Our gap was defined through data from the National Clearinghouse and our goal of college persistence. It was in our Area Educational Agency’s Counselor Academy that we were given the opportunity to look at all of our district’s data from the National Clearinghouse. What we discovered is that there was a large gap between our students who identify as white or Asian and our students who identify as Black, Hispanic, or 2 more races. Our students who identify as White or Asian tend to be more successful completing their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as well as attending and persisting at college than our students who identify as Black, Hispanic and 2 or more races.



The major intervention that we chose to use in order to close our gap was research based. Research shows that the best indicator of if a student was going to enroll and attend college is completion of the FAFSA. If a FAFSA is completed, the odds of that student attending college is good. The activities that we use in order to help our students complete the FAFSA are what we consider best practice. We teach our students what the FAFSA is, why it is important to them and commons myths about the FAFSA. Then we offer them numerous opportunities for our students to talk with college financial aid officers and also sit with a college financial aid officer to actually complete their FAFSA.



The data that we have collected will help us to hone in on our target group. We will be able to find more efficient ways to reach this population. As one of our major behaviors that we focus on in our program is transitions, this data fully supports this. We have had discussion on if there are certain places in our community that we should hold meetings in which our target group would be in attendance. A member of our advisory council suggested that we go to a local church that is predominately Black and either spread the word of our FAFSA initiative or have Fill Out the FAFSA nights there. This year we called the parents of our target group to invite them to numerous Fill Out the FAFSA nights. By the end of the school year we had 74.5% of the seniors in our target group who had filed their FAFSA. One area we need to improve on is pinpointing the barriers that our parents and students are experiencing when it come to completing the FAFSA and/or attending our FAFSA related activities. We need to have more intentional conversations with our parents and students. Simply giving them the information and inviting them to our events is not enough.

Goal: By May 30, 2018 the seniors who identify as black, Hispanic or 2 or more races will increase the number of FAFSAs completed to 50%. This is a 10% increase from 40% completed by seniors during the 2016-2017 school year.

Target Group: Seniors who identify as black, Hispanic or 2 or more races

Data Used to Identify Students: Infinite Campus Race/Ethnicity report

School Counselor(s): Jeremiah Avise-Rouse, Suzanne Schrader, Amanda Steines

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): Domain: Career; Mindsets: 4; Behaviors: SMS 1, SS 8

Type of Activities to be Delivered in What Manner?: 12th Grade Core Curriculum Lesson Plan 1 delivered in English 12 and AP Literature and Composition classrooms during 1st and 2nd trimester, College Planning Night and College Fair for all high school students and parents (included a presentation specifically about FAFSA and general financial aid information), Tootsie Roll Campaign (handed out business cards including FAFSA and financial aid information attached to tootsie rolls) during community Mardi Gras parade, Large Group Presentation...Why FAFSA delivered to target group students who haven't filed the FAFSA (presentation presented by local community college financial aid officer), Fill Out the FAFSA Help Session held during 2nd and 3rd trimester conferences (help was to individual families by local community college financial aid personnel), Iowa College Access Network FAFSA Presentation given during the evening, Group Presentation: FAFSA Myths given by counselors to the remaining students in the target group who have not filed the FAFSA, College Decision Day (personally talked with remaining students in the target group who have been accepted to a post secondary institution and have not filed the FAFSA).

Process Data (Number of students affected): We have a total of 47 students who identify as black, Hispanic or 2 or more races

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): When asked on the 12th grade Core Curriculum pre/post test "The FAFSA should be filled out after October 1 of a student's senior year. The form is filled out for ____?" the number of students who got the question right increased from 83% on the pretest to 94% on the post test.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): Behavior: By the end of the school year we had 74.5% of the seniors in our target group who had filed their FAFSA.

Implications: The data shows that we exceeded our goal of 50% of the target group completing the FAFSA. We had 74.5% of our target group complete the FAFSA. We felt that the personal contacts with both parents and students were critical to our success. Things that we would like to do differently next year are invite the coming year's target group to the spring ICAN presentation and also add another Fill Out the FAFSA Night during our first trimester conferences.

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