A recent article in the Detroit Free Press has shown that since its inception, academic achievement on standardized tested grade levels [3rd to 8th] has dramatically improved and that over 1500 students have benefited; each receiving full tuition scholarships. The first set of recipients are scheduled to graduate this May, including a future aviator and a potential doctor going to medical school debt free.

I am sure that we will continue to hear success stories about Kalamazoo Promise students, but isn't it time for all urban cities to think about how we can create our own 'promise'?

Every year in my community, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools are faced with an achievement gap and many of our students are being left behind. The Charlotte Observer noted that only 66% of CMS students graduated in 2009. Some attribute it to differing teaching styles or overcrowding in neighborhood schools. But all of CMS schools (except magnets) are taught from the same curriculum and most teachers are in the classroom because they chose to be. Perhaps our focus should be on the outcome that our students are working towards – a college education.

As an instructor at Central Piedmont Community College, I teach a wide range of students. But most of their stories are the same. They are there because although they had the desire to further their education; the thought of paying for college was daunting. They either put off college altogether and chose to work full time [returning to school with upwards of a 25 year gap in education] or they have chosen to transfer to a 4 year university after obtaining an associate degree; cost-effectively.

I say that it is time for us to give our students one more choice – the choice of success. Free from worry about how they will pay for college. Free from worry about what happens next. Free from worry about tomorrow. If we can give this promise to our students, they can return their own promise – a promise of academic success. Besides, it would be their choice to make. They’d have to keep their grades up, stay out of trouble and focus on the future. But I’d be will to make that promise to them if they would make one in return. It’s time for the ‘Urban Promise’.