CARSON CITY, Nev.—Nevada is one of seven states to be awarded a $21 million federal grant over seven years to help prepare high school students for college.
Officials say the $3 million a year GEAR UP grant from the U.S. Department of Education will benefit more than 5,400 students in 19 targeted middles schools located in nine of Nevada’s 17 school districts. Counties were selected on economic need.
The program will focus on providing students with mentoring and tutoring, as well as nurturing interest in science, math, engineering and technology
Texas receives $33 million grant for GEAR UP program
AUSTIN – The Texas Education Agency is one of seven states to be awarded a $33 million federal grant to improve the postsecondary awareness, readiness and success of middle and high school students.
The seven-year grant for Gaining Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs or GEAR UP will support approximately 6,000 students in the Class of 2018, from seventh grade through graduation from high school. The new grant also includes a seventh year designed to help support students in their first year of college.
The grant will focus on conveying the importance of postsecondary education, defining the steps students must take to prepare, and building financial literacy skills to manage the costs of college. The project will also provide free resources to schools throughout the state to help with their college awareness efforts. The agency will partner with the Institute for Public School Initiatives at The University of Texas at Austin, The College Board, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, and AMS Pictures to provide targeted services to selected districts and resources to be used statewide.
GEAR UP grants are competitive six or seven-year federal matching grants that target entire grades of students beginning in the seventh grade and encourage schools to partner with higher education and local organizations and businesses in order to leverage local resources and build a culture of high expectations in the community.
In addition to the state grant, Texas education institutions operate 19 partnership grants throughout the state. More than 70,000 students across the state receive GEAR UP services.
Nevada is one of 7 states awarded 2012 Gear Up grant
CARSON CITY, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - Governor Brian Sandoval and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. James W. Guthrie, were informed this week that Nevada will receive $3,000,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Education for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP).
The competitive grant was awarded for a seven year period, which will provide Nevada a total of $21 million from federal sources, and $21 million in cost share resources from state, local and business partners. The funds will be used to advance postsecondary readiness in the State.
Nevada’s GEAR UP application is a collaborative effort among the Office of the Governor, Office of the State Treasurer, Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) and stakeholders, including parents, students, businesses (Wells Fargo Nevada, AT&T, ACT, College Board, Nevada Public Education Foundation and Texas Instruments) as well as agency representatives. NDE, as lead agency and fiscal agent, will direct the project implementation with its partners.
This is Nevada’s third GEAR UP competitive award aimed at college and career readiness.
The purpose of the grant is twofold: (1) to change the culture of schools located in economically disadvantaged communities to ensure that all students are prepared academically and have resources to attend and succeed in college; and (2) to increase NSHE institution involvement in GEAR UP schools to facilitate a seamless transition from secondary to postsecondary attendance and success.
Nevada State GEAR UP will launch the new grant operating in 19 middle schools serving 5,480 students. The target schools are in nine of the 17 county school districts throughout the state. The participating counties were selected based on the economic need in the specific schools. The following counties have schools that have been selected for participation in the grant: Clark, Elko, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing and Washoe.
Committee approves Indian Education Funding grant application
By Bob Tenequer Beacon Staff Writer
GRANTS - The Grants/Cibola County Schools (G/CCS) Indian Education Department held two meetings on April 10-11 to gather information for a grant application for Indian education funding. The Indian Parent Advisory Committee (IPAC) approved the application unanimously.
The meetings’ purpose was to gather ideas to improve Indian students’ services and programs, according to Gwen Torivio, district Indian education coordinator. The grant will focus on improving attendance, graduation rates, tutoring and intervention in mathematics and language arts/English along with staff professional development. The staff portion will focus on multi-cultural education, sensitivity training and orientation.
There were approximately 50 attendees at the IPAC meeting held at Los Alamitos Middle School on April 11. The public forum held in the district boardroom the previous evening was sparsely attended by comparison.
