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Developing a College-Going Culture in a Middle School: A Toolkit
Resource Guide Descriptions
- College Planning for Middle School Students: A Quick Guide (Perfect
Paperback)
From publisher description: This quick guide is based on the book, A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams (above). Provides 60 strategies for parents, students, teachers, and mentors.
Top | Close Window - A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams: Workbook
Publisher description: Provides over 80 activities to engage middle school students in maximizing the middle school experience; multiple intelligences, learning styles, best/worst learning situations, college research, and more. Provides worksheets for tracking grades, test scores, awards, and class schedules. Provides strategies for: preparing for the school year, setting up binders, taking notes, and maintaining assignment log sheets. An integral part of a seven-year plan through middle and high school designed to prepare students to gain admissions to, and succeed in, college. Perfect for mentors, coaches, counselors, and parents who are assisting students with college planning and developing an academic focus through the middle school years. Preview
Top | Close Window - This website includes a presentation and checklist for middle school students in preparation for college.
- This website explains how to start an early awareness program, including suggested activities.
Adventures in Education
Simple website with brief information on exploring careers, planning for college (generally study skills), and paying for college.
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U.S. Department of Education's Getting Ready for College Early (Archived)
Highlights four steps middle school students should take in preparing for college: making the decision (benefits of attending college), getting ready (coursework), planning ahead (cost of college), paying for college (financial aid).
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U.S. Department of Education's Think College Early (Archived)
Websites with information for students, parents, and educators targeted to getting 6th-8th graders to begin preparing for college. Many links to other resources (most relevant of which are included in this list). Emphasis on math and science preparation.
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MyPlan.com
Overview of things middle school students should be thinking about and doing, such as exploring subjects, thinking about careers, exploring colleges and majors.
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California State University Mentor: Plan for College, Middle School Students
Reviews admissions requirements for CSU and suggests student and parent activities for the 6th-8th grades.
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A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams
No description. See associated texts below.
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Pathways to College Network
A list of resources focused on improving college readiness and success. This link will bring you to those resources applicable to middle school students.
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U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid’s My future, my way: How to go, how to pay
This workbook provides information for middle and junior high school students about how to go to college and how to pay for education beyond high school.
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National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Tips for parents with middle school teens: Countdown to college
This publication provides information for parents about building a foundation for their teens' educational success, planning their teens' academic program, standardized tests, identifying interests, financial aid, and developing healthy habits.
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Roads to Success
Curriculum (meetings once per week) from grades 7 -12 to help youth discover the careers that inspire them and the steps needed to reach their goals. The website also includes parent and student resources for career and college planning.
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UC Berkeley’s Realizing the College Dream (sponsored by the ECMC Foundation)
Curriculum guide for teachers, counselors, and community-based organizations to increase the expectations of attending college. The guide includes eight student lessons and two workshops that can be used in a variety of settings (classroom, after-school, Saturday programs, and informal educational settings) and are geared for students as well as parents, family members, community college students, and other adult learners. Instructional strategies are hands-on and interactive, with the lessons aligned with national curriculum standards in writing, mathematics, social studies, and technology. Additional resources may be found at http://www.ecmcfoundation.org/projects.html.
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Turning Points’s Creating Partnerships, Bridging worlds: Family and Community Engagement
This guide discusses a framework for parent/middle school partnerships, including a review of the research, and offers detailed strategies to help schools build successful partnerships with families. Not specifically targeted towards building a college-going culture.
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Indiana Youth Institute’s Drive of Your Life
This interactive website guides students through a 48-question inventory to help them understand their likes and dislikes, skills and abilities; find careers that match their interests and aptitudes; and learn more about careers and the preparation they require. It also provides lesson plans organized around the career assessment website and allows teachers to track student progress through the curriculum.
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National Council for Community and Education Partnerships’s Éxito Escolar: A Toolkit for Academic Success in the Latino Community
Publisher description: Éxito Escolar is an exciting multimedia college access curriculum focused around a series of four bilingual films. The goal of this program is to prepare Latino students and their families for post-secondary education. The curriculum builds off the collection of films which follow the experiences of students and their families as they explore life beyond high school. These highly engaging films are created in the style of popular Spanish-language telenovelas. Topics addressed include: benefits of postsecondary education; financial planning for college; family and cultural influences; U.S. higher education structure; role of standardized admissions testing; college application procedures.
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The Sallie Mae Fund’s Kids2College
Kids to College involves colleges partnering with 6th grade classrooms for a 6-lesson curriculum designed to raise students’ college-going aspirations. The program increases students’ understanding of the college-going process, helps them explore careers and connect career aspirations to education, and reinforces the importance of academic preparation. The program culminates with a day on the college campus engaging in learning activities that are fun for 6th graders.
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Postsecondary Access for Latino Middle Grade Students (PALMS)
PALMS provides practical resources to help middle school practitioners encourage Latino students and their parents to prepare for college.
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State of Illinois' College Zone
Target audience groups of this resource are broken up into "zones." Students (including grades 6-7 and grades 8-12), Parents, Counselors, Financial Aid Administrators, Lenders, and Spanish-speaking students and parents. It provides information on preparing for high school and college, applying to college, and financing an education.
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College Board’s CollegeEd
This program consists of 6-10 instructional units for students in grades 7-12 (different units for each grade) with assignments that can be completed independently. The program also provides a Teacher's guide, access to the College Board's My Road website, The Family Handbook, and High School Parent's Guide to College Applications and Transitions.
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American Council on Education’s Jump Start Your Education
Download booklets to be used in building students’ college knowledge. Topics include: why college, what college is like, college prep course-taking, and paying for college.
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California Education Round Table’s College: Making It Happen
This booklet describes the importance of middle school students engaging in early academic and financial planning in order to have more choices after high school graduation and the role those parents can play in this process.
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AVID College Path Middle School
Publisher description: The middle level college path materials develop early awareness of the college acceptance process. Designed for traditional middle schools, and for use in alternative settings or by parents, these activity-based materials also focus on getting younger students ready for a college-preparatory experience during their high school years. Introduction to the ACT's Explore, as well as the PSAT and SAT is provided through a variety of activities. Preview
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Studies:
ACT College Readiness Begins in Middle School
Study of student course-taking and college preparatory behaviors. Policy recommendations stemming from the findings include explaining to students and families the importance of taking a challenging curriculum, using multiple sources of information to inform students and families of students’ progress towards college-readiness, working with families to create a financial plan for college.
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Sallie Mae Report of Middle School Impact
A survey of 1800 parents of middle school students find that they have good intentions when it comes to their child's higher education future but are unknowingly leaving their children at risk by failing to ensure they are properly prepared — from academics to finances to expectations — for college.
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