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Colleges look to boost minority enrollment
Issue date: 11/15/07
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A new initiative posed by an organization of public university leaders will aim to cut the socio-economic and racial education "achievement gap" in half by the year 2015.
The University System of Maryland will participate in The National Association of System Heads' (NASH) new program, but as a private university, Hopkins cannot directly participate in this initiative. Instead the University has been working to create its own system to narrow, and eventually eliminate, the same gap.
It is "our responsibility," NASH Staff Officer Janis Somerville said, to close the achievement gap. NASH's initiative supports the attitude that equal educational opportunities for people from all backgrounds must be put forth in the interest of everyone, not just people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The achievement gap refers to the difference between the educational advancement of students from low-income families versus students from economically privileged backgrounds. NASH's statistics showed that only nine percent of students from low-income families earn a bachelor's degree by the age of 24, while 75 percent of economically privileged students do.
"We are supposed to be the land of opportunity and always moving forward. By not closing this gap, we are belying our heritage," said chancellor of the University System of Maryland William Kirwan. He is the system head for all public universities in Maryland except Morgan State University.
Yesterday the University of Baltimore held an all-day Closing the Achievement Gap conference.
Kirwan spoke hopefully about the conference, which was attended by representatives from the private sector as well as all grades in primary schools, as a forum for launching some state-wide initiatives to close the achievement gap.
Kirwan mentioned a specific initiative in private universities as well as public ones to award more full scholarships to students from low-income families (defined as families whose net income is less than $40,000 per year).
The University System of Maryland will participate in The National Association of System Heads' (NASH) new program, but as a private university, Hopkins cannot directly participate in this initiative. Instead the University has been working to create its own system to narrow, and eventually eliminate, the same gap.
It is "our responsibility," NASH Staff Officer Janis Somerville said, to close the achievement gap. NASH's initiative supports the attitude that equal educational opportunities for people from all backgrounds must be put forth in the interest of everyone, not just people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The achievement gap refers to the difference between the educational advancement of students from low-income families versus students from economically privileged backgrounds. NASH's statistics showed that only nine percent of students from low-income families earn a bachelor's degree by the age of 24, while 75 percent of economically privileged students do.
"We are supposed to be the land of opportunity and always moving forward. By not closing this gap, we are belying our heritage," said chancellor of the University System of Maryland William Kirwan. He is the system head for all public universities in Maryland except Morgan State University.
Yesterday the University of Baltimore held an all-day Closing the Achievement Gap conference.
Kirwan spoke hopefully about the conference, which was attended by representatives from the private sector as well as all grades in primary schools, as a forum for launching some state-wide initiatives to close the achievement gap.
Kirwan mentioned a specific initiative in private universities as well as public ones to award more full scholarships to students from low-income families (defined as families whose net income is less than $40,000 per year).
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