news : I-LEAD Helps Kids Succeed


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			Press Release Contact: Richard Rivera Director, I-LEAD Phone: 212-961-3423 Email: rrivera@bankstreet.edu BANK STREET COLLEGE AND GOLDMAN SACHS HELP KIDS SUCCEED New York, March 9, 2004-A group of highly motivated students from six inner-city Catholic high schools participate in a college preparatory program that prepares them for admittance to top-tier colleges and universities. Funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation as one of its Signature Initiatives, partnering with the prestigious Bank Street College of Education, the program each year supports a cohort of fifty to sixty students-Goldman Sachs Scholars-from Aquinas, Cardinal Hayes, Rice, Cardinal Spellman, All Hallows, and Mount St. Ursula High Schools. The scholars are selected after a lengthy and rigorous nomination and application process. Applicants have to complete an application, designed to be similar to a college application, write a 250-word essay, obtain two teacher recommendations and recent transcripts, and then interview with an I-LEAD staff member. The program's goal is to enlarge the pool of young people who are in a position to receive the rigorous education necessary for success in a global economy. The Goldman Sachs Scholars program offers students a range of accelerated academic and cultural enrichment activities designed to expand and strengthen their academic skills, explore their college and career interests, and develop a foundation in and awareness of key leadership principles. Given the fact that recent analysis of the No Child Left Behind act suggests that the emphasis on helping the weakest students get ahead has resulted in less emphasis on average or above-average students, programs such as I-LEAD help fill in the gap. I-LEAD can also serve as a model for other programs aimed at the average and above-average student. The program, known as I-LEAD (the Institute for Leadership, Excellence, and Academic Development), comprises opportunities for participants they would not otherwise have had: travel abroad, enrichment programs, Saturday and summer workshops and activities, and personal advisement. "I-LEAD enables these students to expand their horizons and develop their creativity," says Bank Street's Richard Rivera, the program's Director. He continues: "With the new limitations on affirmative action making it more difficult for inner-city kids of color to achieve their potential, programs such as I-LEAD level the playing field. These kids are given the opportunity to work hard to get where they want to go. They earn the right to enroll in top-tier colleges and pursue their dreams." The Goldman Sachs Scholars have, indeed, achieved much: Ten out of eleven scholars in the first group in the program to apply to college were accepted to the college of their choice in the early decision process. The eleventh was deferred. The colleges were Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Boston College, Tulane, Spellman, and Babson. The Posse Foundation and DePaul University have also accepted another scholar with a full scholarship. The average SAT score of the group is 1103, with a top score of 1420. (The average score for the control group is 963.) The retention rate of the program is 75 percent. To see the program in action, reporters are invited to attend presentations by the youngest scholars at an event at Bank Street College of Education, 610 West 112th Street, Friday, April 2, 2004, at 6 p.m. Reporters are also welcome at I-LEAD graduation, also at Bank Street, May 1, 2004, at 2 p.m. For more information about these events or the program, please call I-LEAD Director Richard Rivera, 212-961-3423.
			Last modified: Friday, March 26, 2004 at 2:59:20 PM Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. Bank Street College of Education 610 West 112th Street, New York, NY 10025 Tel: 212-875-4606 / Fax: 212-871-0622 collegepubs@bnkst.edu