this program, all students must complete application which is followed by an interview with their parents to determine what the family needs • Approximately, 80 percent are on reduced lunch programs. Some students can not read or write beyond a first or second grade level while others are advanced Program Capacity: currently serves 80-100 students between the schools Operations Budget: annual budget of $320,000; receives funding from foundations, grants and churches. Measurement of success: Participant feedback. According to their sign-in sheet records, at least 80% of the youngsters who apply remain with the program. Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Not advertised
159 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Mentoring Children With Incarcerated Parents Contact Info and Location: Kamla Green Mayor’s Office City of Baltimore 443-984-1013 Time program is offered: unknown Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Volunteers who work in this program focus on positive youth development, goal setting, life planning and encourage youth to seek out higher education as a viable life choice and as a way to deter them from criminal activities Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Ages 4-17 Program Capacity: currently working with 100 students Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • unknown
160 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Morgan Mentors Winston Winners Mentoring Program Contact Info and Location: Christopher Cash, Program founder and director 1101 Winston Ave Baltimore, MD 21212 (410) 396-6356/301-399-1867 (c) Time program is offered: unknown Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Through the Morgan Mentors Winston Winners program, MSU students volunteer as mentors to students at Winston Middle. The mission of this program is to meet middle school students “where they are” and to introduce them to educational and vocational opportunities that will better prepare them for the professional and academic roads that lie ahead. Program Requirements/Participant Profiles: • Participants are from Winston Middle School, a federally funded Title I school in a low-income area Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: Cash currently has no budget, but hopes to one day operate the program as a non- profit corporation. Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Recruits through an introductory assembly at schools
161 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Morgan M.I.L.E.(Male Initiative on Leadership and Excellence) Morgan State University Baltimore, MD Contact Info and Location: Dr. Jason DeSousa 443-885-3345 [email protected] Time program is offered: unknown Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Provides mentoring to academically struggling but nonetheless promising ninth graders at Reginald Lewis, who need special help not only in finishing high school but also getting into college. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Participants of Reginald Lewis high school program • 80 percent of the students are African Americans Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown, but retention rate of 89% Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Word of mouth
162 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Walter Scott Thomas (WST) Scholarship Ministry Sponsor: New Psalmist Baptist Church Scholarship Ministry Contact Info and Location: Rev. Al Bailey, Minister of Outreach and Missions 4501 ½ Old Frederick Rd Baltimore, MD 21229 (410) 566-9620/410-945-3193 www.NewPsalmist.org Time program is offered: variable Category of Program/Brief Description:
Fully devoted to getting youngsters into college • This ministry provides a host of college prep services for not just the students in its 7,000- member congregation, but those in the Greater Baltimore community. It provides SAT prep, helps prospective college students find resources on college scholarships, helps existing students find internships in city government, offers scholarship programs and conducts a tutorial program through San Kofa, it s community development corporation
One Time annual initiative: Caring For Your Minds & Education Weekend • College tour Program Requirements: n/a Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Mass mailings to the home and businesses within a two mile radius • Publish a full color quarterly magazine • Advertise on church web site • Show a church-produced news broadcast to the congregation
163 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Pi Omega Graduate Chapter Contact Info and Location: David Patterson, Program Facilitator 2003 Presbury Street Baltimore, MD 21217 www.piomega.org (for Pi Omega Chapter) [email protected] (for Omega Academy) spoke with Zane Cypress, 410-365-2186, Home number 703-589-5804 Time program is offered: unknown Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring program that includes college prep: Omega Academy
• Fraternity members mentor young men ages 7-18 on the importance academic performance and college education; also conduct a yearly bus tour to historically Black colleges, SAT prep seminars, field trips, offer leadership development skills classes, and help with homework Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Ages 7-18 • Traditionally participants are from a low income section of West Baltimore where the center is located • Grade average: mostly C students, some D average Program Capacity: currently work with 12 students, maximum of 20 students; goal is one mentor for every three mentees Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Parental feedback on student performance; soon to implement a newly created feedback form and will evaluate every 3 months Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Signage on their facility • Advertise at Matthew Henson Elementary School and at a number of our Omega functions throughout the year • Fraternity members in education advertise in their schools
