Gazzette: Success rate didn’t justify cost
...If Rebecca Wood had not been given help five years ago, she says she would have probably dropped out of Albert Einstein High School.It is because of Gateway to College, a high-school-to-college intervention program, that Wood said she has a diploma and is now at a competitive, out-of-state college working on her bachelor’s degree.But what worked for Wood has not worked for all students.Gateway to College will no longer be offered at Montgomery College after December 2015, and no more students will be enrolled next school year, said Don Pearl, the college’s senior vice president of academic affairs...
...Out of nearly 1,000 students who entered the program since 2004, 120 students received a high school diploma, Pearl said.“You look at the number of students who started and completed, and you have to start asking questions,” Pearl said.Gateway to College began in Montgomery College, and other colleges nationwide, through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarship Foundation; about 33 colleges in 20 states have the program currently.After the original grant expired, Montgomery College absorbed the program costs, Pearl said. In fiscal 2012, about $1.4 million went to the program...
