ROGERS — As AT&T announces a second generation of Aspire grants today, Rogers High School is celebrating what they have accomplished already through Aspire funding.
In 2008, the school was approved for a $400,000 grant over four years to aid with freshman student retention. The original goals of the grant were to purchase Fast ForWord, a reading improvement program, Nova Net site licenses and to hire a teacher to run a lab for the program, said Principal Robert Moore. Through those and other programs the school has reduced its dropout rate from 130 students in 2008-09, to 71 in 2009-10 and 54 last year.
The AT&T foundation started with an emphasis on technology for nonprofit organizations, but in 2008 the focus changed to keeping eighth- and ninth-graders in school, said Cathy Foraker, AT&T director of external affairs.
Today, AT&T will announce a five year, $250 million Aspire project using a three-pronged approach. The company foundation is taking pre-qualifying applications through April 18 for schools and coordinating nonprofit organizations, but the program has expanded beyond grants.
Later this year AT&T will launch the Aspire Mentoring Academy, where employees will be trained to help mentor students at risk of dropping out of school. The company has 250 employees in Washington and Benton counties, Foraker said. AT&T Foundry innovation centers will work to develop technology specifically for education solutions, including apps that use games, video and social media, according to a news release from the company. The foundation will continue to award grants to schools and partner organizations that have a successful program to help students.
“It's our future community leaders, it's our future work force and the leadership of our company. We need an educated, trained work force,” Foraker said.
At Rogers High School the original grant has morphed into many other aspects. Although it was written to help freshmen, Moore said he cannot see resources go unused.
The school uses Nova Net for both credit recovery and tutoring, starting with freshmen. Before and afterschool programs give students access to the program, but it can also be used from home.
The Fast ForWord program is a key part of the school’s reading classes.
A ninth-grade success coordinator visits classrooms and gives pointers to students on what work they need to turn in to make the grade.
The school used funds from the grant to sponsor a summer-refresher course for eighth-graders for two years. Last year grant funds paid to start Link Crew, where 100 upperclassmen mentors are each assigned a group of six freshmen and serve as the starting students’ link to the school.
“I really think that it's made a difference in terms of the climate of the building,” Moore said.
Freshman Geraldina Herrera said her student contacts have helped her figure out what assignments are most critical and which classes to take next fall. Visits from the success coordinator let her know what assignments she’s missing and how to keep from falling behind. She is making better grades this year than she did in eighth grade and is looking forward to a college application, Herrera said.
“I wanted to change for college and everything else,” she said.
The first group of students affected by grant programs are now seniors, and the shrinking dropout rate marks success, Moore said.
“A lot of the things that we put in place are going to be self-sustaining,” Moore said.
The district owns the license for their Fast ForWord program and has the training to keep Link Crew going. Continuation of other programs, such as the Nova Net license, will be up to the school district.
Moore said he expects to apply as a district in the next grant round.
“We're hopeful that we get it again,” he said.