164 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Saturday Academy at Coppin State 100 CAP College Access Program (coming in 2008 for Baltimore City youngsters) Sponsor: 100 Men Black Men of Maryland Contact Info and Location: Ray Lucas, President 4413 Liberty Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD 21207 www.100blackmenofmaryland.org spoke with Ed Tarter, Educational chairman 410-664-6726 ([email protected]) Time program is offered: Saturday Academy runs from October to May; 10AM-12PM Category of Program/Brief Description:
Mentoring Program that includes college prep: Saturday Academy at Coppin State (for Baltimore City students). • This free Saturday tutoring and mentoring program takes place Coppin State and was developed for elementary, middle and high school aged students age 8 to 18 who attend Baltimore City Schools. It emphasizes reading, math, decision-making and social skills. • For high junior and senior participants, program ensures that these students have access to the same information available to Baltimore County youth participating in their 100 College Access Program (CAP) • Mentoring program also provides support on non-academic issues and concerns of students
Fully Devoted to Getting Youngsters into College: 100 CAP College Access Program • Has operated in two Baltimore County High Schools for the past seven years and will soon be available to Baltimore City Youth through a joint program with Loyola College. Target Date: September, 2008. • The 100 CAP (College Access Program) is a valuable college bound resource that helps high school juniors and seniors navigate the college admission process through SAT prep, application assistance and college visits.
Other Programs • Through a partnership with Lens Crafters, this organization offers to free vision screenings and free eyeglasses to Baltimore City youngsters at five elementary schools and three middle schools. • The 100 Black Men also co-sponsor a Financial Literacy Program with the Social Security Administration at two Baltimore City High schools - Carver and Walbrook.
Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Saturday tutorials service students at a variety of academic levels and socio-economic status. No exclusion based on grades or socioeconomic status. Organization’s goal is to meet them where they are and try to move them forward. • Ages 8-18 Program Capacity: Saturday Tutorial includes 15 to 30 students; max of 50 children Operations Budget: Educational programs are funded by membership dues, several social activities we hold during the year and grants from various philanthropic organizations. Measurement of success: Not solely based on pure academics. Success measured in improved performance, attendance, appearance, and enhanced thinking skills Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Flyers • Personal interviews with principals and counselors. Members of organization revisit them during the year to let them know the program is still open and to see if they have any other referrals. • Word of mouth
165 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: St. Ambrose Outreach Center Contact Info and Location: Greg Harcum, Teen Coordinator 410-225-0870 Time program is offered: variable, annual conference at the end of September to the beginning of November Category of Program/Brief Description: Other: • Provides career and professional development training in program management services; design, manage and host activities to get students involved in certain career fields.
One time annual initiative: Annual Career and Professional Development Conference at the Baltimore Convention Center • Workshops focus on the college process i.e. how to apply, how to finance, how to be successful in a particular career • Also provide scholarships Program Requirements/Participant Profile: unknown Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • National Magazine – Young Innovators
166 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Student College Interview Session Sponsor: National Scholarship Services Contact Info and Location: Joseph Ector, Program manager 230 Peachtree Street, Suite 530 Atlanta Ga., 30303 404-522-7250 Time program is offered: annually Category of Program/Brief Description: One time annual initiative • This free annual traveling College Fair - for high school juniors, seniors and Community College Students - helps Baltimore City and County students explore their college options and possibilities. Open to students, parents, guardians, youth representatives and school administrators, the event provides information on financial aid, testing, admission procedures and introduces its participants to representatives from State colleges and university, HBCUs, Community Colleges, Technical/Vocational Schools and branches of the U.S. Military. Program Requirements: n/a Program Capacity: events attracts about 1,000 students Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: student turnout and feedback from college reps Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Mailings to high schools and individual students within 100 miles of the event.
