I asked Dianne Cutillo, a BART Trustee and former Chair of the BART Board, to share her thoughts about being a first-generation college student – knowing they would be informed and insightful.  Here they are – thank you, Dianne!

It was Barbara Connolly, guidance counselor extraordinaire at Falmouth High School in the ’70s, who was the first adult to push me to aspire to go away to a competitive college. I was the oldest of six. Dad worked two jobs and mom part time. No one in my family had been to college.

It was Morrie Schwartz, sociology professor and leader of my Social Class, Freedom, and Equality freshman seminar at Brandeis University, who made me realize the significance of becoming a first-generation college graduate.

My parents told me — and firmly believed — that I could do anything, including college. But they didn’t know how. Nor how we would pay for it. Enter Miss Connolly, who walked me through the application process, beginning with adding competitive private schools to the list and ending with helping me decide between the two universities who offered adequate financial aid along with their acceptances.

I did it. Followed by a brother. Two sisters completed their degrees as adults, not long before my brother and I earned master’s degrees as working professionals.

I am a trustee of Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School because it is filled with Barbara Connollys and Morrie Schwartzes, adults who believe that all children not only can succeed, but will succeed. And that any student who wants to can graduate from college.

Those passionate adults at BART back up their belief with a rigorous college prep program that has produced nationally recognized academic growth and a 100 percent college acceptance rate among its graduates. At least one of BART’s graduating classes was made up completely of students who will become first-generation college graduates if they go on to get their degrees.

I recognize that college is not for everyone, despite that a four-year degree is increasingly the prerequisite for employment in this digital, knowledge-based, global economy. Still, I am struck that so many parents in Berkshire County don’t firmly believe, as mine did, that college is important and can be achieved.

Perhaps I should not be so surprised. On average, only 17 percent of residents of the three largest communities where BART students live attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, well below the national rate of 24 percent, according to the U.S. Census. Do they figure if they could make it without a degree, their kids can, too?

Schools like BART know the economic argument for college. The income gap between people with college degrees and those with only a high-school diploma has exploded. Men with a college degree earned 42 percent more than those with high school diplomas in 2008, according to the National Center for Education Statistics The gap was only 16 percent in 1980. For women, the difference of 26 percent in 1980 grew to 44 percent in 2008.

There are bigger reasons why college is important.  There, we expand our knowledge and improve our ability to think critically. These are important skills not only for landing jobs, but to be a better informed citizen. We get stronger at expressing our thoughts well in writing and in speech. We appreciate art and music more. We increase our understanding of the world, our community, and ourselves.

Intuitively, my parents knew this and wanted it for me. Barbara Connolly lived it and could add passion to the argument for college, and for trying it as a residential student rather than the commuter I’d envisioned I’d be.

Not all of my siblings had Barbara Connolly as a guidance counselor and not all went on to attempt college. I believe that would have been different if that whole school of Barbara Connollys — BART — had been there for them.

One young alum at Hampshire College, Crystal, recently wrote to me in response to an ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) article about first-generation college students,

“The part that struck me the most was that ‘Colleges don’t love you.’ It’s very true, and that has been my biggest struggle this year. My large community of support has vanished, and while I know I can always count on my high school supporters to give me a hand, it’s a shock to look around and be like ‘Who can I turn to?’ I feel like we should warn our students that their safety net will be disappearing, without pulling it away from them. We should be tougher in the last year or two, but avoid making students feel shirked and unimportant.”

As an example, Crystal goes on to write, “In college deadlines count, big-time. And if you can’t make the deadline and did not ask for an extension, your grade drops.”  This is certainly not current practice at BART. In our efforts to support our students, we provide ample warning about deadlines, making sure they are posted in multiple places. Students don’t have to ask for an extension, and if they miss a deadline, a teacher will find them and work out a plan to submit the work.  Otherwise, our students would miss out on critical learning opportunities – and that would make them less prepared for college.