IDEA Public Schools Awarded $11.5 Million Dollars to Increase College Readiness
WESLACO, TEXAS, Apr 13, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — IDEA Public Schools, a growing network of tuition-free K-12 public charter schools serving nearly 10,000 students in the Rio Grande Valley and Central Texas, has been awarded the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant to fund its Connect2College Program.
Over the next seven years IDEA will receive nearly $11.5 M to provide a comprehensive college prep experience, Connect2College, that will result in a clear model of how schools should support students along the K-12 path to college. IDEA Public Schools is the first charter program to receive this award and will work in partnership with the University of Texas at Brownsville and Sylvan Learning Center.
IDEA applied for the GEAR UP grant in July of last year in an effort to fund a program to increase students’ academic success in core subjects, ACT preparation and AVID courses. In collaboration with the partners mentioned, IDEA hopes to increase student and family participation in college-readiness activities and grow their knowledge of financial aid options.
“We are very excited to hear this news,” said Tom Torkelson, Co-Founder and CEO of IDEA Public Schools. “This grant will help support several of IDEA’s key initiatives—college counseling, ACT prep, college field lessons and others. It takes strategic partnerships to yield the best results and we are looking forward to those that come out of our Connect2College Program.”
Atlantic Cape GEAR UP Program Creates Opportunity for College Success
Atlantic Cape Community College’s Continuing Education Division has been awarded a grant by the Department of Education for Gaining Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP!), to prepare low-income, at-risk middle and high school students from Atlantic City and Pleasantville for college success.
Atlantic Cape will partner with the Atlantic City School District, Pleasantville School District, AtlantiCare, Jersey Shore Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey and the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, on the GEAR UP! Atlantic City and Pleasantville program.
The grant awards Atlantic Cape with $270,000 per year for six years, to provide support services to prepare students in grades 6-9 to complete high school and successfully enter post-secondary education and training. Target schools include: Sovereign Avenue School, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School, Uptown School Complex, Atlantic City High School, Pleasantville Middle School and Pleasantville High School.
College of Micronesia to host first GEAR UP Science Fair, Expo 2012
KOLONIA, Pohnpei-The GEAR UP-Pohnpei program (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) housed at College of Micronesia-FSM Pohnpei campus will hold its 1st annual Science Fair and Expo 2012 at the Pohnpei Campus gymnasium on May 19, 2012, from 2pm to 4pm.
The Science Fair and Expo 2012 is funded from the Direct Aid Program of the Australian Embassy in Pohnpei and allows over 360 8th graders from Saladak, Sekere, Awak, Nett, Kolonia, and Ohmine schools to participate in the science research project. Currently, students are doing literature and internet research during GEAR UP computer classes on Pohnpei campus on Saturdays and during its after-school program Mondays through Fridays. The Australian funded “Middle School Science Program and Expo” will allow the students “hands-on” research and to feel like “real scientists”, as they will be able to test their theoretical hypothesis. Student groups will compete against their classmates at the school science fair. They will present their projects and answer a variety of questions posed by two judges; their teacher and an outside volunteer judge. The top performing groups from each classroom will advance to the Expo. It is estimated that 100 students with the best research projects will compete in a science fair expo on May 19, 2012. At the expo event, judges will go from group to group posing questions and listening to remarks. Students will be judged according to their ability to effectively communicate and present their science projects. Once completed, the team of judges will determine the top three science projects. Students will receive a variety of awards and prizes.
GEAR UP program is funded by the US Department of Education and aims at preparing students to enter and succeed in the post-secondary education. If you would like to know more about GEAR UP program, please visit us at Pohnpei Campus or call at 320-3795.(College of Micronesia)
Educators from Spark UCAR Science Education shared a day of science learning and exploration with 30 educators from across the state invovled in GEAR UP Wyoming. GEAR UP is focusing on STEM – science, technology, engineering, math – this summer, with students in the program engaging in educational pursuits designed to peek their interest and improve their mastery of a variety of STEM areas.
