WISE Scholars Foundation - Atlanta, Georgia

May 28, 2007 - PRLog -- Dear Community Stakeholders:

Although several reforms have been made through-out the American Educational system with the “No Child Left Behind Act” (2001) being one of the most recent reforms—many students are still under-performing, failing in academics, scoring poorly on standardized tests, losing educational motivation and value, are dropping-out, and never aspiring towards a postsecondary-higher education. The vast majority of these students are poor, socio-economically disadvantaged, and “at-risk” learners.

Without a clear plan to detour this pathological demeanor towards the value of education, coupled with the growing populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students retaining their current performance levels, there will likely be substantial decreases in the percentages of these individuals whom will graduate from high-school and transition smoothly into college with the adequate preparation and resources to become life-long learners and prepared citizens. For instance, in 2000, out of 100 young adults in Georgia (Southern Regional Education Board, 2005) without high school credentials, 4 earned their General Educational Development (GED).

Early motivation is pertinent to postsecondary attainment and education benefits smaller communities and the larger society by eliminating many of the ricocheting factors often attributed to a lack of postsecondary education such as unemployment, crime, limited career resources and salary, marginalized consumer purchases, illegal drug consumption and trafficking, homelessness, and poverty.

Although poverty and socio-economic disadvantaged status is not unique to any particular race including White, Asian, American/Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic—educational statistics reveal that Black males cluster at the bottom of the distribution of virtually every indicator of school failure such as dropping out, absenteeism, suspension, expulsion, and low standardized test scores (Garibaldi, 1992).

For these reasons, the 1980s was an era in which the Black male was identified as an “endangered species” due to decreased enrollments of Black males in higher education (Gibbs, 1998). Signifying the alarming need to develop projects that connect college to future success—nearly 25 years after the “endangered species” claim, the SREB Fact Book on Higher Education (2005) claims, “Many more Black and Hispanic students in the fastest-growing student segments must go to colleges—two-year and four-year—for the sake of our states and nation.”

With more risk factors than other areas concerning entering undergraduate, the socio-economically disadvantaged need assistance with high-school completion, transitioning from high-school to postsecondary institutions of learning, locating scholarships and other financial assistance, and providing help for those less prepared to achieve college-level work once enrolled.

WISE Scholars Foundation is not oblivious to the fact that all children will not choose to attend college. We maintain that these individuals should also receive appropriate transition, job-training, and skills preparation.

As CEO & President of WISE Scholars Foundation, I am prepared to lead the reformation process of our nation’s schools by using early intervention, decreasing dropout rates, addressing the issues of higher education access for the socio-economic disadvantaged, and lessening the gap between postsecondary attainment of socio-economically disadvantaged areas and their counterparts. Thus, affirming that all children can learn given the appropriate mentorship, motivation, and skills to become lifelong learners and prepared citizens.

Sincerely,


Marshalette R. Wise, M.Ed.
WISE Scholars Foundation
P.O. Box 93641
Atlanta, Georgia 30377
(678) 575-5545

Website: www.wisescholarsfoundation.com