Note: Upward Bound is a TRIO program funded by the United States Department of Education to provide academic support services to low-income, first generation college bound high school students. The mission statement and program goals (objectives in the U.S. Department of Education framework) are specified by federal regulations and policies and cannot be altered without approval from a program officer at the U.S. Department of Education.
I. Mission Statement
The mission of Upward Bound is to increase the rate at which participants complete secondary education and enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.
Department Goals (Performance Objectives dictated by the U.S. Department of Education)
- Academic Performance Grade Point Average (GPA): 60% of participants served during the project year will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better on a four-point scale at the end of the school year.
- Academic Performance Test: 40% of UB seniors served during the project year, will have achieved at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.
- Secondary School Retention and Graduation: 90% of project participants served during the project year will continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will have graduated from secondary school with a regular secondary school diploma.
- Secondary School Graduation: 50% of all current and prior year UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduate that year with a regular secondary school diploma.
- Postsecondary Enrollment: 70% of all current and prior UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will enroll in a program of postsecondary education by the fall term immediately after high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester).
- Postsecondary Completion: 37% of participants who enrolled in a program of postsecondary education, by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g. spring term) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment, will attain either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree within six years following graduation from high school.
The date of last review was February 1, 2020.
II. Departmental Accomplishments
- Implemented the first ever virtual Upward Bound summer program.
- Awarded a Special In-School Youth Summer Work Experience grant.
- Created paid virtual summer internships for all summer program participants.
- Developed a Comprehensive Evaluation to Identify Student Needs – During the 2020 virtual summer program, it became evident that our traditional summer program evaluation needed to adapt to our new environment. Project staff met regularly to develop a wide-ranging evaluation that would not only gauge summer program services, but also better understand the needs of our students in a school year distance learning environment. An evaluation was developed that asked what supplies they need to be successful in the school year (that we could provide them), what workshop topics they would find helpful, which summer program services they would like continued into the school year and how Upward Bound could better support their learning in the fall. An additional staff evaluation was developed to gauge our technology training and resources provided to staff and students prior to the start of the summer program. Participants were candid in their responses and provided substantial comments that will greatly assist program staff in planning for the upcoming school year. We are all hopeful that 2020 will be the only year that we have to facilitate a virtual summer program, but if needed, we feel capable of making substantial improvements to improve upon our virtual program if we have to replicate it in 2021.
- Created Supplemental Instruction (SI) Sessions – In a traditional summer residential program, group and individual study hours are structured into the schedule every evening for students to work together with resident advisors, teachers and peers to complete homework and study for upcoming exams. Project staff were apprehensive at the thought of losing this valuable activity, as it was extremely popular and necessary for student academic success. Virtual supplemental instruction (SI) sessions were created as a substitute, in order to provide an environment for students to gather, albeit virtually and work on homework together. Resident advisors led the sessions and students were placed in nightly sessions in groups of no more than 12, to ensure a group large enough for discussion, but small enough to guarantee everyone received individual attention. According to student evaluations of the summer program, SI sessions were incredibly useful and an activity that students hoped the project would continue into the fall semester. Summer program teachers also had the freedom to pop into those SI sessions and help students prepare for upcoming exams.
- Incorporated Virtual Office Hours – Communication between summer program teachers and students is a critical component of the summer program. Many students are too intimidated at the thought of meeting with their teacher, so in past summer programs, teachers have held office hours in the study lounge of both dormitories. Students have felt more comfortable approaching their teachers in their familiar home setting (Lassen and Shasta dormitories). Every 2020 summer program teacher was asked to set aside virtual office hours and include their Zoom link and schedule in their respective syllabus. Project staff explained to students that in college, visiting their professors during office hours will be a necessity if they’re to succeed academically. In the beginning, students needed coaxing to schedule an appointment, but it was great to hear that students began to schedule office hours with their teachers on their own and felt quite comfortable reaching out for help or clarification. At times, students just felt comfortable connecting with personal issues they were experiencing.
- Developed a Virtual Career and College Week – Instead of simply postponing our career fair, college visitation trips and workshops typically offered during the Upward Bound summer program, staff worked to revamp those experiences and provide them in a virtual setting. The last week of the summer program was billed as the Virtual Career and College Week and featured a variety of speakers, presenters, professionals and college tours all from the comfort and safety of home. Students were provided with a schedule and description of speakers and their Zoom links and they could choose which appealed to them. Each student was required to visit a college (from the list of colleges that offered virtual tours), attend a workshop and speak with a professional about a job that interests them. Community members generously gave of their time and offered workshops that included healthy relationships, how to find your first job, financial literacy and why they should study abroad in college. The career fair featured professionals in engineering, public health, graphic design, manufacturing, K-12 education, communications, governmental relations, criminal justice, concrete industry, nursing, architecture, and higher education. All sessions were live Zoom meetings, which allowed for lively discussion and candid questions from students.
