Coal Grove – Kara Speed held up three novels in front of her seventh-grade English students Thursday.

Saturday, March 18, 2000

Coal Grove – Kara Speed held up three novels in front of her seventh-grade English students Thursday. A few raised hands later, the class chose "Maniac McGee" as its next reading assignment. Dawson-Bryant school officials hope a new federal education grant will help those same students make a similar choice among colleges by the time they hit their senior year.

"It’s our hope five years from now we certainly anticipate the college attendance rate will go up with our students," middle school principal Scott Dutey said at the district’s GEAR UP Grant kickoff luncheon this week.

Dawson-Bryant is one of several southern Ohio districts sharing the $2 million in U.S. Department of Education funds to boost the college-going rate among 500 students in six middle schools.

In Appalachian Ohio, only 10 percent of people over 25 years old have bachelor’s degrees while the nationwide rate is 21 percent.

Called ROAD: MAP 2005, the upcoming grant work can improve that statistic, Dutey said.

"The grant will follow seventh-graders up through graduation," he said.

Along the way, the grant will fund afterschool tutoring, college campus visits, academic day camps, in-class financial aid seminars, mentoring programs and several other yearly educational projects targeted at that one student body, he said.

"The whole aspect of what this grant does for us as an economically disadvantaged district is it gives our students a chance to have exposure to things they normally would not have experience with," Dutey said.

For example, when the students enter their freshmen year a summer day camp could provide academic and social interaction skills needed to keep the former seventh-graders focused on the goal of continuing their education after high school, local program coordinator Mary Ellen Conley said.

Or, the school could begin an "e-mentoring" program using e-mail to link students with professionals in careers that interest them, Mrs. Conley said.

The grant program also partners Dawson-Bryant with a college, in this case Ohio University Southern Campus, so that students have access to higher education programs and advice, she said.

Ms. Speed said her students already are excited about the possibilities that await them during the next five years.

"They will be able to see a lot of things they wouldn’t otherwise get to see," she said.

Every student should have the chance to go to college, possibly with full scholarships, she said.

"We just need to give kids the opportunities and experiences they need to take on that hard work."

That’s where ROAD: MAP 2005 comes in, Dutey said.

The goal is to meet five objectives:

– Increased academic performance through comprehensive early intervention activities.

– Increase the educational expectations of scholars through career awareness programs.

– Increase scholars aspirations to attend college, build scholars self-esteem and foster communication between parent, scholar and school.

– Increase knowledge of post-secondary education options and financial aid.

During the first program year, school officials plan activities to increase students’ academic skills, self-esteem and knowledge of what education after high school will mean to them.

They include:

– Super Saturday, which is tutoring and mentoring one Saturday per month at OUSC.

– Academic recognition days and assemblies.

– After school road trips to colleges and participating GEAR UP schools.

– Guest speakers from Talent Search, Upward Bound, 4-H, Governor’s Scholars and other groups.

– Increased project-based learning where students learn through activities in the "real world."

The grant was prepared and is administered by the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education in Portsmouth, with oversight by OACHE director Wayne White.

In the end, students and parents will be the true beneficiaries of the grant, White said.

Also, local businesses have partnered with Dawson-Bryant in the grant program, including CJ T’s and Bordering Co., Dow Chemical, King’s Daughters Medical Center, Cumberland Cardiology, National City Bank and Ohio River Bank.