News release
Public Information Office
SLU 10880 Hammond,
LA 70402 phone:
985-549-2341 fax:
985-549-2061publicinfo@selu.edu
www.selu.edu/news
Contact: Rene Abadie
Date: 12/18/02
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ANNOUNCING "GEAR UP" – As Southeastern Louisiana University President Randy Moffett, left, and Hammond Junior High Principal Jan Williams, center, look on, Tangipahoa Parish Schools Superintendent Virgil Allen talks to junior high students about GEAR UP, a $1.2 million pilot program designed to improve student achievement and raise educational aspirations. Southeastern announced at a December 18 press conference that the university will team up with Hammond Junior High and other community partners to offer the program, which will provide intensified English and math instruction to seventh grade students. SOUTHEASTERN PARTNERS WITH HAMMOND JUNIOR HIGH IN $1.2 MILLION ‘GEAR UP’ PROGRAM HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University will join with Hammond Junior High School and several other partners to offer a $1.2 million pilot program designed to improve student achievement and raise educational aspirations, university and school officials announced today. A five-year GEAR UP grant from the U.S. Department of Education is intended to provide intensified English and math instruction to seventh grade cohorts of students, said LaVanner Brown, principal investigator for the GEAR UP grant and executive director of Southeastern’s TRIO Program. Those students, as well as each subsequent seventh grade class over the next four years, will be followed throughout high school and provided with additional tutoring, mentoring and other services. GEAR UP, an acronym for “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs,” was enacted in 1998 with the intent of funding partnerships between middle schools, universities, and community organizations to work with entire grades of students. The partnerships provide tutoring, mentoring, information on college preparation and financial aid and emphasis on core academic preparation. In addition to Southeastern and Hammond Junior High, several other partners are involved in the GEAR UP program, Brown said. The Tangipahoa Parish School System and Miller Memorial Library will provide tutoring services and transportation. The Tangipahoa Alcohol and Drug Abuse Family Resource Center will sponsor workshops on drug and alcohol abuse, and the City of Hammond will offer mentoring services through the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs. “GEAR UP provides a valuable opportunity to significantly increase the number of middle and low income students who are academically prepared to succeed in high school and, later, in postsecondary education,” said Southeastern President Randy Moffett. “As our universities move toward higher admission standards, it is important that institutions like Southeastern partner with area school systems to improve students’ preparation for college, which must begin before high school. Our long-standing relationship with the Tangipahoa Parish School System makes a program like GEAR UP a natural one for us.” “It’s always healthy and helpful when our local schools can partner with Southeastern in ways that are mutually beneficial,” said Virgil Allen, superintendent of the Tangipahoa Parish School System. “I am especially excited about the GEAR UP program because it reinforces and strengthens what we are doing in the classroom. Hammond Junior High is one of our ‘at-risk’ schools where we are providing additional services. Programs like this can only help our students.” “The seventh grade is an important level for students,” Brown said. “These students are taking the Iowa Tests and are preparing to take the LEAP test in the eighth grade, so it is essential that they have a strong foundation in mathematics and language arts. GEAR UP will provide them with remedial and accelerated training to prepare them for these tests and the subsequent high school curriculum.” Under the grant, additional math and English teachers as well as a director will be based at Hammond Junior High and will work under the joint supervision of the school and Southeastern. The initial cohort involves approximately 265 students. Over the grant’s five-year period, more than 1,300 students will be involved in the project. Hammond Junior High – with 32 teachers and 450 students in seventh and eighth grades – is designated as a “school of recognized growth” by the state Department of Education for its steadily improving LEAP test scores. Even with improvement, however, the school remains academically below the state average. Principal Jan Williams sees GEAR UP as a valuable addition to programs already in place designed to help the students, most of whom come from lower to middle socioeconomic backgrounds. “Our faculty want whatever programs will be beneficial for the children,” Williams said, “and GEAR UP appears to have that potential.” Many of the students at Hammond Junior High do not have parents who have gone to college, Williams said. “Our goal is to prepare them and get them to start thinking about possibly going to college,” she added. “Too many of these students see high school as their goal, when they actually have the potential to go much further. We’re looking to broaden their educational perspectives, to let them know the sky is the limit.” Williams said parents are expected to play key roles in the success of GEAR UP. “As educators, we know that students are more likely to succeed when parents are involved,” she said. “We have been emphasizing parental involvement and it has increased over the last several years. Parents now help with LEAP test preparations, and some volunteer to help in the classrooms.” Brown said that as the Hammond Junior High students move to Hammond High, they will be engaged in other programs so that they are fully prepared for college by the end of their senior year. In high school, emphasis will be placed on preparing for the ACT entrance examination. In addition, they will receive career and academic counseling to ensure they meet core curriculum requirements necessary to qualify for the state’s TOPs financial aid program. The GEAR UP program is based on significant educational research demonstrating that academically challenging and supportive experience is important in making the transition to high school successful. The program provides for intensive and continuous staff development among teachers to deepen content knowledge, especially in math and science where the need for qualified teachers is greatest. The long-term mentoring services helps children stay on track for college. |
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