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Faculty
Reach Out To Regions High Schools
by Nina Lalli and Matthew Green
With the help of some Oberlin College faculty members,
doors are opening for high school students in Northeastern Ohio who
hope to go on to attend college. At Tuesdays faculty meeting,
led by Dean of the College Clayton Koppes, a proposal to have continued
College support for the next four years of a program called the Oberlin
College Educational Alliance Network (OCEAN), was passed.
One of the biggest challenges in our society is public education.
Oberlin College, as a premier liberal arts college, has a role and
obligation to help address major educational issues, Koppes
said. The decision follows a previous two-year experiment with the
program, which began during the summer of 2000.
OCEAN works with what are referred to as under-resourced
high schools in the area, to provide college-level courses supervised
by Oberlin faculty members, who are required to visit the high school
classroom at least once during the semester and provide support and
advice to teachers throughout the year. The program is primarily focused
on creating alliances with high schools in Lorain County.
For students who are able and interested in going to college,
there is very little that is offered [in many of these schools]...it
is an important way to create some rewarding opportunities for students
and to meet the educational mission of Oberlin College, College
President Nancy Dye said.
OCEAN students also visit the Oberlin campus, as the program is specifically
geared towards helping students get aquainted with the college experience
with hopes that they will be accepted and succeed at institutions
of higher-education. Participants in the program are often encouraged
to consider attending Oberlin.
I strongly support this program. This is one way to address
something about our surroundings, History Department Chair Steven
Volk said.
Koppes echoed Volks support of the program. I think this
will significantly enrich the curriculum of these schools. It will
also make Oberlin College more visible to high school students in
the area and for the public at large, he said.
Many faculty members voiced the importance of Oberlin serving as a
recognizble model institution in a region that is notorious for its
largely inadequate and under-supported public education system.
I think its really important for the College to take its
place as a leader in education in Northeast Ohio, Carol Lasser,
a professor in the history department and the head of OCEAN, said.
There is a very good sense of reconnecting to what is in our
area. I actually do believe in building capacity; being responsible
to the community in which we work and reengaging in the community
around us.
High schools teachers participating in the program will be specially
trained for the courses they teach. Courses are currently taught on
three subjects: American history, Shakespeare and performance and
statistics.
Students who participate in the program may or may not receive college
credit, much like Advanced Placement Exams. They will be graded on
a Credit/No Entry basis by participating College faculty. The credit
will appear on transcripts as OCEAN credit, not Oberlin College credit.
Even if students are not awarded college credit, they can still earn
high school credit. About 10 percent of students are denied college
credit.
High school students lose nothing, essentially, by trying to
do this, Lasser said.
The courses do have a price tag attached to them. In order to cover
basic costs, including small stipends for participating professors
and administrative and transportation costs, high schools are charged
$1500 for one OCEAN course and another $500 for two or more courses.
Participating students are charged $50 for the course they are in.
Lasser noted that options do exist for schools and students who are
eager to participate in the program but are unable to pay the fees.
We can be creative with them about ways to find money to participate.
My hope is now that the program has been extended for four years,
it will be easier to work with schools to secure grant funding,
she said.
By next year, the program will serve at least seven high schools,
meeting the required number for receiving adequate financial backing.
The program is essentially self-sustaining once we reach the
critical number of schools, Lasser said.
We have our torch lit and there are other people who need their
torches lit. If we dont do this, who are we? Lasser said.
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