Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Gateway to College goes national

Photos and Story by James Hill

Portland Community College trained staff (Jan. 21-24) from community colleges in Maryland and in California in order to take PCC’s successful alternative high school program to other parts of the country.The college announced in November that Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., and Riverside Community College of Riverside, Calif., are the first two sites of a total of eight that will be selected to replicate PCC’s Gateway to College (formerly College Bound) program. Six additional colleges will be chosen over the next two years. Staff from the two colleges arrived in Portland for training in late January of 2004 to begin the work of setting up Gateway to College for their communities. PCC won a $4.8 million grant in March 2003 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to duplicate the program nationally. Gateway to College serves at-risk youth, 16 to 20 years old, who have dropped out of school. Students complete their high school diploma while earning college credits toward an associate degree or certificate. The replication grants from PCC will range between $300,000 and $350,000 over three years, depending on student enrollment. Riverside Community College and Montgomery College will also receive intensive technical assistance. Staff from each college will visit PCC over the next nine months to participate in internships and other training. The new sites will begin serving Gateway to College students in the fall of 2004. "We are thrilled to provide the opportunity to bring Gateway to College to two new institutions. Both colleges have a significant population of high school dropouts who will benefit,"said Nan Poppe, Extended Learning Campus president. Riverside Community College President Salvatore G. Rotella couldn’t agree more. "Riverside County is one of the fastest growing regions in the nation. Yet, we have one of the lowest college-going rates in California. Gateway to College will enable us to reconnect with students who have dropped out of the education system. We have a chance to give these young people their futures back." Portland Community College is one of 10 intermediaries replicating programs through the Early College High School Initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Ford Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Beginning in 2002, initiative partners will fund more than 100 early college high schools over a five-year period. Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stated that Early College High Schools "will help bridge the gap between high school and college, a transition period during which we lose too many students."Early college high schools typically serve students in grades nine through 12, allowing them the opportunity to complete high school and two years of college within four years. Focused on under-served students, the initiative is making higher education more accessible, affordable, and attractive by bridging the divide between high school and college. Gateway to College is unique, as it is the only early college program targeted to high school dropouts. "Gateway to College is a break-through design giving out-of-school youth a real second chance for academic success,"said Linda Huddle, director of PCC Alternative Programs, including Gateway to College. "Students who did not thrive in a traditional high school setting are earning their high school diplomas while making significant progress toward a college degree and a bright future."The program, now in its fourth year at PCC, is helping hundreds of former dropouts achieve their education goals. Of the 35 students who graduated from the program in spring term of 2003 by earning their high school diploma, 51 percent graduated with honors. These students also earned an average of 64 college credits, and 9 percent completed their associate’s degree before graduation from Gateway to College. Eighty percent continued their college education. Students in the program are supported through contracts with the Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Portland and Tigard-Tualatin school districts.