APPENDIX A

A Focused Look At Three\
Types of Services:

Providing Academic Assistance, Using Technology, and Serving

Middle School Students

As mentioned in chapter 1, a major objective of the case studies was to
gather detailed information on a few topics of widespread interest to
the Talent Search community. The topics selected for their likely
interest were the provision of academic assistance, the use of
technology in serving students, and serving middle school students. We
settled on these topics---and identified appropriate candidate
sites---after considering several sources of information: interviews
conducted with Talent Search staff during the first round of site
visits; informal interviews with Talent Search staff serving as officers
of the regional organizations for TRIO staff;[^1] responses to a 1998
survey of Talent Search programs about services to middle school
students as conducted by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE);
responses to a fax sent by COE to virtually all Talent Search projects
asking about topics of interest; and telephone calls to several
individuals knowledgeable about the Talent Search community.

Site selection was based solely on our initial understanding of the
degree to which projects emphasized one or more of the three service
areas; we did not consider type of host institution or location.
However, given that such factors may be of interest, some basic
characteristics of the six grantees selected for this part of our study
follow:

-   Two public 4-year colleges in small cities

-   Two public 4-year colleges in large cities

-   One private 4-year college in a large city

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   One nonprofit community organization in a large city

Coincidentally, some of the eight randomly selected projects were also
strong in one or more of the three service areas of interest; therefore,
this appendix also draws on relevant examples from those projects.

Before turning to the three special topics, we describe the objectives
and limits of our qualitative research. To begin, the practices
discussed here are meant to be illustrative of how projects could, if
they so desired, provide certain services. By focusing only on selected
topics, we do not mean to imply that Talent Search personnel should be
paying particular attention to these matters relative to other issues or
concerns. We recognize that opinions differ on how best to use program
resources and that projects operate under widely different
circumstances. Furthermore, we cannot present the activities described
below as exemplary or promising practices. We are not in a position to
judge the effectiveness of the approaches we have chosen to highlight.
Undoubtedly, we could have identified and studied many other Talent
Search projects that use different but equally interesting service
approaches in the three topic areas. In summary, we make no judgments as
to whether other Talent Search projects would benefit from adopting
similar service approaches. Rather, we simply believe that the
information will be of interest to a substantial portion of Talent
Search personnel around the country.

# Providing Academic Assistance

In considering academic assistance as a topic to focus on in this
report, we discerned among Talent Search staff two markedly different
viewpoints about providing academic assistance through Talent Search.
Many people we spoke with felt that academic assistance was an important
service that Talent Search projects could provide, perhaps even *should*
provide, and were interested in learning about how projects around the
country provide such support. Some project directors, however, felt that
their limited resources made it imprudent to implement an academic
assistance component. One director said, for example, that with local
middle schools spending \$4,700 per student per year and "failing
miserably," his Talent Search project could not expect to have any
impact on academic outcomes with funding of \$190 per participant per
year. While we do not know the extent to which these two opposing
viewpoints prevail, the contrast was nonetheless striking. By focusing
on academic assistance in this chapter, we are not taking sides in the
debate but instead are simply providing information that will be of
interest to many Talent Search personnel around the country.

Although a wide variety of services could be considered as falling under
the rubric of academic assistance, we focused particularly on services
designed to help students to perform better in their regular school work
and on school examinations. In practice, academic assistance as defined
here can take the form of tutoring or other types of subject-specific
instruction whether provided by a person or through self-paced computer
programs. It excludes teaching or reinforcing general study skills as
well as preparing students for college entrance examinations such as the
SAT and ACT.

Below we focus on academic support services at four of the projects we
visited.

## After-School Tutoring for High School Students: Project H

Project H is based at a 4-year college in a large city. It serves nine
target schools, some in the inner city and some in surrounding urban
communities. Academic assistance is provided primarily to participants
in the four target high schools; services to middle school students
focus mainly on personal development and career exploration, not on
improving academic performance.

The project's academic support services take two forms, tutoring and
classroom instruction, with tutoring the predominant mode of assistance.
Tutoring services vary somewhat from school to school, but the basic
plan calls for offering one or two hours of tutoring after school four
days a week throughout the school year. At a couple of target schools,
tutoring is also available for up to an hour before school. The
before-school option was often helpful to students who participated in
sports or other after-school activities. Project data for 1998--99
indicate that tutoring was available an average of 128 days out of a
174-day school year in each of the four target high schools.

Tutoring sessions function like voluntary study-hall periods---students
can either work independently or seek help from the tutors as needed.
Students typically ask for help with particular homework assignments,
although they sometimes seek more general assistance with academic
subjects. In most cases, tutors work with students on a one-on-one
basis, but sometimes two or more students who need similar assistance
work together with one tutor. The tutors take an active role in
determining whether and in what ways students need assistance. Tutors
provided a wide range of assistance in the sessions we observed, from
talking with one student about a book she was reading for a social
studies class to helping a small group of students understand and solve
trigonometry problems.

At one of Project H's target high schools, the Talent Search program
provides academic assistance through traditional classroom instruction.
In one high school we visited, for example, the Talent Search project
sponsored a basic mathematics class designed primarily for seniors at
risk of not graduating due to their poor performance in their regular
mathematics classes. The class was held after school four times a week
for one hour during the fall semester. Led by one teacher, it had an
enrollment of about 20 students. During the session we observed, the
instructor was teaching about relationships between overlapping sets and
subsets, including the use of Venn diagrams.

Project H recruits regular classroom teachers to provide tutoring or
instruction or both on a part-time basis. They receive \$10.30 per hour
and typically work eight hours per week for Talent Search. (Project H's
1998--99 budget included \$25,600 for tutors' and instructors' wages.)
Tutors and instructors who work with Project H appeared not to be
motivated by the money. In fact, we learned that many of them could
easily work after school as private tutors for \$25.00 per hour. The
project director has been successful in recruiting school staff with a
special interest in helping disadvantaged students.

Although this project's academic support services were optional,
students struggling in one or more classes are encouraged to attend the
Talent Search tutoring sessions. Several of the students who attended
tutoring sessions on a regular basis told us that they used the
assistance to keep their grades high enough to maintain their
eligibility for participation in school athletics. A minority of
official program participants in the target high schools took advantage
of tutoring sessions during 1998--99, according to project records, but
they are the students whom program staff know best and are considered
the project's core participants.

Why and how did Project H come to place a major emphasis on academic
support, and what led to the service structure described above?
Fundamentally, the focus on academic assistance reflects the vision of
the original director and chief officials at the host institution. That
vision has been central to the project since its inception. The
officials saw a need for precollege services for students "in the
middle" in their high schools---those students who were not already
performing at a high academic level. They felt, for example, that the
local Upward Bound projects, one of which reportedly requires its
participants to maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average, were
serving only the best and brightest of the city's low-income and
minority students, those who were "pretty much assured of succeeding"
even without special assistance. The people behind Project H said that
they wanted to reach down below the top 10 percent of students and that
they knew that such students would need help with academics. Other
tutoring options are available in some target high schools but typically
are not available as often or as reliably as is Talent Search. "If you
want to improve your grades and get college advice," said one high
school student, "this is the program to join."

The focus on high school as opposed to middle school students reflects a
belief that the former understand the importance of academic success and
thus can be motivated to improve their school performance. In contrast,
key project and target school staff believe that middle school students
generally are not developmentally ready to focus seriously on academics.
As a counselor from one target middle school explained, right after
puberty middle school students are thinking much more about
relationships than life after high school, which seems a long way off.
In addition, middle school students often operate with the belief that
if they fail a class, they "can always go to summer school" to make it
up, whereas high school students understand that failing a class may
prevent them from graduating or participating in interscholastic sports.

The reliance on target school staff as Talent Search staff reflects a
belief that teacher involvement is critical to the success of any
school-based program. Project H's former director said that during her
22 years as a teacher in local schools, she had seen many programs fall
short of their potential because of a lack of buy-in by school staff and
students and limited relations between program staff and students. She
felt strongly that visits to a school once or twice a week by outsiders
would not lead to long-term impacts. The school and its students need to
have a sense of ownership. "Kids are territorial about their schools,"
she said. "They don't necessarily accept people popping into and out of
that territory. You have to be *of* the school, not just in it."

Using full-time target school staff as Talent Search tutors and
instructors, the current director elaborated, means that adults
affiliated with the program see the students "all the time," not just an
hour or so each week, as is common in other Talent Search projects. The
Talent Search tutors talk to program participants in the hallways
between class periods and so on---not just when they are "on the clock"
during their official tutoring hours---demonstrating to students that
they care and building closer relationships. Finally, Talent Search
staff who are drawn from within a target school may be especially
effective at communicating with other school staff about individual
student needs, curriculum, and other matters.

One challenge we heard about at Project H concerned the ability of some
tutors to assist students in subjects outside their area of expertise.
In response, the project tried to schedule teachers with different
backgrounds---such as an English teacher and a mathematics teacher---to
be on duty at the same time. That way, a tutor could, if needed, refer a
student to her colleague for more-specialized assistance. Another
strategy we observed at one target school was to use primarily special
education teachers as tutors. These teachers told us that they were
trained to diagnose students' learning issues and adapt their
instructional approach accordingly. In addition, the special education
teachers were experienced in juggling many students and subjects at one
time, were generally familiar with all the key curricula in the school,
and were adept in helping students individually.

