(Nonprofit)- 1 Hour For Kids- Austin

http://www.unitedwaycapitalarea.org/1hourforkids/

Rachel Weiner- 1 Hour For Kids VISTA- Rachel.Weiner@UnitedWayCapitalArea.org

What is 1 Hour For Kids?

1 Hour For Kids, a new initiative from United Way, is a collaboration between eight Texas nonprofits that focuses on finding mentors and tutors for middle school students in Austin Independent School District (AISD) and Manor Independent School District (Manor ISD).  These eight Texas nonprofits include: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Girl Scouts of Central Texas, Manor ISD Project Mentor, River City Youth Foundation, The Seedling Foundation, Con Mi MADRE, Communities in Schools, and Breakthrough.  Mentors and tutors are asked to give at least one hour each week to their student.

1 Hour for Kids recognizes middle school as a key intervention point and discovered research that states that a middle school student with adult support is twice as likely to graduate.  Currently more adults mentor elementary students leaving a high number of middle school students without support.

For more information please watch the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2XN6IBTm0s

Ultimate Goal

The focus of 1 Hour for Kids is to work with other mentoring and tutoring programs to identify and implement best practices in an effort to provide all youth with high quality programs.  This collaborative strives to raise awareness of the importance of volunteering with youth.  We hope to increase the number of mentors and tutors for middle school students in Central Texas and increase each partner’s capacity to provide quality services.

Opportunities and Needs

The 1 Hour For Kids program needs to recruit a total of 400 volunteers to work with middle school students.  They hope to expand to different school districts such as Del Valle ISD and Plugerville ISD as well as bring in more partners and volunteers.  They are also trying to form relationships with the community, reach out to companies, faith based organizations, and other contacts within United Way’s established relationships.

How Does 1 Hour For Kids Work?

The potential mentor or tutor can then select up to three organizations on the website and submit their contact information.  Organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and Con Mi Madre ask the mentor to meet with their student out in the community and pair them with students based on similar interests.  The school based organizations such as Seedling Foundation have the mentors go to the schools and meet with their student during their lunch break or play games with them on campus.  For after school programs such as River City Youth Foundation and Breakthrough, mentors go to their location sites to visit with their students.

Volunteers can also take a quiz on the 1 Hour For Kids Website to see which organization they want to work with.  1 Hour For Kids also meets with all of their partners once a month to determine their needs.  Together, they identified six target schools that have many at-risk youths who need mentors.

Assessment Methods

This program will chart their students’ successes for the coming school year by looking at attendance, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores, behavior, and grades. 1 Hour For Kids also has a data sharing agreement with AISD that will allow them to access this data. They are also looking into the proper length for the match.  Research shows that less than three months can be damaging to the child; therefore, 1 Hour For Kids prefers that mentors commit to a year if possible.

Numbers and Statistics

Since they have launched the volunteer recruitment in June 2009, 1 Hour For Kids has had over 300 mentors sign up.  They have also received backing from the Austin Chamber of Commerce and E3 Alliance.  The majority of the volunteers are young professionals who have a full time job and often have families of their own.

Highlights

Rachel likes having contact with volunteers.  By talking to these people, she gets a sense of their enthusiasm and passion for mentoring.

Website: http://www.cluboutreach.org/index.html

Contact: Aisha Fletcher, President - email: aisha@cluboutreach.org

Who is Club Outreach?

 Club Outreach is a new student organization that was created with a purpose to support the UTeach Outreach program and serve as a liaison between other student groups at the University and the AISD community. There have been many requests by student groups to participate in a number of service projects each year with AISD. However, there are certain steps and procedures that student organizations need to complete in order to do so. Club Outreach strives to ease that process for students.

Ultimate Goal

 Club Outreach works toward providing opportunities for UT Austin students to volunteer in the community’s schools with assistance to at-risk students “through fun, hands-on activities. UT Austin students will be mentors and role models to AISD students.”

Opportunities and Needs

 They would like to increase funds in order to purchase top-of-the-line supplies that would make their events the best possible. In addition, they are hoping to recruit people that have taken the UTeach Outreach course or individuals passionate about the program in order to increase the number of members.

How Does Club Outreach Work?

