operation seek at queens college what can we learn about effective transitions programs from its 50...
TRANSCRIPT
Operation SEEK at Queens
College
What can we learn about effective transitions programs from its 50
year history
Professional activities
Retired ESL teacherPart time Assistant Professor Language and Literacy Education, UGAESL teacher in college prep program at community collegeVolunteer teacher – Athens Technical College
Contact: Jackie [email protected] [email protected]
Related activities
O Tutor at Operation SEEKO Family Literacy program at school
districtO Taught anthropology and sociology
at the Doraville GM plantO Volunteer tutor in Everyday ReadersO Former board member and president
of Clarke County School District
What I will talk about
O IntroductionO Context for the establishment of
SEEKO Establishment of the SEEK program
at the CUNYO SEEK program at Queens CollegeO History of the SEEK program at
Queens CollegeO Open admission at the CUNY
collegesO What can learn that will help us
establish successful transition programs?
Questions for you
OWorking in small groupsODescribe the program you are
inOWhat are some of the program
elements that work for youOWhat kinds of programs would
you add to make it a more effective program
Search for Education. Elevation and Knowledge
The Context of the establishment of Operation SEEK
Tracking in Queens high schools
OThe population of Queens grew greatly in the early 60s, but the settlement wasn’t evenly distributed.
O Junior high schools reflected the neighborhood and their ethnic, racial, and economic communities
OOften students were tracked by the neighborhood they came from
Jamaica High School O The zone for the high school
included neighborhoods that were homogenous and segregated by practice and custom
O The feeder school created a vehicle for tracking
O Incoming students were tracked by their Junior High school scores and by the neighborhood they came from
Tracking at Jamaica High School
OGrades were attached to tracksOOnly students in the extra
honors programs could get grades in the mid 90s
OHonors got 90-95OAcademic got in the 80OGeneral got in the 70sO Jelani Cobb’s article in the New
Yorker.
Establishment of the SEEK Program
O War on povertyO Population growth in Queens
O Baby boom generation comes of age
O City colleges had to be expandedO In order to get the agreement of minority leaders and politicians the agreed to legislature that mandated
the SEEK program
The initiation of the CUNY city wide program
O Rockefeller wanted construction funds to construct new buildings for the growing population
O Minority population wouldn’t vote for it because it didn’t include minority participation
O Travis Bill – provided for the establishment of the SEEK program at all of the senior colleges in the CUNY system
Historical stagesO 1966=1968O 1969-1975O 1975-1978O 1978 on
Establishment of the programO1966-1968
The early daysO SEEK at Queens was run
independentlySelection processInstruction – small classes, English, Math, Reading, Speech, and foreign languageInstruction was on content with students reading college level workRead less but read it more deeply
SEEK offered
OCounsllingOCarefareODay Care allowance OCultural programsOMentor programOOne on one tutoring
The revolt of minority students
O1968-1969
Minority students rebelled
O In 1958 African American and Puerto Rican students
O Main critique – the Culture of Poverty perspective that had been the view of Leslie Berger
O Criticized the approach of the administration that there was some fault in them that caused their problems.
O Viewed the administration, faculty and counselors as patronizing liberals.
Reorganization following revolt
OAdministration changedOHired African American facultyOSwitched to a minority
perspective ORead more third world writers
Changing demographics
O The new white and ethnic student body of the SEEK progam objected to the focus on third world scholars
O Change was again in the air
Financial Crises1975-1978
The first economic crises hit in 1975.Charged tuition for the first time in 127 years
Day Care center was closedStudents without children could not quaify
for public assistance Seek employment and job development was
endedFinancial aid was drastically cut
Students who received Aid to Dependent Children were told they could not attend a
senior college
OMany felt that the CUNY system was using the economic crises as a way of getting rid of the program
1980-2015ODespite the cutbacks, the SEEK
continued to growODevelopmental programs
included remediation and compensatory classes
ORatio of students to counselors would be 100 students to 1 counselor in the lower division
OAnd1 to 150 in the upper division
What was the effect ot the SEEK program?
O Unfortunately Queens College doesn’t keep records of SEEK students once they enter the regular college program
O Hope to learn more as I explore find more data sets
O Currently, the the graduates of the SEEK program graduate in the top 10% of their class
O Medicine, law, teachers, and academics
The Open Admission program in the CUNY system
Data set about the Open Admissions program
Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged pay off across the generations
Paul Attewell and David Lavin
O In 1970 the colleges in the CUNY system opened their doors to everyone who graduated from high school
O Guaranteed admission to either a senior or a junior college
O This study looks at what happened to them 30 years later
DataData set 2000 women who had been interviewed in 1970
What was the economic value of a college education?
What effect did it have on their children?
Results 1
Given a ten year time span they found that 75% earned a bachelors degree26% earned a master’s or higher degree
Nine parenting practices
Cultural enrichmentSocial capitalExtensive discussions with childrenParent involvement in schoolExpectations that a child will go to collegePrivate schooling Residential movesParental involvement in community organizationsChurch attendanceParental emotional support
Results -2O The children of the women did better
than women who didn’t complete college
O Our analysis is unequivocal, that the cycle of disadavantage is not yet broken – class and race continues to influence life’s chances. But we also find that increased entry to higher education weakens the cycle of disadvantage.
Effect of Open Access minority participation
1969 – 4% minority 1970 the figure was 16%
What did you take away from this presentation?
O What are your take aways. Individually.
O Share with others.
O What woud you include in your programs that are not occurriing today
If you were to design your own program
References-1
Attewell, P. , Lavin D. Passing the Torch: Does higher education for the disadantaged pay off across the generations. American Sociological Assocation’s Rose series in Sociology, Russell Sage Foundation, New York City, 2007O Cobb, Jelani - Class Notes: What’s really at stake When I school closes” or The rise and fall of an urban high school. August 31, 2015 p. 32 O Modeste, W. A Critical Analysis of the Changing Queens College Student: A 12 year study of a Higher Education Opportunity Program of the City University of New York 1966-1978. A Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Urban Studies in the Graduate Division of Queens College, the City University of New York, September,1980O Resnik S., Kaplan B. Kaplan’s College Programs for Black Adults published in The Journal of Higher Education Vol. 42, No. 3 (Mar, pp. 202-218 ) O Resnik, S. and Kaplan B. College preparatory programs for Ghetto Students: Queens College – a Case Study, JGE, The Journal of General Education (1971) Vol XXIII, No. 1. Published by the Pennsylvania State University Press. University Park and London. O O
References-2
Townsend, A. N. (1977). A critical analysis of the development of the SEEK program: a study of the establishment and development of New York City University's Educational Opportunity Program for the four year colleges.O Personal Conversations with Frank Franklin, Director of Operation SEEK, William Modeste, Counselor Professor at SEEK, and informal historian, Rudy Westerband, former student, Sol Resnik,one of the founders of the program, Barbara Kaplan, former instructor in the program, Ray Franklin, colleague and friend of Sol Resnik, O Queens College Operation SEEK Freshman Handbook 2013O Newspaper articles: Kartsimadis, Chryso The Unkindest Cut of all: Cries of Racism resurfaces. SEEK goes under the knife, Queens World, March 1995O After 40 years of age, SEEK Boasts Thousands of Alumni, including many who reached the top, CUNY Matters, Fall 2005O