To motivate and encourage disadvantaged students from middle school through doctoral studies, the federal TRIO programs, since 1964, have provided funds for programs that help low-income students gain access to and succeed in college. Two-thirds of the students served by TRIO programs must come from families which have incomes under $26,000 (for a family of four) and in which neither parent received a bachelor’s degree. About 64 percent of TRIO students are members of racial and ethnic minority groups; about 19 percent of all TRIO students are Hispanic.

TRIO encompasses eight federal programs, six of which help students gain the skills needed to prepare for, enter, and complete college through the doctoral level: Talent Search (in which ASPIRA participates), Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math and Science, Educational Opportunity Centers, Student Support Services, and Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement programs. These programs provide competitive grant opportunities to institutions of higher education, public and private agencies, community-based organizations, and secondary schools. TRIO also funds professional development opportunities for TRIO projects to share their best practices with other institutions and agencies that serve low-income students but do not have TRIO grants. About 2,300 TRIO programs currently serve approximately 720,000 students. In FY 1999, TRIO received $600 million in federal funds.

Findings from a recent national evaluation of Upward Bound, the longest-running TRIO program, show that participants in the program expect to complete more schooling, take 17 percent more academic coursework, and are more likely to be enrolled in a strong academic curriculum that comparable nonparticipants. Data also show that Hispanic students benefit significantly from participating in the Upward Bound program, When compared with similar students in a control group, Hispanic students who participated in Upward Bound earned more high school credits, were less likely to drop out of high school, and attended four-year colleges at a higher rate.

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), a research-based program authorized under Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1998 and administered by the U.S. Department of Education, supports early college preparation and awareness activities at the local and state levels. GEAR UP awards competitive multiyear grants to locally designed partnerships among colleges, low-income middle schools, and at least two other partners (e.g., community organizations, businesses, state education agencies, parent groups, and nonprofit organizations) to increase the college entry rates for low-income youth, including Hispanic students.

Local GEAR UP partnerships often incorporate proven strategies for helping low-income youth increase their chances of attending college, informing students and their parents about college options and financial aid, encouraging students to take college-preparatory classes, working will all students in a grade level, and providing a group of sixth- or seventh-graders with services through high school graduation. GEAR UP services may include mentoring, tutoring, counseling, after-school programs, summer academic and enrichment programs, and college visits. For example, the University of Connecticut is working with Louis Batchelder School in Hartford to provide its sixth- and seventh-graders and their families, many of whom are Hispanic, with counseling, tutoring, and parent education. State GEAR UP providers similarly provide low-income students with activities to make them aware of college opportunities early in their schooling, better academic support, information about paying for college, and scholarships.

Funded by Title VII, Calexico’s School-to-Career plan is supported by the use of CareerWare, a multimedia commercial system that takes a personal inventory of a child’s likes and dislikes, classroom curriculum, possible career futures, and other defining career characteristics. The CareerWare program gives parents an analysis of their child’s answers so that parents and children can work together to put the student on the right career path. This program also makes parents aware of the classes their child should take in junior high school, high school, and through continuing education to work toward making that career a reality.

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a college preparatory program for students performing below their potential, serves about 45,000 students worldwide in 900 middle and high schools. AVID targets students who come from low-income families, will be the first in the family to attend college, face special obstacles to achievement, and may represent an ethnicity traditionally underrepresented in four-year colleges. About 43 percent of students in the program are Hispanic. In the United States, AVID operates in 13 states, including Texas and California, states with high percentages of Hispanic students.

The program features a college-preparatory elective course, a rigorous curriculum, and site teams composed of an AVID coordinator, subject-area teachers, parents, and trained college tutors. Essential components of the AVID program are attendance at AVID Summer Institutes; proper selection of students and staff; training for tutors; use of the AVID curriculum components of writing, inquiry, and collaboration (WIC); and monitoring of students’ progress through systematic data collection. Students are expected to make at least a three-year commitment to the program in senior high school.

AVID divides participants into classes of about 30 students. Typically, each school has four or five AVID classes. At both middle- and high school levels, AVID classes typically include students from all grade levels that the school serves. AVID functions as a regularly scheduled elective class that meets for one period a day, five days a week. For the rest of the school day, students attend their other classes, many of which are honors or advanced placement classes.

AVID teachers, assisted by trained college tutors, offer a strong writing curriculum and use many inquiry-based learning strategies. Students are asked to draw inferences, analyze events, and evaluate facts; they practice these skills by writing essays and other papers. Students are also expected to take extensive notes in each class to improve their note-taking skills. At the end of each week, they turn in their notebooks for review and critique. Students also learn how to take tests and manage their time, how to prepare for college entrance–placement exams, how to read text books effectively, and how to use the library for research.

AVID students participate in small-group tutorial sessions during two weekly tutoring sessions in AVID classes. Students receive extra help in specific subjects as questions are generated from their classroom notes, as well as coaching in study skills (time management, assignment and grade recording, binder organization), note taking, and library use. Tutors provide the bridge between students’ knowledge and learning experiences and the expectations of the AVID coordinator.

The AVID coordinator helps school guidance counselors schedule students in college preparatory courses and sees that students complete financial aid applications. According to one AVID coordinator, "High school counselors may not encourage these students to enroll in advanced classes...given their prior academic profiles. Because of many students' own low expectations for themselves, it would never occur to them to self-enroll in these classes."

Once students are enrolled in advanced classes, the AVID coordinator continues to provide support. For example, if an AVID student is performing poorly in a particular class, the coordinator may talk with the teacher to pinpoint the problem. If several AVID students are having difficulty, the coordinator may send an AVID tutor to sit in on the class and learn what is causing the most confusion.

Teachers, counselors, and administrators from AVID schools participate in ongoing professional development to implement the program. During the AVID Summer Institute, AVID’s national leaders work with school teams on daily curriculum planning. This implementation strand includes discussion of how to help teachers align curriculum to state standards.

AVID has had success not only in keeping underachievers in high school but also in getting them to go on to college—at rates double and triple that of the general school population. An external evaluation showed a positive, direct correlation between AVID students' higher grades and their length of stay in the program. The average AVID student graduates from high school with a 3.2 grade-point average. Data collection by the AVID Center indicates that more than 90 percent of AVID graduates enroll in college, with 60 percent attending four-year institutions.

"STEM is a rebuttal to the idea that minority students can only succeed in ‘hands-on’ rather than ‘minds-on’ programs."

—Charles Vela, STEM Executive Director

The STEM Institute is an intensive, five-week summer program for Hispanic and other underrepresented minority and economically disadvantaged students whose grades and attendance records indicate the potential for academic success. Public and private schools nominate most program participants, who are then invited to complete the application process. Students’ transcripts, school attendance records, and letters of recommendation are reviewed, and approximately 25 students at each grade level are accepted. Talented students from low-income families have an advantage in the selection process.

Latino university professors, professional scientists, and engineers who are members of the Center for the Advancement of Hispanics in Science and Engineering Education (CAHSEE)develop the STEM curriculum. CAHSEE members have identified key mathematical and scientific topics, skills, and capabilities that students at each grade level need to master to achieve future success in a career in science, mathematics, or engineering. In addition, because of its emphasis on high standards and expectations, the STEM curriculum, along with some of the tests that are administered, reflects the content that is now being taught at leading universities. For example, last summer, STEM students who studied probability and statistics took the same final exam as students at a university.

In summer 2000, students will take the following courses:

Plans are under way to extend the program to students in the twelfth grade by offering them opportunities to conduct creative research in private and government labs during the summer.

Students attend the program from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. They spend approximately six hours in classroom instruction, with two hours reserved for individual tutoring and an hour for lunch. Students enroll in two classes for the summer (except eleventh-graders, who enroll in three).

Graduate and senior-level undergraduate students from universities nationwide instruct students in the summer program. All training and oversight are provided by CAHSEE members, who are university faculty members or have particular training and expertise in teaching or otherwise working with students of high school- and college-age.

Miami–Dade County Public Schools’ Migrant Academic Planning and Awareness program, MAPA ("roadmap" in Spanish) uses Title I funds to serve middle-school and high school students in five schools. MAPA teachers and counselors help students figure out their "roadmap of life." MAPA is designed to help migrant students develop an awareness of the importance of education and the skills needed to navigate the educational system.

Students work with teachers individually or in small groups to develop a personalized education blueprint in accord with their interests and goals (for instance, students are often advised to take certain college-track classes). Students also use the Internet and various software programs to begin selecting a career. Students look at career options regularly, set short- and long-term goals, and work to achieve them.

MAPA also offers students tutorials in language arts, reading, and mathematics (both in school and after) as well as peer counseling and conflict resolution workshops. In addition, the MAPA program offers tutorials for the High School Competency Test, which Florida requires for graduation. The tutorials also help students learn test-taking strategies for the SAT and ACT. Motivational seminars to develop a positive attitude about education and the importance of finishing school help reduce migrant students’ dropout rate.

