Organization's Mission, History, and Programs
Students from the Ravenswood City School District (serving East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park) are failing to complete high school at an alarming rate. In 2002, the K-8 Ravenswood City School District assigned 475 students to four high schools in the Sequoia Union High School District. The District reported to the Built To Last Collaborative (BLTC) that by 2006, 73% of the students failed to graduate. By contrast, the Sequoia Union High School District as a whole has a graduation rate of 90.4% while students coming to high school from Ravenswood City School District have a graduation rate of 27%.[1]
There are deep educational inequities between students placed from the Ravenswood District and students placed from the District's more affluent feeder elementary and middle schools. For example, the per capita income of the city of East Palo Alto is $13,774 and over 4,000 residents live below the federal poverty level. The unemployment rate for men is three times that in the rest of San Mateo County. The total population is primarily Hispanic/Latino (58.79%), African American (23.03%) Pacific Islander (7.63%), with 4.56% from two or more races. By contrast, another feeder district city is Atherton. Their per-capita income is $112,408, they are 85.4% White, and they have a high graduation rate of over 94%.
Funded by a California Service Corps planning grant in 2006, the BTLC surveyed and interviewed approximately 20% of the 2006 high school class.[2] In addition to District statistics, the needs assessment survey documented a compelling community need for academic support to close the stark academic achievement gap in our region. The results cited a critical need for bringing in trained people to serve as tutors/academic coaches for students at risk of failing to graduate from high school. The survey data shows that tutoring is very effective as the programmatic focus of both on campus and community programs. A successful intervention strategy requires cooperation and continuity between community and on campus efforts to improve the educational outcomes of East Palo Alto and Belle Haven (eastern Menlo Park) high school students.
The Built to Last Collaborative spent 2006 and 2007 developing a program design, establishing a formal infrastructure and system of collaboration, producing a common vision, citing measurable outcomes, and articulating a monthly timeline. The design is research based and data driven. A pilot project was then launched in January, 2008 at Menlo Atherton High School. Eighty-five ninth-grade students from the Class of 2011 participated in the program. Their grades and test results will be available at the end of June.
In the next three years of operation, the collaborative will tutor the Class of 2011's 10th grade students from East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park, with a goal of raising student proficiency scores by 20 percent each year for at least half of the tutored students. A team of volunteers will supplement the core tutoring program with additional services, such as organizing parent involvement and translation services for parents. BTLC will continue to partner with non-profit organizations to augment the tutors, coaches and volunteers in their efforts to meet community needs.
BTLC will provide the Class of 2011 students from the Ravenswood district with a campus-based program of trained academic coaching providing coaches and tutors with emphasis on mathematics, science and English language arts; coordinate services with teachers and family members; provide mentoring, tutoring, and family support; open homework centers close to communities where students live; collaborate with non-profit organizations; and offer volunteer support to enable these students to graduate from high school in four years. In addition, those interested in post-secondary education will have access to mentoring and tutoring through a collaborative partnership with College Track.
[1] Sequoia Union High School District data for 2006-2007 (data and testing office).
[2] Goro Mitchell, "Built to Last Mass Canvassing Project," 2007.