 As a new student organization, Club Outreach has been utilizing this fall 2009 semester as a planning stage for upcoming events in the spring of 2010 such as Science Olympics (5^th grade) and Science Olympiad (middle and high school). Currently, they have 6 officers and 3 members.

Highlight

Aisha says that she enjoys the officer meetings because it is really exciting to see the positive change in the officers’ attitudes from before to after the meeting. Although they are students and often exhausted from a long day in classes, they are all of a sudden inspired and fired up from what was accomplished during the meeting.

(Nonprofit)- River City Youth Foundation- Austin

http://rivercityyouth.com/

RCYF Technology and Mentoring Coordinator: Sue Cole- sue.cole@rivercityyouth.org

What is the River City Youth Foundation?

Since 1983, River City Youth Foundation (RCYF) has been serving kids in Austin, and since 1999 for students from 5-17 years old in the 78744 area.   RCYF provides after school, weekend, and holiday programs to give kids a safe place to study, learn technology skills, improve academics, play, and receive one-on-one mentoring.  RCYF has several programs that give students the critical skills they need to be successful in life.  These programs are divided into seven different areas:

• Mentoring- The RCYF MY Hero! mentoring partnership matches a positive role model with an at-risk/ at-potential youth.
• Counseling and case management- RCYF provides services such as counseling, training, and case management to families.
• Substance abuse prevention- This program provides after school and summer camp educational services to at-risk youth and families
• Technology-These programs enhance technology use by teaching students to solve a problem or make a product using a variety of software and hardware.
• Health and wellness- RCYF provides a meal after school; students harvest fresh herbs and vegetables from their own vegetable garden.
• College and career-All of RCYF’s holistic service prepare students for a successful college and career experience.
• Community development-RCYF promotes the importance of community service through the Computer Learning Lab, MY Hero! Mentoring, and Neighborhood Youth Corps which provides student with the opportunity to serve their neighborhoods.

Ultimate Goal

The mission of RCYF is to provide a safe and healthy place for kids in Dove Springs to play and learn how to live prosperous lives.

Opportunities and Needs

RCYF would like to see 50-100 middle school students matched with mentors due to the great need for good role modeling and improvement of academic skills.  RCYF desires to increase collaborations with the faith-based community, volunteer community, and central Texas community so students can have more service learning projects.  RCYF would also like their students to participate in more University of Texas at Austin events such as Explore UT and have UT employees, students, and professors be mentors.

How Does RCYF Work?

The programs begin when the elementary students from Perez, Palm, Rodriguez, Widen, and Houston arrive at 2:45.  Middle school students mostly come from Mendez, Harmony, Fulmore, and KIPP middle schools and arrive after the elementary students.  The kids arrive and begin working on their homework with math tutors and other teachers in order to build their academic skills. RCYF emphasizes movement and sports during learning to reinforce academic skills. Kids also participate in the music math mentoring program where they use guitars to develop math skills.  RCYF also hosts several large events for the entire community. 

Assessment Methods

RCYF uses individual assessments through client satisfaction forms as well as an independent audit.  RCYF also assembles quarterly reports for funders to assess year to date success.

Numbers and Statistics

Since 1984, RCYF has been providing services and serves about 400 kids in the Dove Springs area each year.  For their big community events, RCYF serves anywhere from 700 to 1,0000 families.

Website: www.austinpartners.org
Contact: Elizabeth McCormick, Classroom Coaching Manager.
E-mail: EMcCormick@austinpartners.org

Who and What is Austin Partners in Education (APIE)?

They are an organization that was created from a partnership formed between Austin ISD and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. APIE provides a number of programs such as Classroom Coaching that “fosters effective community and school partnerships.” Volunteers reach out to different schools through tutoring and mentoring during the school day. They are supported by a diverse set of donors such as IBM Corporation, JetBlue Airways, 3M, Intel corporation, A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, Andy Roddick Foundation just to name a few.

Ultimate Goal

They strive to have as many kids and teens college and career-ready through connecting the community to the classroom. Their vision is to have “the Austin community and classrooms work together to ensure academic excellence and personal success for all students.” Through their volunteers, they hope to continue improving student engagement and academic performance.

Program Description

Programs take place during the school day. Teachers are always present in the classroom, and the class is split into groups (3 or 4 kids per group). A volunteer works with his or her assigned group for an entire school-year once a week for 45 minutes.

