Guide to GEAR UP in Texas
College For All / Project GRAD
Houston ISD / Houston
Name of Project:
College For All / Project GRAD
Website:
http://www.projectgradhouston.org/
Director's Name:
Dr. Laurie Ballering
Director's Contact Number:
832-325-0380
Director's Email:
lballering@projectgradhouston.org
Years of Grant:
2005-2011
Type of Grant:
Cohort
Districts/Demographics:
Houston ISD. 93% of CFA students receive free/reduced price meals at school because their families' incomes are at or below the federal poverty level. 38% live in single-parent homes. In the five CFA communities, 49% of the adults lack a high school education.
Number of Students Served:
Year One: 3,850; Year Two: 6,688; Year Three: 6,186; Year Four: Approximately 6,000
Brief Description of Program:
College For All services to students are provided through building-based College Access Advocates who support academic and college access programs. Academic support includes: 1) academic success programs provided by CFA - such as broad-based reading and math programs & interventions, 2) mentoring, guidance and targeted tutoring programs for students with "early warning signals" designed to intervene to replace unsuccessful school behaviors with academically productive choices, 3) summer programs designed to prepare targeted students for upcoming grade levels or to provide extended experiences on college campuses, 4) college awareness programs offered through an innovative advocacy curriculum and College Week, 5) financial aid information and support, and 6) a social service referral system.
Services to teachers include: 1) Teacher Innovation Grants awarded to five teachers at each of the 16 campuses for proposals designed to improve student success in rigorous classes, and 2) Content Specialists in English Language Arts and Mathematics assist teachers in promoting rigorous instruction in order to increase the numbers and success of students in Pre-AP and AP courses and improve academic achievement for all students.
Services to parents include: 1) Parent Prep lessons that mirror student advocacy lessons, 2) Parent Board of Trustees, 3) Abriendo Puertas, 4) Walk for Success, 5) an annual Parent Convention, 6) Parent Pals, and 7) college visits.
Parent Programs:
College For All implements the following parental involvement and college awareness activities:
- Walk for Success: The Walk for Success is a grassroots campaign to inform parents of the CFA GEAR UP program and to recruit students into the GRAD Scholarship Program. Volunteers from the community team with alumni, teachers, staff, mentors, university volunteers, and older students to visit homes in their respective feeder patterns. The community-wide home visits convey a powerful message of hope to parents by dispelling their misconceptions about college as a privileged opportunity for only the financially advantaged. Parents are empowered to work with their children to focus on college.
- Parent Board of Trustees: A critical component of the capacity building essential to CFA is the recruitment of parents to serve on the Parent Board, whose key role is to assure that all parents in each feeder pattern have access to college awareness materials and financial aid information.
- Parent Pals Program: Parents of current high school students and parents of students enrolled in or who have graduated from college will be trained to mentor parents of 9th grade students. This Parent Pals support system will follow the cohort through 12th grade and will remain implemented at every subsequent grade level after the cohort has passed through. Each parent mentor will be assigned to 10-15 parent mentees, whom they will contact by phone or in person monthly. Parent mentees will also be invited to periodic group activities designed to encourage them to take an active role in their children's educational preparation for college.
- Parent Prep Sessions: Each campus offers parent classes (at least every two weeks) on the following broad topics: 1) the role of parents in student preparation for college; 2) the link between levels/types of academic preparation in middle and high schools and access to post-secondary educational programs; and 3) college admission requirements, college financing options and requirements.
- Annual Parent Convention and Visits to College Campuses: A one-day annual parent convention provides an opportunity for parents to work together as they set annual priorities for their support of their children's schools. Parents pre-register to attend information sessions of their choice on topics ranging from parent leadership to finding the scientist in their children. College tours with parents and their students are an integral feature of the CFA program. Colleges and universities in the area host these tours and provide critical admission and financial information.
- Abriendo Puertas is a parent-teaching parent program created and piloted for GEAR UP programs. This Texas A&M parent program provides extensive training and support for a key group of parent trainers who then reach out to 20 other parents each with college access and awareness lessons.
Student Leadership Programs:
Students who attend our college summer institutes are expected to return to their high schools and share their college experiences with new students and with their feeder middle school students during College Week. These students are supported in their leadership roles by the College Access Advocates.
Partners:
Communities In Schools, University of Houston-Downtown
Notable Project Achievement:
The percentage of students earning a final grade of C or better in Pre-AP math and science increased dramatically: 6th grade math by 24% and 6th grade science by 25%; 7th grade math by 31% and 7th grade science by 51%.
Unique to the Project:
The College For All GEAR UP project is embedded with the Project GRAD Houston program. This PK-16 college access and success program has sent over 3,600 students to college with more than $12 million in scholarships. 773 students have graduated from college so far, a rate 92% higher than the national average for low-income students.