I'm on the Board of a fledgling non-profit organization called Topplers. We're expanding our community service initiatives and the following blog post describes the initiative that I'm leading. Until we launch our new website and community site for Topplers, if you want to get involved please contact me at chris@topplers.org.
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In simple, factual, somewhat dry terms, Higher Achievement is an initiative supported by Topplers, where we’ll use the Topplers community and the Topplers ‘pay it forward’ online tracking system to build support and track progress. The substance of Higher Achievement is supporting 100,000 college graduations, which is a personal goal where I hope myself and many others can positively impact students at various stages of their college careers, giving each a foundational set of skills and knowledge at the front-end of a lifetime of learning. But as I said, this is the somewhat dry, simple, factual stuff.
To the people we will impact with the efforts of Higher Achievement, an entirely different picture will emerge—one rich in personal growth for every student we support, and jammed full of hard work, fun, excitement, exhaustion, and ultimately the achievement of a credential that marks the first major accomplishment of many peoples’ adult lives. This is important to the people we will support, because a college degree not only marks the achievement of a valued credential, but because it signifies a skill-set, a body of knowledge, and an accomplishment based on hard work and determination.
For each person we support, they’ll also likely achieve $1,000,000 in additional income over their professional lives. In fact some analysis by smart people at Arizona State University revealed that, based on year 2000 census data, average annual earnings of individuals with a bachelor’s degree was from 74 to 87 percent higher (depending on age) than the earnings of individuals whose maximum educational attainment was a high school diploma.
Not only do employers need these people, and pay them well, but so do governments, who need these people and deploy them on critical missions around the world. And we—yes, you and me—need these people in our communities solving the tough problems we encounter at both the local and global level—from cleaning up the environment to solving massive problems like hunger and global warming.
So how do we get there? How do we support 100,000 college graduations?
It is at the individual level where our efforts will focus, because it takes a massive, concerted effort of time, energy and money—along with some highly targeted advice and prodding—for any individual to both enter and graduate from college.
We need to work together to identify the events and influences that make college graduation happen. Certainly students have to respond. But we, as a supportive community, have to build the expectations and support systems.
Junior High and High School curricula have to be interesting and challenging. According to some of the experts, it is the academic intensity of students’ high school curriculum that counts more than anything else in providing the momentum a student needs to complete a bachelor’s degree. So how can you support the teachers, administrators and students at a school?
We need to set the expectation that student should be prepared for tough courses, and that participation in tough courses paves the way for handling life’s tough challenges. Simple public dialog, sharing examples and setting high expectations contributes significantly to preparedness.
What else? Curriculum is one key element of supporting students, but we can’t ignore attendance and performance. Looking at performance, as measured by grades, it’s clear that higher grades equate to higher academic momentum and graduation rates. Relative to attendance, repeating or dropping courses is bad. Also, the longer students wait, the less likely they will finish. The year a student graduates from high school is the year they should enter college. Help make that happen for someone that might not otherwise.
How can we help 100,000 students graduate from college? Here are a few ideas.
•Help a student with college readiness:
o Mentor a student or get involved in a support program for first generation college students—focusing on Jr. and Sr. high school students both
o Help someone with their college application
o Contribute to an endowment or scholarship fund
•Help a student with college persistence:
o Find an opportunity for in-university mentorship and personal support; you might also find a way to get involved with the career services office, including career planning and networking support through your alumni organization.
•Support students with a STEM focus (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). These types of tough academic programs get students to really excel in college and after graduation.
•Support a foreign exchange student. Cultural fluency is a powerful asset.
•Get involved in a University 101 program at a university, which supports student success and retention. These programs tend to focus on getting students launched into successful college careers by focusing on the early steps they take at an institution.
•Get involved in cooperative community/university organizations—social cohesion is huge in helping students achieve in school.
•Get involved in learning communities – academic clubs, or even social clubs like fraternities and sororities—because a strong college community supports academic achievement.
•Support student groups that are involved in peer mentoring, which also equates strongly with college graduation rates.
There are certainly many other ways to support a student in moving into and through college. Our efforts with Higher Achievement and Topplers will try to communicate more ideas, and take a range of specific actions ourselves; I hope you will also contribute to this community with ideas, and most importantly, I hope that you’ll decide to take an action that supports a student.
Tell someone else what we’re doing. Take action yourself and ‘pay it forward.’
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