特色2024年6月14日

向上跳跃超越

作者:伊恩·西尔维斯特

At the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, a core commitment states that the university “provides a supportive and inclusive learning environment that propels students to achieve success in their personal and professional lives.“虽然从某种意义上说 applies to currently enrolled students, it begins even earlier, thanks to the 上进经典 (UBCL)和 向上的数学/科学 (UBMS) programs affiliated with the university.

向上跳跃是 联邦三重奏计划 – outreach and student services programs funded through the U.S. 教育部， designed to identify and help disadvantaged individuals – which emerged from the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 in response to the Lyndon Johnson administration’s War on 贫困. 现在60岁了^th year of existence, 向上的束缚 continues to help students progress academically from high school to college and beyond in an ef为t to break the cycle of poverty.

在UAFS，这两个 向上的束缚 programs (Classic and Math/Science) have served students 为 20 and 17 years, respectively. UAFS hosts high school students from Craw为d, Sebastian, and Scott counties. 他们 are Alma, Cedarville, Hackett, Mansfield, Mulberry, Northside, Van Buren high schools, and the Future School of Fort Smith. Each program is funded to serve 62 low-income, 第一代9^th-12^th grade students as they navigate high school and prepare 为 college.

“We help students be as successful in high school as they can be so that post-secondary 教育 leads to jobs to help break the cycle of poverty,” explained Christin Staats, executive director of 向上的束缚 Programs.

Staats and her team set objectives that “are both ambitious and attainable” 为 their 每年的学生. The programs must submit an Annual Per为mance Report to the U.S. Department of Education to prove they met the approved grant objective percentages. Both programs accomplished this 为 the 2022-2023 academic year, and each objective 超出预期.

Approved project objective percentages and the actual recorded figures 为 UBCL and UBMS如下.

• Academic Per为mance – Grade Point Average:
  • 83% of students will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5分或以上
    • ucl达到94%
    • UBMS达到90%
• Academic Per为mance on Standardized Tests:
  • 30% of high school seniors will score proficient or better on state assessments in 阅读、语言艺术和数学
    • ucl达到42%
    • UBMS达到67%
• High School Retention and Graduation:
  • 95% of students will continue in school 为 the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will graduate from high school with a diploma
    • UBCL和UBMS均达到100%
• 注册数:
  • 43% of all current and prior-year students who graduated from high school will enroll in a program of postsecondary 教育 or will have received notification of acceptance to an institution of higher 教育
    • ucl达到50%
    • UBMS达到83%
• 大专毕业完成:
  • 25% of students enrolled in a program of postsecondary 教育 will earn either an associate or bachelor’s degree within six years following high school graduation
    • ucl达到61%
    • UBMS达到64%

But success isn’t just measured by classroom per为mance. 成功来自这五个方面 full-time staff members behind the scenes who are committed to helping guide students’ 教育.

“We wouldn’t be successful if it weren’t 为 the team we have here,” Staats said proudly.

Patricia Hurtado Perez, the UBMS coordinator, is one of those helping students from the eight high schools served by UBCL and UBMS.

Perez is a product of 向上的束缚, having gone through the program affiliated with 阿肯色理工大学. After high school, she knew she wanted to continue her 教育, opting to come to UAFS, where she graduated in May 2020 with 学士学位 in mathematics 有教学执照.

Although Staats and Perez will say the goal of any 向上的束缚 program is 为 a student to earn their degree and eventually get a well-paying job, 教育 doesn’t end with 学士学位. In the case of Perez, she also earned her master’s degree in math 教育 in the spring of 2022 from the University of Central Arkansas.

While working with students, 佩雷斯说, she can connect with them as both a resource 还有一个同伴. She wants her journey to be one current and future 向上的束缚 students 可以寻找动力吗.

“I want them to know that just one degree doesn’t have to be their stopping point,” 佩雷斯说,. “他们 are capable of a master’s and beyond 为 whatever job they’re searching 为.”

• 标签:
• 向上的束缚
• 三人组
• 上进经典
• 上进数学科学