Highlights
- Implemented the first ever virtual Upward Bound Summer Program – The shift to a virtual platform began with a comprehensive review of what federal requirements had to be met in order to maintain our funding and good standing with our funder, the U.S. Department of Education. Once establishing that a six-week program, with instruction five days per week and curriculum that included a lab science, foreign language, composition and math, along with a career exploration component was the standard, the work began. A daily schedule was created that required each student to enroll in two academic classes, a virtual job site, and participation in a supplemental instruction session. Additionally, students were required to meet with their resident advisor weekly for check-ins, to participate in fun activities and sign up for an advising session. Optional activities included fun events and challenges led by student ambassadors, virtual office hours with their teachers and individual tutoring sessions if they needed additional support in a class. A video orientation and online student handbook spelled out everything in detail for students and their parents. Staff worked diligently to safely deliver schools supplies, calculators and laptops that students could borrow for the duration of the summer program. Zoom tutorials were developed for staff and students to ensure all were aware of how to safely access summer program services. Daily staff meetings with core staff, weekly meetings with all summer program staff and resident advisor meetings helped with communication and allowed us to pivot and make quick changes when necessary. Daily communication via Remind and our social media platforms allowed for instant notification of changes or issues that could easily be relayed to students. Although it wasn’t a traditional residential program, we were pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback received by students and staff and most importantly, extremely proud that were able to establish community in a virtual environment.
- Awarded a Special In-School Youth Summer Work Experience grant – Although submission was delayed by a week due to the state’s stay at home order, Upward Bound was able to submit a grant that would pay wages to eligible students from Colusa, Glenn, Sutter and Yuba counties who participate in a summer work experience program. The project received notification in late May that our grant application was selected and were awarded more than $70,000, of which 95% goes directly to student wages. These funds help significantly with student retention, since students no longer feel the need to work and not attend the Upward Bound summer program. Students are able to fully participate in our program, while also earning a wage for the work they perform. Traditionally, students are placed in various worksites throughout the downtown Chico area, but those jobsites looked vastly different in 2020. The project was able to develop virtual jobs that ensured a student’s safety, while providing them valuable work experience and wages. The grant period extends into the year 2024.
- Created virtual paid summer internships for all summer program participants – Career exploration that includes hands-on work experience has been a cornerstone of the Upward Bound summer program for decades. Staff work to place students in various jobsites within Chico and create work-based learning groups that function as small businesses for younger students without any previous job experience. It was crucial that we not lose that component, even though the program had to move to a virtual platform, so staff went to work to develop virtual jobs, so that students not only gained valuable work experience and earned wages, but to also teach them that there are many great jobs that can be done remotely. We created the following:
- Public Relations Interns – Students worked in a team of 12 to manage our program’s social media accounts and were responsible for developing content and posting appropriate and informative messaging on a daily basis.
- Educational Content Creators – Students developed quarantine resources for kids in the form of booklets for low-income housing units in our service area. These booklets included science projects, reading activities and math problems for kids of all ages. The booklets were grade specific and delivered to numerous CHIP low-income housing units throughout our area.
- Community Coordinators – Community service is an integral part of a high school student’s resume. For this reason, students worked together to build a resource guide for all UB students of the many community service opportunities in their area. The handbook was organized by industry (healthcare, parks and rec, education, youth programs, etc.) and included agency name, contact person and nature of volunteer opportunities.
- College and Career Counselors – Making the connection from career interests to a major, college and eventual career is a daunting task. Students in this worksite developed career pathway posters and fact sheets for distribution to target high schools in the area. Posters included college information, which majors to pursue for that specific career, wage ranges and job duties.
All students “clocked in” daily to verify their time worked by using Clockify, a virtual timecard and were paid for their work either with Upward Bound internship stipend funds or with funding from the special in-school summer work experience grant secured in May.
III. Changes in Policies and Procedures
Upward Bound received notification from the U.S. Department of Education in late spring that all programs were officially allowed to operate a virtual summer program. Additional regulations were relaxed that allowed for projects to request one-time spending permission for items and services such as WIFI monthly plans and/or boosters for participants and the purchase of hotspots for those participants living in rural areas. The project submitted that request and is waiting for approval.
