YOUNGSTOWN Giving city teens a jump-start on college

The high school would be at YSU.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;By JoANNE VIVIANO & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's something being done in only about half a dozen schools nationwide.
But a Youngstown State University dean said a Youngstown city high school on the college campus would be spectacular.
"If we believe in it and can gather belief in it, it can be really dynamite," said Dr. Robert Bolla, dean of arts and sciences a YSU. "I think it's a great opportunity for us to do something different for a change."
The Early College High School Initiative would place up to 400 Youngstown city schools students in a high school on the YSU campus. They would earn their high school diplomas there and also attend college courses.
That means they would graduate from high school with roughly two years of college credit under their belts -- either a two-year associate degree or junior status toward a bachelor's degree.
Students eligible for the program are among those underrepresented on college campuses, with low family incomes and who are academic underachievers with "untapped potential," said Kathleen O'Connell Sauline, supervisor of libraries and media for the city school district and part of the project's planning team.
The targeted population are students who do not pursue college, said Dr. Richard Bretz, assistant to YSU Provost Tony Atwater. They come from a group that usually does not consider secondary education an option.
Program funds
Funding for the initiative comes from the Cincinnati-based KnowledgeWorks Foundation, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Youngstown has received $50,000 for phases one and two, Bretz said.
When initial planning goals are met, the district will receive $360,000 over three years to implement the program. A goal would be a self-sustaining program that can be supported by state and local funds.
KnowledgeWorks has given similar grants to districts in Columbus, Dayton, Elyria and Lorain.
KnowledgeWorks materials say nearly three-quarters of high school graduates begin some form of higher education, but more than half fail to complete a degree and one-third never make it to the second year.
Sixteen percent of blacks and 11 percent of Hispanics complete a four-year college degree by 29, compared with 28 percent of whites, the materials say.
Planned for fall 2004
Youngstown's on-campus high school would start in a yet-undetermined facility in fall 2004. Its first students would be a group of 100 ninth-graders. Educators would add up to 100 students per grade, maxing out at 400.
Although a group has not been selected, Sauline said chosen students, now finishing their seventh-grade year, will attend a summer enrichment program focusing on reading and writing, research skills, math, science and social studies. The group also will receive enrichment in eighth grade and the following summer.
The on-campus school would be one of several small schools planned with the use of another KnowledgeWorks grant, Sauline said. The $2 million High School Transformation grant will help the district create smaller schools within or from within its high schools.
Sauline said Youngstown was selected for the Early College grant because of the partnership that has been established between the city schools and YSU, and the individual success of each organization to get things done.
Bretz said there are five or six such on-campus schools in the nation and another half-dozen will open this fall.
Bolla said he visited an on-campus school in Pennsylvania and found it outstanding.
"You have kids who'd never have a chance to go to college and now they're at least thinking about it if not doing it," he said. "It's spectacular."
By fall 2004, there will be 100 such schools across the country, all funded by the Bill & amp; Melinda Gates Foundation through intermediaries, Bretz said. KnowledgeWorks is the foundation's intermediary in Ohio.
Executive committee
Members of the executive committee for the Youngstown project are Dr. Bolla; Dr. James Andrews, YSU associate professor; Dr. Phillip Ginnetti, education dean at YSU; city schools' Superintendent Benjamin L. McGee; and project director John Tullio, a district administrative specialist.
Sauline said the group also has received support from the Youngstown Education Association teachers union and the YSU Ohio Education Association faculty union.
A dinner meeting scheduled for tonight at YSU will bring faculty and teachers together to elicit input and glean ideas, she said.
& lt;a href=mailto:viviano@vindy.com & gt;viviano@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;