(Mirror Indy) — IPS wants to help more students get to college faster.
To that end, district officials are setting new expectations for all IPS students to complete at least one college visit during their junior year.
“There's a lot of research showing that when middle school kids have access to or are able to enroll on a college campus, there's a significant increase in the number of people who feel like it's a viable option,” said Lori Hart of IPS. said. K-8 Elementary and Middle School Counseling Coordinator.
IPS hopes to achieve this through the new IPS Secondary College Campus Visit Program.
More than 200 students from the district's Henry W. Longfellow Medical & STEM Middle School 28 visited the IUPUI campus on April 19 as part of a pilot of the program. Students will encounter hands-on activities such as creating their own zine with Heron School of Art & Design staff and examining organ anatomy with pathology lab interns. did.
Longfellow student Melissa Austin was one of more than a dozen eighth-graders who nodded to an upbeat club remix of “Pump Up the Jam” by Michael Reynolds, an adjunct instructor in the Department of Music, Arts and Technology. .
Hart said the students were selected based on career interests they expressed to their teachers prior to their visit, an activity that also included question-and-answer sessions with College of Education students.
The visit comes as IPS revamps the middle school experience as part of the district's stronger restructuring plan and as the state grapples with stagnant college admission rates.
Indiana had the lowest college enrollment rate in a generation in 2020, with just 53% of high school graduates choosing to attend college directly, according to data from the Indiana State Board of Higher Education. Interest rates have remained flat since then.
Monica Medina, a clinical associate professor in the IUPUI School of Education, said waiting until high school is too late to introduce students to the college experience, especially for students who are the first in their families to complete education beyond high school. He said there are many.
“Exposing them to opportunities and different options helps them think about what they're doing in high school and why high school is important,” Medina said.
More than 1,000 middle school students are expected to participate in a pilot program for the university visit program this spring. Longfellow, Northwest, William Penn and Clarence Farrington schools are included in the spring pilot. The program is expected to expand to all other IPS middle schools next year, as the district transitions to a middle school model for sixth- through eighth-graders starting this fall under “Rebuilding Stronger.” It will be carried out.
IPS has budgeted $25,200 for next year's program, according to a news release. This includes funding more than 80 of his field trips for more than 5,200 students.
Partners in this effort include Butler University, IU Indianapolis, Ivy Tech Community College, Marian University, Martin University, the University of Indianapolis, and Vincennes University Indianapolis Aviation Technology Center.
Hart hopes the students will take these experiences home with them to spark conversations within their families about what it means to go to college and how to prepare as a family for opportunities beyond high school. He said that
“They're going to have that core memory to embrace that culture and that feeling of really being on a college campus,” Hart said. “I hope they take away some really fun conversations with their families.”
Mirror Indy reporter Carly Ranich covers early childhood education and K-12 education. Contact carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow us at X @Carly Lanich.