Help 750 low-income kids get into college!

Dear Friend of SEE College Prep,

Summer of 2011 has been very busy!  We're very happy to give you an update about our progress serving low-income California high school students with SAT preparation and college counseling content.

• Our summer programs are nearing conclusion.  All sixteen of the schools we are serving have reacted positively to our program, and the results so far are quite promising.  While it's too early to tell with certainty where all students will end up, with three of the four diagnostic tests completed nearly all students are showing positive improvement.  We're hopeful that we'll beat our prior achievement of 200 point average increases!
• We are preparing in full force for our first school-year programs, and are excited by their efficiency and scale. Through Alliance for College Ready Public Schools and Green Dot in Los Angeles, we will serve at least 600 students at six high schools beginning next month!  We will train nearly forty teachers in early August for programs that launch in late August and early September; after the program starts, we will begin recruiting undergraduates who will join the program in January as mentors to the students, much like in our summer programs.
• Our June 15 online campaign via Global Giving raised over $10,000 in just 24 hours—thank you to those who played a role in this effort!  We've also secured generous funding in the past month from two foundations and several major donors to help us end our year strongly.
• We are also very excited to welcome a new Board Member to our leadership.  Rick Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues, and his work on efficiency, resource usage, and economic outcomes of schools has frequently entered into the design of both national and international educational policy. Rick’s wealth of knowledge concerning charter schools and teacher quality, and prominence in the research of these fields, will contribute greatly to our efforts to reach more students and offer high-quality services to all participants. Rick’s illustrious academic career will bolster our organization’s efforts to deliver a program that is backed by data and the latest research. Welcome, Rick!
• We've also just welcomed a new staff member, Krystal O'Leary Flores, to our team as our Los Angeles Programs Manager; in this role she'll be responsible for ensuring our LA-based work goes well, including recruiting and managing excellent teachers and mentors to serve our students.  Krystal has a career as a professional educator, and was most recently a Lead Teacher and Program Coordinator in the Media Academy at Crenshaw High School in LA.  Welcome Krystal!

Thank you for your interest in our organization and your continued support!

Best,

Sean