1. Partners in Math: geared towards secondary but just expanded to elementary school.

2. College Readiness: work with graduating seniors who have not yet achieved Texass Success Initiative (TSI) College Ready standard as juniors.

3. Partners in Reading: 2^nd grade students develop a love of reading while building fluency in English or Spanish.

4. Partners in Literature: dialogue and open discussions on a variety texts ranging from poetry to current events.

5. Partners in Technology:

a. Dell TechKnow - after-school program; learn hardware, software, and trouble-shooting skills; take home a computer.

b. Student Help Desk - learn technical support assistance for their campus technologist.

c. Computer Refurbishment Pilot - student-staffed computer refurb. lab with Burnet Middle School; provided 450+ computers to school families; learned the refurb. process and earn pre-professional IC3 certification.

6. Mentoring - adult mentors meet with students once a week at lunch time.

Measures and Assessment Methods

APIE have external evaluators from AISD who look at student performance, volunteers, teachers, and observe classrooms to look for student engagement. An independent evaluation found that there was a 7% increase in reading level for those who participated in the Partners in Reading program.

Some Numbers and Statistics from 2007-2008 school year annual report

• - 700 classroom coaches recruited and trained
• - APIE served 2,713 students through academic study group programs
• - Served 800 students through mentoring with an additional 800 through 3^rd-party organizations
• - 275 students who achieved the College Ready standard represent 21% of the non-college ready juniors
• - 7% more Partners in Math students passed the TAKS test as compared to similar non-participating students.
• - Partners in Reading second-graders participants doubled to over 744 students
• - 475 students learned hardware, software, and trouble-shooting skills thru Dell TechKnow
• - 450 computers were provided to school families from Burnet Middle School

UT Austin’s Involvement

78 volunteers are confirmed as UT students in the programs for the academic school year of 2009-2010 where 58 are mentors and 20 are classroom coaches. However, there is no doubt that there are more volunteers from UT who may not have self-identified with the institution when they registered. They are currently working with UT Elementary through their Partners in Reading program.

The following are some of APIE’s strongest UT Austin partners (in no particular order):

a.       Longhorn Pre-Pharmacy Association

b.       Society of Women Engineers

c.       Alpha Lambda Omega Christian Sorority Inc

d.       Lambda Theta Phi

e.       Sigma Phi Lambda

f.         Bridging the Gap

g.       Texas Wranglers

h.       Alpha Delta Pi

i.         Hispanic Business Students Association

j.         Hispanic Scholarship Fund

k.       Bilingual Education Student Organization

l.         Chicano/Hispanic Law Student Association

Highlight

Elizabeth McCormick, classroom coaching manager, focuses on 8^th grade mathematics. She had a teacher last year that talked passionately about the amount of learning that occurred when the volunteers were present in the room. The kids seemed to learn more in those 45 minutes than the rest of the week combined. She explains that “when there are caring adults near the students, they become more motivated and engaged. Seeing the 8^th graders excited about learning math is a very exciting thing.”

If you had all the resources…

APIE would like to reach out to every title 1 school through this program and share their resources with other school districts.

(UT Org)-Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC)-UT Austin

http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/

Margaret Baguio- Outreach Coordinator- baguio@tsgc.utexas.edu

What is the Texas Space Grant Consortium?

Comprised of thirty-five different institutions including universities, industries, non-profits, and government agencies within Texas, the Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC) inspires and educates Texans about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) mission of improving our knowledge about the planet, life on earth, and the universe.  TSGC supports K-12 Education by providing several classroom activities, professional development workshops, and resource materials to educators in order to get students excited about math, science, and space related fields.  TSGC mostly works with teachers through a series of education workshops based on the fact that training one teacher can affect a huge number of students.  One example of a TSGC professional development workshop is the “Opening the Door to the Universe” workshop.  This workshop covers background material on the solar system, the Sun-Earth connections, the Earth-Moon relationship, and space exploration found in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for elementary and middle school teachers.  TSGC also works with the Texas Regional Collaboratives to provide education workshops for teachers.

The highlight each year is the nationally competitive K-12 education program LiftOff Summer Institute held at Johnson Space Center (JSC).  Teachers elected spend a week at JSC interacting and learning with engineers, scientists, and astronauts.

