We prioritize students who have potential and commitment to college, but who without intervention, would have extremely limited college prospects. Our cohorts have an average 2.7 GPA (or 80%) and a 844 SAT score when they begin. 97% of Fellows identify as people of color, while 93% are free/reduced lunch eligible.
We work with teachers from within their own schools because they are best positioned to build and deepen relationships, identify and secure resources, and garner in-school community support as they coach their students to meet ambitious outcomes.
OneGoal starts as a credit-bearing class during students’ junior and senior year of high school. Then, when Fellows enter college, Program Directors bridge the transition from high school to college by providing one-on-one intensive coaching remotely through the first day of Fellows’ sophomore year of college.
We focus on ensuring Fellows make academic gains to increase their access to quality colleges, while also developing non-cognitive skills and mindsets needed to be successful in college and beyond. Non-cognitive development is not merely a by-product of college preparation and success work within our model; rather, it is a core curriculum objective, central to our teachers’ coaching and a focus of students’ growth. And OneGoal Fellows are supported to develop these skills in service of academic and life goals that are personally relevant to them.
We provide daily lesson plans and accompanying resources to guide our Fellows’ success. Our curriculum is research backed, and includes content and strategies that have been vetted by leading college success research. It is revised annually to incorporate feedback from Program Directors in each region.
Each OneGoal Program Director and cohort is supported by a OneGoal staff coach who provides training and ongoing instructional coaching, as well as postsecondary expertise. They are frequently in classrooms conducting observations and giving Program Directors support.
We are obsessed with data, and proud of it! We use a customized platform that provides teachers and staff with up-to-the-minute data and reports to track the progress of every student in the program. We leverage technology in a number of ways: to differentiate instruction, to help Fellows find their top match colleges, to send Fellows text messages to nudge action over the summer, and to track progress once Fellows are in college.
As part of our efforts to connect Fellows with strong match and best-fit colleges, OneGoal continuously develops partnerships with postsecondary institutions that are making a concerted effort to support students of color, students from low-income communities, and first-generation college-goers. These are colleges and universities where Fellows can have engaging and challenging college experiences, while doing well socially, financially, and academically, with the ultimate goal of persisting through college graduation.
Teachers, if you have the passion, we have the tools to set you and your students up for success, join us.
School leaders, we’re looking for more school partners in the Bay Area, Chicago, Houston, Massachusetts, Metro-Atlanta, and New York —we’d love to hear from you.