A Promising Promise
The winner of the feel good education story of the week easily goes to this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the "Kalamazoo Promise". The Promise, made possible by a group of anonymous local philanthropists, provides college tuition assistance to any student, regardless of family income, who enrolls in the Kalamazoo school system by the beginning of high school. Students who spend their four high school years in Kalamazoo public schools will have 65% of their college tuition paid for, provided that they attend a public university or community college in Michigan. For every year beyond the four high school years that students have spent in public schools their tuition aid increases, with those students who have attend Kalamazoo public schools from kindergarten through 12th grade receiving a full scholarship. The city believes that this commitment to education will help attract new people and business to a city that is coping, like so many others, with the effects of a shrinking manufacturing sector.
I think it's great to see a community (well, in truth, a group of philanthropists) show such a strong commitment to the public school system and such a faith in the ability of good schools to change the fortunes of a town. There is no doubt that they have made their city more attractive to potential home buyers, renters, business owners, etc. The short-term effects (as hinted at in the article) will likely be a rise in property values, an increase in real estate development, and a spike in public school enrollment. One can only speculate on the long-term benefits of the program (and I'm sure some enterprising grad student has already latched on to this great opportunity to do a case study on education based urban renewal) but it will be interesting to see how well Kalamazoo is able to parlay the short-term benefits of the Promise into long-term economic stability and prosperity for the city.
In the spirit of offering ideas to those in a position to put them to use, a few other topics I think are worthy of study/investigation stemming from the "Kalamazoo Promise":
(1) What impact does the promise that college tuition will be available to those who graduate and get accepted to college have on student attitudes towards school (and doing well in school)?
(2) Are parents more likely to monitor their child's education (what classes he or she taking and if they meet college requirements) now that the promise of affordable college tuition is there?
(3) We read a lot about the importance and influence of a child's peers on attitudes and choices. Will the Promise shift entire peer-group attitudes on going to college? What impact will this have on the individual (see (1))
(4) Will there be any shift in curriculum (ie more AP classes, more science labs) as a result of the Promise as, presumably, more students are attempting to take a course schedule that will make them eligible for college?
(5) What percentage of students will return to Kalamazoo and it's surrounding areas after they earn their college degrees? This obviously goes to the long-term impact of the Promise. It seems like it would be less beneficial to the long-term health of Kalamazoo if very few of their newly minted college graduates actually returned to their home town.