Pay less for testing for ACT/SAT extended time

Last school year (2011/2012) I had my son, then a 10th grader,  tested so that he could obtain extended time on the SAT/ACT and get accommodations in college. I did not feel that it was necessary to pay between $5,000-7,000 for this service. Instead I paid $600 and he was tested during the February break at Hofstra by a Ph.D student supervised by her professor, a certified clinical psychologist. After meeting with the testers to discuss their recommendations, I verified that these were consistent with those on his IEP.

Contact information for universities that offer low cost psycho-educational evaluations:
Teachers' College 212-678-3262 (fills up quickly, call early)
Fordham University, 212-636-6483. (fills up quickly, call early)
Hofstra University in Hempstead 516-463-5660
Adelphi University 516-877-4844 (supposedly charges $500 for testing, but did not answer the phone)

The NYC Department of Education performs psycho-educational evaluation for free if you belong to the NYC school system. 

Exploring college at JWU career days

My son Peter has just returned from a career exploration weekend at Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Providence, RI. JWU offers four-year career-oriented college degrees at four campuses (Providence, RI, Charlotte, NC, Miami, FL and Denver, CO) within hospitality, culinary arts, business, technology and arts & science. 

Peter took a bus from New York City on Friday morning and was picked up by a JWU representative in Providence in time for lunch. The first day he spent dining in the school cafeteria, touring the campus, listening to presentations including information about the learning center, and meeting with current JWU students. He shared a dorm room with another high school student for two nights. On Saturday Peter got a taste of hospitality classes during the day and the JWU recreation center in the evening. Sunday morning was check-out. The entire program was just $95.

Peter Stolt (right) and Joseph Schembari at their JWU dorm room. Photo by Christine Negroni.

“I’d recommend a career weekend at JWU for those who have an idea of what they would like to do in life,” Peter says. “It was great to get an idea about how it is to be at a school that is career oriented and not about liberal arts.”

Churchill alumn picked to lead 5,000 students

In college, Churchill alumn Shoshana Rosen turned initial struggles into success. At her recent graduation from University of Maryland (UMD), Shoshana was one of eight Senior Marshalls selected out of 5,000 students to carry UMD’s flag representing her grade.
“It was one of the proudest moments of my life,” Shoshana said at a recent interview at an Upper Eastside coffee shop. “I was leading everyone else.”

Shoshana had to work very hard to earn her success. The adjustment from Churchill to UMD, a large state research university with 300 student freshmen classes, was rough. During her first semester an English professor refused to tolerate any dyslexic errors, even after being informed about Shoshana’s LD issues, and the Writing Center did not offer any proof reading services. Instead, Shoshana paid a proof reader to help weed out typos and grammar errors before handing in her papers. In the beginning of her sophomore year, however, the Writing Center had a new director who was receptive to Shoshana’s self-advocacy.  From then on, the Writing Center helped Shoshana with her papers. As a result of persistence, hard work and obtaining the support she needed, Shoshana made the Dean’s List almost every semester.

“Academically it would have been easier at a smaller school, but for me academics were not the only aspect of college,” Shoshana says. She picked UMD because of its variety of student activities, student diversity and an active Jewish community.
“Socially UMD was the best option for me,” she says.

At UMD, she was able to create her own major, an endeavor that entailed writing a thesis arguing her proposed major and convincing faculty members of its feasibility. Shoshana’s “Children with Special Needs and Family Support” major consisted mainly of courses in psychology, special education and family science.

Throughout her four years at UMD, she participated in many different organizations, including a peer counseling and crisis intervention hotline  She also had an internship at The ARC, an organization that works with families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities where she created an online support network platform that helps families of disabled children ages 0-3  to connect and share experiences. Another advantage with UMD is the proximity to Washington, DC, which Shoshana visited about once a week to spend time at museums, restaurants and enjoy big city life in general.