## After-School Tutoring for Middle School Students: Project M

Project M is based at a 4-year college in a large city, although most of
its nine target high schools and five target middle schools are located
in surrounding suburban school districts. Project M's academic support
services are similar in many respects to those of Project H. For
example, services consist mainly of after-school tutoring, and the
tutors are teachers from the target schools. An important difference,
however, is that academic assistance in Project M is provided to middle
school students, not to high school students, for whom services focus on
college information and assistance with college and financial aid
applications. Four of the five target middle schools offer tutoring
services.

Since its inception, Project M, which first received funding around the
time that the Talent Search program increased its emphasis on serving
middle school students, has focused on academic support for middle
school students. Project staff polled school principals and found
substantial interest in supplemental services that would help raise
middle school students' standardized test scores and improve their
academic performance in general. The perceived need for higher testing
and academic performance meshed with the perspective and philosophy of
the Talent Search staff. Project staff believe that early academic
intervention is an important way to get students on the right track,
reducing the likelihood that they will drop out in later years. They
also feel that the target schools are not able to give students all the
academic help they need. The host institution's TRIO director, who also
oversees an Upward Bound project, looked to that program as a model for
designing a new Talent Search project. She recognized from the outset
that, given its funding level, Talent Search could not offer academic
support services for all participants or with the same intensity as
Upward Bound, but she chose to emphasize academics to the extent
possible among middle school students.

Academic assistance is typically available two to three hours a day four
days a week through most of the school year. One of the target middle
schools offered tutoring services on three weekday afternoons and from
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Students can receive help with
homework in any subject, but the program emphasizes English,
mathematics, and science. Academic support is provided through two
components---tutoring sessions and computer labs. Group counseling
sessions---on topics such as conflict resolution and careers---sometimes
make up a third component in a typical day's Talent Search programming.

Project M relies on 12 part-time tutors, all of them regular teachers in
the target middle schools. One advantage of using the target schools'
regular classroom teachers as tutors for the Talent Search program,
staff explained, was that the teachers were familiar with the types of
homework and assignments the students were working on. Tutors work six
to eight hours per week and are paid \$12.50 per hour. As was the case
with Project H, teachers in Project M's target schools could earn
substantially more for private tutoring---reportedly over \$30 per hour.
The teachers undergo training in tutoring skills and counseling
techniques as well as in the instructional software that students use in
the computer labs. The project director oversees the tutors' work by
reviewing the forms on which they keep track of students' needs and the
services provided and by occasionally visiting the schools and observing
tutoring sessions.

Students who are struggling academically are scheduled and expected to
participate in tutoring; students who are doing sufficiently well in
school are excused from tutoring but are generally expected to
participate in the other program activities---computer labs and
counseling. In reality, however, there are no mandatory participation
requirements for struggling students. Those who participate infrequently
are not automatically dropped from the program rolls. For example,
students who participate in other extracurricular activities, such as
cheerleading or sports, are routinely allowed to skip Talent Search. Of
the 75 program participants at one middle school we visited, 25
regularly attended tutoring sessions.

To determine the academic areas in which students most need help, the
project relies not only on student self-reports and teacher or counselor
assessments but also on frequent diagnostic testing, including
teacher-made tests; standardized tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic
Skills®, which is used in all the target schools; and other assessments
such as the Coopersmith Inventory and the Mooney Problem Checklist.
Tutors are expected to consult with students' regular teachers to
discuss deficiencies and areas of need and to review students' grades.
To track student progress, tutors keep weekly records indicating how
many hours students spent in tutoring, in what areas they needed
assistance, and how those needs were addressed.

Students cited the opportunity for tutoring as a major reason for
joining the Talent Search program. Even students who were performing
well in school said that they wanted to bring their grades up higher.
Middle school participants offered lots of positive comments about their
Talent Search tutors.

At one middle school we visited, all 30 students in attendance at the
tutoring session started out in one classroom where they did their
homework. The three tutors in the classroom helped students as needed,
but some students who had the same assignments worked alone or in pairs
or small groups without asking for assistance. After tutors verified
that students had completed their homework and checked it for
errors,[^2] the students were released to work in the computer lab,
taking advantage of educational software. The opportunity to use the
computers was clearly a major motivation for students to complete their
homework. In the school's computer lab, which featured 34 desktop
computers, sixth graders worked on a lesson about onomatopoeia, seventh
graders on a variety of spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension
exercises, and eighth graders on a lesson about prefixes and suffixes.

At a second middle school we visited, students were divided into three
groups---one in tutoring, one using computers, and one in group
counseling---and rotated between these activities at set intervals.
During the computer session, students worked in pairs on a program that
focused on mathematics topics such as fractions, decimals, percentages,
and ratios.

One challenge Project M has faced with its after-school tutoring
component is transportation. Some students cannot participate to the
extent they desire because reliable transportation home is not available
when the program ends each day. In at least one of the target schools,
however, project staff arrived at a creative solution by teaming up with
another after-school program that does have funds for transportation.
The other program's participants are allowed to use the Talent Search
project's computer resources and, in exchange, Talent Search
participants receive rides home on the other program's bus.

## After-School Tutoring and Saturday Test Preparation Sessions: Project N

Project N is hosted by a 4-year college in a large city. It covers four
target middle schools and eight target high schools, all located
relatively close by in the inner city. Students in the schools have
historically scored much lower than their peers across the state on
required standardized tests.[^3] More generally, students in the target
schools are struggling with their regular classes. At one target school,
guidance counselors estimated that 80 percent of students receive an F
in any given grading period. Performance issues were a key factor behind
Project N's decision to make academic assistance a major element of its
program offerings. Interestingly, some of the target schools are served
by more than one Talent Search project, but Project N was distinguished
from the others by its focus on academics.

Project N's academic support services consist primarily of tutoring and
test preparation classes provided on weekday afternoons and Saturdays
during the school year, although in some years when funds are available,
the project offers a two- to three-week summer session focused mainly on
academics.

Project N uses college students from the host institution as tutors and
test preparation course instructors. They receive about \$7.00 per hour
and work from five to 15 hours per week. Several tutors on the roster
were themselves former Talent Search participants. Tutors do not
specialize in particular subjects but instead try to provide whatever
assistance is needed.

Tutoring is provided at the host college campus, in office space devoted
to several precollege programs. It is available Monday through Thursday
from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon. All
students, regardless of grade level, can drop in whenever they need
individualized help from one of the tutors on duty. On the day we
observed the program, two tutors were on duty; on another day, one tutor
was on duty. The project has no attendance requirements, but some
students we met with told us that their parents made them attend
tutoring sessions.

Students can receive specific help with particular homework assignments
or more general tutoring on course material. Sometimes they bring in
papers or other completed assignments for tutors to review before
turning them in at school. At the time of our visit, plans were underway
to introduce two forms to guide and monitor tutoring services: an
academic improvement plan would focus on needed areas of improvement and
a tutoring report form would record services provided.

The second major academic support service available at Project N is test
preparation. Although services are offered to help students prepare for
the SAT, we focus on the project's efforts to improve student
performance on statewide middle school and high school proficiency
tests. These are high-stakes examinations. For example, if eighth
graders fail an examination, they must take remedial classes in
mathematics or English during ninth grade, which can prevent them from
taking the other courses they need to be ready for college. High school
seniors must pass the examination as a condition of graduation.

Test preparation classes are held on Saturday mornings from 9:00 to noon
at the host college campus. Classes last for 10 weeks. Separate sections
are held for middle school and high school students. The classes,
offered twice a year, typically operate at capacity, with 20 to 30
students. Instructors administer a pre-test at the beginning of the
class and a post-test at the end to gauge student improvement. Results
are sent home by mail to each student's parents. Each class has a lead
instructor for English and mathematics and two teaching assistants.
Instruction focuses primarily on subject matter content and secondarily
on test- taking skills and strategies.

In addition to tutoring and test preparation, one senior staff member
leads an algebra enrichment pilot program. She works with a small group
of ninth graders who are earning a C or lower in their regular algebra
class. Students go to the host campus twice a week for after-school
sessions aimed at improving their understanding of key concepts and
enhancing their ability to solve algebra problems.

Project N's summer program reportedly resembles its Saturday test
preparation sessions. Four days a week the participants spend 90 minutes
each on mathematics and language arts, followed by group counseling and
skills development sessions. (Fridays are devoted to cultural and
fun-filled field trips.) When held, the summer program has been able to
accommodate virtually all interested students, an average of about 60.

As with Projects H and M, a relatively small number of participants in
Project N take advantage of tutoring and other academic support
services. For those students interested in Project N's various types of
academic support, one potential barrier is transportation; students must
find their own way to and from the host campus. Another issue is some
students' reluctance to travel out of their own neighborhoods, which one
person described as "balkanized." Project staff would like to have
funding to provide transportation or subsidize bus fares.

