February 15, 2012
College Readiness Initiative: Baseline Evaluation from 2009-10 and 2010-11
To help more low-income students graduate from high school college-ready, College Spark Washington invests in two promising programs: Navigation 101 and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination).
A primary goal of our investment is to support schools in developing strong, sustainable, comprehensive college and career readiness programs.
The baseline evaluation (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) for this nine-year initiative shows notable positive preliminary trends.
Schools participating in the initiative:
- Increased the percentage of graduating seniors eligible for entrance into a four-year college based on course work.
- Increased the percentage of students who took 8th grade algebra and other key math and science courses.
- Increased students' sense of belonging and future focus, as indicated by student surveys.
Other program-specific positive trends:
Navigation 101
- High school graduation rates at all Navigation 101 schools were 20% higher than a group of comparison schools.
- College enrollment rates increased for Hispanic (30%) and African American (10%) students.
AVID
- College-going rates increased by six percent.
- Teachers trained in AVID strategies demonstrated more research-based effective teaching techniques than teachers not trained in AVID, based on classroom observations using the STAR Protocol.
Learn more about the baseline evaluation for Navigation 101 and AVID.
|
|
Making Collective Impact Work
Collective Impact involves "highly structured collaborative efforts that achieve substantial impact on large scale social problems."
In Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work, authors Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, and Mark Kramer outline five conditions that distinguish collective impact from other types of community collaboration:- Common Agenda
- Shared Measurement
- Mutually Reinforcing Activities
- Continuous Communication
- Backbone Support
"The complex nature of most social problems belies the idea that any single program or organization, however well-managed and funded, can singlehandedly create lasting large-scale change," write the authors in the January 26 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. In Washington state, the Road Map Project is an example of collective impact. More than 75 organizations, including College Spark Washington, are working together to double the number of students in South King County and South Seattle who are on track to graduate from college or earn a career credential by 2020.
"The greater Seattle region has one of the best-educated workforces in the nation. We import highly educated talent from around the globe yet struggle to provide a solid education for the children in our own backyard. The children who grow up here deserve as good of an education as the people who show up here," says Mary Jean Ryan, Executive Director of the Community Center for Education Results.
Road Map Project participants "are committed to nothing less than closing the unacceptable achievement gaps for low-income students and children of colo r, and increasing achievement for all students from cradle to college and career." Learn more and get involved.
|
