OCAN college advisors help in nearly 175 school districts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: April 13, 2009

CONTACT: Kimberly Gormley, Director, Marketing & Communications
Office: 614.947.3504, Mobile: 614.668.2954, Email: gormleyk@ohiocan.org



Columbus, Ohio - According to a report released last week by The Joyce Ivy Foundation, the role of an Ohio high school guidance counselor is often a loosely-defined overflow position for the school administrator.

The study states that one-third of a counselor's time is spent performing administrative work such as scheduling, testing management, maintaining student records and signing tardy slips. Another 40% of a counselor's time is dedicated to responding to students' immediate needs, broad-based group counseling and other activities. Furthermore, if a student does receive post-high school planning services, counselors frequently have no more than 15 minutes of individual time with non-crisis students a semester.

In nearly 175 of Ohio's school districts, high school counselors have help from college access advisors associated with the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN). These college advisors work with Ohio students to directly augment the work of guidance counselors. This work is done through local OCAN member college access programs that provide career guidance, financial aid advising, need-based scholarships and other services. OCAN's goal is to help more Ohio students pursue and complete education beyond high school, with particular focus on low-income students and those who are first in their families to go to college.

Pamela Schram, a guidance counselor at Claymont High School in Uhrichsville, Ohio has witnessed the positive impact of an OCAN program in her community. "Our OCAN program is called ACE or Accessing a College Education.ACE and OCAN have saved my students," said Schram. "I could never have gotten to so many and created the scholarship blitz, and free application night like we have for the entire county without an additional person helping me."

The findings outlined in the Foundation report support the principles on which OCAN was founded. OCAN was created a decade ago to help address the need for additional services to help students prepare for and succeed in college. As the first network of its kind, OCAN was charged with replicating 11 existing college access programs. Today, OCAN links 37 community-based programs across the state and serves as a national model through its work with the National College Access Network (NCAN) and Lumina Foundation for Education.

A recent study conducted by the University of Cincinnati found that high schools with an OCAN program have a 3.8% increase in average college-going rates among graduates. Additionally, when compared to similar schools without an OCAN program, there was an average 4.5% increase high school graduation rates.

With the downturn in the economy, the collective work of OCAN advisors and high school guidance counselors continues to grow in importance; moreover, it is essential to furthering President Obama's strategy to increase the number of Americans who commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.

The Joyce Ivy Foundation's 2009 Ohio High School Counselor Report also sites that OCAN is working toward better college access in the State of Ohio.

For the full Joyce Ivy Foundation report go to: www.joyceivyfoundation.org. For the University of Cincinnati study go to: www.ohiocan.org/UCStudy.aspx.

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