Our Work
9th Grade – Career
Every student needs an education plan for after high school! Our schools are making sure that young people know that they can afford education after high school. They’re ensuring students complete the FAFSA, celebrating their after-high school plans, and Learn to Earn is helping young people follow through.
FAFSA Finish
Completing the FAFSA—the Free Application for Federal Student Aid—is essential for making college affordable.
Each of Montgomery County's high schools have FAFSA Champions who are leading efforts to increase FAFSA completion among their students.
66% of the Class of 2019 completed a FAFSA, which was the 5th straight year of increased FAFSA completions.
Montgomery County students' FAFSA completion rate is up 15 percentage points in just 4 years!
Signing Days
Every spring Montgomery County high schools celebrate the college and career choices of each of their students. Some schools even invite elementary students to these fun recognition events—to inspire younger children to start now to plan for their future.
Signing Day Champions at each school also are helping to make sure that every student has an education plan for after graduation—whether that means going to 2-year or 4-year college, earning a credential or joining the military.
Summer Text Campaign
"Summer melt" refers to the phenomenon where students who planned to start college "melt" away over the summer. Typically, something came up that prevents them from showing up. Maybe they're needed at home. Maybe they're short money.
After successfully piloting a texting campaign to reduce "summer melt" locally, this work will be expanded to all graduates of Dayton Public Schools in Summer 2020. Students will receive personalized text messages—specific to their college of choice—with reminders and offers of help, to make sure they follow through on their college plans.
This sort of text-messaging campaign is showing positive results in other communities.
Stopped-Out Student Campaign
Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce says that individuals with a 4-year degree can expect to earn $800,000 more over their lifetime than those with "some college"; those with a 2-year degree can expect to earn $200,000 more.
It's estimated that 135,000 Ohioans are just a few credits short of a degree, which would make them eligible for better pay, more job security and greater job opportunities. Far too often, these individuals are people of color, first-generation college students and single mothers.
The Dayton community is helping these "stopped-out" adults come back to school. Getting a degree or credential can help workers earn a living wage that will allow them—and their children—to become part of the middle-class. Not surprisingly, children who live with an adult who has a degree are more likely to grow up and earn a degree themselves.
In collaboration with StrivePartnership and the Summit Education Initiative, Learn to Earn is helping re-engage stopped-out students, especially with our partner higher education institutions such as Sinclair College.
Research on the number of stopped-out students in the Dayton region is available upon request.