CORRECTIONS: In a previous version of this article, the number of Say Yes students who enrolled in college  last year was misstated. Last year, 1,248 students enrolled as first-year college students for the fall semester. Vanderbilt University was also misspelled. The Daily Orange regrets these errors.

Say Yes to Education’s model is catching on across the country — and it’s giving even more students the opportunity to receive a college education.

The national, nonprofit educational foundation, which came to Syracuse in 2007, offers financial and academic support to high school students. Say Yes has added 11 new partner schools— five of which are covering all expenses, including room and board, as well as tuition. Once admitted, students within the Syracuse City School District can now choose from about 130 schools across the country.

Out of those 130, 54 are private institutions, said Pat Driscoll, director of operations at Say Yes to Education Syracuse. Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Rice University and several other colleges are all offering full rides, according to Say Yes to Education Syracuse’s website.

Syracuse was the first site of a citywide implementation of Say Yes to Education.

“I think it will offer students within the Syracuse City School District an opportunity to explore different colleges and universities that are part of the Say Yes Compact,” he said. “It’s a remarkable opportunity for a student from the Syracuse City School District to consider enrolling in an Ivy League school.”

The schools Say Yes recently partnered with may be offering full rides to increase their geographic reach, Driscoll said, seeking to attract students from other parts of the country.

Adding these schools has, at the very least, drawn attention to the program.

“I can say, anecdotally, that people are keeping an eye on the program because of the new schools,” he said. The selection includes some “very nice options,” particularly for students looking to go out of state or to an Ivy League school.

The umbrella organization for the Say Yes programs, has seen more requests to become a partner from other schools with backgrounds similar to the latest eleven added to the network, Driscoll said. He declined to name any specific schools.

Ahmeed Turner, the scholarships director at Syracuse’s Say Yes to Education, said there’s a growing push across the United States to send students to college.

This interest has an especially large concentration in New York, where he said several school districts’ graduation rates are much lower than they should be.

Syracuse students in particular didn’t see college as a viable option, he said. With many of them growing up in low-income families, tuition was cost-prohibitive — a barrier he said Say Yes is “chipping away at.”

Students also had limited exposure to information about different options and strategies, something Say Yes has tried to address through outreach.

There seems to be more optimism among students considering college, Turner said. The program’s received more inquiries from students, particularly because of the new partner schools, he said.

The 11 new schools, and the fact that more may be added in the future, signal possibilities for students, he said.

Last year, he said 1,248 students enrolled as first-year college students for the fall semester — a number that dropped to less than 1,200 by the spring semester for a variety of reasons.

Some students transferred from two-year to four-year schools, while others transferred to schools not participating with Say Yes to Education, he said. In addition, others went on sabbatical and were not participating for the semester.

But there was also a number of students, Turner said, who would enroll in the fall and have to leave for disciplinary reasons, or because they weren’t showing enough academic progress.

When this scenario happens, he said, it’s a sign that more still needs to be done to prepare high school students for the transition to college.

He said a higher number of first-year students enrolled in college this year, but said it’s too early in the semester to determine how the number will change. A more accurate assessment, he said, will most likely be available by November.

Though the organization has made strides nationally, the organization is also now trying to find ways to support students before they enter college.

Driscoll, the director of operations, said in-school support for students and their families has increased as part of a partnership with the Syracuse City School District and Onondaga County.

A school support specialist is now in every elementary and junior high school building, he said. He added that four out of five high schools also have their own specialist.

These specialists tend to come from a social work or teaching background, he said, and are trained to recognize and help students who may be struggling in school.

They are also responsible for keeping track of how many families are receiving support from the schools, he said.

The position incorporates case management and preventative work, meant to focus on a student’s attendance, behavior and health-related issues, Driscoll said.

Say Yes to Education is also holding its SAT prep class on Saturday, he said. The class is now full, with around 125 students signed up — an “encouraging” sign, Driscoll said.

“I think that having fellow students enrolling and going to college and seeing that opportunity is hope for them and is starting to change their mindset,” he said.

Michelle Mignano, a member of the SCSD’s Board of Education, said Say Yes to Education is one of the “most important drivers” behind SCSD’s outreach to students — though that’s not to say teachers didn’t care before.

Programs like Say Yes gave teachers something to help them push their students and raise expectations, as well as hope, she said.

A major challenge, Mignano said, is changing the expectations surrounding the students in Syracuse.

“When you look at the poverty and you look at the unemployment rate for inner-city youth, it’s different from anything else,” she said.

Changing opinions about what these students are capable of, she said, is “very difficult.” Though confronting it is no easy task, the district has many people willing to do so, she said.

“You have a lot of people who care a lot about our kids,” she said. “We’re fighting and we’ll swim upriver as much as possible.”

Published on October 2, 2013 at 1:20 am

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