167 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Upward Bound at Baltimore City Community College Contact Info and Location: Contact: Gregory M. Hunter, Director E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: 410-462-7435 Time program is offered: five week residential program at Baltimore City Community College Category of Program/Brief Description:
Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Upward Bound, one of three Department of Education-funded programs designed to assist at risk populations in their pursuits of obtaining a secondary, post- secondary and or a graduate degree, provides educational, social and cultural enrichment for low-income high school aged students who are the first in their family to go to college. Like other programs nationwide, the Upward Bound program at Baltimore City Community College provides cultural activities, tutorial services, class instruction, standardized test preparation and personal counseling if needed Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • 99% percent African American. • Most are first generation college student and are classified as low-income based on poverty regulations • 75% percent of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch • 80% from single parent families Program Capacity: 60 students Operations Budget: receives USDA funding for summer program Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Recruitment • Brochures sent to churches and schools • Letters to principals • Advertise on radio shows • Public service announcements • Advertise in local papers
168 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Upward Bound, Morgan State University Contact Info and Location: Ms. Connie L. Cooper, Director 1700 East Cold Stream Road Baltimore, MD21251 443-885-3448/3553 Time program is offered: Saturdays during the school year, six-week summer residential program Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Upward Bound, one of three Department of Education-funded programs designed to assist at risk populations in their pursuits of obtaining a secondary, post- secondary and or a graduate degree, provides educational, social and cultural enrichment for low-income high school aged students who are the first in their family to go to college. Like other programs nationwide, the Upward Bound program at Morgan State University provides cultural activities, tutorial services, class instruction, standardized test preparation and personal counseling if needed. • Program has mandatory Saturday tutorial during the school year and a six-week residential summer program on Morgan State’s campus. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Ages 14-18 • Must be in ninth or tenth grade Program Capacity: authorized to serve 80 students from four Baltimore schools Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: College enrollment and graduation rates, government standard success rate of good standing at their college for two years Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Annual visits to target school • Word-of -mouth support from former students as well as our current participants
169 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Upward Bound, Morgan State University Contact Info and Location: Ms. Connie L. Cooper, Director 1700 East Cold Stream Road Baltimore, MD21251 443-885-3448/3553 Time program is offered: Saturdays during the school year, six-week summer residential program Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Upward Bound, one of three Department of Education-funded programs designed to assist at risk populations in their pursuits of obtaining a secondary, post- secondary and or a graduate degree, provides educational, social and cultural enrichment for low-income high school aged students who are the first in their family to go to college. Like other programs nationwide, the Upward Bound program at Morgan State University provides cultural activities, tutorial services, class instruction, standardized test preparation and personal counseling if needed. • Program has mandatory Saturday tutorial during the school year and a six-week residential summer program on Morgan State’s campus. Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Ages 14-18 • Must be in ninth or tenth grade Program Capacity: authorized to serve 80 students from four Baltimore schools Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: College enrollment and graduation rates, government standard success rate of good standing at their college for two years Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Annual visits to target school • Word-of -mouth support from former students as well as our current participants
