High school remedial education program to celebrate first year completion with success

James Smith, upon entering his senior year at Towson High School, was struggling to
graduate high school, has a below average SAT score and no plan to attend college. One year
later, Smith has raised his SAT scores 350 points and is preparing for his freshman year at
Central College with an academic scholarship.
This year, Smith participated in an Early Support program with 100 Maryland high
school students to help them reach college level academics in mathematics, reading, writing and
computer skills. Students attended courses in interactive classrooms at five participating higher
education institutions, including Central College in Baltimore. As the first year of the program
comes to a close, the average SAT score of participants has increased 200 points with 85 percent
of students continuing to college next year.
The program not only improved my grades in high school, but I feel ready and excited
to continue at Central College next year, Smith said. Smith is one of 85 participating seniors to
be accepted into one of the institutions because of their improvement through Early Support.
This program goes beyond helping high school students with their grades. Early Support
is designed to improve academic skills and prepare them for college level classes, so that our
students will continue on to successful college careers, said Caroline Kaminsky, Early Support
director from the Maryland Educational Research Foundation.
Five of the participants, despite increased SAT scores, decided to stay in high school and
continue with the program for another year. Only 10 of the participants did not increase their
scores and the lack of success was attributed to an abnormally high number of absences.
We are ecstatic with the results from the first year of the program, Kaminsky said, The
Maryland Educational Research Foundation is considering this a major success toward
improving education standards in Maryland.
The greatest improvement was in participants reading comprehension and writing skills.
Central College was responsible for teaching writing and computer courses for Early Support.
Professors from the college taught in interactive classroom facilities on the Baltimore campus.
I am extremely proud of the great staff from Central College who worked to give these
students the opportunities they deserve to improve their education, said Leon DeWitt, president
of Central College, I welcome the participants who will be attending Central College next year.

To support the programs efforts to raise education standards in Maryland, Central

College has accompanied their participation in the program with a directive to raise the
admission standards of incoming freshman. Over the next five years the college will become
more competitive to Ivy League caliber institutions.
Central College is committed to Maryland and our community in Baltimore, said
DeWitt, We look forward to continuing our work with Early Support next year and taking the
next step to improving education in Maryland.
Early Support will continue next year with a new group of high school students to replace
those moving on to college.
This time last year I was wondering if I was going to graduate high school, now Im
enrolling in my first semester of college and deciding on a career path. I have options that
wouldnt have existed without the Early Support program, Smith said.