MCBAEO & College Summit begin to reverse Milwaukee's quiet crisis
Summer pilot exceeds goals

The Milwaukee Chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (MCBAEO)/College Summit Transition to College Program remains committed to contributing to solving Milwaukee�s "quiet crisis": Adding 5,300 college-educated residents each year from now until 2020 to be an average city.

The goals of pilot year two are to:

1. Incorporate lessons learned from the first year of the Milwaukee pilot, from other College Summit sites and from other pre-college access and success programs to identify best practices for continued expansion of the MCBAEO/College Summit program from 35 to 3,000 students over the next five years; and

2. Make high school completion and college enrollment a priority for the City of Milwaukee.

We have made great strides towards both goals and this document is an update on our progress at six high schools: Clergy for Educational Options Leadership Academy, Clara Mohammed High School, Pulaski High School, and the three small Gates High schools at the Washington High School Campus�Expeditionary Learning, Instructional Technology, and Law Enforcement and Public Service.

Marquette University MCBAEO/College Summit Workshop and Community Roundtable

In August, Marquette University hosted Milwaukee�s inaugural MCBAEO/College Summit Workshop. Last year, nine students attended a workshop at DePaul University in Chicago. This year, twenty-five students from the six high schools participated in a four-day, residential, intensive workshop to accelerate their learning of the college application process and train to become �peer leaders�, influential students who, along with their teachers and counselors, strengthen a school�s college-going culture. Marquette University benefits in several ways from hosting the MCBAEO/ College Summit Workshop. College Summit markets Marquette University in every College Summit classroom nationally; and Marquette University obtains access to College Summit�s Connection Online database with over 1,000 students from across the country.

In addition to hosting the workshop for peer leaders, Marquette University hosted community leaders at the MCBAEO/College Summit second community roundtable. Northern Trust Bank hosted the first Community Roundtable in November 2005. MCBAEO organized and staffed both roundtables, which included school district staff, high school leaders, College Summit staff, Milwaukee corporate and foundation staff, print media, and alumni of the College Summit program and participants from the MCBAEO/ College Summit program. Community roundtables are an opportunity to build momentum around making high school completion and college enrollment a priority in the city. The impact of the first community round table was felt immediately when key community and foundation leaders agreed to join the Harley-Davidson Foundation in supporting the program.

One highlight of the roundtable at Marquette University was the voice of workshop participant and peer leader, Antonio Rodriguez, a student at Pulaski High School, who said, �I had never heard anyone in my community talk about college until I got to College Summit.� Another highlight was local media coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of the roundtable and student banquet.

But raising awareness of the importance of high school graduation and college completion is not all that our pilot has accomplished. College Summit trained eight educators at a Summer Institute in the College Summit curriculum on how to strengthen (along with peer leaders) the college-going culture in their classrooms and their high school. Currently, more than 230 seniors are enrolled in the MCBAEO/College Summit seminar. Over 60% of these students have completed a college list, essay, and plan, all of which are strong leading indicators towards college applications sent. All six high schools offer full or shared credit for the seminar with an adequate minimum of sixty-to-ninety minutes per week dedicated to transition to college activities. In addition, schools have already started taking initiative (beyond the required seminar) to bring in outside speakers, organize college visits, etc. Most important, college enrollment for our year one pilot exceeded the national rate for low-income students, and we expect to exceed the national average again this year.

What�s next?

In the next few months, MCBAEO/College Summit will host a peer leader reunion for students who attended the Marquette University workshop to reconnect and learn how they can more deeply shift the college-going culture in their respective high schools. We will also be tracking a whole host of data such as: actual college applications sent data, completion of financial aid forms, and students taking standardized tests and college acceptance letters. And later this spring, we will publish the actual college enrollment rate of our first 35 students directly from college registrars� offices while students in pilot year two will be completing college application elements for their transition from high school to college.

Our goal for third year execution is to secure operating funding to launch and sustain a local MCBAEO/College Summit office so that we can expand support at the current six schools and extend the network of schools across the city.