170 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: Upward Bound at UMBC Contact Info and Location: Corris Davis, Director 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250 410-455-2700 Time program is offered: This satellite runs throughout the year; Saturday tutorials during the school year; a six-week, on-campus residential session during the summer. Category of Program/Brief Description: Mentoring Program that includes college prep • Upward Bound, one of three Department of Education-funded programs designed to assist at risk populations in their pursuits of obtaining a secondary, post- secondary and or a graduate degree, provides educational, social and cultural enrichment for low-income high school aged students who are the first in their family to go to college. Like other programs nationwide, the Upward Bound program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County provides cultural activities, tutorial services, class instruction, standardized test preparation and personal counseling if needed Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • Mandated to serve 30 percent of the incoming ninth graders and also serves 10th graders; a third of 9th graders must be at high risk meaning they have less than a 2.5 grade point average in 8th grade, have not passed a reading or math proficiency test or have not takenAlgebra 1 by the ninth grade. Program Capacity: Funded to served 50 students across all four grades; only allowed to recruit 9th and 10th graders Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Posters in the communities and in the target schools • Guidance and teaching staff help select students • Current student recommendations
171 Appendix C • Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study
Program Name: Urban Leadership Institute Black College Tour Sponsor: Urban Leadership Institute Contact Info and Location: Regina Salliey, Tour Coordinator 2437 Maryland Avenue Baltimore, MD 21208 1-877-339-4300 1-410-467-1605 www.urbanleaderinstitute.com www.urbanyouth.org Time program is offered: annually Category of Program/Brief Description: One-time Annual Initiative • The Urban Leadership Institute sponsors guided college tours with orientations, family meetings, and more Program Requirements: unknown Program Capacity: unknown Operations Budget: unknown Measurement of success: unknown Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: unknown
172 Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix C
Program Name: YMCA Black Scholars Program/ Minority Achiever or Youth Achievers Sponsor: YMCA of Central Maryland Contact Info and Location: Chris Ader Soto, VP of Children and Family Services YMCA of Central Maryland 20 South Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201 410-837-9622 ext. 242 Time program is offered: Daily 3-6 PM at Teen Activity Center at Druid Hill YMCA Category of Program/Brief Description: An after-school program that includes college prep • Program was designed to serve as a bridge to the college campus for teen participants. It serves middle and high school student of all social, economic and academic levels • Program offers an academic program that provides homework assistance and a Career Cluster, which features different speakers presenting different career options
One time annual initiative • Annual college tour Program Requirements/Participant Profile: • YMCA Black Achievers is open to youth in middle and/or high schools, from all social, economic and academic levels. The only true requirement a youth must have to enroll in the program is the desire to achieve Program Capacity: average daily attendance ranges from 30 to 40. Operations Budget: Funding comes from a couple of sources: The Baltimore Out-Of-School-Time Fund (BOOST) provides a grant which is matched by Y fundraising. Measurement of success: evaluations Program Advertisement/Outreach Methods: • Flyers to the feeder schools • Program featured in YMCA promotional materials.
