California GEAR UP e-Newsletter

To promote college-going, teachers show students how to calculate a Grade Point Average (GPA) at the beginning of the school year.

Photo: (Left to right) Almeria Middle School Counselor Debbie Simpson, Assistant Principal/Site Contact Kim Bente, AVID teacher Heather Rhodes, and AVID Coordinator Dennis Dragotto stand before their school’s college pennant display, one of their methods to promote college-going.

One of the main challenges of becoming a college-going school in a low-income community where few people have gone to college is changing the perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs of teachers who have been at the same school for many, many years. One successful strategy of the School Leadership Team was using the School Self-Assessment Rubric (SSAR) with the entire staff to develop the school focus and to revise the school’s Vision Statement. The staff worked with trained facilitators provided through GEAR UP.

Photo: (Left to right) Gage Middle School staff Norma Garcia, Community Representative; Carmen Morgana, Community Representative; Linda Loya, College Counselor; Bette Caldwell, Counselor/GEAR UP Coordinator; Martin Aispuro, Clerk Technician; Antonia Guzman, AVID Elective teacher; Christina Rico, Title I Coordinator, share their perspective about GEAR UP and are recognized for their continued participation.

Their first step in building a college-going culture was to establish the School Leadership Team after attending the GEAR UP Principal and Leadership Team Institute. Despite their initial confusion, the team took the School Self Assessment Rubric (SSAR) back to the rest of the staff and used the GEAR UP process to determine the two areas for their first year focus. The next year they were ready to focus on two other areas. The Leadership Team also set a time to meet and did not allow events to interfere with this set time for discussion.