IV. Resources Summary
Resource Allocation:
Original Upward Bound Grant
June 1, 2019 – May 31, 2020
126 participants
- 2019-2020 allocation $644,083
- Program expenses $613,937
- Projected carry forward $30,146
Upward Bound II Grant
September 1, 2019 – August 31, 2020
76 participants
- 2019-2020 allocation $390,337
- Program expenses $363,367
- Projected carry forward $26,970
Upward Bound Math & Science
September 1, 2019 – August 31, 2020
56 participants
- Program expenses $254,419
- Projected carry forward $33,118
Upward Bound STEM
October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020
60 participants
- 2019-2020 allocation $287,537
- Program expenses $264,693
- Projected carry forward $22,844
Summer Foods Service Program
June 1, 2019 – May 31, 2020
212 participants
- 2019-2020 allocation $43,538.00
- Program expenses $43,538.00
- Projected carry forward $0.00
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020
52 eligible participants from Colusa, Glenn, Sutter and Yuba counties
- 2019-2020 allocation $79,086
- Program expenses $79,086
- Projected carry forward $0.00
Amy Kee Scholarship Endowment
- 2019-2020 total $35,189.91
- 2019-2020 contributions $3,075.07
Total funding in 2019-2020 $1,767,307.91
Human Resources:
After serving as the Upward Bound II Program Advisor for the past five years, Jasmine Ramos resigned from her position in order to complete the internship portion of her Master’s degree program. Jasmine was an incredibly dedicated Program Advisor and worked diligently to provide her Upward Bound students with every resource at her disposal. She was a fierce advocate for her students and will be sorely missed. The position is currently posted and we expect to hire a new Program Advisor by October 1, 2020.
Facilities/Equipment:
- Our program has a designated Upward Bound classroom and tutoring lounge at Oroville and Lindhurst High Schools. Both rooms are staffed with a site supervisor who oversees weekly tutoring attendance, assists with recruitment presentations at the school and serves as a resource for Upward Bound students. Due to COVID-19, those classrooms are not in use this semester and the site supervisor responsibility has been shifted to our two student assistants. They will track tutoring attendance this semester and we look forward to reopening those rooms when it is safe to do so.
- Due to the shift to distance learning, our program made the necessary decision to purchase additional laptops for Upward Bound students to use during our 2020 virtual summer program. Many participants also expressed a need for a laptop for the 2020-2021 school year, which for all began with a distance learning model.
V. Program Assessment of Past Year
Program Objectives:
- Academic Performance Grade Point Average (GPA): 60% of participants served during the project year will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better on a four-point scale at the end of the school year.
Exceeded – 87% of the 318 participants served during the project year, had a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better.
- Academic Performance Test: 40% of UB seniors served during the project year, will have achieved at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.
Exceeded – 75% of the UB seniors served during the 2018-2019 project year achieved proficiency before graduating high school.
- Secondary School Retention and Graduation: 90% of project participants served during the project year will continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will have graduated from secondary school with a regular secondary school diploma.
Exceeded – 100% of participants served during the 2018-2019 academic year continued in school at the next grade level or graduated with a diploma.
- Secondary School Graduation: 50% of all current and prior year UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduate that year with a regular secondary school diploma.
Exceeded – 75% of participants graduated high school having completed A-G coursework.
- Postsecondary Enrollment: 73% of all current and prior UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will enroll in a program of postsecondary education by the fall term immediately after high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester).
Exceeded – 95% of graduates in 2019 enrolled in college immediately following high school.
- Postsecondary Completion: 37% of participants who enrolled in a program of postsecondary education, by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g. spring term) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment, will attain either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree within six years following graduation from high school.
Exceeded - 46% of participants received their degree within six years, although the data shows that some participants were still enrolled in their seventh year.
Ongoing Assessment Efforts:
Demographic Reporting
A total of 318 participants were served during the 2019-2020 academic year by the four Upward Bound programs. See breakdown by program below.
- Original Upward Bound – 126 participants
- Upward Bound II – 76 participants
- Upward Bound Math & Science – 56 participants
- Upward Bound STEM – 60 participants
Ethnicity Breakdown
The ethnicity breakdown is similar to previous years and reflects the low-income/first generation population of the six-county service area in Northern California.
VI. Analysis
2019-2020 Initiatives (Progress update on last year’s initiatives to improve deficiencies)
More Strategic College Admissions Test Preparation – For the past five years, we’ve provided a SAT or ACT test preparation course and a proctored exam for all incoming high school juniors during the summer program. Because our students attend their regular classes Monday through Thursday, the test preparation workshops are always offered on a Friday morning. This hasn’t been the most effective method and time to provide this information since students are tired from attending class all week. We are excited to partner with ETC again this year and see if perhaps we can focus on providing a more structured online test preparation course during the academic year.
UPDATE – Our partnership with ETC proved to be incredibly successful. Nearly 50 Upward Bound students participated in two 6-week SAT preparation courses offered in an online format. Participants logged on for 1.5 hours each Sunday evening and reviewed test questions and learned strategies to help them improve their score. All students then took the exam the following week after completing the course. Due to COVID-19, all spring 2020 SAT exams were canceled. Additionally, the University of California and California State University systems announced in May that they would suspend entrance exam requirements due to COVID-19. The UC system went further and stated they would no longer require entrance exam scores, due to the inequality of access to preparation for these exams. Upward Bound staff will attend the fall 2020 virtual CSU and UC counselor conferences for updated information on how to proceed and assist students with future entrance exam requirements.
