The Path to College at ARISE

Senior IvoneSurvey data indicates an interesting mix of students, including many who were left back or expelled from their previous schools, and a culture that puts students on the road to college.

More than a quarter of ARISE students were held back in a previous grade and/or expelled from school before attending ARISE, according to a recent survey. ARISE was asked to compile data about its students’ backgrounds as part of efforts to gain another five year charter. The survey provided data about ARISE student demographics that had previously been only anecdotal. ARISE has always been a school intended to serve all students, including and especially those who had previously not experienced success in school. While there have definitely always been students for whom college has always been a goal, ARISE continues to serve students for whom college has never even been considered a possibility.

One in ten students at ARISE has been involved in the juvenile justice system and more than a third of the student body has been involved in a gang or has a family member who is involved in a gang. These statistics make ARISE’s college-going data that much more impressive, as the school continues to help students who were at high risk of dropping out graduate from high school and gain admission to, and eventually graduate from, four-year college.

Eric, an eleventh grader who was both held back and asked to leave his previous school, reflects on the difference between his previous school and ARISE. Before coming to ARISE, Eric reflects, “I wasn’t motivated to finish school; I was more motivated to drop out.”  Eric feels that ARISE is able to motivate students in a different way, “[At ARISE] teachers really don’t give up on you.” The staff keeps it “real” and focused on the students: “It’s all about you.”
 
“[Before ARISE] I wasn’t motivated to finish school; I was more motivated to drop out.”

Many ARISE students spend more than four years in high school in order to prepare themselves for college and to meet ARISE’s extra-rigorous graduation requirements. Several students who started ninth grade four and a half years ago are still enrolled today. Senior Javier left ARISE during his tenth grade year and returned to complete his fourth and fifth years at ARISE. Javier reflects: ”I came back because I wanted to go to college and that school wasn’t working for me. I’m still here in my fifth year because I want to go to college.” Javier is truly embodying one of ARISE’s Habits of Heart and Mind: “ARISE helped me in learning perseverance because I didn’t even know what that was until I came to high school.”

Like many ARISE students, Javier wasn’t sure that he wanted to go to college until he came to ARISE. At ARISE, where the faculty and staff are constantly talking to students about college, he became increasingly interested in attending: “Every year I realized more and more that education was the path that I needed to take to get where I really want to get.” According to the survey, while only 59% of students planned to attend college before coming to ARISE, 96% of current students now plan to go to college.

Ivone is one of the many students who changed her mind about college after coming to ARISE: “When I first came, I didn’t really think about college.” But by the time she entered her senior year, everything changed. “Laura and Romeo motivated me tremendously in terms of college. People actually care about me outside of my family. They want to see me succeed, graduating, attending college... I can’t see myself doing anything other than college. I want that experience; I need it.”

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