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Grads Up; College Not: Number of Hamilton County Students Going to Post-Secondary Programs Drops Slightly

Posted on: Monday, 12 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Christina Cooke and Beverly A. Carroll, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Jun. 12--The number of Hamilton County high school seniors earning diplomas rose from 2004 to 2005, but slightly fewer students enrolled in college or apprenticeship programs over the same period, according to a new survey.

In 2005, 1,926 students received diplomas, compared to 1,888 the year before, according to data collected by the Public Education Foundation.

"More and more young people are succeeding and getting a diploma," said Dan Challener, executive director of the foundation. "It's almost impossible to go to college if you don't graduate from high school."

Most Hamilton County Schools' graduates last year chose to stay in Tennessee to pursue their education, the report shows. Of the 92 percent who enrolled in Tennessee colleges : 24 percent enrolled at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

39 percent enrolled at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

However, the data also shows fewer graduates of the class of 2005 enrolled in college compared to the previous year's class.

In 2004, 71 percent, or 1,340 students, enrolled in college. Last year, 69 percent, or 1,324 students, enrolled in college, according to survey data.

The national average "collegegoing" rate in 2005 was 69 percent, according to Mr. Challener.

The foundation and Partnership for College Access and Success used part of a $217,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation to track where Hamilton County public school seniors went after they graduated in 2004 and 2005. Before the Lumina grant, schools did not have an official system to track graduates who went to college, administrators said. There are many reasons students do not pursue post-secondary education, they said. For example, some students do not see college as an option because they think their grades are not good enough or they cannot afford tuition. Some students whose parents did not attend college do not get the support needed to go further in school.

"(It's) a real effort for parents who have not been to college to send or encourage their students to go," Sale Creek High principal Devota Barnes said. "Parents want the very best for their kids, but the best is being redefined."

BOOSTING COLLEGE INTEREST The Lumina grant also paid for pilot programs at three Hamilton County high schools last year to help increase college attendance.

The program's first year produced some promising results, according to Mr. Challener. At two of the schools, the number of college-bound graduates increased, and at the other school, the number of students heading off to college after graduation dropped by one.

Sale Creek Middle High was up from 11 collegebound graduates in 2005 to 22 in 2006. Red Bank High increased the number of collegebound graduates from 140 in 2005 to 142 in 2006. Howard School of Academics and Technology dropped from 45 collegebound graduates in 2005 to 44 in 2006. "We hope to see positive results from these (programs) in the coming years," Mr. Challener said.

The goal of the pilot project is to help students learn what is required to get to college, from how important grades are to applying for financial aid, scholarships and writing application letters, Mrs. Barnes said.

"Our goal is to get them prepared academically and socially," she said.

Among some of the efforts the grant paid for last year at the three pilot schools were visits to colleges across the state for students and guidance counselors, retreats and motivational speakers.

Sale Creek High School parent Valerie Lanum said she thinks students learned a lot from the college visits.

"I chaperoned on a visit to Sewanee (University of the South), and it was wonderful," said Mrs. Lanum, whose son is a rising senior.

Red Bank High guidance counselor David Kindiger said the training on college advising for guidance counselors was invaluable.

"A lot of guidance counselors' work is crisis management," Mr. Kindiger said. "And the maximum (situation) is for every kid is to sit with a counselor multiple times a year and talk about college."

The pilot program goal also includes community and technical schools and apprenticeship programs, Sale Creek High guidance counselor Ginny Smith said.

"The culture has changed from primarily industrial, factory employment," Ms. Smith said. "In the past it's been OK not to go to college. But 80 percent of today's jobs require some kind of post-secondary education."

Lumina Foundation officials are monitoring the pilot program, said Susan Street, College Access project director. One year's results are not enough to measure success or failure, she said.

E-mail Beverly A. Carroll at bcarroll@timesfreepress.com E-mail Christine Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

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