You asked for information about the Kalamazoo Promise college scholarship program.

SUMMARY

The Kalamazoo Promise is scholarship program that provides Kalamazoo Public School (KPS) graduates with the opportunity to attend a Michigan public post-secondary institution with up to a 100% scholarship (on a sliding scale based on years of KPS attendance). It is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation funded entirely by a small group of anonymous donors that were, according to news accounts, sought out by former KPS superintendent Janice Brown in 2000.

The program was announced in the fall of 2005 and began officially with the class of 2006, with 363 of 410 eligible students applying for the scholarship. The majority of the 318 students that ultimately used the scholarship in 2006 attended community colleges. According to research organizations, approximately $ 2 million was being spent as of the fall of 2006. This figure is expected to increase as more scholarship recipients attend four year institutions. The program is to continue indefinitely. However, if the program is discontinued, donors will fund all students in the Kalamazoo School District at that time. Current data is insufficient to determine the program's impact on education and economic development.

ELIGIBILITY

In order to receive the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship, students must:

1. reside in the district, have been KPS students for at least four years, and graduate from KPS (enrollment and residency must be continuous);

2. be admitted to and enrolled at any Michigan public university or community college; and

3. make regular progress toward a degree or certification, complete a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester, and maintain a 2. 0 grade point average (GPA) (students may be reinstated to the program if they raise their GPA back to a 2. 0).

The post-secondary education must be completed within 10 years of high school graduation (with exceptions for military service. ) The scholarship provides up to four years of tuition and mandatory fees. Students who attend KPS for only the four years of high school receive 65% of their tuition. That percentage rises by five points for each additional year of attendance, down to grade four. Students that have attended KPS from first, second, or third grade through graduation receive 95% of their tuition, and students that have attended from kindergarten through grade 12 receive 100%.

PROGRAM IMPACT

The W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research has been designated the lead organization for research requests on the Kalamazoo Promise. According to its web site, www. upjohninst. org/promise, the Institute is currently engaged, or will engage, in the following research activities:

• Research into the origins and initial impact of the Kalamazoo Promise, including the alignment of the community around its goals, carried out by Dr. Michelle Miller-Adams, Visiting Scholar. The research will culminate in a book in 2008.

• A project funded by the U. S. Department of Education to evaluate the short- and intermediate-term outcomes of the Kalamazoo Promise, carried out in partnership with Western Michigan University's Evaluation Center and the Midwest Educational Reform Consortium based at WMU's College of Education.

• A long-term evaluation of the Kalamazoo Promise.

• “Investing in the Success of the Kalamazoo Promise,” an initiative funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to strengthen the outcomes of the scholarship program by investing in its evaluation and research infrastructure, and deepen community engagement.

According to a 2006 article written Dr. Miller-Adams that explores the impact of the Kalamazoo Promise on revitalization, the program has a number of potential positive outcomes, in addition to reducing the cost of post-secondary education. Dr. Miller-Adams cites the potential for increased course offerings and efforts to close the achievement gap, a reversal of the decline in enrollment, and the racial and socio-economic diversification of the student body. She also notes that the Kalamazoo Promise is seen as a catalyst for economic growth, helping the city to retain and attract residents and businesses. The article can be found at www. upjohninst. org/publications/newsletter/MM-A_706. pdf.

In a 2007 interview, CBS News quoted (now former) superintendent Brown as having seen a positive change in the school system and the students, with an increased interest in college. However, given the relative infancy of the project (it began with the class of 2006), current data on the Promise's impact is anecdotal at best. The most notable impact of the program appears to be the 10% increase in the KPS student population from 2005 to 2006, after many years of decline. According to the Institute, in 2006, new KPS students in first through eighth grades came from 88 Michigan communities, 32 states, and 9 foreign countries. There has also been some improvement in the local housing market (a six percent increase in home sales and an average seven percent increase in home prices) and a marginal increase in graduation rates (it is still to early too determine the program's impact on the four-year rate). As for the program's impact on the educational system, many of the KPS reform efforts predate the Promise.

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