Low Male Enrollment – For the past five years, we’ve seen a decline in the number of male applicants that seek out our services. This concern has been a source of much deliberation and thought as we try and figure out how to increase the number of male students in our program. This past year, we increased the number of presentations at each target school, but we haven’t yet been able to connect with coaches so that we can offer presentation to male athletes in particular. We feel that this would be a great target population since our program offers free weekly tutoring to all participants, and would go hand in hand with students wanting to increase their grade to ensure participation in school sports.
UPDATE – Targeted recruitment efforts in 2019-2020 resulted in a significant increase in applications from males enrolled in our target schools. Just two years ago, our gender breakdown was 70% female and 30% male. A more equal gender breakdown was important for many reasons. Our participant gender breakdown is now 58% female and 42% male!
2020-2021 Initiatives
Create an online Upward Bound admission application and a new virtual recruitment plan – Because of COVID-19, the project has had to adjust program service delivery, but now also needs to implement a new recruitment plan to accommodate for school closures and the new distance learning environment. Upward Bound staff is currently developing an online application that would allow students to apply electronically, while also meeting CSUC’s requirements to safeguard personal information. Paper applications will still be available to students in Spanish and English, but an online application would allow for a safer and faster method of collecting student information. In addition to the application, staff is also developing a new virtual interview process that would be done via Zoom, in order to speak with each applicant and their guardian about the benefits and requirements of Upward Bound.
Transition to a more useful database to assist with more effective data reporting – Data gathering for reporting purposes has been a challenge for several years with the database the project has used for the last decade. Last year, the project moved to a new database, but it isn’t user friendly and collecting and compiling information for annual reporting purposes proved to be too difficult. The Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), our national advocacy group has worked with Oracle to develop a new database specifically designed for TRIO programs to ease annual reporting processes. Upward Bound staff is currently using it on a trial basis and plans to make a final decision by the end of 2020.
VII. Program Objectives for Next Academic Year
Program Annual Objectives for 2020 – 2021
Meet the technology needs of all Upward Bound participants – Even before COVID-19, Upward Bound was already providing weekly tutoring via an online platform and had a laptop lending program in place for students who did not have access to a device. With the pandemic forcing everyone to a distance learning platform, Upward Bound saw a substantial increase in the number of students needing a device. Project staff developed and sent a survey to all participants asking who didn’t have a device, WIFI access or a hotspot. Many students had school issued Chromebooks, which allowed for all students to connect and participate in the Upward Bound virtual summer program, but we encountered many issues because of strict district security rules. The project has requested to use carry forward funds to purchase additional laptops, hotspots and possibly assist students with acquiring WIFI access for distance learning purposes.
Maintain and even increase student communication, participation and services during the pandemic – Providing our students and their parents with valuable and timely information became a top priority when the state implemented the stay at home order in March. Project staff created a new landing page on the project website with COVID-19 updates, all students were invited to join weekly Zoom sessions with their respective Upward Bound advisor, a new Snapchat account was created to relay information to students and the project’s Instagram account began to roll out mental health tips on a weekly basis. All students and their parents were also emailed a letter in Spanish and English detailing the many services (online tutoring, Zoom academic workshops, virtual college advising) available to their students, a schedule of events and how to access staff during the spring semester.
Project staff also created a video orientation in Spanish and English and each summer program participant and parent was required to view it and complete necessary forms prior to beginning the 2020 summer program. A fall orientation is currently being developed, that will require students and parents to log on and participate in a live Zoom meeting, where staff will be able to answer any questions.
In addition to online weekly tutoring that will begin on September 1, 2020, students will also have the ability to sign up for group tutoring sessions by subject. These group sessions were a great success during the summer program and helped establish community among Upward Bound participants. The goal is to replicate that and create a community where students can log in to secure Zoom breakout rooms and help each other with homework.
Virtual and live workshops will also be available to students in the fall 2020 semester. Topics will range from mental health, study skills, college preparation, financial aid and many others. Students will be able to sign up for either a workshop or tutoring (or both if they choose).
In order to increase communication, Upward Bound also purchased a one-year subscription for the Remind.com app before the start of the summer program and it has been extremely useful in reaching students and parents. More than 200 summer program participants signed up to receive program specific texts and staff plan to invite all incoming students to also join that group.
Although regulations state we must only provide meaningful contact with participants once a week, staff understand that our students and their parents may need even more assistance during these challenging times. For this reason, we plan to provide a variety of program services and extensive communication to ensure everyone is informed and feels supported by Upward Bound.