Upward Mobility & Community College Successes

Posted August 30, 2019 | By Cooke Foundation Staff

A group of 2019 Cooke Transfer Scholars standing together outdoors.

August 30, 2019 – Here’s what we’re reading this week about the issues affecting high-achieving students. Reporters and rankings consider social mobility. Community college students and administrators demonstrate the support their institutions provide.

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High-achieving high school seniors can now apply for the Cooke College Scholarship Program, and the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is accepting applications from community college students preparing to transfer to a four-year institution. Both programs provide up to $40,000 per year, as well as comprehensive educational advising and access to the thriving Cooke Scholar community.

 

Elementary & Secondary Education:

  • An advisory group appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has recommended eliminating the school system’s gifted programs and selective admissions processes. Chalkbeat reports on how such a transition might play out.
  • Science Daily shares suggestions for increasing family-school engagement, which can benefit students’ social skills and concentration abilities.

 

Higher Education:

  • “Lower-income students often can’t afford to live with their friends who are more financially well off,” states The Hechinger Report. Students and administrators describe the prevalence of a “two-tiered housing system” on college and university campuses.
  • Daniel Markovits describes the “meritocracy trap” in The Atlantic, noting declining levels of economic mobility and the disproportionately high levels of wealthy students at elite universities as evidence.
  • Washington Monthly releases its annual guide and rankings, which includes an “Affordable Elites” category for selective institutions that promote social mobility.

 

Cooke Foundation Highlights:

  • After earning his associate’s degree and the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, Alessandro Bailetti continued his academic career at Cornell University and New York University’s School of Medicine. Now a postdoctoral fellow researching genetics at Stanford University, Alessandro tells the Pensacola News Journal that he hopes to inspire other students to think big.
  • Community College Daily cites findings from the Foundation’s “Persistence” research in coverage about the #EndCCStigma campaign, which aims to elevate public perception of community colleges and the students who attend them.
  • Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award recipient Tristan Paradee is one of five musicians selected for the 2019-2020 Young Artist in Residence Program at American Public Media’s Performance Today.

 

Social Media Spotlight:

Photo header: Cooke Transfer Scholars meet members of their cohort at our 2019 Scholars Weekend event. These community college students will continue working toward their bachelor’s degrees at some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities.