A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

GEAR UP for College Program

GEAR UP for College provides multi-year competitive grants to states and to local partnerships between colleges, low-income middle schools and high schools, and at least two other organizations, such as businesses, community-based religious or parent organizations, and student groups.

In August, President Clinton announced $120 million in GEAR UP grants to 21 states and 164 partnerships of colleges and middle schools across the country.

• These grants will serve more than 200,000 disadvantaged children, encouraging them to have high expectations, stay in school, study hard, and take the right courses to go to college.
• 40 states and Puerto Rico, Guam and Micronesia received either a state or Partnership grant.
• The 1999 grants will fund partnerships involving more than 1,000 organizations, such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, Salvation Army, libraries, arts organizations, local chambers of commerce, and individual companies such as Wal-Mart, Unisys, Hewlett-Packard, Bell Atlantic, and the New York Times Newspaper in Education Program.
• Interest in the first year of GEAR UP far exceeded available funding. The first grant applications for GEAR UP were extraordinary in number: 678 Partnership and state grant applications, covering all 50 states, more than 4,500 organizations, and one out of five colleges in the nation. Only one out of four Partnership applications could be funded with the current funding, and only half of the state applications.

GEAR UP differs from, but complements, existing federal programs in several significant ways.

• GEAR UP Partnerships start earlier—no later than the 7^th grade—to ensure that more students reach high school having taken algebra and other courses needed for college, and follows students through high school.
• GEAR UP works with entire grades of students to transform their schools and school feeder systems. The key services driving these changes include mentoring, tutoring, counseling, strengthening the school curriculum, professional development for teachers and staff, involving parents, and supporting other activities such as after-school programs, summer academic and enrichment programs, and college visits.
• GEAR UP leverages local resources by encouraging all colleges to partner with low-income middle schools and leverages non-federal resources with a one-for-one match requirement. This year alone one in five colleges responded to the challenge.
• GEAR UP can provide college scholarships and provides information to students and parents about college options and financial aid, including providing students with 21^st Century Scholar Certificates—an early notification of their eligibility for financial aid.
• GEAR UP grants bolster state efforts to support early college preparation programs and scholarships.

Gear Up is based on proven models of success, both large and small. Existing programs, such as I Have a Dream and Project GRAD, demonstrate the success of incorporating the concepts of partnerships, school reform and scholarships into early intervention. These programs have helped significantly improve low-income student test scores, and high school graduation and college enrollment rates. To bring best practices into GEAR UP, the Ford Foundation will provide grant winners with technical assistance on implementation issues and in cultivating strong, successful partnerships.

For more information about GEAR UP, visit the GEAR UP Web site
(http://www.ed.gov/gearup/) or call at (202) 502-7676.

Examples

Boston Public Schools, Boston, Massachusetts

Partners:
Boston Public Schools, Harvard, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, Curry College, Lesley College, Simmons College, Bunker Hill College, Roxbury College, Urban College of Boston, Action for Boston Community Development, Boston Private Industry Council, Boston Housing Authority, Center for Community Health and Education Research and Service, and Boston Higher Education Partnership.

Project Abstract:
This comprehensive partnership serves a public housing cohort of 150 seventh-grade students and a grade-level cohort of 1,484 students from six different middle schools. In the project?s second year, an additional cohort of 1,563 students will be added to the GEAR UP beneficiaries. The goal of the partnership is to "adopt" entire seventh grades and prepare them to attend college. All schools offer a full range of GEAR UP support services including tutoring, mentoring, and college awareness for students; professional development for teachers; and outreach on postsecondary school programs and financial aid options to parents. Direct GEAR UP services include "student motivational counseling," and each GEAR UP middle school has its own on-site coordinator to arrange provisions such as tutoring, advice on college preparatory courses, social and health services, summer jobs, campus tours, and other programs. The professional development component complements and becomes an integral part of ongoing training programs to improve math and literacy skills.

Fairmont College, Fairmont, West Virginia

Partners:
West Virginia University, West Virginia State GEAR UP Partner/Marshall University, West Virginia Center for Professional Development, West Virginia North Central RESA VII, West Virginia North Central Tech Prep Consortium, West Virginia North Central Science and Math Consortia, West Virginia State Department of Education Office of Technology and Information Systems, Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia, West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, Kids Count Foundation of West Virginia, West Virginia Financial Aid Administrators Association, West Virginia NASA Ames IV & V Facility, On-the-Edge, Time Warner Cable, Times West Virginian, and the FBI.

Project Abstract:
This is a unique partnership involving institutions of higher education, middle schools and high schools, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Time Warner Cable. Fairmont College grant will provide, over five years, 41,718 of West Virginia's at-risk youth the opportunity and incentive to aspire to higher education. Activities included are after-school and weekend programs, tutoring, mentoring, college pen-pal programs, counseling, college fairs and tours, financial aid workshops, computer projects, motivational activities, contests, summer enrichment programs, field trips, leadership and learning style training, and comprehensive teacher training activities. A large percentage of parent involvement is planned as well as strong volunteer program development. The goals of this project are to increase college-going rates and student self-esteem, and improve academic skills and the school environments.

Houston Independent School District (Project GRAD-HOUSTON), Houston, Texas

Partners:
Communities in Schools Houston Inc; The Houston Annenberg Challenge; Houston Community College-Central; Houston Independent School District; Project GRAD; Rice University; Texas Education Agency; Texas Southern University; University of Houston-Central; and the University of Houston-Downtown

Project Abstract:
Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) in Houston, Texas, is a school-community collaboration established in 1993 to improve instructional quality and the school environment for Houston's at-risk, inner-city children. Serving 24 schools and over 17,000 Hispanic and African American students, Project GRAD is an extensive partnership of schools, businesses, community-based organizations, and foundations. Some 90 percent of funds come from the private sector and individuals. Project GRAD combines research-based curricular reform in math, reading, and language arts with comprehensive services, including tutoring, mentoring, and counseling, for children from kindergarten through high school. The project includes networks of schools, elementary through high school, to develop a consistent emphasis on high standards for all students. The long-term goal is to reform K-12 education so that every student is insulated from academic failure, graduates from high school and goes to college. To further promote college attendance, Project GRAD promises all ninth-grade students a $1,000 per year college scholarship if they meet basic academic criteria. The rates of high school graduation and college enrollment have quadrupled in participating Houston schools in the past several years, and students' test scores have improved dramatically.

Publications

For additional information on Gear Up for College, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/gearup/gu-resources.html

• Yes, You Can: A Guide for Establishing Mentoring Programs to Prepare Youth for College. This extensive new guide, published by the Department of Education in October of 1998, provides a number of models, resources, and suggestions for planning mentoring programs.

• Think College Early. The Think College Early Web site provides information on educational opportunities beyond high school, focusing specifically on students in middle school, their parents, and teachers. The site includes information about financial aid for college, the core academic courses needed for college, career awareness, and other resources.

• Partnership for Family Involvement in Education. The Partnership was started in September 1994 by Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, in an effort to join together employers, educators, families, religious groups, and community organizations to improve schools and raise student achievement. This Web site contains: links to publications to help develop effective projects and partnerships; a listing of thousands of organizations that are currently members of the Partnership, representing every state in the country; and suggestions to help build partnerships. The Web site also allows organizations to connect with other groups to share and learn from one another.

• Expanding Federal Work-Study and Community Service Opportunities, An FWS Resource Guide from the U.S. Department of Education, May 1997.

[ Bilingual Professional Development Program ]

[ The Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) ]