| Reach for College! |
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We provide structured curricular materials and books that walk students through understanding the benefits of higher education,
college selection and application.
In the 2009–2010 school year Reach for College! is helping over 3,500 high school students reach their dreams of pursuing post- secondary education. Working in public high schools and public charter schools, Reach for College! provides curricular materials that walk students through college selection and application and boost students' academic skills so they're ready for college. We provide training for teachers to use the curriculum in their classes as part of their students' regular school day. We also provide in-class support for teachers and students to ensure maximum success. |
| What the RFC Class and Materials Provide for Students and Teachers |
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Reach for College! materials have been specially developed explicitly for use in school systems with large numbers of
traditionally disadvantaged students. The materials have been shown to significantly increase the number of students going to
college from high schools where the college-going rate is often low.
A regular teacher from the student's school is provided with training to teach the Reach for College! curriculum; and it is taught in a class during the student's school day. Students take this class for credit. In the RFC class students study:
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| Intensive Classroom Support, Guest Speakers, and College Tours |
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In addition to the materials and teacher instruction that we provide,
Reach for College! also strongly believes in ongoing teacher and
classroom support especially in the first year of implementation.
This crucial component of the program ensures that teachers don't
get overwhelmed and that individual students don't fall through the
cracks.
This support includes:
Reach for College! also takes students on 1-3 college tours per year where they get a glimpse of the life they're heading toward and where they continue to hear about the importance of postsecondary education. |
| Why We Do What We Do |
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Traditionally disadvantaged students often suffer from a poverty of aspiration as well as a poverty of information about possibilities
for life after high school. Since most of them will be first-generation college students, they have no one at home with
experience to explain to them the benefits of higher education or the knowledge about how to get through the complex application
process.
We have found that with minimal intervention (and minimal per pupil cost), students in large numbers take advantage of the opportunity for postsecondary education that they learn about through the materials in their classes.
There is a national imperative now for increasing college access and success. This is the first generation in history where parents in the U.S. will be more educated than their children. "The nation's competitive edge is slipping away."1 "The United States now ranks 10th among industrialized nations in the percentage of 25-34 year olds with an Associates degree or higher."2 The U.S. will have to ramp up just to keep up to match leading nations to meet domestic workforce needs. The U.S. will need to produce 64 millions new degrees in the next 20 years.3 This is a matter of having a fixed capacity versus a growing capacity of knowledge for innovation and social mobility. Where will these new graduates come from? This gap cannot be filled without a strong commitment to erasing racial and ethnic disparities in educational attainment.4 The U.S. needs to look to an under-tapped source of students who are motivated and capable but hindered from higher education by the accident of birth. Even the most high-achieving students in low-income families are hindered from college attendance and graduation because of poverty. Only 29% of the highest achieving students from the lowest income quartile earned a Bachelor's degree compared with 74% from the highest income quartile.5 This has changed little in 35 years.6 It is not just the cost of college that hinders these students, though that is significant, but also these factors:
Despite all these strikes against them, these students, like all youth, are idealistic and energetic, eager to learn, grow and change their life circumstances. RFC wants to tap into the great, unrealized potential of these students who have so much to offer their communities. We want to uplift our society by unleashing the creativity, intelligence and industriousness of these young people.
1"Adding it Up: State and National Imperative",
"Family Income and Educational Attainment 1970-2007," Postsecondary Education Opportunity, Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Postsecondary Education, November, 2008. www.postseccondary.org. |
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| Read Our Newsletters | ||
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Find in-depth information about our students and our program through our monthly newsletters. |
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| Etan Thomas of the Washington Wizards was a Reach for College! guest speaker |
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| "Reach for College! can
enlighten someone and convince them to go to college and how to pick the best college." ~Student | ||
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| Forty Reach for College! students on a tour of the University of Virginia. |
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"The Reach For College Family has believed in me since day one and I will be forever grateful and appreciative to them. Thank You!!!"
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