Shoshana graduated from Churchill in 2008 after being at Churchill since middle school.
“Churchill did a great job teaching me how to learn,” she says. Also, at Churchill “I felt smart for the first time.” Churchill teachers are the best teachers in the world, she says.  Churchill’s supportive and nurturing environment, however, made her unprepared for the harsher UMD reality. No one at Churchill had told her that in college she might get assigned to read 100 pages in one night. She was the first Churchill student to attend UMD while most of her classmates selected smaller schools. Initially she felt as if “I wasn’t expected to succeed at Maryland,” she says.

Shoshana now looks forward to volunteering with families of intellectually and developmentally disabled children in Israel during the coming year. Long term plans include obtaining a master’s degree in Social Work and running a support center for families with intellectually and developmentally disabled children using a holistic approach including art therapy, teaching social skills, and offering sibling and family counseling.

Shoshana’s advice to Churchill HS students and their families: Students: know yourself and pick a school where you can see yourself for four years (or more). Parents: It’s not about the name of the school, but what the student wants and the college being able to provide the support the student needs to succeed.

Churchill alumn Julia teaches art at Churchill

Julia Romano took a gap year before attending college. Now she teaches at Churchill.

When Julia Romano, 25, was a senior at Churchill, she applied to college “because that’s what everyone else was doing so that’s what I was doing too,” she said in a recent interview at the Churchill Middle School art room. She applied to 12 schools, which resulted in 11 acceptances and one wait-listing. After a few weeks at a college in New Hampshire, however, Julia realized that she had made a mistake and dropped out. Instead, she spent her first year after high school working in retail and pondering future career plans.

“I gained a lot of responsibility and independence,” Julia says about her time as a retail employee. Adult life also sparked a desire and motivation to obtain higher education and focus on art. She had friends at Manhattanville College and became interested in the school’s strong programs in art and education. When her acceptance letter from Manhattanville (the only college she applied to) arrived Julia was very excited.

“I was hungry for new challenges,” she says. During her freshman year at Manhattanville, Julia was enrolled in The Higher Education Learning (HELP) Program, an individualized support program where she worked with a tutor who helped her with papers and essays. After her freshman year she did not need the Help Program, which costs extra, anymore. Overall, she had a rewarding college experience.

“My grades were much better in college than in high school, she says. She is dyslexic and had to work very hard, and credits the solid foundation built at Churchill for her success mastering her college courses. Having never studied any foreign language prior to college, Julia took two language courses and studied art history for a semester in Barcelona, Spain where she also enrolled in an intensive Spanish language course.

Dennis McConkey, Churchill’s head art teacher, has been a mentor for Julia and remembers her as a nine-year old. “She was the kind of kid that you knew was going to become a good adult,” Dennis says. In addition to being a serious student, he remembers her artistic skills. Julia and many other Churchill students are talented artists, but they are not fully aware of the significance of their creative gifts until they are in a different learning environment, he says. Julia and Dennis share values regarding teaching and art. “She often says exactly what I was going to say,” he says, "I’m passing on the torch.”

Julia recalls Dennis telling her early on that one day she’d make a good art teacher. During her senior year in college, Julia applied for teaching jobs at various LD schools in New York City. After she graduated in the spring of 2010, an assistant science teacher opening materialized at Churchill elementary school. A year later, she landed a position as middle school art teacher. She enjoys being back at Churchill and having some of her former teachers as colleague. The feeling is mutual.

“It is funny to have one of my former students as a colleague,” Dennis says.

CUNY’s College Now program prepared Marisa for college

To get an idea about college studies, Churchill senior Marisa McCaffery took advantage of College Now, a free college program for high school students run by the City University of New York (CUNY).  For a part of the summer between her junior and senior year, Marisa studied psychology at Baruch College with other NYC high school students. 

“I would recommend College Now to every high-schooler,” Marisa said in a recent interview over the phone. In the fall of 2012 Marisa will start at Hunter College with three college credits already under her belt. College Now gave her an opportunity to discover learning outside the Churchill environment at one of the top CUNY colleges.