At Moreno Middle School in Calexico, California, students are not allowed to slip through the cracks. Students with two or more F’s have individual conferences with an administrator, all their teachers, and a parent. Through this intervention method, parents, teachers, and administrators get "up front and personal with the students who need the most help. These are the students who need to be tracked most closely," according to one staff member. By including parents in these meetings, the school helps them to help their children achieve. Parents are also informed, both at these meetings and in parent orientation, of the school requirement that each child carry a special notebook that serves as an organizer for daily assignments, due dates for projects, and other homework notices. Parents can check the notebooks daily to ensure that their child is completing all homework assignments.

To prepare students for their next schools, guidance counselors at Liberty High School in New York City meet three times a semester with each student. Students get a chance to visit other schools, sit in on their classes, and shadow students. Counselors from other high schools also meet with Liberty students.

Mentors in the Puente Project create what the director of mentor training, Luis Chavez, calls "an environment where learning is more than opening a book." Each school has a community mentor liaison who trains the mentors.

Mentors’ responsibilities include:

• Meeting with students at the mentor’s work site

• Discussing with students their academic, career, and personal experiences

• Introducing students to professional and community organizations

• Providing resources for student reading and writing assignments

More than 4,000 professionals, primarily from the Mexican American/Latino community, have served as mentors. In some sites that also implement the Peer Partner Program, eleventh-graders in the Puente Project are trained to mentor ninth-graders to keep them on track for college. The project emphasizes ways of being a good role model, leadership skills, and college admission information.

El Espejo ("The Mirror"), a tutorial program, pairs students at Loyola Marymount University and the most academically at-risk Lennox Middle School students. The Loyola tutors participate in training to use the Lennox School District standards in their tutoring, and a program liaison person strengthens the lines of communication between tutors and teachers. About 150 students participate in this program, meeting three times a week for academic help and social activities. All El Espejo participants are Hispanic. The college mentors have backgrounds similar to those of Lennox students and thus can personally relate to the children. Many mentors maintain strong relationships with the Lennox students throughout high school and even into college. Tutors also participate in social activities with students, going to lunch, the movies, or the beach. Lennox Middle School provides organized social activities once a month for mentors, students, and parents.

Since 1993, College Summit, a nonprofit organization, has helped many low-income students enroll in college. The privately funded program brings students nominated by their teachers to college campuses for an intensive, four-day, residential workshop that compresses most of the college application process into this single event. Students leave with examples of completed applications for admissions and financial aid, written personal statements that portray their strengths accurately and persuasively, lists of recommended colleges, and plans for following through. To help the students finish up their senior year productively and persist through the application and transition activities, College Summit trains school and youth agency staff and corporate volunteers in the program’s mentor curriculum to work weekly with students throughout the remainder of their senior-year application process.

Since 1993, College Summit has served more than 1,000 students in Colorado, Illinois, Florida, New York, and Washington, D.C. In 1999, College Summit served about 380. Ninety-five percent of these students were minorities; about 35 percent were Hispanic students. Of the 1,000 students served since 1993, 80 percent gained acceptance to a postsecondary school and 79 percent enrolled—more than twice the national average of 34 percent for high school graduates at the same income level. Their retention rate is 80 percent. College Summit participants attend a variety of schools that match their academic and financial needs, including Brown University, Florida A & M University, Illinois State University, Santa Fe Community College, University of Colorado, and Stanford University.

Thurgood Marshall Middle School, a Chicago Title I schoolwide program, creates a more personalized learning environment by forming teams of teachers and students. The school has six interdisciplinary teams. Each team has its own wing at the school, and students attend all of their core classes with their team. Marshall serves about 680 students in grades 7 and 8. About 70 percent of students are Hispanic, 17 percent are white, and 4 percent are African American. Twenty–four percent of Marshall students are ELLs, mostly Spanish-speakers. Ninety percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches.

Teachers "loop," following their students from the seventh to the eighth grade to maintain continuity in instruction. Curricular and instructional matters are generally addressed at the team level. For example, one team combines language arts and social studies into a single humanities block, and math and science into another block. Each week, teachers have four individual prep times and two team preps.

Students’ daily schedule consists of a 10-minute homeroom meeting, five periods of core instruction (reading, language arts, social studies, math, and science), one or two exploratory classes (music, art, gym, library, computers), a Drop Everything and Read time, and a 25-minute advisory period that many teachers use to get to know their students better through discussions of personal and social issues.

From 1995 to 1999, the percentage of Marshall eighth-graders scoring above the national norm on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) increased from 26 percent to 48 percent in reading and from 18 percent to 54 percent in mathematics.