71 Percent of Public School Graduates Enrolled in Universities in 2004


June 3, 2005
By Beverly A. Carroll, Staff Writer
Chattanooga Times Free Press

Seventy-one percent of last year’s Hamilton County Schools’ high school graduates pursued degrees at 122 colleges in 30 states, figures from the Public Education Foundation show.

"This information will help us learn and improve how schools and the community prepare young people for success in college," said Dan Challener, the nonprofit foundation’s executive director. "It is immensely valuable."

The foundation tracked the students with a grant from the Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based private organization aimed at expanding access and success in education beyond high school, Dr. Challener said.

The $217,000, two-year grant founded a partnership of local schools, foundations and community groups aimed at improving the rates of high school students going to college, said Susan Street, director of the Chattanooga Partnership for College Access and Success. The partnership’s primary focus is lowincome and first-generation college students, Ms. Street said.

Out of the 1,888 Hamilton County Schools students who graduated last year, 1,440 entered college, figures show. Out of the 122 schools attended, 34 are in Te nnessee. The students were tracked using their Social Security numbers, Dr. Challener said.

The partnership has targeted Howard School of Academics and Technology, Sale Creek and Red Bank high schools.

"We selected an urban, suburban and rural school," Ms. Street said. "But we are working with the district so it affects all schools."

The goal of the grant and the tracking is to provide information and raise awareness of available resources for parents and students, she said.

"We are planning programs that could be given in churches, community agencies or where families live instead of relying on them to come to school for a program (on colleges)," Ms. Street said.

Sale Creek High principal Devota Barnes said ideas for increasing college attendance range from software for tracking student records through high school to something as simple as hanging college pennants.

"One suggestion was to have those pennants hanging in the halls so kids could see how many more colleges there are besides the ones they know of like UT, UTC, Chattanooga State or Tennessee Tech," she said.

Mrs. Barnes said the message is that students should think of college as an option. Many of her students would be the first in their family to attend a university, she said.

"That’s a real big step for students to go to college, especially if scholarships are not available," Mrs. Barnes said. "But a lot of our parents are determined their kids are going."

Mrs. Barnes said that, out of the 33 students who graduated from Sale Creek High this year, 20 plan to attend college this fall. The ability to track those students also will provide important information about the number of students who go on to graduate from college, she said.

In Tennessee, only 18 percent of adults over age 25 have college degrees. According to the Southern Regional Education Board, in 2002, 61 percent of Tennessee high school graduates attended college, compared to a national average of 56 percent.

Joe Marks, director of education data for the board, said the gap between students entering college and adult college graduates will shrink.

"For those older adults, the college attendance completion was much less," Dr. Marks said. "Down the road, Tennessee will see that 18 percent rise."