Tom Green still recalls his trips into the musty archive holding the transcripts of Seton Hall University students. These records - bearing the handwriting of Seton Hall professors dating back to the 19th century - dutifully listed the course work completed by the first students to enroll at the university, the amount of time they spent in those classes and, of course, the grades awarded at semester’s end.
Western Kentucky University’s Circle of Support surrounds high-functioning students on the autism spectrum. Within the Circle—which is a feature of the university’s Kelly Autism Program (KAP)—services are robust: everything from single-room housing to frequent attendance at required “study table” sessions. The sessions are staffed by KAP employees who tutor students on academics while also advising them on time management, social skills, and priority setting. The program also features a full-time mental health counselor and separate mentoring to help students with social interaction.
The goal of the Integrated Studies program at Millersville University is to fully merge its students into college life. The 25 students on the university’s southeastern Pennsylvania campus live with roommates who aren’t part of the program. No classes or social events are designed exclusively for them. They join clubs on campus, but they do not constitute their own club. Because of their developmental or intellectual disabilities, they need to work longer and harder than typical students to learn and understand. But college life, with all its pleasures, challenges, and opportunities, is now within their reach.
Aggies Elevated is a two-year program at Utah State University that is designed to serve students with intellectual disabilities well – not merely by providing opportunities for learning, but also by helping students land competitive, “real-world” employment after they graduate. The staff-intensive Aggies Elevated program typically serves about 15 students at a time. As of a few weeks after the 2019 class graduated, 93 percent of its graduates had found jobs.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn.—Today, Matthew Ellickson admits it unprompted: When he was a teenager, he goofed off in school. He didn’t think he could make it into a four-year degree program. “I started going to the tech school because I figured, ‘You know what? I’m not a very smart kid, I didn’t get good grades. Maybe I can go to a tech school and get a vocational degree.’
JACKSON, Mich.—Katie Stiver, 34, spent a decade working in a long-term care facility, helping people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The care she provided was often the most fundamental: feeding, bathing, grooming. She thrived on the personal relationships she cultivated. “They still have so much to give, and they still are people […]
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—As this city climbed out of the 2008 Great Recession, KentuckianaWorks, its regional workforce-development agency, took a new approach to training employees for local businesses: It started teaching people specific skills and awarding them credentials showing that they were superior candidates for entry-level work.
The rural regions along Interstate 95 in South Carolina have long been called the “corridor of shame.” The name stems from a 2005 documentary that showed how decades of grinding poverty and governmental neglect essentially doomed area residents to a Third World education. Progress is still slow along the corridor, but it’s occurring—and a Clemson University program called Emerging Scholars is part of the change.
California’s far-northern tier belies the state’s image as a mecca of wealth and privilege. In fact, with adult poverty rates above 20 percent, this vast rural expanse faces a host of social problems—including poor health, housing insecurity, and drug addiction. But community leaders across a five-county area see the path to progress, and they’ve teamed up to broaden that path for northern California residents. As one leader of North State Together points out: “It all came down to education.”
The Rio Grande Valley of Texas is the fastest-growing region of a booming state—and that presents challenges. Among the biggest: preparing residents for skilled jobs that are cropping up too fast to be filled. This education challenge is particularly acute in south Texas, where the distances are vast, the heritage rural, and the people quite poor; nearly 90 percent of valley residents are considered economically disadvantaged. But an area network called RGV FOCUS is attacking the problem in force.