Students attending state-funded schools such as Churchill are eligible to attend College Now, but the participating CUNY college program administrators don’t always realize that Churchill students are eligible, Pauline Ores, Marisa’s mother says. Applying can be a bit confusing as there is a central CUNY College Now program site and additional sites maintained by the participating CUNY colleges. 

Each college offers different College Now courses, mostly during the summer, but some also offer these courses during the school year. Students need to apply to each CUNY college program separately, but can apply to as many programs as they like. While Hunter College is mainly offering math and science classes, City College and Queensborough Community College have been offering an all-day theater course. Depending on funding, courses offered by CUNY College Now schools vary from year to year. Eligibility is determined by Regents exams and/or PSAT/SAT scores.

Since the 2008 recession, top CUNY schools such as Hunter College and Baruch College have become increasingly competitive and selective.  Last fall, 26 % of those who entered these CUNY schools had SAT scores at or above 1,200/1,600. With an annual in-state tuition of $5,430 for the 2012/2013 school year for New York State residents, CUNY is a bargain.

When Marisa’s turn to apply to college arrived, Pauline (a seasoned mother with an older daughter who is currently a college junior) focused on helping Marisa not only evaluating colleges where she would thrive, but also assessing post-graduation job placement support. Pauline stresses the importance of starting early to alleviate some of the inevitable stress during the student’s junior and senior years. Sports scholarships, for example, usually require game videos and may have earlier application deadlines. 

“I’d recommend downloading the common app in 9^th grade,” Pauline suggests. This creates an opportunity to get familiar with what type of information colleges look for and how to organize this data, for example number of hours per week for each community service program. Most of all, Pauline emphasizes the importance of supporting the student obtaining a strong GPA. “If you have limited resources, you’re far better off helping your child get good grades than spending money on SAT tutoring,” she says, pointing out that many colleges no longer require SAT scores.

 “Churchill really cares about the students,” Pauline says about the transition to life after Churchill. While other schools may try to push students to apply where they are 100% certain to become admitted, “Churchill is truly interested in finding the right fit.” The school also organized applications for the New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence, which Marisa was awarded based on her Regents scores.

Marisa was accepted by all seven of the colleges she applied to, mostly in the New York City region.  She selected to attend Hunter College, where she was awarded an academic scholarship, which requires maintaining specified grade point average. Her scholarship also includes a one-on-one adviser to help her select her classes, a dorm room and help with internships and job placement. “Hunter offered me really nice things,” Marisa says. She looks forward to studying math and statistics this fall.

Behind the doors of the Admissions Office

The admissions office is the gatekeeper, but it is also the college’s marketing department. The Dean of Admissions is, in effect, head of public relations.

“My boy was being solicited, as surely and shamelessly as a sailor come to port,” Andrew Ferguson writes in his well researched and often hilarious book Crazy U about college mailings clogging his mailbox.

College brochures and websites are carefully crafted to entice students and their families. In addition to online and print marketing, college admissions officers travel around the country visiting high schools and college fairs. The result of these promotion efforts is often that a much larger number of students apply than the colleges can accommodate. (The ease of the common app also contributes to the deluge).

A motivation for soliciting lots of applicants is college rankings, a driving force behind the college business. The more selective a college appears, the higher the ranking potential. Many colleges play games - according to a Wall Street Journal reporter, 25% fudge the numbers they submit to the US News & World Report.

Studies, however, show little correlation between attending a high ranking college and future income. Among 1,300+ millionaires surveyed the average SAT score was 1190/1600, and attending a top ranked college ranked a lowly 23 as reason for riches (The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J Stanley).

When visiting colleges, I have been encountering alumni in their 20s working at the admissions office of their alma mater. Being a college admissions officer is stressful, relatively low paid and requires a lot of traveling so people tend to move on after a few years. 

My impression is that once Churchill students find a suitable school, they tend to become admitted and do well. Years of solid academic instruction, LD awareness and self-advocacy training have prepared them for success in life after Churchill.

Sources:

Crazy U by Andrew Ferguson, chapter 2 & p.106-130

Cool Colleges by Donald Asher

Julian Cohen-Serrins studies psychology at Dickinson College

In 2011, Julian Cohen-Serrins and Jesse Medalia Strauss produced four short videos for Churchill. Julian is a junior at Dickinson College studying in Copenhagen, Denmark this semester.

Julian Cohen-Serrins visiting Austria during his junior year abroad.

Like so many others, Julian struggled in school before entering  Churchill in 2005 as a high school freshman. His middle-school years were stressful and he developed a fear of teachers. 
"Instead of asking me what I was thinking or learning more about my learning disabilities they just made me feel worse," he writes in an email from Copenhagen.  He felt as if no one understood him.
At Churchill, however, Julian quickly learned to trust his teachers and realize that his learning disability was not going to hold him back from anything he wanted to do.  He is planning to graduate from Dickinson with a major in Psychology and a minor in Political Science and to attend graduate school to obtain Psy D. in Clinical Psychology. The long term goal is to either have a large private practice or run a clinic.

How did Churchill prepare you for college?
Churchill prepared me for college in a several vital ways. First, Churchill educated me on my learning disability, something that played a large role in developing my identity and my academic life. Without understanding my learning disability from both an outsider perspective and a personal psychological perspective I would be at a loss. This is especially important when communicating with peers and professors about how to best accommodate my needs so I can produce my best work.

Second, Churchill prepared me for college by teaching me to think critically. Throughout every class I was encouraged and rewarded for critical thinking. While many non-Churchill students are excellent at taking standardized tests, thinking critically is a more valuable skill in college and life.

What is your fondest Churchill memory?

The trip to Yosemite National Park was the perfect culmination of my Churchill experience. While we were learning about the wonderful wilderness around us there was such a strong sense of comradely that no matter what happened we were always going to enjoy each other and be close. I will never forget that trip and everyone involved who gave me one of the best experiences of my life.

How did you determine if a college would be a good match? How did you make your final decision?

The primary factors I was looking for were small class sizes, a liberal ideology or tradition, close teacher relationships and a college not too far from home. I decided on Dickinson College mostly due to it satisfying my criteria combined with Dickinson’s prestigious reputation and the school's emphasis on studying abroad.

What accommodations and support services do you have at Dickinson?

I get my own laptop, double time on all tests and my own private room to take tests with a proctor. The only real support service I use regularly is the writing center. I use this resource for literally every paper I write. Another resource I have used is a language tutor for my German classes.

Highlights at college so far? Attending a college that offers amazingly interesting classes taught by even better professors and running and being the president of a student liaison program called the Public Safety Advisory Board. This board consists of a group of students who promote a stronger working relationship and better representation between the Department of Public Safety and the student body.

What made you decide to make the videos about LD for Churchill?

Jesse and I had such a positive and life transforming experience at Churchill that we both want to give back in any way we can. While Jesse and I have worked together since meeting at Churchill on Film-making and especially making documentaries, this project was by far the most meaningful because of our Churchill experience. Throughout the production of the videos we both felt that we needed to try and show what a remarkable school Churchill is, but at the same time Jesse and I are just two people. What really made the films successful were the overwhelmingly positive and insightful words of those we interviewed.

Advice to current Churchill HS students and their families embarking on the transition process to life after Churchill?

Remember that although learning disabilities may have caused academic difficulties for a long time, with the help of Churchill, those difficulties can and will be lessened. Churchill students simply know more about how they learn than other students and because of that they are better prepared to advocate and adjust to the academic environment.

Yet, more importantly, people with learning disabilities also tend to have amazing abilities and in college and life that’s what will count, that’s what will stand out and that’s what will sow the seeds of future success.