TSGC also puts on career fairs for high school students who are interested in engineering.  High school students come to the building where TSGC is housed, and students listen to professor and researchers talk about their experiences.  Students learn about the expectations of the engineering profession, what areas they could study, the average salary, and the travel requirements.  TSGC also judges various sciences fairs and hosts sciences days at several middle and high schools in the Austin area.  TSGC has many K-12 education programs that are no longer active.  Due to the changes in funding opportunities, TSGC’s many K-12 education programs change from year-to-year. For more information click here.

TSGC works with undergraduate students as well.  TSGC has a program called Design Challenge where undergraduate engineering teens design and find a solution to an important NASA topic.  To find out more about higher education outreach click here.

Ultimate Goal

The mission of TSGC is to provide space education to the citizens of the state of Texas.  The consortium has six main objectives:

• Share space related course materials among consortium academic institutions
• Perform high caliber graduate level space research at consortium member institutions
• Develop multi-institutional space research efforts
• Increase interest for science and mathematics in public schools
• Develop space-related curricula for public schools and the public
• Increase the number of high school graduates, especially women and underrepresented minorities, who enter college to study science, mathematics, and engineering

Opportunities and Needs

TSGC wishes they had more volunteers to lead activities.  They would also like to know how The University of Texas at Austin is organized around educational outreach.

How Does TSGC Work?

All of the K-12 education and outreach programs and events go through Margaret Baguio.  Once she gets a request, she will look at the schedule and the budget to determine if the TSGC can host an event or find someone else to do it.  All of the higher education outreach is handled by Debbie Mullins, and all fellowships and scholarships are handled by Talia Jurgens.  TSGC is a part of the Center for Space Research and asks their scientists and professors to give talks to students.

Assessment Plan

TSGC has several methods of assessment.  TSGC records attendance, the logistics of the workshop, and knowledge gained by participants during the programs.  For certain professional development workshops, TSGC has follow-up evaluations.  They follow-up with the educator every three months, see what information they used, how many teachers they have trained themselves, if they need other materials, how many students have used the materials, and if they  have trained other educators in their districts using TSGC materials.

Numbers and Statistics

TSGC trains anywhere from 1500-2500 teachers a year, and the fellowship and scholarship programs provides $200,000 for students to help them with their college education.

Highlights

Margaret, the Outreach Coordinator, spoke about a high school student from El Paso who participated in a protein crystals experiment (one of the TSGC’s previous programs).  He became interested in engineering and wanted to work for NASA.  He decided to go to Texas A&M, but his grades were not high enough for him to get into the engineering program.  He decided to go into an undecided major and transfer over to engineering.  As he progressed through his engineering education, he would repeatedly call Margaret and ask for help from her and other engineers and scientists at the TSGC office.  With all of their help, he was able to succeed in his engineering courses.

Margaret also loves hearing form the teachers who attend their professional development workshops.  One teacher, who had attended the Lift-Off workshop, created a puppet show in English and Spanish for the district and was able to receive grant funding for it.  Another teacher wrote a grant to receive funding for robotic kits for her class.

(UT Org)- Saturday Morning Math Group and Austin Math Circle- UT Austin

http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/smmg/

Dave Jensen- Program Coordinator: smmg@math.utexas.edu

What is the Saturday Morning Math Group and Austin Math Circle?

The Saturday Morning Math Group (SMMG) is a University of Texas (UT) at Austin outreach program that gets middle and high school students excited about math.  SMMG meets four times a semester.  Each meeting has an invited speaker from the UT math department who gives a lecture on the topic of their choosing and uses many interactive activities to keep the students engaged.

Austin Math Circle is a group of middle and high school students that meets three Sundays per semester.  Graduate students from the math department give lectures and give the students problems to work on.  Each month, The Austin Math Circle focuses on one topic such as algebra, geometry, number theory, combinatorics, probability, or logic. 

Ultimate Goal

The mission of SMMG and Austin Math Circle is to encourage young people to learn and pursue careers in mathematics.  Both groups are always trying to build up the program and increase attendance.

Opportunities and Needs

SMMG would like to have more programs for more age groups.  They would also like to recruit more schools from the Austin area to attend SMMG and Austin Math Circle.