## After-School Classes and Tutoring: Project S

Project S is operated by a community-based organization in the heart of
a large city. The organization, which has a long history in the city,
operates several other programs in addition to Talent Search, including
Early Head Start, an after-school program, and a child care program;
Talent Search is the organization's only precollege program. The project
covers five target high schools[^4] and five target middle schools, all
located in the inner city.

This project's focus on academics has mainly been a response to a
perception that the city schools provide a generally weak education and
that students therefore need supplemental support if they are to be well
prepared for college. But the academic focus took on additional
importance in recent years when the state implemented a policy requiring
all students to pass examinations in English and mathematics as
condition of receiving a high school diploma. In fact, the large
majority of Talent Search participants at Project S receive little in
the way of academic support services; their exposure to the program
comes mainly in the form of one-on-one college advisory sessions and
career and financial aid workshops delivered at target high schools and
program headquarters. A small number of highly motivated students,
however, participate in an academically intensive program track that we
call "Aim High."

Aim High involves an extensive schedule of academic services Monday
through Thursday.[^5] From 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., students can attend
an independent study hall session. Alternatively, they may participate
in a wide range of recreational or cultural enrichment activities, some
of which, such as poetry and computers, could help them with their
regular school work. From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., the project offers
structured academic courses designed to help students pass the state's
standardized examinations in particular subjects. During the 1999-2000
school year, course offerings were as follows: Monday, U.S. history and
English; Tuesday, global studies; Wednesday, math I, II, and III;
Thursday, biology, chemistry, and physics. Simultaneously, for students
not taking a class, one-on-one tutoring is available. Tutoring sessions
allow participants to receive individualized help with their school
work. Project staff design a schedule for each participant based on the
student's needs and interests (and, of course, in consideration of
experience in the program and activity enrollment limits). All Aim High
participants must take at least one of the structured classes. To help
gauge Aim High participants' academic needs, project staff send a form
to all the participants' regular school teachers twice a year, asking
them to list all the major assignments that will be due during the
semester and to describe the specific skills or concepts the student
will need to improve on in order to excel in the course.

Project S draws on a large pool of volunteers to serve as tutors for Aim
High; about 80 volunteers were on the project rolls when we visited.
Some tutors are working professionals or other adults, but the vast
majority are students at a nearby university. The students were part of
a large community service effort promoted by the university's president.
Project S's host organization was one of eight community-based
organizations where volunteers could work. No matter how many hours per
week they volunteered, tutors at Project S were expected to commit to a
fixed schedule, which enabled the full-time staff to try to match tutors
to particular students based on subject interest and expertise, gender,
and race or ethnicity.

Aim High is designed primarily for high school students. It serves 100
to 120 students and usually has a waiting list of about 25 students.
Participants in Aim High must sign a "contract" that acknowledges their
commitment to remain in the program and to abide by certain behavioral
rules while in the program, such as acting respectfully and not "hanging
out" in program offices. Aim High activities are held at the host
institution's headquarters and at a nearby public housing community
center. Students must get to and from the program on their own;
virtually all of them walk, ride bicycles, or use public transportation,
and some travel 30 minutes or longer from school to Project S
headquarters.

Project S would not be able to offer the Aim High program without
outside funding from charitable foundations. One use of outside funds is
to provide monthly stipends of \$50, \$100, or \$150 to Aim High
participants---a rare practice in Talent Search. The stipend amounts are
linked to the number of academic classes the students are taking, their
performance and behavior in the program, and the length of time they
have participated in the program. A program brochure describes the
stipends as both an incentive to inspire participation and learning and
a reward for demonstrating commitment. The stipends, together with the
instructional focus, make the Aim High component of Project S look more
like an Upward Bound program than most Talent Search programs.

One challenge that Project S faces in providing academic assistance
services relates to its reliance on a volunteer tutoring corps,
particularly students from a fairly prestigious university. As
volunteers, some tutors feel less committed to the program than would
paid staff. During their college examination periods or between-term
breaks, for example, some tutors may not show up. And tutors from more
economically advantaged families than the Talent Search participants
occasionally have difficulty in both understanding the context of
students' lives and relating to the daily challenges students face in
and out of school. Project S staff said, however, that most
student-tutor matches succeed---some develop close relationships, in
fact---and that there is little they can do about tutors sometimes
needing to skip tutoring sessions, except to encourage them to be
responsible and give as much notice as possible.

# USING TECHNOLOGY IN SERVING STUDENTS

As technological advances lead to the introduction of new and more
powerful devices at an almost dizzying rate and more and more
educational software enters the market, some observers have argued that
technology---in particular, computers and the Internet---have the power
to revolutionize education. Whether such a revolution will ever truly
occur is impossible to say, but it is clear that computers and related
technology are already enabling Talent Search staff to change the way
they provide services to program participants. As more and more students
gain access to computers in their homes and schools, it may seem odd to
them that an education-related program such as Talent Search would *not*
be using computers to the full extent possible.

This section focuses on using technology to serve Talent Search
students---in particular, communicating with students and giving them
information and experiences intended to help them complete high school
and pursue a postsecondary education. This focus excludes purely
administrative uses of technology, such as computerized databases that
support program operations.

We did not identify any Talent Search projects where computer use was as
important or extensive as academic assistance was at the four projects
described in the preceding section. But we did, however, study a few
projects that made substantially greater use of computers than did the
"typical" project---projects in which technology figured prominently in
program objectives and activities. Even in projects that made relatively
little use of computers in serving students, we occasionally learned of
one or two interesting practices involving technology. Below we
highlight a variety of ways in which the Talent Search projects we
studied were using technology in serving program participants.[^6]

## After-School Computer Club: Project P

Project P is hosted by a 4-year college in a large city. It covers 15
target schools, 10 within the city limits and five in a suburban
community located 20 miles away. All the target schools have operated
computer labs for several years; in fact, the long-time existence of the
labs was one of the key factors that enabled Project P to make computer
use a notable program feature. Talent Search participants' exposure to
computers varied by target school, grade level, degree of interest, and
other factors, but opportunities existed for a wide range of activities,
from file management to word processing, from Internet research to Web
page construction, and from desktop publishing to e-mail.

The primary opportunity for students to use computers under the auspices
of Project P is through an after-school computer club that meets once a
week at most of the target schools, particularly the high schools. All
official program participants are invited to attend, but participation
in the computer club is voluntary, and a relatively small group of
students typically shows up---for example, eight to 12 students out of
about 75 students on the program rolls at one target high school we
visited. The full-time project staff member assigned to work with the
target school directs the computer club activities. Most of the time,
staff members give basic guidance to the group as a whole and then
assist students as needed on an individual basis. Occasionally, staff
use group instruction, such as when teaching students how to design a
Web page.

On the day we observed an after-school computer club in progress,
students were accessing their personal accounts on a Website that
provides information about postsecondary education
(*guidance.collegeedge.com*, which subsequently changed to
*ecos.embark.com*). Project P had purchased 700 accounts---enough to
cover all program participants---at a cost of \$1.75 each, plus a
\$1,500 flat license fee. Students entered a user-ID and password to
gain access to their accounts. They filled out on-line profiles about
themselves, entering information about their backgrounds, subjects they
might like to study in college, regions of the country where they might
like to attend college, and so on. The site then provided lists of
colleges that might meet a student's interests---say, public
universities in the Midwest that offer degrees in veterinary
science---and links to all kinds of additional, related information.

One group of Project P middle school students we met with had used
computers at their school during the school day for a special project on
careers. They researched information about careers that interested them
and then developed PowerPoint® slide shows, with integrated text and
graphics, for presentation to a meeting of their peers. Afterward,
project staff posted all the slide shows on the project Website, along
with pictures of the students who created them, so that students,
parents, and others could view the presentations any time. Project P's
Website also contains a wide range of information that is useful to
program participants. In addition to listing scheduled activities, such
as workshops and field trips, the Website provides links to target
school home pages, to other programs that students might want to
participate in during the summer, and to resources that can help
students in school and as they look ahead to college.

All Project P participants were also permitted to use a small computer
lab, shared with Upward Bound, at Project P's main office. Finally, the
project had purchased a scanner and a digital camera to enable students
and staff to incorporate photographs and other graphic material into
various applications.

Given that computer use was such a significant aspect of Project P's
Talent Search program offerings, the director formally established
program outcome objectives concerning participants' experiences with
computer-related skills. For example, by the time they graduated from
eighth grade, 75 percent of middle school students were supposed to have
completed the following in the area of multimedia: (1) prepare a
PowerPoint® presentation, (2) transfer data or graphics from the
Internet to PowerPoint®, (3) use photograph editing software, (4) use a
multimedia encyclopedia for research, and (5) use desktop publishing
software. Similarly, by the time they finished tenth grade, 75 percent
of high school students were supposed to have completed the following in
the area of Internet research: (1) go to any specified URL (Web page),
(2) use a search engine to find a Website, (3) use Boolean terminology
to search for Websites, (4) save a Web document, (5) copy Internet text
into a word processing document, (6) cite a Web source using style
guides of the Modern Language Association or the American Psychological
Association, and (7) use HTML editor to construct a Web page containing
graphics, background, text, tables, and links. Other skills pertained to
operating system and file management, word processing, and e-mail.

