CORE Works Behind the Scenes to Aid Student Success in Union City
The Union City Area School District battles some tough odds. Union City’s median household income of $27,216 is well below the state average of $40,106, so 26.8 percent of the community’s youth live in poverty. The district has the highest failure rate in Erie County on Pennsylvania’s Achievement Test Scores, and in 2003-2004, more than 101 students missed twenty or more days of school. But with the grant writing and evaluation help of Penn State Behrend’s Center for Organizational Research and Evaluation (CORE), those tough odds are improving.
The district, with CORE’s help, received a three-year, $150,000 grant from United Way of Erie County to implement a program aimed at meeting two important goals. Over the next three years, the district wants to reduce the dropout rate by 50 percent and reduce truancy by 50 percent.
“Attendance is a huge problem here,” said Sandra Myers, superintendent of the Union City Area School District. “Our kids have gone through the upheaval of economic loss in the community, and some don’t have a cohesive family unit to make sure they go to school regularly. Poor attendance disrupts the students’ educational environment and reduces their learning.”
“The additional grant funds from the United Way have added resources to our student assistance program that are making a difference,” said Myers, “We would not have been able to put this grant proposal together successfully without input from CORE.”
“The new funding creates an Enhanced Student Assistance Program (ESAP) that leverages resources already there.” said Carl Kallgren, director of CORE. “Union City had a student assistance program, but this funding adds a social worker, who adds a community dimension to the assistance offered. Now the Office of Children and Youth is involved, as well as Union City’s district justice. Bringing the community’s interest into the school has helped.”
It’s not an easy assignment for the ESAP team, Kallgren reports. Union City has a transitory population that result in several cases of child abandonment each year. Students scored well below average on several positive dimensions on the Search Institute’s Attitude and Behavior Survey. Conversely, they scored higher on several risky behaviors. Overall, 17 percent of the students in the district qualify for special education services.
Myers points out that UCASD is going a step beyond the norm of most school districts by involving adult volunteers in the schools for listening services, tutoring, and reading.
“Union City has an enormous number of dedicated citizens who have developed programs to help our children,” said Myers. “We try to match our needs with community strengths, making it a winning situation for both the students and the volunteers.”
Both the National Association of State Boards of Education and the National Center for Health Education have recommended guidelines for federally-mandated School Health Councils to be implemented across the nation this year. Union City’s program is a head start on this mandate.
“The United Way grant awarded to the Union City School district is a step forward for CORE in our goal of building healthy youth development,” said Kallgren. “Following on the success of this grant, we will continue to help the district pursue grants to improve the health development and safety of its students.”