How Does SMMG and Austin Math Circle Work?

SMMG is organized into a lecture format that includes a multitude of interactive activities.  About halfway through the talk, the students take a snack break, and then proceed with another hour of activities.  In order to recruit students, mailings and emails are sent out.  The SMMG program coordinator recruits speakers from the math department as well as other departments around campus to increase the diversity of the lectures.  SMMG also runs many side programs such as problem solving competitions and Math Adventure.  Austin Math Circle recruits students and speakers in the same manner.

Assessment Plan

SMMG and Austin Math Circle record the meeting attendance, which schools the students came from, and the retention rate between meetings.

Numbers and Statistics

Most of the students come from AISD or Georgetown ISD.  About seventy to one hundred students attend each meeting.  The SMMG and Austin Math Circle is also one of the oldest math circles in the country.

Highlights

The program coordinator, Dave Jensen, always enjoys seeing all of the students that regularly attend the program.  He finds it inspiring that so many students are willing to wake up on a Saturday morning and learn about math.

Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program-UT Austin

http://www.utexas.edu/ce/k16/migrant/overview/

Peggy Wimberley-Coordinator:  migrant at utk16.org

What is the Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program?

This program was created to help migrant students who are enrolled in public schools to be able to graduate.  When a student’s family migrates to a different city, students are not able to complete course credits.  The Migrant Program helps the students recover their credits and provides students with the materials to complete the course in another city.  A total of forty-two distance learning courses that are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are offered to students. 

Ultimate Goal

The mission of the Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program is to provide a means for Texas high school migrant students to earn course credits anywhere in the state and ultimately graduate. 

How Does This Program Work?

The Migrant Program uses a plethora of services that are designed around the needs of the student.  The program provides online course and CD Rom courses for students who have access to computers and print based courses for students who do not have access to a computer.  If a student left a course with only a month left, the Migrant Program allows them to earn a credit by exam or complete the section of course that they missed.  Most Texas school districts have a migrant teacher and a contact person for the migrant program.  They can both contact the K-16 Education Center at The University of Texas at Austin when they need exams or course materials.  The K-16 Education Center also keeps track of student enrollment and grades.  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides the entire funding for the program enabling the students’ to receive the program’s services free of charge.

Assessment Plan

Since the Migrant Program is funded by the TEA, the Migrant Program must meet the standards set by the TEA.  The program is required to undergo performance evaluations, present their results from each year, meet the needs of a certain number of students, and provide certain services.  Students are assessed through graded assignments and a final exam.  Assignments are submitted online or mailed to the school and final exams must be taken at a proctored site.

Numbers and Statistics

The Migrant Program has existed for twenty-two years and has served over 19,000 students. 

Highlights

Each year an honor ceremony is held for the migrant students.  The counselors nominate certain students and pick the top five who will receive a scholarship.  A biography is also read about the students that emphasizes their achievement and how many years they have been migrating.

(UT Student Org)-Texas Debate Collective- UT Austin

http://texasdebatecollective.com/

Contact: Kris Wright-  wright.kris at gmail.com

Program Description

  The Texas Debate Collective (TDC) , a student organization  established in Fall 2008, sponsors a free and quality debate camp for low-income high school students at the University of Texas campus.   The camp lasts for one week during the summer and extends from 10 A.M. - 8 P.M daily.  About twelve faculty members from the University of Texas along with ten student volunteers and three debate coaches volunteer their time and efforts to teach this camp.  The TDC decided to host a free debate camp because camps as well as personal coaching are extremely expensive.  The TDC believes that all students should have equal access quality resources.

Ultimate Goal

The goals of the TDC are to promote camaraderie within the debate community, connect kids to each other, and stress the importance of helping in the community.  Ultimately, TDC wants students to successfully analyze documents and educate teachers about the practice of debate.  In the future, they desire to attain enough funds to provide free housing, meal tickets, transportation, and scholarships.   TDC also plans improve their camp by increasing their fundraising activities, extending the camp from one week to two weeks, and establishing a faculty camp. 