173
Appendix D Colleges and Universities
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix D 175 Yes, from print print from Yes, media Documents or outcomes provided
Academic dept. outreach yesnono yes know don’t yes know don’t yes on web yes know don’t yes yes yes yes yesyes know don’t none yes ?yes yes not yet yes yes no possibly no yes #s no hard no no no not yet on web Informal Informal outreach knowdon’t yesyesyes no knowdon’t yes know don’t yes yes a lot Yes, no yes yes on web yes yes on web yes Formal Formal to outreach BCPS students, parents 10/15/07 yes 10/26/07 only Co. Balt. no nursing not yet 9/27/07 yes Date of Date interview Schools recruiter [email protected] 10/30/07 yes 443-885-3000 [email protected] 10/24/07 [email protected] yes 11/5/07 yes 301-784-5154 [email protected] 11/5/07 yes 410-455-2096 [email protected] Phone Email Dir. AdmissionsDir. 410-455-4392 [email protected] 10/24/07 yes Dir. AdmissionsDir. dept. Relations Comm. Of Dir. Assoc. Undergrad. 301-632-2934 410-651-6411Admissions [email protected] Of Admissions Dir. Assoc. 10/26/07 yes Recuritment Undergraduate Undergraduate Admissions Comp. Sci. dept.Comp. Admissions Dir. Assis. RecruiterBalt. 301-860-3960 410-951-3000 AdmissionsDir. [email protected] 301-687-4302 Admissions Assist.Dir. Sr. 9/26/07 410-543-6000 [email protected] 410-704-3987 [email protected] [email protected] yes 10/26/07 11/2/07 yes 10/1/07 yes yes Title Diane Drake Whitmore Vicky Admissions dir. interim 410-285-9616 Balt. Washington, Eric Mrs. DangerfiledMrs. Admission Director 410-462-8311 [email protected] 11/14/07 yes Monica Williams Monica Assist. Outreach 410-462-8300 [email protected] 10/29/07 yes Tyrone Yound Tyrone Lisa Romano Banks Fred James Brenda Dr. Jeff Smith Excellence of Foundations Shauna McQuade Smith-MooreCasandra and Relations Public Dir. Admissions Dir. Assist. 410-777-2831 [email protected] 10/31/07 yes Dr. Vanessa FahieVanessa Dr. Admissions Dir. BrownChristopher 410-706-7501 Counselor Admiss. 301-314-8385 [email protected] 10/25/07 yes Yamiley SaintvilYamiley Of Dir. Assoc. Dr. Srivastava Dr. Jackson Earl Shadrick Tai Thorpe Laura SatchellLeroy Brian Leak HofstadAnne Recruiter Balt. Counselor Admiss. 410-543-6163x2 410-837-4777 [email protected] 9/27/07 yes Contact Annette JohnsonAnnette Grad.Assist.Admissions 301-860-3415 [email protected] 9/25/07 yes Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville County of Baltimore College Community Dundalk County of Baltimore College Community Baltimore CityBaltimore College Community Baltimore CityBaltimore College Community UM Eastern Shore UM Eastern MarylandUniversity College University University State Morgan University State Morgan of Maryland College Mary’s St. community 2-year of Maryland, College College Allegany Community College Anne Arundel Community Univerity MarylandUniverity Baltimore Nursing School of MarylandUniversity Park College University MarylandUniversity College University Bowie State University State Bowie University State Coppin University State Frostburg Salisbury University Salisbury University University Towson of Baltimore University Institution • Potential partners table discussions round for • Potential public 4-year University State Bowie 176 Appendix D•Baltimore College andAccess Readiness Community Study Formal outreach to Academic Documents Date of BCPS students, Informal dept. or outcomes Institution Contact Title Phone Email interview parents outreach outreach provided Hagerstown Community College Kevin Crawford Recruitment Coord. 301-790-2800 crawfordk@hagerstowncc. 11/5/07 not directly no no yes X238 edu
