Surround students with college-educated mentors and college-going peers to build college aspirations¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Recommendation 3 describes how high schools can help students build college-going networks by "linking students to college-educated mentors, encouraging students to form academically oriented peer groups, and allowing students to explore a variety of careers." These activities build a college-going identity and support students' aspirations through mentoring by recent graduates, structured extracurricular activities, and hands-on career exploration.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to college-educated adults or recent graduates as mentors, and structured extracurricular programming

Constraints¶

• Rated low level of evidence in Table 2

Target Learners¶

• High school students, particularly low-income and first-generation students

Target Learning Goals¶

• College-going identity and aspirations aligned with career goals

Related Strategies¶

• Develop a four-year course trajectory with each 9th grader leading to a college-ready curriculum
• Engage Positive Role Models
• Replace Negative Influences with Positive Ones
• Use score-linked college exploration alongside goal setting and parent conferences to build post-secondary plans
• Career-centric reverse academic planning: start from a career aspiration and map backward to courses, credentials, and experiences using skills taxonomies

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Tierney, W. G., Bailey, T., Constantine, J., Finkelstein, N., & Hurd, N. F. (2009). Helping students navigate the path to college: What high schools can do: A practice guide (NCEE #2009-4066). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/11