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Background

For Preparing to Dream, the team from Aldine Independent School District held focus groups and conducted surveys to learn student and family needs regarding post-secondary success. Results indicated that both students and parents wanted more information and one-on-one help regarding college applications, financial aid, and post-secondary preparation.

As a result, Aldine’s PTD plan focused efforts on schools in two feeder patterns that send students to Aldine and Nimitz High Schools, with the overall goal of increasing college entrance rates of first-generation and low socio-economic students. In service of these goals, Aldine created a peer mentoring group called “The Dream Team” on each of the two campuses and hired a College Access Advisor to work one-on-one with students and families on both campuses. 

Outcomes

• Aldine’s “Dream Team” peer mentoring has become embedded in both initiative high schools. The program has been so successful that other Aldine ISD high schools are replicating it.  “Dream Team” members make presentations across the district to elementary, intermediate and middle school students about the importance of being college-bound.
• Increased one-on-one counseling support at the two high schools has resulted in increased numbers of college applications and scholarships.
• Both Aldine and Nimitz intend to continue to fund and staff the College Access Advisor position.
• The Kids2College middle school program has been well-received and has expanded to other schools in the district.
• Aldine ISD has found new ways to reach out to its parent and family population.
• Due in part to the work Aldine ISD has done with Preparing to Dream, Aldine ISD’s Eisenhower High School was chosen as one of two sites for the Houston-region expansion of College Forward, a highly regarded college access and retention program that was started in Austin.

Notable Results

At Aldine High School: Hispanic students “college-ready” doubled in ELA from 27% to 55% and more than doubled in “both ELA and Math” from 16% to 35% from 2006 to 2009. From 2006 to 2010, African American students meeting the  Texas Success Indicator increased from 13% to 51% in ELA and from 14% to 51% in math. ApplyTexas online application site reports 712 applications in 2010. The number of students served by the College Access Advisor grew from 469 in 2008-09 to 1,622 in 2009-10.
At Nimitz High School: Hispanic students “college-ready” doubled in ELA from 30% to 61% and more than doubled in “both ELA and Math” from 21% to 44% from 2006 to 2009. African American students “college-ready” increased in ELA from 30% to 56% and more than doubled in “both ELA and Math” from 14% to 32% from 2006 to 2009. From 2006 to 2010, students meeting the ELA Texas Success Indicator increased from 23% to 50% for African Americans and from 25% to 50% for Hispanics. Students enrolled in AP courses increased from 154 in 2008 to 294 in 2010, and in dual credit increased 154 to 249 over that same period (per internal district reports). ApplyTexas online application reports 1135 applications in 2010. The number of students served by the College Access Advisor grew from 277 in 2008-09 to 965 in 2009-10.

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