Dalton State College: Summer 2003
Results Instruction was provided by fifteen Georgia certified instructors. Three coordinators supervised the program. Two instructors provided leadership for the Career Exploration program. Each class was held for 40-45 minutes in duration. Students participated in computer labs daily. A break period of 20 minutes was provided daily in the Student Center, allowing participants to become familiar with the cafeteria, game room, bookstore, and financial aid.
On the last day, students, parents, teachers, and administrators attended a program acknowledging the students¹ dedication and scholarly outcomes. Students received certificates of completion and a Dalton State College t-shirt. Next the college administrators provided a barbeque luncheon for all in attendance. Students left in possession of personal copies of the Steps to College Viewbook, an informative and impressive piece including separate pages with class photos and activities, news articles on the program, and college admissions information.
Objectives Met Challenges and Issues Planned Activities Student Trainees Success Data
Teacher Trainees New Programs System Personnel Involved Linkages Beneficiaries Indirect beneficiaries potentially include the Latino community in and around Dalton who will interact with the Latino students and instructors from the highly successful initial offering of the Steps to College program hosted at the strategically situated campus of Dalton State College.
Monte Salyer
The summer school program Steps to College targeting Latino middle and high school students was conducted for four weeks between June 9 and July 3, 2001. Students from Dalton Public Schools, Whitfield County Public Schools, and Murray County Public Schools arrived by school busses at approximately 8 AM. Classes began upon the arrival of the students and continued until noon. Middle School students received instruction each day in Mathematics, Writing, Science, and Social Studies. They also participated in Career Exploration activities twice per week. Tenth and eleventh graders studied Geometry, Physical Science, Writing/Career Exploration, and U.S. History in preparation for the Georgia High School Graduation Test. Twelfth graders prepared for the ACT exam, studying Science, English, Reading, Social Studies, and Mathematics daily.
Although the primary objective of the project was not to increase the number of K-12 personnel qualified to teach English as a Second Language, nevertheless this project did augment that number by the involvement of teaching assistants who received first hand experiences with Latino students. The primary objective, which is to develop an outreach/marketing strategy to encourage more Latino youth to pursue higher education in the University System of Georgia, was directly met by (1) simply having a large group of Latino youth on the campus of Dalton State College for four weeks of instruction, helping the youth themselves advance in academics and in attitude towards college; (2) the secondary level ESOL instructors themselves learned in depth information about the college and especially its ESL and international student services, providing them with knowledge to advise Latino students with their post-secondary educational opportunities within the University System of Georgia; (3) the student participants as well as the instructors are expected to serve as promoters of Dalton State College in the community at large and especially among peer group Latino youth.
One key challenge still needing to be addressed is the increased cost and complexity of providing transportation for all students. The program paid Dalton City, Murray County, and Whitfield County for bus services, and it was not possible to make house by house stops to pick up individual students. This procedure resulted in Latino youth having to walk by foot through risky communities. Some students provided their own transportation; others did not feel that they could participate because of transportation issues. Another challenge emerged in the area of facilities. Initially it was believed that conducting classes across the campus would familiarize the participants with the sweep of the institution, it was discovered that having classes in closer proximity would permit more instructional time.
During the next three months three major activities are expected to occur in consequence of the Steps to College program. First, the project will provide after-school tutoring at Dalton High School, where the majority of Latino students require further preparation to pass the Georgia High School Graduation Test. Second, the project will support college tours for Latino secondary students. Third, the project will send representatives into the ten middle and high schools to monitor the progress of participating students.
At the onset over 300 applications for the program were accepted from 10 separate local middle and high schools. During the screening process, teacher input and parental approval forms were used. Dr. Monte Salyer, program director, was able to arrange for bus transportation with the three participating school systems. Although accommodations for transportation were made, some issues resulted in the reduction of the total number of student trainees enrolling being reduced to 231. These student trainees remained extremely enthusiastic and active within all areas of the program, expressing a desire to continue in the program and to attend college. In particular, all 12 twelfth graders plan to attend college after finishing their senior year in high school.
There were 20 teaching assistants who received on the job the training with the Latino students in the program. Most of the teacher trainees expressed interest in participating in the Steps to College program either as a teaching assistant or instructor in subsequent summers. Most of the teaching assistants were students at Dalton State College, and nine of these were Latino students themselves, and thus served particularly well as role models for the secondary students. Two of these student workers will continue to work with the program during the upcoming academic year. Several of the student workers, including four of the Latinos, are interested in taking a major in Education to become teachers.
One new program under development to complement Steps to College is the monitoring project in which a student assistant will visit each participating school each semester to assist participating students. There also may be continued activity in the Career Exploration project, as students who have made connections at technical and professional career sites may continue to visit with professionals there.
Six (6) faculty level personnel from the University of Georgia System at Dalton State College participated to some degree in the Steps to College program. Three of these personnel are administrators (Dr. Black, Ms. Johnson, Dr. Harris); three are teaching faculty (Dr. Salyer, Dr. Humphrey, Ms. Cameron). Fifteen (15) of the teaching assistants were students in the University System of Georgia.
Linkages have been established with the 3 local area school systems mentioned above. Also, four local newspapers—El Informador, La Voz, the Daily Citizen, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press—have or will publish positive news stories on the Steps to College program. Local TV channel 10 provided coverage, and the local Latino radio station, La Buena, operated live at the closing luncheon and party.
Direct beneficiaries include 231 students, 6 USG faculty members, 20 local public school instructors, and 20 teaching assistants. At the final ceremony, 2 local school superintendents attended and were impressed with the success of the program. Also in attendance were several college family members, several college ESL students, and other college students.
Dalton State College
July 18, 2003