4-year private Baltimore International College Barbara Katka Director Admissions 410-752-4710 [email protected] 11/7/07 yes yes no will send X120 Capitol College Melinda Bunnell-Rhyne Student Life and 301-369-2800 10/12/07 not directly not sure yes no Retention Capitol College John Ryan Prof. Electronics & johnryan@capitol-college. to teachers in no yes pltw.org Telecommunications edu summer curriculum College of Notre Dame Sherri Burlow VP Enrollment 410-532-5357 none College of Notre Dame Candace Sumner Recruiter for Balt. Schools 410-532-5358 [email protected] 10/25/07 yes yes not directly yes Goucher College Kimberly Gordon Coordinating 410-337-6000 [email protected] 10/23/07 yes yes yes two links on Multicultural website Recruitment Hood College Mike Deegan Assoc. Dir. Admissions 301-663-3813 10/25/07 College Bound no no multi cult. Stats Johns Hopkins University Jameel Freeman Admiss. Balt. City 410-516-8954 [email protected] 9/27/07 yes yes yes yes Johns Hopkins University Young Song Center for Social concern 410-516-4777 Lucky Pellakuru, Stud. Dir. 10/1/07 yes probably no yes Dir. happens Peabody Conservatory Virginia Probasco External Relations Dept. 410-659-8100 10/15/07 no no no no X4450 Peabody Conservatory Matt Carvin Creative Access 410-659-8100 mattcarvin@ 11/9/07 yes yes N/A names of schools X1047 thecreativeaccess.com Loyola College in Maryland Maureen Finnegan Assist. Dir. Of Undergrad. 410-617-2539 [email protected] 10/29/07 yes no yes yes Admissions Maryland Institute College of Art David Gracyalny Dean, Con’t Studies 410-225-2229 [email protected] 11/2/07 yes yes yes on web McDaniel College Gina King Dir. Admissions 410-848-7000 [email protected] 10/25/07 yes yes yes no data Sojourner-Douglass College Ms. Samuels Dir. Admissions 410-276-0306 10/31/07 parents no yes students avg X248 age 36 Villa Julie College Morgan Somerville Freshman Admissions 443-352-4445 [email protected] 10/25/07 yes don’t know Nursing no data Counselor Appendix E Baltimore City Public School System High School Graduate College Entry Rate
Baltimore College Readiness and Access Community Study • Appendix E 177
32.84% 70.60% 70.60% 43.75% 43.75% 25.68% 31.08% 28.38% 35.19%66.67% 35.68%33.87% 44.71% 35.44% 34.78% 55.69% 25.56% 34.33% 45.59% 29.70% 26.09% 27.63% 35.84% 83.33% 24.21% 22.84% 43.46% 62.50% 35.42% 38.71% 45.54% 37.93% 30.25% 34.69% 34.29% 39.08% 42.18% 37.70% 25.23% 35.61% 35.96% 45.79% 49.15% 0.00%51.52% 35.56% 39.17% 47.37% 35.94% 35.57% 22.45% 39.53% 37.72% Initial College Enrollment Rates Enrollment Initial College 40.00% 46.67% 55.56% 42.86% 53.12% 44.44% 47.11% 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2000-07 67.94% 77.73% 77.50% 76.67% 78.97% 77.13% 70.00% 75.13% 65.95%74.80% 74.69%80.30% 69.23% 70.82% 77.61%48.47% 73.56% 68.89%24.00% 81.36% 47.86% 65.50% 74.71% 9.52% 73.75%51.44% 39.06% 65.49% 69.91%43.72% 6.25% 76.81% 49.03% 44.80%46.15% 63.64% 66.70%28.47% 45.96% 78.12% 56.91% 5.00% 44.60% 42.86% 70.75% 70.24% 28.10% 52.55% 48.74% 45.51%35.19% 5.56% 42.23% 38.41% 69.00% 38.13% 49.30%50.00% 73.81% 47.85% 50.00% 6.67% 49.60% 41.24% 20.45% 41.46% 45.24% 38.92% 32.50%54.41% 45.23% 39.29% 0.00%43.91% 26.59% 42.74% 47.66% 53.40% 52.63%75.16% 42.50% 29.72% 8.14% 48.55% 13.73% 44.80% 43.54% 49.01% 21.43% 71.58% 47.37% 46.70% 39.10% 14.55%30.00% 45.79% 44.40% 20.51% 72.11% 38.18% 40.62% 37.46% 24.29% 36.70% 36.68% 21.62% 64.55% 41.78% 36.71% 34.19% 51.10% 33.41% 67.71% 35.64% 36.29% 33.33% 45.52% 55.83% 45.00% 25.19% 33.04% 75.80% 43.55% 38.17% 29.79% 68.96% Thurgood Marshall High Thurgood MedicalThomas Arts Academy T. Vivien DuBois High W.E.B. Liberal Arts Walbrook Senior High Western School Name Baltimore CityBaltimore College Academy Freedom Baltimore Institute Polytechnic Baltimore ArtsThe SchoolBaltimore For Urban League Baltimore Career Academy High CarverVocational-Technical Briscoe At Career Academy Central Digital Harbor High Doris M. Johnson High Edmondson-Westside Academy Entrepreneurial Senior High Park Forest Douglass Senior Frederick Harbor City Center Learning High SchoolHeritage SecurityHomeland Middle/High Laurence G Paquin Maritime High School Academy High Vocational-Technical Mergenthaler School Foundation Academy National Era Academy New Senior High Northwestern Senior High Patterson Laurence Dunbar Paul Senior High F Lewis Reginald Samuel L Banks High Southside Academy Senior High Southwestern