Because many of the participants are new to science teaching, Spark educators designed activities around five broad themes:
* the nature of science – science studies the natural world, is observable, tentative, testable, predictable and consistent * science pedagogy and the art of science teaching - Inquiry, Constructivism, CUE, and the Five E instructional approach * systems in science; systems in STEM * weather basics, with a focus on ingredients that contribute to severe weather: convective systems, air pressure, windshear * applied science: connections between aviation and the science of weather, and the technology combining both
Below are the workshop workbook, PowerPoint, and Workshop survey site, plus many links to resources providing further exploration into the nature of science, science pedagogy, weather, aviation, and the themes that combine them all.
Participants in the workshop should feel free to contact the workshop presenters, Teresa (Teri) Eastburn and Eileen Carpenter, whenever they might need guidance or a roadmap to exceptional science education resources available at the introductory to mastery level. Our goal is to instill a love of learning about the natural world and to model an approach to teaching that leads to asking questions and making discoveries in search of new understandings. We hope our part in the GEAR UP workshop helped you feel confident and capable of doing the same with your students.
Education Nation: New program attacks college remediation problem
COMMERCE CITY - Some people think the best way to keep students from taking remedial courses in college is to start giving them those courses in middle school.
“Remediation is a problem across the country,” said Scott Mendelsberg, executive director of Colorado Gear Up.
Gear Up is a federally funded program run by the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Part of its mission is try to eliminate the need the problem of remediation-high school graduates still not ready to take college level courses.
“In the state of Colorado,” said Mendelsberg. “There was $46 million spent on remediation.”
That’s $46 million spent last year by students who had re-take basic math, reading, or writing for classes to catch up. And, once passed, those credits do not even count towards graduation.
“What I can tell you is this - the current system is not working,” said Mendelsberg.
Last year, statistics show that 32 percent of all students had to take at least one remedial course during freshman year. Most of the issues were in math. Out of all the students who take remedial courses, only 25 percent ever get out remediation classes.
That’s why Colorado Gear Up is bringing those remedial courses to students starting in 8th grade. The Adams 14 School District is part of pilot project to offer students three levels of three remedial courses before they graduate high school.
“We’ve got to start a program that’s gonna help get these kids the skills before they fail in high school,” said Tricia Ramsey, intervention teacher at Adams City Middle School in Commerce City.
Ramsey runs a one hour session each day where students who were starting to struggle in math can start to take college remedial courses in 8th grade. They take an online course which measures which concepts they know. It’s administered by Adams State College.
“What are the things that most kids need remediation on when they get to high school,” said Ramsey. “Let’s give them that foundation now.”
Mendelsberg says, by definition, if students pass all three levels of remedial courses before they graduate high school, they will not have to take remedial courses in college.
“We’re saying to kids you have 5 years, 8th grade through high school to finish those three levels in reading, writing, and math,” said Mendelsberg.
Sean Valdez is an 8th grader taking a math course at Adams City Middle School. He likes the idea and he says it gives him confidence in a subject he used to struggle in.
“When I get to my regular math class,” said Sean. “I know what’s already going on.”
Erika Delgado is also taking the course. She says she likes how she can learn the concepts on her own.
“If I don’t understand something, I can click on explain and it gives me some help,” said Delgado.
Students are getting some help and a head start towards a college degree. Mendelsberg says the Gear Up program will expand through Denver and Aurora next year.
“We’re the first group in the country that’s doing this,” said Mendelsberg.
Students prepare for the future with GEAR UP Idaho
BOISE — More than 300 students took part in Gear Up Idaho Saturday.
For the last eight weeks, these students have been participating in Gear Up Idaho. The program, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, assists students in becoming prepared for post-secondary education by meeting the standards necessary for high school graduation. But in addition to the academics, Gear Up Idaho also reinforces character.
“It’s a really neat program because it teaches them they are not victims of their circumstances,” said Julia Withers with Gear Up Idaho. “They can think about their choices and make good choices no matter what’s going on around them.”
This is Idaho’s second year of the six-year program.
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