Regional Overview-Letter From The Executive Director
As we begin another school year, we wish all of our high school partners a strong, productive and impactful year - even as we acknowledge how they continue to perform for their students under severely constrained funding environments. We at College Summit have the privilege to witness the work of very dedicated educators, counselors and administrators everyday, and we Californians need to continually advocate for increased school funding to support and expand the hard work of so many California educators who are investing so much of themselves in our students, and in our future. 

Writing Teams walk to their classrooms at University of Pacific Workshop July 8-11, 2010 (left).   Peer Leaders review the day’s schedule (right).

We are thrilled to bring tremendous momentum from a summer of trainings into this school year. We trained 209 talented Peer Leaders at four summer workshops (two each at UC Berkeley and University of the Pacific - cheers to our amazing volunteers and college partners!) with the help and dedication of 65 volunteers, 13 core staff and 12 Alumni Leaders. And we have now trained over 50 educators and administrators this summer with an eye towards maximizing our tools and strengthening the college-going culture at their school sites.

And a special thanks to all of our supporters, including new funders US Bancorp and Union Bank. A recent report from a funder asked this question: “With 20/20 hindsight, is there anything you might have done differently, or is there anything you learned that will change the program in the future?” Our answer was essentially, “of course!” There is so much to learn. One of the key questions driving our work is this: We know that schools that define their own college access goals - often including persistence and college completion- are more likely to drive the school community towards those goals. How do we best support our school partners in defining their college access goals, collecting and understanding data that supports those goals, and using that data to maximize success and strengthen their college-going cultures?

Our entire Northern California team is honored to work with our 18 high school partners for 2010-2011 in addressing this and other questions. Thank you to everyone who is currently (or currently considering) supporting our partners, and our work!

Paul Collins
Executive Director - Northern California

Peer Leaders shared their workshop experience with partner educators at the Northern California Educators’ Academy on August 19, 2010.

At our Educators’ Academy educators prepare and plan for implementing College Summit in their classrooms and gain tools to support their students’ post-secondary planning.