OneGoal

OneGoal is a Chicago-based college persistence program working to make college graduation possible for all students. As the country's only teacher-led college success organization, we identify, train and support our nation's most effective teachers to lead underperforming high school students to reach their full potential and graduate from college.

Our Model
OneGoal targets historically underperforming high school students in low-income communities and empowers them to become OneGoal Fellows, reach their full potential and graduate from college. We recruit and select a region’s high-performing teachers – those already working in high schools in low-income communities – and provide them with the training and support to become OneGoal Program Directors and implement our three-year college success model with a cohort of Fellows, beginning in junior year of high school and continuing through the first day of sophomore year of college. In Year One and Year Two, the OneGoal course is taught in a daily, credit-bearing high school class. OneGoal Program Directors guide Fellows to:

1. Increase their GPAs and standardized test scores in order access more selective and supportive colleges;
2. Take all the tactical steps to apply to, enroll in, and gain financial aid to attend a match college; and
3. Develop the non-cognitive skills, academic behaviors, and mindsets of successful college students.

In Year Three, teachers continue to support their cohort of students via intensive, remote coaching to ensure that students demonstrate the academic, financial and social indicators of success in the critical first year of college, while identifying the resources and developing the networks that will support them through to college graduation.

Our Results
To date, 87 percent of OneGoal’s high school graduates have enrolled in college, in some cases at rates more than double the local average for students matching at similar tiers. Of the OneGoal students who enroll, 83 percent are persisting in college or have graduated with a college degree.

Our Reach
In the upcoming 2014-2015 academic year, OneGoal will be serving nearly 4,000 Fellows in more than 70 schools across Chicago, Houston and early partnerships in New York. Our reach will double by the 2016-2017 academic year, when we plan to serve nearly 8,000 Fellows in approximately 130 schools across Chicago, Houston, New York, and two additional regions (yet to be determined).