Transition Work Group:  High School to Postsecondary

In June 2009 a committee of individuals from the Akron Public Schools, Summit County Educational Services Center, The University of Akron and Summit Education Initiative formed to develop a quality college access prototype for Summit County high schools.

Committee members include:

• Sandie Crawford (The University of Akron) 
• Diettra Engram (Akron Public Schools)
• Bill Holko (Summit County Educational Service Center)
• Judy Maver (Akron Public Schools)
• Ellen McWilliams (Akron Public Schools)
• Kaye Rowe (Summit Education Initiative)

Guiding the work of the group is the following theory of action: 
If we develop the components of a quality access program, then we can establish a systemic approach for all students in Summit County to gain assistance in access services to college.

With a college-going rate of 51% of Summit County high school students enrolling each year in Ohio schools and approximately 10% enrolling in schools our of Ohio, we are falling short of the P-16 Priority Goal: 
By 2017, the postsecondary of Summit high school graduate who enroll in postsecondary programs will increase to 80%. 

Other additional statistics underscore the urgency for quality access services to postsecondary education:

• A high school dropout is four times as likely to be unemployed as a college graduate.
• Assuming he or she finds a job, he or she will earn 60% less than his or her college-educated counterpart.
• He or she will be half as likely as his or her college-educated peer to take part in the democratic process by casting a vote.
• He or she is 2.5 times more likely to be arrested than a high school graduate.
• Only half of the students who enter 9th grade eventually enroll in college.
• Only one in three students who enter high school receive a college degree.
• Only 60% of America’s low income youth can expect to graduate from high school.