What accounted for Project P's emphasis on technology? In part, it was
the project's recognition that computers and the Internet are excellent
resources for learning about college and career opportunities. It was
also partly a response to a perception that students need to develop
good computer skills. Project staff, however, tried not to overstate the
importance of computers in serving Talent Search students. The director
said that computers are, to a certain degree, "bells and whistles," a
program feature that can attract and excite students, but not a feature
as important as meeting more fundamental precollege needs. And students
seemed to get this message. Some told us that gaining Internet research
skills was valuable and that computer experience would "help a lot" with
future schooling and jobs "because technology is the future," but they
recognized that the ability to design a Web page, for example, was not
critical for gaining admission to college.

Another major factor behind Project P's focus on computers and related
technology was that the project had a substantial source of support in
addition to its federal Talent Search grant. Project P's host
institution was one of several dozen TRIO grantees in a partnership with
Microsoft® Corporation. During the 1998--99 school year alone, Project P
received from Microsoft® in-kind donations valued at
\$97,000---specifically, software and site licenses to install and
operate the software. Project P staff installed the software, such as
Microsoft Office, not only on the computers in its own offices but also
on computers in all of its target schools. School officials were, of
course, delighted to receive the free software, which could be used by
all students, not just Talent Search participants. In turn, schools
readily agreed to grant the Talent Search program exclusive access to
their computer labs for an hour or so each week. The project's software
donation also helped make schools more receptive to its service needs,
such as the ability to pull students from classes for short meetings.

## Distance Tutoring and Summer Technology Camps: Project R

Project R, based at a 4-year college in a small city, covers 27 target
schools, most located in smaller surrounding towns and rural
communities. In recent years, the project has initiated efforts to
integrate technology into as many facets of its operations as possible,
including its own record-keeping functions, communication with
participants, and various services and activities. The project director
believes that participants must become technology-literate in order to
succeed in college. In addition, she saw expanding the use of technology
as a way to engage students and to challenge and energize the staff.
Here we focus primarily on two of Project R's major technology
initiatives: distance tutoring and summer technology camps.

Project R provides most of its tutoring in face-to-face settings, such
as at target schools; however, given that the target area is fairly
large (it includes three counties) and that some tutors (who are college
students) do not have cars, it is not always easy for tutors to connect
with students in need of academic assistance. In response, the project
adopted an innovative approach: distance tutoring through Microsoft's®
NetMeeting® software. The system uses personal computers outfitted with
Internet connections and cameras while participants wear microphone and
headphone sets so that people in two different locations can see and
hear one another in real time. Project R also incorporated electronic
writing pads or "white boards" that function like a shared, virtual
chalkboard. The pads allows each person to see what the other is
writing, such as mathematical equations. The information written on the
pads can be saved or printed for future reference.

At the time of our visit, distance tutoring was fairly new and in use to
only a limited extent. The tutors used the technology at the project's
office on the host institution campus. Interested students, who
typically could participate in a distance tutoring session once a week,
could go to one of four remote facilities established to accommodate
distance tutoring: two at community colleges, one at a target high
school, and the fourth at a community center. The computer lab at the
one high school outfitted with distance tutoring technology closed at
4:00 p.m. each day, which provided a fairly limited time frame for
distance tutoring---but even the limited time was an improvement over
arranging for tutors and students to meet in person. Overall, project
staff were enthusiastic about the potential of distance tutoring. It not
only saved the costs associated with transportation, but the greater
convenience made it easier to recruit tutors.

We observed a distance tutoring session for a student needing help with
chemistry homework. The tutor had a copy of the textbook used in the
student's class, which helped provide a common frame of reference. The
student asked the tutor questions about information in the text and
about specific homework problems. They discussed the issues and used the
white board to work through solutions, and so on. Initially, they set up
the screen so that they saw one another and the white board, but after a
while they minimized the picture screen and concentrated on the white
board. Overall, the session seemed to be particularly productive.

A second important way in which Project R uses technology in serving
Talent Search students is through summer technology camps. Each summer,
the project offers several one-week technology camps at the host
institution and a nearby high school. The camps can accommodate up to
200 students per week. Registration is on a first-come, first-served
basis. Students may enroll in more than one camp per summer, but staff
members ensure that all interested students get to participate in at
least one session before registering them for a second or third camp.
Each day's activities last run 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Bus service is
available to students from some areas. Courses are designed for
beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Topics and applications
include how a computer works, how to use the Internet, Web page
creation, programming in C and C++, programming in Java, using Unix,
using Microsoft® Office, and creating multimedia presentations. Talent
Search project staff and computer science students from the host
institution are the primary staff for the camps. Several students we
interviewed especially enjoyed the technology camps, and some described
that experience as the most interesting part of the program.

Project R also featured a number of other interesting technology-related
activities:

-   It supports a Website with features similar to those of Project P's,
    plus it has program applications, tutoring request forms, and
    college visit forms that students and parents can print or download.

-   A computer lab in the project office on the host institution campus
    provides Internet access for college searches or other uses,
    tutorial software in various academic subjects, ACT and SAT
    preparation software, and even videos on self-esteem and other
    subjects.

-   Parents also enjoy access to the lab, particularly e-mail accounts
    if they are interested. The project has offered some technology
    workshops for parents, focusing on topics such as using the
    Internet, multimedia tools, and Microsoft® Office software. Access
    top the lab is most beneficial to parents living relatively close to
    the host college, and a computer workshop that attracted about 20
    parents proved a success.

-   Some students participate in a nationwide competition called
    ThinkQuest, in which small groups create informative Websites.
    Winners receive college scholarships.

-   Graduating seniors are encouraged to compile an "electronic
    portfolio" on a CD to showcase their achievements and leadership
    abilities. Students create a personal transcript outlining the types
    of courses they have taken, the extracurricular activitites they
    have participated in, their college entrance examination scores,
    awards they have received, and so on. Using digital cameras and
    scanners, students also can save copies of important documents, such
    as award certificates and letters of recommendation. The electronic
    portfolios are intended for potential use in students' college
    entrance endeavors.

-   The project asks all participants to complete a technology
    assessment form that addresses issues such as whether they are
    interested in attending a summer technology camp; the extent to
    which they use computers at school and at home; the ways in which
    they use computers; the type of processor they have in their home
    computer; the extent to which they and their parents use e-mail;
    their interest in receiving e-mail messages about Talent Search
    activities and other useful information; their self-assessment of
    their computer skills; their familiarity with various operating
    systems; their interest in participating in ThinkQuest; and any
    requests or suggestions about technology-related services.

It should be noted that Project R has been able to implement these
service approaches *without* the assistance of major outside sources of
financial or in-kind support. The introduction and integration of
technology at Project R was accomplished through a pooling of resources
between Talent Search and Upward Bound and with resources from the host
college. (At this institution, the Talent Search project director also
oversees the Upward Bound program.) The computer lab in the main office,
for example, was developed with funds from both programs and is used by
participants and staff from both programs. In addition, some of the
technology is not as expensive as some readers might assume. For
distance tutoring, for example, information collected by Project R
indicated that digitized writing pads and video cameras can each be
obtained for about \$100 or less and microphone and headphone sets for
under \$20 while the Microsoft® NetMeeting® software comes free with
Internet Explorer.

One important step in developing and implementing technology-intensive
services was the recruitment of a qualified staff. It can be somewhat of
a challenge, the director explained, to find and retain staff who are
both familiar with computers and related technology and able to work
well with program participants. In addition, the project took the
pivotal step of hiring a full-time staff member to fill the position of
technology coordinator. The coordinator is responsible for fostering
technology integration. Another factor in Project R's favor was the
prevalence of computers in target schools. Virtually all participating
schools have taken advantage of generous corporate and foundation
support to provide in-school computers. Thus, the program is operating
in an environment that supports and is conducive to the use of
technology in education.

## Diverse Uses of Computers and Technology: Three Other Projects

Project C is based at a 2-year college in the suburbs of a large city.
It serves four high schools and three middle schools, all in the city.
The project has found several ways of using computers and related
technology to serve program participants, aided in part by support from
the Microsoft®-TRIO partnership program.

-   Project C, like Project P, has received a substantial amount of free
    software from Microsoft®---valued at about \$50,000 in
    1998--99---which it has loaded onto several computers at each target
    school. The software---including Word, Excel, PowerPoint®, Access,
    Virtual Globe, Bookshelf®, Encarta®, and FrontPage---is available
    for all students and staff at the target schools. To help ensure
    that the software would be used effectively, the project sponsored
    in-service training for interested target school staff. Project
    staff reported that school officials were highly appreciative of
    both the software and the training opportunity.

-   The project operates a laptop computer loan program for its
    participants. Students can check out and take home a laptop computer
    loaded with software to help them prepare for the ACT.

-   High school juniors and seniors have accounts on embark.com (the
    same Internet-based company mentioned in the description of Project
    P), which enables them to conduct customized searches for
    information on colleges and financial aid.

-   At one of the target middle schools, Project C and school staff
    co-sponsor an after-school computer club whose participants meet
    once a week to pursue a variety of computer-based projects.

-   Each of the project's three full-time advisors has a laptop computer
    that they take with them whenever they visit target schools. Loaded
    on the computer is an Access database with extensive information on
    program applicants and participants, including students' grades, the
    program activities students have participated in, and students'
    "Education Career Plans." This information, which is updated weekly,
    enables staff to see how students are progressing toward their goals
    and can serve as a basis for discussions about what additional
    services students should receive.

-   Finally, Project C uses an automated telephone messaging system to
    remind students and their parents of upcoming program activities.
    The system automatically dials participants' home telephone numbers
    and plays a message recorded by project staff. The project director
    described the system as a cost-effective way to communicate with
    program participants.

In recent years, Project H has also been increasing its use of computers
to serve Talent Search participants. Some examples of its activities
follow:

-   Students in at least two target high schools can use computer-based
    individual tutorial software to prepare for the ACT.

-   We observed a Talent Search staff member at one target high school
    helping participants use a new computer lab to access personal
    accounts at ecos.embark.com.

-   In fall 1999, the project offered an Internet research course that
    met on a few successive Saturdays in a computer lab at the host
    institution campus. About 100 high school seniors took the class
    and---an interesting feature---earned one college credit from the
    host institution. Project officials intended to repeat the course in
    subsequent years, offering it to younger students as well.

-   Middle school students who attended a summer enrichment program were
    exposed to computers in a variety of ways. During summer 1998, for
    example, students learned to navigate the Internet for research,
    used Microsoft® Word to prepare a scientific manual, made labels for
    science fair displays, created a Web page about mathematics, and
    prepared a PowerPoint® presentation, complete with sound and
    animation, on African-Americans who had made major contributions to
    society. All students used computers during at least one of 10
    structured activity periods each week, and those who were involved
    in a "computer science track" used computers during at least half of
    the activity periods. A high school freshman who had participated in
    the summer session said that after learning about the Internet
    through Talent Search, he was able to help his parents when they
    eventually connected with a home computer.

Project I is operated by a community organization and serves 36 target
schools spread over an expansive, mainly rural area. This project, like
Project C described above, obtained laptop computers for all of its
full-time field staff, plus portable printers. Loaded onto the computers
was a database, provided by the state government, that contained
extensive, detailed information on postsecondary institutions and
careers. We observed the staff's use of this equipment in two different
ways with high school students. In one case, students filled out a short
questionnaire that asked about college interests, such as field of study
and region, size, and type of institution (public or private 2- or
4-year institution). The staff member quickly entered this information
in her computer and was able immediately to generate and print out a
list of colleges that met the student's criteria. In another case,
students were asked to name an occupation that interested them. The
staff member was then able to print out two types of information about
that occupation: (1) a general profile that included information on
required aptitudes; typical working conditions; minimal educational
entry requirements; training and education; advancement; employment
hints; and national and in-state data on average earnings, employment
outlook and current employment; and (2) a "career pathway" report,
including descriptions of the number and type of courses that students
should take in high school and college to prepare for a particular
occupation.

# Serving Middle School Students

When Talent Search was created in 1965, it focused on high school
juniors and seniors, but subsequent legislation in 1989 directed
projects to place an increased emphasis on middle school students.[^7]
In our discussions with Talent Search personnel around the country,
however, we perceived varying levels of interest in, and emphasis on,
serving middle school students. Some project directors described
different orientations toward middle school services as a function of
project longevity. Projects that were in existence for many years before
the middle school initiative, they said, have tended to maintain their
longstanding focus on serving high school students, whereas projects
established more recently adopted a sharper focus on middle school
students from the outset.

Regardless of project age, Talent Search staff still have questions
about how best to serve middle school students.[^8] Several services
that have long been considered central to Talent Search's mission, such
as sharing information about financial aid and helping students complete
college admission and financial aid applications, are most relevant and
salient to students nearing the end of high school. At the same time,
though, deciding what types of precollege services are most appropriate
and interesting for students as young as 12 or 13 years old and then
implementing those services has evidently posed a challenge for some
Talent Search projects.

Our goal in studying middle school services was not to prescribe how
Talent Search projects should serve students in sixth through eighth
grade but simply to describe a range of interesting examples of the
approaches taken by a handful of projects. The descriptions include
projects offering frequent and diverse services throughout the school
year as well as projects offering intensive services provided over a
short period, including summer programs. We also highlight some projects
that serve middle school students in their regular classrooms.

## Biweekly Workshops and Summer Program on Transition to High School: Project O

Project O is hosted by a 4-year college in a small city. Its 11 target
middle schools and 13 target high schools are spread over a mainly rural
area twice the size of Connecticut. Since the program was first funded
about 11 years ago, it has been premised on the philosophy that to make
a difference in students' lives, "you have to start young." The project
not only provides early intervention services beginning in the sixth
grade but also pays special attention to transition points, including
the transition from middle school to high school.

The core services provided to virtually all middle school students are
workshops and field trips. These same services comprise the basic
program offerings for high school students, although the focus differs
for the two groups. For example, workshops offered to sixth-graders deal
with basic issues, such as What is college? As the students get older,
the focus shifts toward life skills and decision-making. By the eighth
grade, the workshops and activities focus more on course selection as
the students start to plan for the transition to high school. Although
project staff ("counselors") do address issues such as financial aid
with middle school students, they simply try to make the students aware
of financial matters so that they will start thinking about such issues.

Project O offers workshops at each target middle school approximately
every two weeks. The sessions run for one class period (typically 50
minutes), with students pulled from their regular classes. Workshops are
usually conducted on a grade-level basis; therefore, a Talent Search
counselor delivers the same workshop three times in a row when she
visits a middle school. The counselors follow a general
curriculum---that is, a standard set of topics to be covered during the
year---but enjoy considerable flexibility as to both the order of topics
and how materials and activities are designed and presented. In working
with middle school students, especially, counselors strive to be
creative and to keep students interested, entertained, and engaged. One
commonly used technique is a game format. For an example of a game for
middle school students, see the accompanying box.

Ideally, participants at each of Project O's target middle school should
have the chance to go on one field trip per semester, although that was
not always the case. The trips, designed to provide both educational and
cultural experiences, are typically open to all Talent Search
participants and filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Participation is often limited to 14 or 28 students because the program
uses 15-passenger vans for transportation. Examples of some recent field
trips for middle school students include a basketball game at the host
college, an interactive exhibit on oceanography at a different college,
a weather research center at a third nearby college, a national sports
training facility, a museum of natural history, and a geological
research site.

One of the signature pieces of Project O's middle school component is
the High School Transition (HST) program, which is designed to help
eighth-graders make the transition to high school. Project staff
describe HST as an "intensive education experience" designed to make a
lasting impression on students' lives. The week-long program takes place
in the summer on the campus of the host institution, with students
spending some nights in the dormitories. Approximately 35 to 40 students
participate, overseen by all four of the project's full-time counselors.
Students are asked to contribute about \$30 to help defray the cost of a
major outdoor activity (with scholarships available to those who need
them), but otherwise the program is free.

When the HST program was created, a contribution from a local bank
funded the program. When the bank decided not to fund the effort any
longer, the project's host institution stepped in to cover program
costs. For the summer of 2000, however, the host institution dropped the
program because of general budget cutbacks. As a result, Project O staff
were forced to shorten the program from eight to five days, with only
three nights in the dormitories instead of seven.

Highlights of the 1999 HST program included the following:

-   *Opening night family dinner.* The evening included a review of the
    previous year's program and a question-and-answer session about the
    HST program and Talent Search in general. Parents received advice on
    how to help their children succeed in high school and how to plan
    for the college application process.

-   *Community service.* A major goal of the HST program is to help
    participants develop a sense of leadership by giving back to the
    community and to the program. Students performed community service
    at a local elementary school and a nearby senior center.

-   *Team-building activities.* Students learned about taking positive
    risks and working as a group through rafting and by completing a
    ropes course.

-   *Career day.* In an activity focused on higher education,
    participants were engaged in an interactive scavenger hunt on
    careers. Students conducted research and site visits related to a
    number of different occupations and interviewed local professionals
    ranging from lawyers to computer programmers.

-   *Ethics discussions.* Students were presented with scenarios such as
    skipping class, preparing for a test, confronting a racist or sexist
    teacher, partying, and facing academic and family problems.
    Afterwards, they discussed their reactions to the hypothetical
    situations to help them prepare for real-life experiences.

-   *Career workshop.* Using the Internet, students participated in a
    workshop on careers and career searches and used information to
    prepare projects on careers of interest to them.

-   *Study session, journals, and seminars.* As part of a nightly study
    session, students wrote in their journals, which staff later
    reviewed. In addition, college and community professionals conducted
    seminars on topics such as goal setting, learning styles, and
    preparing for higher education through course selection.

-   *Activities with current high school students.* Current high school
    students talked with program participants about matters such as what
    to expect, what to do, what to avoid, course selection, grades,
    policies, and studying.

-   *Exposition and awards dinner.* The program ended with a celebration
    of students' accomplishments, with parents, other family members,
    and guests invited to attend. Students exhibited their projects on
    the career they researched. Participants and guests enjoyed a buffet
    dinner and a slide show of pictures from the program. All students
    received a certificate for their participation in the program, and
    five students received special recognition for their outstanding
    exhibits.

Another major event sponsored for middle school students is the
Knowledge Bowl, featuring a combination of academic challenges and
fun-filled activities and contests. All 11 target middle schools
participate in this once-a-year event, which is held from 9:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. on a Saturday in the gym of one of the participating middle
schools. The team quiz competition is a major activity. Students try to
answer questions on a wide range of topics, from subjects they covered
in Talent Search, such as college admissions and financial aid, to
subjects they may have covered in school, such as science and astronomy
(e.g., listing the order of the planets in the solar system). Students
also participate in timed debates on topics such as dress codes, gang
membership, and economic issues, with project staff judging the
presentations and awarding points. Recreational and fun-filled
activities might include, for example, an obstacle course relay and a
game in which teams try to put as much "trash" (newspaper) as possible
in other teams' designated areas while keeping their own areas as
trash-free as possible. At the end of the day, prizes are awarded to the
teams based on their cumulative point totals.

Project O staff offered several thoughts on what it takes to ensure the
success of a middle school Talent Search component in Talent Search.
First, they concluded that it is important to recruit staff who can
relate to children 12 to 15 years old. Second, they said that services
must be age-appropriate. A lecture on course selection, for example, is
not likely to hold the attention of middle school students. Activities
need to incorporate an element of fun and be structured for a high level
of interaction (e.g., games) while delivering information at the
appropriate level of detail. Third, relationships are extremely
important. At the middle school level, it is more important to focus on
the process of establishing bonds than on outcomes. A long-term
relationship built on a solid foundation of trust and support will pay
off in the long run.

## Summer Enrichment Program: Project H

Project H offers a modest amount of tutoring for students at some of its
target middle schools (for example, one or two hours a week) but focuses
primarily on providing other types of services during the school year,
such as personal development and career exploration. Like Project O,
Project H has developed a summer program as one of its major offerings
for middle school students. In particular, for the past few years, the
project has offered middle school students the chance to attend a summer
enrichment program. Participation in the summer session is based on a
first-apply, first-served policy, but so far the project has been able
to accommodate all applicants. In 1999, 65 students participated.
Students can participate up to three times---in the summers following
sixth, seventh, and eighth grade.

Summer session participants sign up for one of five subject area tracks.
In 1998, for example, the tracks were social studies, biology,
mathematics, computer science, and school organization. Each track has a
special theme or focus. In 1998, the mathematics group focused on the
stock market, the computer science group learned how to develop
PowerPoint® presentations, the biology group focused on nutrition, the
social studies group studied the Harlem Renaissance, and the school
organization group read *Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul* and focused
on developing a "personal framework." If the same general track is
offered in consecutive years, the focus will change so that returning
students will have new experiences. Groups sometimes take educational
field trips, such as to the zoo or local businesses.

The program meets Monday through Friday for three weeks. From 9:00 a.m.
to 10:30 a.m., students take the main class for their chosen track; from
10:45 a.m. to noon, they attend a different class each day. For example,
students in the social studies track would all attend the biology class
on Monday, the mathematics class on Tuesday, the computer science class
on Wednesday, the school organization class on Thursday, and the biology
class again on Friday. The program concludes each day with lunch, which
is provided free to all participants. At the end of the three-week
session, students make presentations about the projects they worked on,
such as computerized slide shows or science experiments, which are
judged by college faculty. The session also includes a Quiz Bowl and an
awards ceremony luncheon, which parents are invited to attend. Finally,
the program takes the students on a full-day trip by bus to a major city
several hours away. The students visit museums, shop, and participate in
other recreational activities.

The summer program engages one teacher per subject, or track, hired from
a target middle school or high school. The instructors receive \$750 per
week. Some of the summer program instructors are drawn from the pool of
part-time tutors who work with Talent Search during the school year.

Classes meet in regular college classrooms on the host institution
campus. Use of the college facilities makes college seem more real to
the middle school students, the director said, not distant or unknown.
Students also learn a bit about college from guest speakers such as the
vice president for enrollment management and the director of admissions.
These officials talk to the students about college admissions on a
general basis---not about the details of GPA requirements, test scores,
and so on but rather about what the students can start doing now to be
prepared to apply to college when the time comes, such as getting
involved in extracurricular activities that will look good on their
applications.

Students receive a temporary college ID card and a Talent Search
T-shirt, both of which must be worn at all times during the summer
session. A set of rules governs student behavior both in and out of
class. The rules and other issues are discussed in an orientation
session for students and parents before the session begins. To get to
and from the program, students take public transportation (with
program-provided bus tickets), are transported by their parents, or ride
on a college-provided bus that makes a couple of stops near target
middle schools.

While Project H officials hope that the summer enrichment program will
help students perform well in school, they agree that the program is
aimed at making learning enjoyable and interesting, giving students some
early exposure to college, and providing them with a positive summer
experience that is academically, socially, and culturally enriching. The
summer session serves as a "carrot" of sorts for middle school students
to motivate them during the school year. Given that students who earn
less than a C average in school must attend summer school, only the
better-performing students are able to participate in the Talent Search
summer session. Summer session participants reportedly see their
involvement as prestigious; according to the director, the students love
to be able to tell their friends they were in a summer program at a
college.[^9]

## Monthly Workshops and Saturday Enrichment Program: Project X

Project X is operated by a community-based organization located in a
large city. Its three target middle schools and two target high schools,
however, are located in outlying suburbs and rural areas 15 to 20 miles
from the grantee's office. Project X project offers a wide range of
services for middle school students, including a short enrichment
program.

The main service for middle school students is a series of monthly
"precollege workshops" provided during the school day at the target
schools. The workshops are usually organized and delivered by grade
level, with students pulled out of their regular classes. Table A.1
provides a sample workshop schedule for one of Project X's target middle
schools. In terms of frequency and format, the workshops for middle
school students are similar to those for high school students.[^10]

  ---------------- --------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
  Table                                                             
  A.1---Schedule                                                    
  for precollege                                                    
  workshops at one                                                  
  of Project X's                                                    
  target middle                                                     
  schools                                                           

                   Sixth Grade                 Seventh Grade        Eighth Grade

  September                                    Personal             College
                                               Development---\      Awareness---\
                                               Goal Setting         Types of College
                                                                    Majors

  October          Personal                    Personal             College
                   Development---Self-Esteem   Development--- Time  Awareness---\
                                               Management           Introduction to
                                                                    Admissions and Aid

  November         Personal Development---\    College              Career Awareness---\
                   Self-Esteem                 Awareness---\        Interest Inventory
                                               Types of Colleges    

  December         Academic Advising---\       Academic             Academic
                   Study Skills                Advisement---Study   Advising---\
                                               Skills               Study Skills

  January          Academic Advising---\       Academic             Personal
                   Study Skills                Advisement---        Development---
                                               Testing Skills       Leadership Skills

  February         Personal Development---\    Personal             Career Awareness---\
                   Peer Pressure               Development---       Values Inventory
                                               Conflict Resolution  

  March            Personal Development---Peer Personal             Personal
                   Pressure                    Development---       Development---\
                                               Problem Solving      High School
                                                                    Transition

  April            Personal Development---     Personal             Personal
                   Communication Skills        Development---\      Development---\
                                               Communication Skills Communication Skills
  ---------------- --------------------------- -------------------- --------------------

[Source]{.smallcaps}: Project staff.

Other fixtures of the service schedule for middle school participants
include two parent nights in the fall; two cultural awareness activities
and college tours, one of each in the fall and early spring; a
scholarship fundraiser and a community service project in late spring;
and a session to review the year and a final ceremony in late spring.
These activities, too, are generally similar to those provided for high
school students.

Like Project H, however, Project X has also developed a special
enrichment program for interested middle school students---a service
with no parallel for high school students. The enrichment program is
offered once in the fall for students from the two smallest target
middle schools and once in the spring for students from the largest
target middle school. It meets on five consecutive Saturdays at a
community college in the large city where the grantee is based. Project
X provides students with free bus service between their schools and the
college. All middle school participants can apply for the program---with
admission on a first-apply, first-served basis---but some preference is
given to serving eighth-graders over seventh- or sixth-graders. During
the 1998--99 school year, 51 students participated in the Saturday
enrichment program, over one-third of the middle school students served
by Project X. Students are expected to attend every session and abide by
the rules spelled out in the application form that they and their
parents must sign.

The chief focus of the program, which operates from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00
p.m., is academics. In the morning, after a 15-minute donut and juice
session, all students take a one-hour course in reading and writing and
a one-hour course in mathematics. Teachers hired from local schools
teach the courses. The course objectives are to build students' skills
in an interesting, fun-filled way. In a recent year, the reading and
writing class produced a short collection of student literary works to
publish in a "magazine." The mathematics class covered topics such as
factor trees, graphs dealing with integers, solving equations, and
multiplication short-cuts. After a half-hour lunch break, students spend
an hour in various recreational or personal development activities led
by regular Talent Search staff.

## In-Class Services: Three Projects

As should be clear from the preceding descriptions, most services for
middle school students are provided outside of students' regular
classes---for example, during pull-out sessions or, in some cases, after
school, on weekends, or during the summer. Three projects we visited,
however, had each implemented a different approach---serving students in
their regular school classrooms, with Talent Search staff essentially
taking over for the regular teacher for one class period every week or
two. Because of the similarities between the projects' efforts, we
discuss them together in this section.

*Project P*. During the 1998--99 school year, Project P began serving
middle school students in their regular classrooms at two of its eight
target middle schools. Project P targeted these two schools for in-class
services because a high percentage of students enrolled in the schools
came from low-income families and were potential first-generation
college students; thus, the program could officially enroll all students
in the selected classrooms in the Talent Search program and not worry
about taking on too many participants who did not meet the program's
eligibility criteria. At one middle school, the project served one sixth
grade class; at the other school, it served three of five sixth grade
classes. At the latter school, all five of the sixth grade teachers were
interested in involving Talent Search in their classrooms, but the
project could not afford to serve all the classes. Therefore, the Talent
Search staff chose three classes more or less randomly. As a
consolation, the program permitted each of the other two teachers to
select for participation in the Talent Search services a few students
whom they thought would especially benefit from the program. The project
stipulated, however, that these students had to meet both the low-income
and first-generation eligibility criteria. The students left their
regular classes to join the Talent Search classes when activities took
place.

One project staff member was responsible for both schools, visiting each
classroom once a week throughout the school year; he did not work with
any other target schools. In each classroom, the Talent Search "advisor"
typically took over for the regular teacher for two consecutive subject
or activity periods, for a total of one hour and 40 minutes.
Sixth-graders in the classes received many more contact hours of service
than their peers in Project P's other target middle schools. The regular
classroom teachers could use the time allocated to Talent Search however
they liked. For example, they followed along with the Talent Search
session, graded tests, planned lessons, and so on. They could even leave
the room because the Talent Search advisor was a certified teacher;
district policy required a certified teacher to be with students at all
times.

Talent Search class sessions were devoted to a variety of activities but
placed a good deal of emphasis on career exploration. The Talent Search
advisor often led the students through multipart projects that took
several weeks to complete. For example, each student researched a
country that he or she would like to visit, explored transportation
options, estimated vacation costs, and then arrayed all the information
on poster boards and delivered an oral presentation in front of the
class. The advisor graded these and other Talent Search assignments and
the regular classroom teachers factored the grades into the students'
overall grades in related subjects, such as social studies. During some
sessions, the students visited the school's computer lab, which was
reserved for their use during Talent Search sessions. In keeping with
the objectives of Project P's in-class services for middle school
students, the advisor said that after their first year in Talent Search,
participating students should have a sense of who they are, where they
want to go in life, and how to get there. They should also demonstrate
better knowledge of careers and businesses.

Project P has continued to serve middle school students in their regular
classrooms during subsequent school years, although some changes were
necessary to enable the same students to participate. Whereas
sixth-graders remained with one teacher the whole school day,
seventh-graders rotated among different classes by subject, making it
difficult for the adviser to arrange class time with the former
sixth-graders. The Talent Search advisor worked with school officials to
arrange the schedules of interested students so that most of them would
be together in two particular seventh grade classes (e.g., U.S. history
during fourth period), permitting Talent Search to meet its service
objective. The project also adopted two new sixth grade classrooms.
During the 2000--01 school year, a new principal and an increased
emphasis on statewide learning standards forced Project P to give up
in-class services in this middle school; instead, it began offering
services before and after school. However, the project was able to
implement in-class services at a couple of its other target middle
schools.

*Project H*. Like Project P, Project H provided in-class services for
the first time in the 1998--99 school year. Applying this approach in
one of its five target middle schools (an inner-city school), the goal
was to have a schoolwide impact. Through an ambitious schedule, the
project director herself, who was working on a teaching degree, provided
Talent Search services to virtually every student in the school
(excluding only those in special education) for one 45-minute class
period once every two weeks. She served four classrooms of
sixth-graders, four classrooms of seventh-graders, and four classrooms
of eighth-graders by using the following two-week rotation:

*Week 1*

> Monday---two classrooms
>
> Thursday---three classrooms
>
> Friday---two classrooms

*Week 2*

> Monday---one classroom
>
> Thursday---two classrooms
>
> Friday---two classrooms

A good deal of the services provided to this middle school revolved
around personal or social development activities---partly in response to
what the school's guidance counselor said the students needed. For
sixth-graders, services focused on activities such as self-assessments
of students' strengths and weaknesses. For seventh-graders, the program
placed a stronger emphasis on study skills, goal setting, and
self-sufficiency. For eighth-graders, the focus turned toward their
futures in high school and college. We interviewed a group of
seventh-graders who described what they had learned in Talent Search
mainly in terms of self-awareness, personal choices, and interpersonal
relations:

-   "We learn how to be respectful, how to hang out with the right kind
    of friends, and that we should try to bring our grades up."

-   "We talk about having courage, and self-esteem, and how to control
    our actions."

-   "Don't be depressed, and you should be careful not to hurt other
    people's feelings, and to watch how you behave."

-   "Treat people as you want to be treated."

-   "Two wrongs don't make a right."

-   "Effort is what counts, not winning or losing."

-   "How to work together as a team, not just as individuals, and how to
    be a leader, not a follower."

Across all grade levels, services frequently required students to work
together in small groups and to talk to one another and the director.
The focus on these types of interactions was partly a response to the
district's assistant superintendent's observation that students needed
to improve their communication skills. We witnessed the communication
strategies in practice in two classroom sessions. During the first 15
minutes, in what the director called an "icebreaker," the director
called on students individually to name an event in the 20th century
that had a lasting impact on society, explain the event's significance,
and then cite a personal goal for the 21st century. (Students frequently
cited goals for graduating from high school and going on to college.)
During the remaining 30 minutes, students chose to work in small groups
on one of two activities. One task was to solve logic and
mathematics-related puzzles; the other was to come up with a response to
a hypothetical situation, such as overhearing a fellow student talking
about suicide or having a friend announce his intention to cheat on a
test. At the end of the class, the groups shared their solutions and
ideas with the other students.

*Project B*. Project B is hosted by a 4-year college in a medium-sized
city. Its five target middle schools, however, are located in small
towns in the surrounding countryside. Project B has been using an
in-class approach to serving middle school students for about three or
four years. At the time of our visit in spring 1999, one project staff
member was providing in-class services at two of the target middle
schools. At one small school, he provided services once a week in
separate classes for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders, essentially
serving all students in the school. At another school, he taught in each
of the sixth grade classrooms once a week. During the previous fall
semester, he had also worked with students in each of the seventh and
eighth grade classes at this school but he had discontinued that
practice because (1) the number of classes made the work too
time-consuming and (2) some teachers were not sufficiently supporting
his efforts---for example, not collecting the homework he had assigned.
However, he still taught in seventh and eighth grade classrooms "now and
then."

Project B's Talent Search class sessions may touch on a variety of
subjects over the year, such as careers, colleges, goal setting, and so
on, with the central message that college is the key to achieving one's
material goals. The project staff member sometimes brings in guest
speakers to inspire students to achieve. Project B places considerable
emphasis on communication skills. At one of the target middle schools we
observed two class sessions---one with sixth-graders and one with
seventh-graders, both focused on public speaking. All the students had
been asked to prepare five-minute presentations on any subject of
interest to them. One by one, the project staff member asked the
students to step up to the front of the classroom and present their oral
reports. He encouraged them to follow recognized tips for successful
public speaking such as speaking audibly and making eye contact with the
audience. All the students in the "audience" were asked to fill out a
short evaluation form on each speaker. Although these in-class services
were available to many students who were not official Talent Search
participants, all additional program services, such as tutoring and
advising, were restricted to official participants.

# Concluding Observations

This chapter presented several detailed descriptions of how selected
Talent Search projects were operating in three areas of particular
interest: providing academic assistance, using technology to serve
students, and serving middle school students. Our goal was for these
descriptions to provide staff in Talent Search projects throughout the
country with examples that might stimulate thinking about new and
different ways of serving participants, possibly leading to program
improvements. We conclude this chapter with some summary thoughts about
the highlighted service approaches, along with a discussion of potential
challenges and issues associated with each of the three topics.

## Issues in Providing Academic Assistance

Four of the selected Talent Search projects had made academic assistance
a priority so that students could improve their performance in regular
school classes and on important school examinations. All four projects
provided tutoring services, but the projects' tutoring efforts differed
on several dimensions, including the target audience (middle school
students or high school students), the location of services (target
schools or the host institution), and who provided the services (target
school teachers or college students). Three projects provided
classroom-style academic instruction.

