Opinion: Worcester's pipeline challenge
BY EVAN S. DOBELLE
For every 100 public high school ninth-graders in Massachusetts, only 75 will graduate from high school with their peers four years later, according to some estimates. Only 47 of the original 100 will enter college the fall after they graduate, while only 36 will return to their colleges for sophomore year. Only 26 will earn associate degrees within three years of enrolling in college or bachelor's degrees within six years of enrolling.
This "pipeline" challenge is especially severe in Bay State cities such as Worcester. But everywhere in Massachusetts, you are just a few minutes' drive from fifth-graders who believe they will have two choices in life: find a paycheck job (as opposed to a career) or join the military. College is not even part of the cultural equation for these young people or their parents.
The main reasons for this are by now familiar: primarily inadequate preparation and lack of financial resources for too many New England families and communities. Despite the best efforts of teachers and professionals, too many of our students - particularly in urban environments as well as rural parts of New England - either drop out of high school or are allowed to graduate without having learned what they need in order to succeed academically or socially in college.
Others work hard only to find out the resources society invests annually in various student aid programs and educational tax benefits still do not provide them with a real chance to achieve the American Dream. An American from the top quartile of family income is six times more likely to have completed a bachelor's degree by age 24 than his counterpart from the bottom quartile, according to research by Iowa higher education analyst Tom Mortenson.
In New England's most distressed cities and rural areas, as many as 95 percent of students are poor enough to qualify for federal free or reduced-price lunch programs and half of students do not speak English at home. These children - and their teachers - need our engagement. But it takes a region to raise a college-ready child. The solution isn't to just spend more tax dollars; it's about public-private partnerships with real strategies and metrics to measure progress and ensure accountability.
That's why the New England Board of Higher Education is working in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs to instill college aspirations and preparation among the young people who participate in activities at the venerable community organization. The idea is to expand this partnership to other New England community-based organizations.
We also need to stop making it easy for children to fail. One sensible step would be to adopt a policy like Indiana's in which a rigorous college and work-prep curriculum becomes the default high school course.
Another step would be to encourage New England employers to pledge not to hire permanent workers who do not have a high school diploma unless they have a solid plan and timetable to earn a GED, regardless of their age.
Finally, the region's higher education institutions have a self-interest in getting the pipeline flowing. They need to strategically deploy their students - about 30,000 in Worcester alone - as well as their faculty and facilities to provide the role models, mentors and support programs that give their young neighbors a real chance to enroll in the future.
Colleges also need to play a role in "preparing" their future students. Clark University has earned international praise for its efforts to bring the full richness of higher education resources to Worcester children. Indeed, Clark's University Park High School shows how our pipeline should be flowing. The school enrolls a much higher percentage of lower-income students than the statewide average but also posts much higher achievement in English and math and many more students planning to go to college.
Other Worcester colleges are playing vital roles as well. But there is much more to do to change those disturbing educational pipeline numbers and allow Worcester to truly thrive in a global economy. Our excellence as a nation requires that we fight relentlessly to make sure our young people are able to succeed academically.
Evan S. Dobelle is president and CEO of the New England Board of Higher Education.
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