College Track

Our mission is to help students who have the desire but lack the resources and support to attain higher education and fulfill their own best promise. Through four years of daily contact and communication, we work to get our students successfully through high school and into college. We provide the tools and opportunities they need to realize their dreams. The rest is up to them.

Our hope is that one day college access and education for all students - regardless of race, ethnicity or income level - will be a reality. We know that we are years away from that end, but we are continually striving to serve more students and to educate them how to not only succeed, but to empower others who we can not personally assist.

The majority of students of color in public school take AP and SAT exams in disproportionately fewer numbers, attend school at a lower rate than their peers, have lower graduation rates, and have a lower acceptance rate into college. In the state of California, only 33.5% of high school students graduate with the requirements to be eligible for a California public university. In the two school districts that the majority of College Track students attend, 20.1% and 41.6% of students graduate with the requirements to be eligible for a California public university. In an effort to challenge these low expectations, College Track was created in 1997 with 25 students from one high school in San Mateo County. The co-founders began College Track because they discovered that students who were interested in being the first members of their families to go to college were getting little or no guidance about how to get there. Our merit-based program was designed to incorporate community service and leadership training along with academic rigor. Our overall goal is the acceptance of our students into college and for those students to complete college. We also help students and their parents navigate the educational system so that they can be empowered to advocate on their own behalf and encourage other family members to take a college preparatory path. We are currently serving 200 students from nineteen different high schools on two sides of the San Francisco Bay.

www.collegetrack.org