Examples of Efforts to Increase College Readiness
The sites listed below provide information about successful efforts to increase college access for underserved students and will be useful in providing designs or models for practitioners to consider.
Successful High Schools
High schools need to make significant changes in the approach to opening college doors for all students. These resources provide background information as well as the stories of individual high schools that are making a difference.
Breakthrough High Schools
This site is sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and highlights schools with high minority and high poverty populations that are also successfully increasing high school graduation and college admission rates.
Pathways to College
This website features profiles of successful schools and programs. Pathways features the work of over 35 organizations working in the area of college readiness and access. The site provides research-based information on the latest in the effort to prepare all students for college.
The Talent Development High School Model
Designed to improve the structure and instructional practices of troubled high schools through the use of curriculum changes, staff professional development opportunities, and small learning communities, Talent Development made a difference in the five high schools included in this study: The report found that the model produced substantial gains in course-completion and promotion rates and modest improvements in attendance for many ninth-grade students. These findings are a promising early indication that Talent Development can help keep students on track toward graduation.
P-16 Alignment
The projects that are described here are examples of efforts to develop P-16 alignment and include all sectors in the effort to increase college readiness.
The Ohio Appalachian Higher Education Model Program
The mission of the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education Model Program is to increase the level of educational attainment of residents in the Appalachian Ohio region. The program unites colleges, universities, K–12 schools, and the private sector to increase the region's college-going rate, which is currently only half the national average.
California Alliance of PreK-18 Partnerships
The Alliance was formed to advance achievement for all students through policy changes at the state and national levels. The Alliance represents stakeholders from all education segments and roles including parents, teachers, higher education faculty, superintendents, community college and university administrators, state agencies and policymakers, education advocacy groups, private foundations interested in education, business, and school boards.
Promising Partnerships
The partnerships described here are examples of exemplary collaborations that are substantially increasing the college attendance and graduation rates of underrepresented students in these communities.
The College Summit
The college summit is an organizational approach to working with students, high schools, colleges, communities and employers to increase college readiness and access. The College Summit works with all groups who benefit from increased college enrollment.
The El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence
Through the El Paso Collaborative, the three school districts, community college, and university in El Paso are working together with parents and business, civic, and community leaders to reform the entire K-16 education system. The mission of this reformation is to ensure that all students graduate from area high schools prepared to enter and succeed in a four-year college or university.
Online After-School Program Clearninghouse Mentor
National Mentoring Partnership recently launched the After-School Program Clearinghouse designed to provide after-school coordinators with the tools and resources they need to add a mentoring component to their programs. The new site also provides resources on how to implement, manage and strengthen after-school programs. Resources are formatted to coincide with the categories in the Elements of Effective Practice (Program Design and Planning, Management, Operations and Evaluation).
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