Many of the nation鈥檚 charter schools set up shop in low-income urban areas hoping to propel students who may struggle to finish high school鈥攍et alone go to college鈥攊nto higher education.
But even among the students who make it to college, national statistics paint a grim picture of what happens after they get there: Just 11 percent of low-income, first-generation college-goers graduate in six years, according to the Pell Institute, a research group that focuses on access to higher education.
Even though many charters name homerooms after universities and hang college pennants in the hallways, their alumni still face a range of challenges once they reach college, from cultural to academic.
In recent years, however, charter schools鈥攊n particular, charter school networks鈥攈ave started investing heavily in supporting their alumni beyond high school graduation.
鈥淭o be quite honest, my first semester was rough,鈥� said J鈥橰emi Barnes, a 2015 graduate of Sci Academy, a charter school in New Orleans. Barnes is a freshman at Grinnell College in Iowa. 鈥淎t Sci, they make sure you have the material down before you leave class, and if you don鈥檛 have it, they make you go to a tutoring session. Here, it鈥檚 on you.鈥�
Besides, he added: 鈥淕oing from crawfish to corn, that鈥檚 not totally ideal.鈥�
Completion Is the Goal
Although studies have shown that low-income, first-generation college students are much more likely to drop out than their wealthier peers, there is little research that has looked at college persistence among charter school graduates like Barnes.
One study, published this month in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, found that, at least for students in Florida, attending a charter had a positive effect on their college persistence and later income. Charter graduates were more likely to stay in college and earn higher salaries than their district school peers, even though their test scores were no better.
When KIPP, the nation鈥檚 largest charter school network, first took a hard look at its alumni鈥檚 college-persistence rates in 2011, it saw similar results. Ten years after completing a KIPP middle school education, students were significantly more likely than their low-income peers nationally to stick with college. Even so, the outcome was still far from stellar: Only 33 percent of KIPP students graduated from a four-year university.
鈥淲e wanted to shift the debate away from focusing on college acceptance and move the debate in the charter school community and beyond to college completion,鈥� said Steve Mancini, a spokesman for KIPP. 鈥淎t that time, there were a lot of charter schools and district schools putting out press releases saying we have 100 percent graduation rates or 100 percent college-acceptance rates.鈥�
More recently, in 2014, KIPP released a second batch of data showing that its alumni graduating from a four-year college had risen to 44 percent, but that the rate was still far south of its ambitious 75 percent goal.
To increase college persistence among alumni, KIPP has focused more on teaching nonacademic skills such as perseverance and providing intensive counseling in high school and beyond.
The network has also entered into partnerships with more than 70 universities. The universities commit to taking groups of eight to 10 students from KIPP or similar schools, so the students have peers from similar backgrounds to lean on. The schools also agree to give those students additional support on campus, such as assigning a point person for them to go to with questions or problems.
It鈥檚 often smaller challenges that can derail low-income, first-generation college students, like navigating a complex university administration without guidance, or not having the money to cover textbooks or travel costs home.
鈥淲e tend to focus a lot on the big things, but paying attention to the lived experience of students and the smaller struggles that we can help them with makes a big difference,鈥� said Jenny Nagaoka, the deputy director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e accepting low-income students and you really want them to graduate, it鈥檚 not enough to give them a full financial-aid package; there are a lot more specific things that institutions need to be paying attention to and providing.鈥�
鈥楴o Excuses鈥� Mantra
Many network charter schools that place a heavy emphasis on getting into college are characterized as 鈥渃ollege prep鈥� or 鈥渘o excuses.鈥�
Beyond festooning their buildings with college-themed decor, those schools also typically have strict rules for behavior: Students must wear uniforms, follow teachers with their eyes at all times, and walk along taped lines when changing classes, to name a few examples.
Those policies have been criticized, not only because they can lead to ballooning suspension rates, but also because they might undermine a student鈥檚 ability to meet different expectations of a college setting.
鈥淭he big thing that happens to children when they go to college is they鈥檙e more called upon to be independent learners,鈥� said Gary Miron, a professor of education at Western Michigan University. 鈥淔or some charter schools when they have this very rigid discipline [and] incredible behavioral modification, everything is really scripted.鈥� Preparing students for the ups and downs of college鈥攁nd not just the academics鈥攈as become key to New Orleans鈥� Collegiate Academies college-persistence efforts.
Ninety-eight percent of graduates from the network鈥檚 three schools, which include Sci Academy, are accepted into college, according to Collegiate Academies. But many of its alumni drop out, especially between their first and second years in college. Today, Barnes is among about half the network鈥檚 alumni鈥攚hich so far includes graduates from four classes鈥攚ho started college and are still attending. 鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely working to make that less of an issue,鈥� said Lauren Katz, the director of college completion for the network. 鈥淭here is always some sort of college transition. What we try to do is gradually instill more independence and leadership so that when they go to college, they are more prepared.鈥�
Follow J鈥橰emi Barnes鈥� path through New Orleans鈥� charter system to college. 鈥淐ollege Is My Ticket Out鈥�
All seniors at Sci Academy are required to take a special course focused on building skills such as good study habits and financial literacy. Staff members teach students how to calculate their GPA to see if they鈥檙e at risk of losing their scholarships, and they provide assistance to them as they fill out housing and financial-aid forms.
As a major part of her job, Katz also visits graduates on their college campuses to check on them and refine the network鈥檚 college-prep programming back in New Orleans.
鈥淚 had a few students talk about how, in their college math classes, their professors will just run through a few practice problems instead of explaining the concept,鈥� said Katz. 鈥淪o, I talked to the head of our math department, and then our senior-year math teacher started incorporating that into her classroom.鈥�
Amassing Knowledge
Nagaoka, the University of Chicago researcher, said some charters have amassed crucial knowledge on how to help poor students through college.
Nagaoka has doubts that many traditional school districts would be able to muster the resources to offer similar supports. But, she said, the programming and ongoing supports that some charter networks have refined鈥攁nd their positive results鈥攃ould spur broader interest in college persistence among nonprofits and foundations. That could, in turn, benefit larger groups of students.
Still, there are issues that specialized college persistence programs can only do so much to tackle.
Students may still have to adjust to different cultures. And they still get homesick鈥攕omething that Barnes worried about as he prepared to leave for college last summer.
Barnes is attending Grinnell on a Posse Scholarship, a national program that groups scholarship recipients into cohorts from the same city and sends them to college together. He said his posse has helped him adjust to life at a small, private liberal arts school.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a culture shock,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 coming from New Orleans where it鈥檚 majority black, most of the community I鈥檝e seen and interacted with is black, and then you come to Grinnell, and it鈥檚 just different.
鈥淗aving my posse here, ... I was never alone,鈥� he said, 鈥渆ven when I was struggling with my schoolwork, I could lean on my posse.鈥�
But, Barnes said, he doesn鈥檛 think his situation is unique.
鈥淔rom what my adviser said, he said everyone struggles in that first semester, so I shouldn鈥檛 worry about it too much. So, I鈥檓 guessing it happens to just about everyone.鈥�
