Resource Center

Show Notes

• Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., director of the IDRA Texas Parent Information and Resource Center, welcomes Josie Danini Cortez, M.A., an IDRA senior education associate, for a discussion on the key findings in IDRA research on what students need to hear from their school counselors as they consider options for attending college.

• Josie provides background to the IDRA research on college access for minority and low-income students.

• Josie identifies seven areas of education that are in need of reform in order to realize a "K-20 reality" for all students:
  • Preparation
  • Access
  • Institutional persistence
  • Affordability
  • Institutional resources
  • Graduation
  • Graduate and professional studies

• Josie talks about a commissioned study that IDRA conducted for San Antonio College that examined how the school could more effectively recruit and retain students.

• Josie shares recommendations from IDRA's research on how high school counselors can best help students prepare for college:
  • Counselors must make students feel valuable.
  • Counselors should help students to articulate their dreams and career plans and make sure their college choices match the colleges they're considering.
  • Counselors must provide students with practical aspects of potential colleges, including transportation and parking.
  • Counselors should ensure students have timely, regular access to computers and a reliable Internet connection.
  • Counselors must provide students with the necessarily financial information about colleges, including scholarship and work-study options.

• Josie explains how the private sector can better support students in their quest to success -- and pay for -- higher education.

• Josie discusses the disconnect between high school and college and the lack of information that many high school counselors have about requirements for particular higher-education schools.