Nebraska College Preparatory Academy

 

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Date of this Version

2013

Document Type

Article

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© 2013, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.

Abstract

The Nebraska College Preparatory Academy continues to grow and be inspired by the youth of Grand Island Senior High School and Omaha North High Magnet School. Programs were developed to ease the transition from middle school to high school. Each day we continue to learn more and develop UNL Chancellor Perlman’s vision to help first-generation and low-income youth succeed. Below is a brief assessment of NCPA’s opportunities and challenges.

Opportunities:

NCPA college scholars have increased their average GPA and retention rate each year over the last three years.

High school retention rates have decreased the last three years. However, NCPA requirements have increased, thus making the program more rigorous.

On the other hand, NCPA college retention rates have increased over the last three years.

30 NCPA scholars have above a 4.0 cumulative GPA or higher and 117 have above a 3.5 cumulative GPA.

This year, the high school program has had its highest GPA ever. Grand Island and Omaha scholars earned an average 3.64 cumulative GPA and 3.6 CORE academic GPA. This is impressive considering the scholars are enrolled in the most rigorous curriculum since the inception of NCPA.

The average ACT score for NCPA Hispanic and African American scholars are higher than the state and national average.

NCPA continues to hire, train, and deploy mentors (current UNL students) to interact weekly with NCPA scholars. Mentors have logged over 21,000 minutes (350 hours) of phone calls this academic year.

Challenges:

Parent education on how to academically support scholars is needed for the success of the program.

More work is needed to prepare UNL faculty to teach and motivate firstgeneration and low-income students.

Middle school students need to be prepped no later than 6th grade in order for students to be ready for the NCPA high school curriculum.

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