‘The greatest equalizer’: Massachusetts educators pitch early college expansion as lawmakers review post-pandemic life
Updated 6:49 AM;
Today 6:49 AM
Manny Cruz, advocacy director of Latinos for Education in Massachusetts and a Salem School Committee member, testifies before lawmakers in a virtual hearing.Screenshot
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Massachusetts education officials on Wednesday pitched an expansion of the early college high school program, praising the programs as an “innovative” approach to counter widening racial disparities among college education rates.
Education experts who testified before the Senate’s “Reimagining Massachusetts” hearing Wednesday repeatedly pointed to early college as a school-to-college-to-job pipeline that has survived the pandemic.
The pandemic created financial and social hardships for Massachusetts families, including lost employment and isolation from loved ones. For high school seniors, the disrupted academic year left many unable to focus on life after graduation.
As vaccination rates increase, in-person classes resume, and hope emerges, a statewide effort is underway to reach undecided high school students and parents with an encouraging message: there are still many choices for college in the fall and opportunities to receive federal and state financial aid.
A coalition of state and non-profit organizations across the Commonwealth is promoting that message in a campaign called “Worth It,” urging high school seniors and parents to apply for college financial aid as an important step in realizing their college dreams. The campaign also includes ways students and parents can seek free, expert help in pursuing higher education.
Courtesy of MEFA
The pandemic created financial and social hardships for Massachusetts families, including lost employment and isolation from loved ones. For high school seniors, the disrupted academic year left many unable to focus on life after graduation.
As vaccination rates increase, in-person classes resume, and hope emerges, a statewide effort is underway to reach undecided high school students and parents with an encouraging message: There are still many choices for college in the fall and opportunities to receive federal and state financial aid.
A coalition of state and nonprofit organizations across the Commonwealth is promoting that message in a campaign called “Worth It,” urging high school seniors and parents to apply for college financial aid as an important step in realizing their college dreams. The campaign also includes ways students and parents can seek free, expert help in pursuing higher education.
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In 2005, the College of the Holy Cross became one of the first colleges in the country to make a bold change in its admissions process. The Worcester school no longer required applicants to submit what had long been a central component of preparing for college: standardized tests such as the SAT.
A decade and a half later, Holy Cross is joined by just about every one of its Central Massachusetts peers, and higher education admissions have been transformed.
Colleges generally no longer see the SAT or ACT as necessary for gauging whether a student will be successful at their schools. In fact, many find such tests to only reinforce built-in advantages some students – largely wealthy ones – enjoy before they ever get to college.