We provided the initial catalytic funding to allow OneGoal to expand to New York City. OneGoal New York is now reaching, in only six years, the same level of scale and impact that it took the founding region (Chicago) nine years to achieve. A new study of more than 7,000 public high school students showed they had a 40% greater chance of earning a bachelor’s degree after enrolling in OneGoal.
OneGoal identifies, trains, and supports high-performing champion teachers to implement a three-year college readiness and success curriculum into classroom-based learning. OneGoal specifically focuses on addressing college under-matching challenges by targeting mid-range achievers, by providing comprehensive services geared toward improved GPAs and standardized test scores, and by helping students identify more selective and supportive best-fit colleges. Staff work intensively with underperforming students from 11th grade through the first year of college not only to support them to and through college, but to increase their college selectivity tier by at least one level.
According to a recent external evaluation conducted by the University of Chicago, OneGoal demonstrated an increase in college enrollment and persistence of 10 to 20% compared to a control group, with a particularly strong effect in increasing four-year college enrollment and persistence rates. Through this low-cost and scalable model, which relies on existing resources, OneGoal can make district-wide improvements in college success.