Washington Achievers Scholars

September 2014

Washington Achievers Scholars

1.  Purpose: The purpose of the Washington Achievers Scholars is to support community involvement officers (CIO) in the recruitment, training, and matching of community volunteer mentors with students selected as achievers scholars. CIOs provide mentorship to low-income high school students in their junior and senior years of high school and into their freshman year of college. The expected outcomes are to have the mentors to provide motivation and assistance to the participating low-income students so that they will successfully complete high school and college.

2.  Description of services provided: The College Success Foundation (CSF) recruits and trains CIOs to oversee the mentoring program in participating high schools, selects and trains the Washington State Achievers Scholarship recipients, and recruits and trains individuals to work as community involvement mentors. Students are matched to mentors and are provided services through the CIOs and mentors such as tutoring, counseling, and academic advising. Achiever progress is monitored for success. Community involvement activities are offered to Achiever and non-Achiever students to facilitate communication with administration and teachers at participating high schools to promote college preparation and the Achievers Program goals.

3.  Number of staff associated with this program/service (indicate where applicable):

Fiscal Year 2014

# of OSPI staff associated with this funding (FTEs): 0

# of CSF staff associated with this funding (FTEs): 21

(17) College Prep Advisors who are school-based staff providing college planning supports to students. College Prep Advisors are working in Highline, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and Yakima school districts.

(2) Senior Program Officers who support and supervise College Prep Advisors. There is one Senior Program Officer based in Spokane and the other in Issaquah.

(1) Program Associate who provides administrative support to the statewide team.

(1) Program Director who provide statewide oversight and program support.

FY 14 Funding: State Appropriation: $1,875,000

5. Is continued funding needed in the next biennium? Yes.

6. What is the current status of this program’s implementation? The program was in the final year of contract funding 2011-13.

7. When will the project be completed? This is an ongoing project. The Achievers Scholars program’s goal is to support as many Achiever Scholars in preparing for college as possible.

8. First year funded: 2005-06

9. State funding since inception:

10. If applicable, the number of beneficiaries (e.g., schools, students, districts) since inception:

# of schools/students servedby year since inception (back it FY 06 if possible if you can).

Data Source: CSF Data Warehouse (September 6, 2014). Prepared by CSF Research and Evaluation 9/16/14.

11. Evaluations of program/major findings:

The first ten cohorts of College Success Foundation Achievers Scholars (2001-2010 high school graduates) received college awareness, readiness and access supports and services, as well as college scholarship dollars. Beginning with 2011 high school graduates, Achievers continue to receive supports and services, but their participation in the program is no longer accompanied by a CSF college scholarship. CSF helps students access private and public scholarship dollars.

High School Graduation Rates: Over 95 percent of Achievers graduate on-time from high school each year, compared to 89 percent of all low-income juniors in Washington State.

College Direct Enrollment Rates:

Potential of College Bound Scholarship to Facilitate Greater Results

·  CSF estimates that 75 percent of Achievers in the high school graduating class of 2015 have signed up for the College Bound Scholarship.

·  Based on CSF’s previous positive student academic achievement outcomes combining supports and services with scholarship dollars, CSF is optimistic that College Bound will positively increase the college enrollment and graduation outcomes of the Achievers Scholars Program.

12. Major challenges faced by the program: Demands of managing a statewide one-on-one mentoring program – Currently, the Achievers Program is providing one-on-one mentoring through the Hometown Mentor Program. This mentoring model requires significant staff resources to implement effectively and, with College Prep Advisors managing the program at each school, reduces time for direct service to students. The program is exploring other mentoring models such as team mentoring to create efficiencies so more staff time can be directed toward to students. Team mentoring would provide the same supports of a one-on-one model but with fewer mentors to recruit, screen, train and monitor. The model also leverages the positive impact of group interactions and sense of community.

-  Capacity of current staffing to develop students’ non-cognitive factors – The program aspires to focus more intentionally on the students’ development of non-cognitive factors. This kind of work requires more intensive student engagement and interaction than the program is able to deliver. It is expected that the focus on non-cognitive factors will translate into positive life outcomes for students as they begin college, work toward graduation and enter the workforce. Creating the capacity for non-cognitive work could be achieved with a combination of new program efficiencies, re-prioritizing program activities, earlier program enrollment for students and smaller cohort sizes.

13. Statutory and/or Budget language: Budget Proviso 3ESSB 5034 (Section 501 (3)(c)(i). $1,875,000 of the general fund -- state appropriation for fiscal year 2014 and $1,875,000 of the general fund -- state appropriation for fiscal year 2015 are provided solely for the Washington state achievers scholarship program. The funds shall be used to support community involvement officers that recruit, train, and match community volunteer mentors with students selected as achievers scholars.

14. Other relevant information: The program has a received a great deal of positive feedback. This is an enhanced funding level to expand efforts in other areas of the state.