Three city educational institutions will formalize a partnership today to expose some Pittsburgh Public Schools students to college earlier and produce “Panthers in waiting” on a path to higher education.
The University of Pittsburgh, the Community College of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh Public Schools will pilot the Pittsburgh Admissions Collaboration starting next fall. It will start with students in the school district’s We Promise program, which aims to help black males — who historically as a group have lagged in academic performance — to boost their grades and attendance so they can be eligible for Pittsburgh Promise scholarships.
A few years ago while relatively new to Pitt, chief enrollment officer Marc L. Harding realized that none of the students at one of the PPS schools he visited had the academic credentials needed to be admitted to the university.
“I had one of those ‘wow’ moments,” he said. “It’s always been very frustrating to me, in this role, to walk into a group of high school seniors and realize I can’t do anything about their junior year, sophomore year, freshman year.” But “When we talk to students in seventh or eighth grade, we can chart out a path.”
When it’s fully launched in 2018, the collaboration will begin with Pitt student recruiters promoting college, specifically enrollment in CCAC, to some of the district’s middle-schoolers. Throughout high school, the selected students will get campus tours, mentoring, access to cultural events at Pitt and CCAC and possibly even library access.
The hope is that the students, “academically strong and financially supported,” will attend CCAC for at least one full academic year then transfer to Pitt’s main or satellite campuses.
“The goal here is to capture the young people early and build that relationship and cultivate and inspire that interest,” said Evon Walters, president of CCAC’s Allegheny Campus.
Added Mr. Harding: "It’s not about hard-selling on a college. It’s getting them thinking about college and what that means."
The collaboration, in talks for more than a year, is free for participating PPS students, and program costs will be funded through Mr. Harding’s office.
We Promise project manager Branden Ballard said the program also paves the way for greater racial and economic diversity on Pitt’s campus, where, he observed, admissions standards are increasingly rigorous. Further, he said, people who go to school in a “cohort style” setting tend to do better academically, and We Promise students work in such an environment already.
Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, CCAC President Quintin Bullock, PPS Superintendent Anthony Hamlet and other school officials will sign the agreement this afternoon at Alumni Hall in Oakland.
Molly Born: mborn@post-gazette or 412-263-1944.
First Published: December 20, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
