EDUCATION Officials: Adding career coaches should raise college retention

By BY JEANNI BROSIUS Staff Writer

LITTLE ROCK — Over the course of a three-year pilot program to help students map out their career and college goals, Gov. Mike Beebe announced 43 career coaches will be placed in Arkansas high schools.

This $10 million expansion of Arkansas Works, which is a state program designed to focus on unemployed and underemployed Arkansans and helping with career and educational training, is funded by federal money, officials said.

“As communities work hard to attract new business, the state will help ensure that a qualified work force stands ready to fill those jobs,”Beebe said in a press release. “The world is quickly changing, and Arkansas must accelerate its pace to create careers for our citizens. This effort has something to help every Arkansan, whether you need a job, want to find a better job or want to shift to a new career.”

According to an Arkansas Works study, for every 100 ninth-grade students in Arkansas, only 11 will graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

“First, raise high school graduation rates and the quality of high school diplomas. Then, make sure that the students we send to college ... finish with a degree in hand,” Beebe said in his speech at Arkansas Works 2008: The Governor’s Summit on Education and Economic Development.

Twenty-one counties were chosen based on the high poverty ratings. The program has shown success in Virginia, and for it to expand to cover the entire state of Arkansas is a future goal.

“The governor selected the 21 poorest counties in our state, and they looked at the school districts in these counties,” said Debbie Frazier, chancellor at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.

The career coaches will be employed by a community college nearest the school district, but they will be housed on the high school campus. Although the coaches will be employed by the community colleges, they will be a recruiter for all colleges, universities and training institutions or apprenticeship programs.

“Generally speaking, each college and career coach will be working without about 500 students in the area high schools,” said Jim Purcell, director of Arkansas Department of Higher Education. “The fact that the career coaches are college employees is important because it establishes a relationship between a college employee at a time when junior high and college students are thinking about their future. As a result of this project I anticipate that the participating high school’s dropout rates will be reduced, enrollment in college will increase, use of state scholarships for colleges will increase, and over time, college retention and graduation will increase.”

The program will also allow students to learn about various career paths, and with the guidance of their career coaches, they will be able to choose one that suits them.

“It’s about exposing them(the students) to what’s out there,” Frazier said. “Right now the counselors do all the career counseling for eighth through 12th, and any kind of testing falls on the counselor.”

UACCB will serve Cave City School District.

“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our kids,” said Steven Green, Cave City superintendent. “I love that the program also follows them for a couple of years in college as well. We also feel fortunate to have a partner such as UACCB; Dr. Frazier and her staff have established themselves as a university focused on serving kids from the local community, and we couldn't have asked for a better partner.”

With the future job market growing more competitive, studies show those with college degrees earn more money on average over a lifetime. The career coaches will focus on providing students and parents with information on continuingtheir education and becoming an educated work force.

“The long-term goal is to make Arkansas a state to attract more industry that will want higher skills and higher demand,” Frazier said.

Beginning in eighth grade, students will build a relationship with their career coaches that will carry on until their secondyear of college.

“They will have a folder on each student and will have the time to meet with the student and their parents to gauge their interests,” Green said. “Our counselors do this to some degree now, but the coach will be able to dedicate time to this alone.”

The factors in making this program successful are: increasing the high school graduation rates, enrollment in Smart Core, increasing college enrollment, reducing remediation, increasing ACT scores and increasing application for financial aid and grants for college-bound students.

“Our counselors are booked up now-a-days with testing, testing and testing,” said Mark Mallett, Mountain View High School principal. “I think [the career coach will] be good for our kids.”

Ozarka College in Melbourne will hire two coaches for the Mountain View and for Highland and Williford districts. Arkansas State University-Newport will serve Newport, Jackson County and McCrory in the Three Rivers coverage area.

“I think our counselors have done a great job in helping our students fill out scholarship applications and advising them on proper course choices to attain their individual goals. Being responsible for this along with all the other administrative tasks we give them has made the role of a counselor one of the most pressured and most difficult in the school setting,” Green said.

“I envision career coaches working closely with school counselors,” Green continued. “Together they will gauge each students interests and ensure that they are taking the courses they need to attain their individual goals. But they will also have knowledge of eachstudent’s academic strengths to ensure that they have a ‘Plan B’ just in case their first goal does not work out. As students begin to focus their goals in their junior and senior years, the coach can research and assist them to help them reach their goal, which might even include seeking out the best college available for the field of study they are interested in. Career coaches will also counsel them their first couple of years in college to help them stay on track.” - jbrosius@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 127 on 11/22/2009

Make a comment on this story.