ESSEX, N.Y., April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- It's well
known that low-income urban students who want to attend college
face significant hurdles. But rural students go to college and
remain there at even lower rates than their urban
counterparts.
A new initiative, the North Country Brilliant Pathways Program,
aims to address this underrecognized gap for students at 20
elementary, middle and high schools in rural Vermont and northeastern New York by providing them with a
multi-faceted, comprehensive college readiness
program.
The new program was announced at an April
22 press conference at the Essex,
N.Y. headquarters of CFES Brilliant Pathways, the college
readiness non-profit that developed the program.
"Economic, cultural and demographic issues are combining to rob
young people in rural communities of the future they deserve," said
Rick Dalton, president of CFES
Brilliant Pathways. "This new initiative is designed to level the
playing field for a group of schools in New York and Vermont and serve as a model that could be
adopted by schools nationwide," he said.
The program, with an estimated total value of $1.5 million, is free of cost, but each
school needs to apply to be included. The application and program
details can be found on the CFES website brilliantpathways.org.
"This isn't about having just another program," said former
New York governor George Pataki, a CFES board member. "It's about
changing lives and showing the pathway to opportunity and how a
better career and education can be achieved in every community in
every town and every village throughout the North Country."
The new program will offer a variety of components to the 20
participating schools. They include the following (see Program
Profile for more details):
- A dedicated professional program director for each school who
will make in-person and virtual visits throughout the year
- Myriad professional development and enrichment opportunities
for educators, students and families, such as monthly college- and
career-readiness advisor trainings certified by the University of Vermont.
- A variety of digital resources, including partnerships and
networking opportunities with 200 colleges/universities and 230
businesses and corporations.
- Opportunities for networking, collaboration, and recognition,
including becoming a nationally recognized School of
Distinction.
- A partnership with an urban school to promote cultural exchange
and connection and prepare students to navigate a diverse
world.
The program is a distillation of strategies CFES has developed
over its history. These strategies are laid out in detail in a new
book written by Dalton, Rural Pathways to College and Career
(Routledge, April 2021). "We believe
that the book can help rural schools transform themselves and lift
up their communities, and that's why we decided to launch North
Country Brilliant Pathways," said Dalton.
While rural students attend college at only slightly lower rates
than urban students (59% vs 61%), retention rates are much lower.
Just 29% of rural Americans aged 18-24 are enrolled in colleges and
universities, compared to 42% of all Americans in that age
range. The pandemic has worsened the problem. FAFSA
completions, a sign of intent to go to
college, dropped 10% nationally this year and 15% in
rural areas.
Fully two-thirds of all jobs and 80 percent of all jobs that pay
a median of $65,000 or more require
postsecondary education, according to research by
Georgetown University's Center on
Education and the Workforce.
Media Contact: Jon Reidel, (802)
578-0447, jon@brilliantpathways.org
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SOURCE CFES Brilliant Pathways