Program Procedures

TDC operates with a president and a vice president who organize the camp and recruit the volunteers.  Most volunteers and faculty members were recruited by word of mouth, and some volunteers were also previous high school students who were involved in debate.  An application was then created online for students to fill out.  After being accepted into the camp (most acceptances are on a first come first serve basis), the TDC asked the parents to sign liability wavers.  Throughout the school year, the TDC focuses on curriculum development for the camp and decides which topics to emphasize during the camp.  The TDC focuses on old topics used in the previous year due to the belief that this method teaches students how to come up with cases and arguments on their own. 

Measures, Assessments, Methods

After the camp finishes, the student volunteers continue to stay in contact with the students.  They regularly go to the campers’ debate tournaments and see how the students are improving.  The camp also assesses their effectiveness by recruiting former students to come back and coach.

 Numbers and Successes

For summer 2008, forty students participated in the camp.

(UT Org)- The University of Texas Computer Science (UTCS) Department K-12 Outreach- UT Austin

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/outreach/

Tiffany Grady: Outreach Coordinator- tgrady@cs.utexas.edu

What UTCS Outreach?

The University of Texas at Austin Computer Science Department has several outreach programs for middle and high school students.  Due to the projected computer science job growth, UTCS is dedicated to promoting the computer science profession to middle and high school students.  UTCS has three main programs:

• UTCS Roadshow: A team of undergraduate and graduate computer science students travel to middle and high schools in the Austin area to introduce students to the computer science profession. The team explains to the middle and high school students about how internet and email works, give demonstrations about artificial intelligence, and show a robotic dog. The students participate in a logic game and receive prizes for answering questions.
• Breakfast Bytes: Three times a semester, middle and high school students can join UTCS to learn about computer science and interact with technology. For the first Breakfast Bytes session of the semester, a computer science professor spoke about iphone applications, and the students created their own application with some assistance from graduate and undergraduate students. This program usually lasts for two hours on a Saturday morning.
• First Bytes: High school girls going into junior or senior year are invited to attend a week long summer camp. Applicants are chosen based on their computer science aptitude, math grades, teacher recommendations, and a written essay. The students learn the about programming, create 3-D graphical scenes, take a field trip to the IBM labs, listen to lectures from computer science professors, and speak to different companies who hire computer scientists. First Bytes also tries to recruit girls into the UTCS program.

Tiffany Grady, the Outreach Coordinator, emphasizes that these programs would not be possible without the help of the computer science graduate and undergraduate students. 

The UTCS Department also hosts a three day camp for computer science teachers.  The educators learn about new and innovative ideas in computer science  and exchange information about what they are doing in their respective districts.

Ultimate Goal

The mission of the UTCS is to educate people about computer science and inform them of the exciting opportunities within the profession.  UTCS also desires to recruit more high school graduates into the computer science profession.

How Does UTCS Work?

Tiffany Grady manages and oversees all of the education outreach programs.   For the UTCS Roadshow, Tiffany contacts the high schools and asks them what their interests and needs are.  She then has a graduate student coordinate and manage the Roadshow. 

For the Breakfast Bytes program, Tiffany asks professors to lecture, organizes a group of undergraduate and graduate students to help out, and plans the interactive activities. 

The First Bytes summer camp has its own camp director who works six months out of the year and develops the application and logistics schedule.

Assessment Methods

First Bytes has a pre and post survey to measure how the participants’ attitudes have changed towards computer science as well as how much they value the computer science profession.  For the Breakfast Bytes program, attendance is recorded to see how it changes throughout the semester. 

Numbers and Statistics

Since the camp began eight years ago, First Bytes has averaged sixty girls each year.  For the first six years, approximately 2-3 First Bytes graduates entered the UTCS program, and they hope to continue this upward trend.  In 2008, seven girls entered the UTCS program.  The UTCS Roadshow reaches 1500 students each year, and Breakfast Bytes averages fifty students at each session. 

Highlights

Tiffany always enjoys seeing girls who participated in First Bytes make the decision to apply to the UTCS program.  She also gets excited about Breakfast Bytes and seeing the kids interested in computer science.  She also likes how many people in the department are involved, such as professors and current UTCS students.

Nonprofit- Breakthrough Austin

http://www.breakthroughaustin.org/

Jennifer Rivera- Program Coordinator: Jennifer@breakthroughaustin.org

What is Breakthrough Austin?

