Supporting the Next Generation of Scholars – The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education

Last month, WICHE
http://wiche.edu was chosen to direct the U. S. Department of Education-funded State Scholars Initiative (SSI), a national program that works to motivate students to complete a rigorous course of study in high school. The goal of State Scholars is to prepare students for success in postsecondary education or training, as well as in their future careers. That’s essential work for all of us who are involved in education. Especially in a time of tight budgets, we need to make certain that every education dollar is well spent: ensuring that students are prepared to succeed, no matter what route they choose – a four-year university, a two-year college, or a vocational school – is the key to making every dollar count. The grant to WICHE totals $4.8 million over two years (contingent upon the availability of federal funding and demonstration of substantial progress).*

At the heart of the State Scholars Initiative is a cadre of state-level business/education partnerships that work with students in middle and high school, encouraging them to excel. Currently, 14 partnerships have financial support through the SSI; WICHE will select another six states through a competitive process later this year. The partnering of business and education is critical: when businesspeople visit classrooms to talk to students directly about the importance of taking math, science, language arts, and social studies, and when they discuss how a rigorous education benefits their employees in the workplace every day, they bring home for students the value of a strong education in a real-world, bottom-line way. That’s a message all students need to hear, but one that’s especially important for low-income students.

Studies by the U.S. Department of Education and others underline that message, showing a strong link between the academic intensity of students’ high school course of study and postsecondary degree completion. For example, more than 70 percent of students who got beyond algebra 2 in high school math earned a bachelor’s degree, compared with 40 percent of those who stopped with algebra 2 and 23 percent of those who stopped with geometry. This academic intensity is a better predictor than students’ high school class rank when it comes to success in college, no matter where they start college and no matter how many institutions they attend.

The State Scholars Initiative is designed to help all students succeed – not just those who want a bachelor’s degree. Those who plan to enter career pathway programs at two-year colleges and technical institutes are finding they have to complete rigorous requirements for entry into programs in in-demand fields like nursing, computer science, and engineering technologies. The demands of our economy and society are requiring that all our students be well prepared – and the State Scholars Initiative is helping to make that happen.

—David Longanecker, Executive Director

* Federal funds will account for 97.3 percent of all SSI support; the remaining 2.7 percent will be WICHE’s in-kind contribution, totaling $64,813.

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MONTANA STATE HIGHLIGHTS http://wiche.edu/states/states.asp?stateID=7