Revisiting Positive Outlier Crown Point and College for Every Student (CFES): The Value of Mentoring

by Kristen Wilcox, Aaron Leo, and Jon Reidel

In a recent interview, Kristen C. Wilcox, NYKids Research and Development Director, explored how Jon Reidel, Communications Director, at CFES Brilliant Pathways in Essex, NY sees the role of mentoring in helping kids keep on track for success post high school.

CFES is a non-profit organization that began in 1991, working with a number of rural schools in Central New York. CFES’ main aim is to help students find ways to college. CFES president, Rick Dalton, spearheaded CFES, which has expanded to provide services across the nation.

The Core Mission and How CFES and NYKids “Met”

NYKids’ most recent college and career readiness study led us to Crown Point. This relatively small (~260 students) rural school has achieved higher than predicted graduation rates and has done so consistently over several years. In the NYKids study we noted several themes which distinguish Crown Point as an odds-beating school.

• Access Creates Opportunity

While Crown Point’s geographic location and size create challenges, educators described seeking opportunities for diverse cultural experiences that include visits to college campuses, museums, and theaters as well as musical, athletic, and technology events. Such experiences gave students broader world views and provide them with ideas about future college or career goals.

As far as diversity and culture [here in Crown Point], it’s minimal, but it’s maximized by us going places and bringing things to us. We spend a lot of disposable funding on bringing in cultural things that you can’t find in Crown Point. . . .  The opposite side is that we [also] bring our kids lots of places. – superintendent. 

• High Expectations for All

Educators described setting high expectations for students beginning in preschool and guiding them to graduation from Crown Point Central School. Leaders are credited with creating a culture of high expectations and reported taking on multiple responsibilities to ensure that everything possible is being done to improve the lives of students and the community.

We as a staff analyze data and say, “OK, this may be the number that we need to get to but let’s set a realistic goal. Where do we think we can get these students or the next class coming in?” I always set [my goals] a little higher, realistically, but a little higher just to know that is where I need to go. – teacher

CFES and Crown Point: A Critical Match

Crown Point is also a CFES site and according to Dr. Reidel, the school offered fertile ground for CFES to make headway as they had successfully turned their school around using the America’s Promise model as a foundation. He tells the story:

…they were in trouble in the 90’s… and they picked America’s Choice as their model and it really brought them from school on the brink to now sending over 70% of their kids to college – it used to be around 25% then I think CFES timing was good, America’s Choice was the backbone, but they didn’t have a college and career readiness piece, that’s where we fit in nicely to show the kids some choices college wise. – J. Reidel

A Key Take-Away and Learning from CFES’ Work: The Importance of Quality Mentoring

One of the three pillars in CFES’ approach is mentoring (in addition to essential skills and pathways to college and career). The mentoring piece of CFES’s work involves pairing each CFES student with a mentor. According to Reidel,

The mentorship piece is really about getting community members to work with the kids at least once a week… it’s a crucial piece. We also try and establish peer mentoring programs since consistency is crucial… Crown Point has a model program called Senior Buddies where 12th grade students meet with younger students on a regular basis. – J. Reidel

Here are a few resources from CFES:

CFES offers informational webinars for students and educators based on discussions with experts like the president of Assumption College, Miami Dolphins Coach Brian Flores, and the head of hiring at Southwest Airlines. See an upcoming webinar with former New York Gov. George Pataki on leadership here.

CFES also offers resources during COVID-19 and these are outlined in their weekly newsletter here.

Mentors can play an especially crucial role in supporting students with low rates of college enrollment. As Annette Lareau discusses, mentors can provide first-generation students with valuable information about the college process with which their families might otherwise might not be able to help. Likewise, Alejandro Portes and colleagues argue that the presence of “significant others” such as mentors, family friends, and coaches are pivotal in the college pursuits of immigrant youth. These findings demonstrate the potential for mentorship to aid in closing attainment gaps and promote college-readiness for students across lines of class and race.

Take a look at the NYKids website for resources on college readiness programs and for more on Crown Point see our case study at this link.