Since 2002, Breakthrough Austin provides educational opportunities for low-income middle and high school students who will be first generation college graduates and breaks down the barriers standing between these students and a college education.  The program begins admitting students in the sixth grade and makes the six-year commitment to help them graduate from high school and begin college.  Breakthrough hosts a series of programs that provides the students with the knowledge and confidence to graduate from high school and pursue a college degree.

 These programs include:

• Case Management- Breakthrough oversees and guides relationships among students, parents, schools, and the community through individualized case management. Breakthrough staff examines the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs and fills in any gaps in order to ensure the student remains college bound.
• Summer Program- For rising 7^th, 8^th , and 9^th graders, Breakthrough provides a six-week rigorous academic program for three consecutive summers at The University of Texas at Austin. The 9^th grade focuses on the high school transition experience and aims to increase 9^th grade pass rates and academic achievement. During the summer of 2010, Breakthrough will pilot a new program for rising 10^th graders.
• Early College Start- Breakthrough staff advises students in 10^th grade to take free college classes and earn dual credit at Austin Community College (ACC).
• High School Placement and Transition- Breakthrough Austin motivates students to apply to college-preparatory high school programs and conferences 9^th grade students and families to learn about course selection and other high school programs.
• College Preparation- Breakthrough Austin provides information to 11^th graders about visiting colleges, attending college fairs, receiving SAT/ACT registration support, and scholarship searches. 12^th graders also receive individualized support when they apply for college and financial aid.

Ultimate Goal

The mission of Breakthrough Austin is to get first generation students into college as well as provide support and guidance on their path towards college.  They ultimately desire to change the face of the community by ending the cycle of poverty that results from lack of education. 

How Does Breakthrough Austin Work?

Summer Program- For the summer program, most students come to campus on the bus.  The day starts with a unique way of taking attendance.  Students don’t just say “here,” they come up with different raps or poems to acknowledge themselves in an original way.  This type of attendance taking affirms that every student is here for the same purpose and serves as a cornerstone of what makes the Breakthrough Austin community so special.  Students then spend the day taking English, math, science and social studies classes as well as learn important study skills.  At the end of the day, everyone comes back for an all school meeting followed by the students doing two hours of homework.  At the end of the six-week session, students put on a showcase of everything they have done.

Case Management- Each staff member has a certain amount of students they review and monitor on a regular basis.  If a student is having problems, the staff member will investigate why he/she is not succeeding academically and creates an after school plan.  There are two middle school managers and four high school managers.

College Preparation- 10^th graders begin to sign up for ACC classes, 11th graders begin SAT/ACT prep courses and explore different colleges, and 12^th graders dig into the college application process. 

Assessment Plan

For the Summer Program, academic program is measured by pre and post tests using the WIAT II assessment.  Each year, students make statistically significant progress in reading, math and writing.  For all of their programs, Breakthrough Austin hands out student and parent satisfaction surveys.  Throughout the duration of the program, Breakthrough Austin tracks each student’s grades to see how they are progressing.  They also look at graduation rates and college entrance rates. 

Numbers and Statistics

Breakthrough’s first class of seniors graduated in 2008.  94% of these students graduated from high school in four years, which is double the graduation rate of non-Breakthrough students from their home campuses.  91% of Breakthrough’s second class (2009) graduated form high school in four years.  More than 70% of Breakthrough’s first two classes of seniors enrolled in college.  85% of their middle schoolers are enrolled in advanced coursework, and 85% of their 9^th graders attend a high school where the majority of students attend college.  For the 2008-2009 school year, a total of 284 students were enrolled in the various programs. 

For the 2008 class, 75.5% of Breakthrough students were Hispanic/Latino, 19% were African-American, 1.5% were Asian-American, and 3.6% were Caucasian.  92% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch, and 95% will be first generation college graduates. 

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Highlights

Jennifer Rivera enjoyed seeing the first group of students graduate and pursue a college education.  She was a teacher at Breakthrough Austin during the very first summer of the program when there were only twelve teachers and forty-two kids. Now Breakthrough Austin’s summer program has three different grade levels and thirty-six teachers.  Breakthrough serves more than 250 students in grades 7-12 and more than 65 alumni.  Jennifer enjoys being part of this community and watching the students grow and change from middle school to high school.  When she started, 2008 seemed far away and seeing the first class graduate was almost a surreal feeling for her.