Researcher raises the bar for disadvantaged high school students

Oklahoma Watch
  • Isiah Caldwell, who teaches English at Crooked Oak Middle School, helped high school seniors Aracely Rodriguez and Thailand Fields fill out their applications to attend the University of Oklahoma on Oct. 18, 2023. Photo courtesy of Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch
    Isiah Caldwell, who teaches English at Crooked Oak Middle School, helped high school seniors Aracely Rodriguez and Thailand Fields fill out their applications to attend the University of Oklahoma on Oct. 18, 2023. Photo courtesy of Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch
  • Oklahoma Watch
    Oklahoma Watch

    Students graduating from a high-poverty high school often feel like they don’t belong at a four-year university, and professor Paul Ketchum wants to prove them wrong.

    Ketchum started working with Crooked Oak High School in 2013 to increase the number of students attending college. Three years later, the University of Oklahoma adopted the program.

    Of the approximately 140 students who took Ketchum’s …