SC GEAR UP
Weekly Memo - 2/22 to 2/28
Good Morning!
Good Morning SC GEAR UP!
I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and is looking forward to closing out February on a strong note this week!
After some thought...
I know what I put in the last memo re: what James Davis told us about how we will be judged. I want to amend that statement. Although Washington will judge the success of our grant based on improvement in graduation and enrollment in post-secondary, I can't help but feel like we are destined for more...or at least we should be aiming higher. This entire COMPASS project is designed for so much more than high school graduation. It's a tool designed to show our schools where our kids need help, and giving them an avenue to reinforce what they aren't getting in high school, before they are forced to try to engage a college experience that they may not be ready for. We can do better. For those schools that are on board and buy in to the Program, we will do better. So I am amending my statement from last week.
The success of the SC GEAR UP Grant will be judged on three things:
1) Did your GU cohort graduate high school at a higher rate than the non GU cohorts?
2) Did your GU cohort enroll at a post-secondary institution at a higher rate than the non GU cohorts?
3) How prepared to succeed were our GU cohort when they arrived at college?
Let's get to work.
NCCEP/GEAR UP Summer Conference - San Francisco
Just a reminder.
Moving forward, I need to reiterate that we will probably send a similar sized group to California. The only way that would change would be if more folks get accepted to present. Special priority will be given to those individuals who are chosen to present at the National Conference. Please note the deadline to submit a proposal is about a month out. I want to see your group's proposals BEFORE they are submitted.
Also, please note that we will not be signing off on any nominations for the annual awards. So please don't get folks hyped up about nominating students for Youth of the Year or anything like that. If you have questions, please let me know.
Finance
Meeting This Week
Wednesday, February 25 at Chamber. Trying to be done by 1 at latest. Keep reports concise and streamlined. Want to have real conversation, by school, on COMPASS and where we are with the project realistically. It's time to start framing this thing beginning with what the budget looks like and what the Summer looks like.
We will also get your feedback on the conference and your personal take-aways.
Tutoring
Gotta keep monitoring the tutoring programs. Remember, if there is a kid who is failing, that is not attending a tutoring program, your coach will need to document that contact was made and why the student isn't coming. I get asked every other week about tutoring. I just want to be in a position to say the GC is doing all they possibly can.
College Goal South Carolina
I'm hearing great things about the College Goal events that have occurred for the most part. I would like to hear about your College Goal events on Wednesday! Thank each of you for stepping up and making the events happen.
Comparison School
Please follow-up with the Comparison schools you suggested and made contact with for us. We need more schools. If we can do something/offer something/remove a requirement that gets them to commit, let me know.
Special thanks to Steve for putting in work and getting us at least 2 more schools. Thank you Steve! The Comparison schools are crucial to our evaluation efforts (Translation: Vermadel is having a fit about getting them on board - Let's make Vermadel happy people! I need her to be happy!)
COMPASS Follow-up
Let's give me the COMPASS reports at the meeting this week. It is now time to start moving towards the structure and the framework for how these things are going to look. Let's begin to push the schools to make some decisions now at the school level. We are giving the test now, but what happens when you get the data back? How will we share? Who will we share with? We need to starting thinking Summer programs/rollout. I want to be sure you cover the following in your reports:
- Date of last meeting/contact on subject and who attended
- Date of COMPASS administration
- Technical college that will partner with high school through project
- Plan for Dual Enrollment Course delivery
- Plan for Developmental or "GEAR UP University Transition Course"
- Who is teaching the courses?
- Will you have enough students to "make" the course?
- You have results, so if you don't have enough students to have a course, what now?
- Have you discussed if this "Transition Course" could be offered with Carnegie Unit
- Plan for sharing data with stakeholders (parent night? IGP?)
- Have you begun to project a budget/cost for program
- Issues you are encountering at any level
You have my email from last week about deadlines. It's time to start laying out how this thing is going to work.
Summer Plans
Objectives for 2014-15
The SCGU Grant objective for 10th grade will be that 80% of our students will pass Biology by the end of 10th grade. As of first semester, I believe Vermadel has us at 38%.
CCTI
Social Media Update
The SC GEAR UP Facebook and Twitter are now both up!!!! Please have the coaches encourage students to like and follow SC GEAR UP on social media. We can do better on Twitter and certainly on Facebook.
I can't stress enough how much we need to beef up the social media!!! This is a great way to keep everyone informed on what we are doing. We are also working on the websites each week. We need that support folks!