Research Paper Graduate 602 words

Financing the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program in Tulsa

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Abstract

This paper introduces the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program, a college preparatory initiative established in 2006 at a Catholic high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It outlines the program's core benefits for participating students, including individualized academic advising, enrichment opportunities, and standardized test preparation. The paper highlights impressive outcomes — including high ACT scores, extensive community service hours, and over $1.25 million in freshman-year awards — and notes the wide range of selective universities that program graduates have attended. Drawing on research about gifted education and scholars programs, the paper frames a proposed study examining how the program is financed and staffed, and how those funding and staffing methods influence the outcomes achieved.

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What makes this paper effective

Uses concrete, quantifiable outcomes — ACT composite averages, community service hours, and scholarship dollar amounts — to establish the program's credibility quickly.
Grounds the program in a broader policy context by referencing No Child Left Behind, giving readers a reason to care about this specific case beyond the school itself.
Connects individual program benefits to peer-reviewed research on gifted minority and low-income students, strengthening the rationale for the proposed study.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper effectively uses a case study framing technique: it introduces a specific, real-world program with documented results and then positions it as a lens through which a broader research question — how funding and staffing affect program outcomes — can be examined. This approach grounds an abstract inquiry in observable evidence before stating the research purpose.

Structure breakdown

The paper opens with a policy-level hook (standardized test failures), introduces the specific program with supporting data, enumerates student benefits in a structured list, situates the program within existing scholarship on gifted education, and closes with a clear statement of the proposed study's scope and objectives. This funnel structure moves efficiently from context to case to research question.

Overview of the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program

In an era when standardized test scores across the country continue to highlight the shortcomings of the No Child Left Behind Act and other reforms to improve the quality of education delivered in the nation's schools, some examples of excellence emerge that can provide a set of best practices for similarly situated institutions. One such example is the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program offered at a Catholic high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to the school's promotional materials, the institution "serves Catholic and non-Catholic families in Tulsa and the surrounding communities who seek a college preparatory program within a Christian environment of concern, trust and growth" (A Quest for Excellence, 2008, p. 2).

Student Outcomes and College Placement

The school accepts 25 students each year into this relatively new program, which was established in 2006. The accomplishments achieved by the young scholars participating in this program have been impressive, and include the following:

Program Benefits for Participating Students

Scholars who have participated in the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program and graduated have gone on to be accepted at Boston College, Creighton, DePauw, Emory, George Washington, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Knox College, Notre Dame, Penn, Rhodes, Rice, Syracuse, St. Louis University, Trinity, University of Dallas, University of Texas–Dallas, University of Tulsa, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Washington University, West Point, as well as various honors programs at numerous state universities (Brother Bernardine Scholars Program, 2008).

High school students who participate in the Brother Bernardine Scholars Program receive the following benefits:

2 Locked Sections · 170 words remaining

Significance of Scholars Programs for Gifted Students · 100 words

"Research context on gifted and minority student access"

Proposed Study Focus · 70 words

"Scope and objectives of the proposed research study"

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Key Concepts in This Paper

Scholars Program Gifted Education College Preparatory Program Funding Catholic High School Minority Students Higher Education Access ACT Performance Pre-College Enrichment Academic Advising