The decision to provide tutoring and other types of supplemental
academic support reflected a certain vision of the types of students
Talent Search should serve (the selected projects did not have minimum
GPA requirements, for example) and a belief that Talent Search could
address academic needs effectively, even with constrained resources. The
manner in which projects provided tutoring sessions reflected both ideal
notions of what would work best and the realities of local
circumstances, such as student transportation, school officials'
preferences, and, of course, the project budget. For example, the
availability of a large pool of nearby college students willing to
provide tutoring for free as a form of community service was fortuitous
for Project S.

The different approaches to providing academic support undoubtedly have
their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, target school
teachers must be paid more than college students to work as tutors, but
they are able to maintain frequent contact with students and have better
knowledge of school curricula. On the other hand, college students can
provide students with role models close to their own age and serve as a
useful source of current information on the college experience.

A general issue that surfaced concerning Talent Search projects that
emphasize academic support was the potential trade-offs necessitated by
limited funding. As noted earlier, some Talent Search personnel believe
that current funding levels essentially prohibit projects from providing
academic support; tutoring and instruction, they said, are relatively
costly services. Indeed, at some of the selected projects, key staff
acknowledged that their academic assistance components prevented them
from providing other services as often as they might have liked. For
example, we noted in particular that a couple of the projects
infrequently sponsored visits to college campuses---a service that
students at these and other projects often mentioned as useful and
highly interesting. One project director said that his project was not
able to offer as large a cultural enrichment component as he would have
preferred.

Nonetheless, key staff at these projects were convinced of the relative
value of academic support services and were committed to continue
offering such assistance. Even if most of those entitled to the tutoring
services did not avail themselves of the services on a regular basis,
project officials would rather have the services available than not
offer them at all.[^11] Projects interested in implementing a
resource-intensive service component, such as academic assistance,
should be conscious of the trade-offs they may face. They may need to
find additional sources of support for other program activities. In
Project M, for example, students participate in fundraising activities
to help support certain trips and other program activities. In addition,
the project applies for grants from corporations, foundations, and
government agencies to support new program initiatives and negotiates
with target schools and colleges to ensure that Talent Search students
can participate in those groups' college visitation trips.

## Issues in Using Technology to Serve Students

Computers can make a vast amount of information---about colleges,
financial aid, careers, and so on---instantly available. Rather than
request a college brochure and wait for it to arrive in the mail, for
example, today students can log on to a college's Web site and get all
the information they want, and sometimes even take a "virtual campus
tour" literally at the click of a button. But the mere availability of
computer-based information does not ensure that students will know how
to access it, how to evaluate it, or how to act on it. That is one
service that Talent Search staff can offer.

Our exploration of Talent Search projects' use of technology in serving
students revealed several important points. First, many students are
interested in computers, and the chance to use them in fun-filled and
productive ways can be an attractive feature of a program's offerings.
One case-study project reported, for example, that daily attendance at
its after-school session dropped noticeably during a period in which
computers were unavailable. We heard of several Talent Search projects
around the country that sometimes help students complete and submit
financial aid and college admission applications electronically, but
some of the projects we focused on above have gone substantially beyond
that, giving program participants appealing opportunities to explore the
Internet and to learn how to use various software packages, for example.

Second, adequate resources---financial and otherwise---are obviously
essential to implementing a substantial computer component in Talent
Search program offerings. Project R's experience, however, shows that
Talent Search projects may not necessarily need a large infusion of
outside funding or in-kind donations, such as the Microsoft®-TRIO
partnership. Projects relying primarily on their federal grant funds, or
perhaps pooling resources from another TRIO program such as Upward
Bound, may have to "start small" and build in new technology elements
slowly over time. Because Talent Search projects often serve a large
number of participants spread over a large area, they might find it most
logistically sensible to provide some technology-related services at
students' target schools. Projects whose target schools are well
equipped in terms of computers and related technology may be at an
advantage.[^12]

Third, it will probably be important to engage staff who not only can
relate well to typical Talent Search participants but who also bring
with them the technical skills and experience to deal with a wide range
of hardware and software issues. Finding and retaining such staff may be
a challenge for projects. Using college students on a part-time or
volunteer basis may be a promising strategy.

Fourth, computers and other technology hold out the promise of greater
efficiency in project operations, as illustrated by the examples of
Project R's distance tutoring and Project C's voice messaging system.
Cost savings may be of particular interest in a program such as Talent
Search, which is commonly described as having a relatively low level of
funding per participant.

## Issues in Serving Middle School Students

Several of the selected Talent Search projects had developed interesting
services for middle school students. Some projects had what they
described as a full middle school curriculum---a systematic structured
series of workshops and other activities that reportedly corresponded to
middle school students' developmental needs. Indeed, the sample workshop
schedule for different grade levels shown in Table A.1 reflects a
planned progression from knowledge about self to knowledge about
college.

We also highlighted some projects that had developed multiday programs
on weekends or during the summer, available to middle school students
who were interested and able to participate. The programs were designed
to serve both general needs, such as academic enrichment, and more
specific needs, such as preparation for high school. It is possible,
moreover, that these services may generally hold more appeal for middle
school than for high school students, particularly if scheduled during
the summer when many high school students prefer to work. We saw that
these programs represent one way for projects to provide Talent Search
participants with early exposure to a college campus; even the project
hosted by a community organization (Project X) found a way to hold its
enrichment program on a college campus.

Finally, we described how three projects were serving middle school
students in their regular classrooms, taking over for regular teachers
every week or two. Projects providing in-class services saw the in-class
approach as an ideal way to work with students and would have liked to
use that approach more extensively. The in-class approach, though,
appears to carry with it some significant challenges. To implement
classroom-based services obviously requires a high degree of cooperation
from target schools. With high-stakes testing becoming ever more
prevalent, it may also become harder for Talent Search projects to
initiate and maintain in-class service delivery. For school staff to
agree to cede control of their classrooms on a regular basis, they must
essentially buy into the proposition that the affected students will
benefit more from Talent Search than from regular instruction. Talent
Search personnel might be better able to make a case for in-class
services if they could demonstrate convincingly the benefits of program
participation. Solid data on outcomes for participants and similar
nonparticipants could be useful in that regard, but, as we noted in
chapter 9, relatively few projects possess such information.

[^1]: There are 10 such organizations: Association for Equality and
    Excellence in Education (AEEE); Association of Special Programs in
    Region Eight (ASPIRE); Caribbean Association of TRIO Programs
    (CATP); Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program
    Personnel (MAEOPP); Mideastern Association of Educational
    Opportunity Program Personnel (MEAEOPP); Northwest Association of
    Special Programs (NASP); New England Educational Opportunity
    Association (NEOA); Southern Association of Educational Opportunity
    Program Personnel (SAEOPP); Southwest Association of Student
    Assistance Programs (SWASAP); and Western Association of Educational
    Opportunity Personnel (WESTOP).

[^2]: All Talent Search participants in this school carry a daily
    planner, provided by the program, in which they list their homework
    assignments and other short-term objectives. Tutors sign the
    planners when the students have completed their homework during the
    after-school tutoring session, helping some parents feel more
    confident that their children are keeping up with their school work.

[^3]: For example, in 1997--98, 24 percent of 11th graders in the target
    schools passed a statewide examination in mathematics compared with
    86 percent of students in the state; 28 percent passed the
    examination in reading compared with 84 percent at large; and 34
    percent passed the examination in writing compared with 88 percent
    at large. In addition, of those students who took the SAT that year,
    the average score in the target high schools was 735 compared with a
    statewide average of 1,006.

[^4]: The project also serves students from a number of other high
    schools, but provides only provides services at the five designated
    target schools.

[^5]: Aim High also operates from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Fridays, but
    the only academic-oriented activity is a structured class to prepare
    students for the verbal portion of the SAT; a class focused on the
    mathematics portion is held on Tuesday nights.

[^6]: Appendix C presents survey data on the extent to which projects
    used computers in serving and communicating with participants.

[^7]: Through its GEAR-UP program, the federal government has more
    recently shown a continuing interest in early intervention. The
    program is designed to follow students from the seventh grade
    through to college entry.

[^8]: General interest in this area led COE to conduct a survey of
    Talent Search projects' practices in 1998, although the results were
    not published.

[^9]: The project director felt that a summer program like this would
    probably not succeed with high school students. Many high school
    students work or must attend summer school; for those with free
    time, there are no incentives that the program can offer to
    participate, such as school credit or the stipend that Upward Bound
    students often receive in the summer. Middle school students, the
    director said, are more open to this type of experience.

[^10]: The content of workshops for high school students, as might be
    expected, focuses less on personal development and more on the
    details of selecting a college and applying for admission and
    financial aid.

[^11]: Ironically, substantially higher student participation rates in
    tutoring sessions might have forced projects to hire more tutors,
    thus driving up costs and potentially necessitating more trade-offs.

[^12]: It should be noted that after we did our case studies, the TRI0
    office provided all Talent Search projects with \$10,000 in
    supplemental funds for computer technology.