Finally, Crystal writes, “I was not prepared for the style of reading I had to do this year. I think that in the science classes and history classes, articles and studies need to be read, discussed, and summarized. If our students can master non-fiction reading by the time they graduate, college will be much, much easier.”   Wise advice from a college freshman – and advice that echoes a blog from MATCH executive director Mike Goldstein, from earlier this year, in which he cited three struggles college students face that limit their success: lack of money; lack of time-management/ study skills; and lack of experience dealing with dense, non-fiction texts.

Crystal, you are so wise.

In fact, it is the blog that Crystal echoes that led us to hire Spencer Blasdale from SchoolWorks to help us answer the very question I posed at the start.  We don’t have any answers yet, but I’ll be sure to report back when we do.

Frankly, it’s not. He was college material, but this parent had an image of a college student that didn’t match her son. In a county where only 30% of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher (and arguably, this number is lower for BART’s immediate area), there are many parents who may have a misguided image of what “college material” is.

This is one of the most significant and complicating factors in our jobs as educators in Berkshire County. How can we prepare our students for a college education, when neither they nor their parents share our vision for their future? We can create the path for students to get to college with the necessary skills, but it takes hard work and commitment to make it happen: the student’s hard work, and the parents’ commitment to support their child’s efforts. The student who doesn’t believe s/he is college material will ask, why bother working so hard?

We’re proud of BART’s results so far – 100% of our graduates have been accepted into college! But not all students have gone to college after graduating from BART, and it’s not because they didn’t know they were college material. In fact, they proved they were during their senior year when they passed their required college course and were accepted into college.

And importantly, not all students who entered BART graduated from BART – in fact, too often we are disappointed by students leaving because “it’s too hard.”

That’s our next challenge. We have built a school with a true college-preparatory curriculum and the supports in place for any student willing to work hard. Now we have to help students and their families understand that BART’s goal for them – college – is a realistic one.

So what does it mean to be an EPIC school?

One of the things EPIC schools do is contribute to a national knowledge database of proven strategies that work to raise the achievement of all students. We are eager to codify our program so that others can benefit from our experience. How great to have an impact on the broader education sector – beyond the wonderful 270 students in our building!

One of the things teachers in EPIC schools receive is a monetary bonus in recognition for their amazing work to support students, and in return for collaborating in the documentation of our best practices. How amazing to reward those professionals who put so much of their time, effort, and selves into the success of our students!
But perhaps the most amazing thing to me about being an EPIC school is the validation it gives us that hard work pays off. There are no short cuts in life. BART students overcome all sorts of challenges to succeed in school each and every day. Some students have accepted on blind faith that our prescription for their success – a varying mixture of time and effort – would yield good results. Others have questioned our authority a bit more. But those who have chosen to stay at BART should now recognize that we ask them to work hard for a reason: that in doing so, they will be able to compete with – or better yet outperform – their peers nationally.

And that is what makes all BART students college material.

One BART alumna wrote to me recently, “I have had to do a presentation in EVERY class that I have had in my three years in college, and I know I wouldn’t have been as confident as I have been if we didn’t do portfolio presentations and Model UN Conferences at BART. I also think that going to BART gave me a perspective that many kids don’t have, so when doing projects or papers I have a unique view on the subject matter.”

Another recent graduate wrote, “I think [BART] was the key component in getting me into Hampshire College. Our senior year gives us a strong basic knowledge of what college classes and internships/work studies are like. The extra help we get on our applications and the encouragement we receive when it comes to applying for colleges is a huge help as well.”

In fact, these two graduates wrote of the experience we aim to provide to all of our graduates – one that includes the materials, academic program and professional guidance for all students to enter and succeed in college.

This blog is intended to explore our vision – and our track record of success achieving this vision – from various perspectives (educator, student, alumni, family).  We hope to generate thoughtful comments and conversation that help us improve our program and make college preparedness a reality for all students in our community.