Aim High
Organization Details
| Name | Aim High |
| URL | http://www.aimhigh.org/ |
| Phone number | (415) 551-2301 |
Organization Description
| Service(s) description | To accommodate for Distance Learning during summer 2020, Aim High is planning to provide students access to an online platform with opportunities to engage in a weekly STEM challenge, accompanied by feedback sessions and exhibitions. We are also planning to have weekly book club meetings focused on culturally relevant and engaging short stories, bi-weekly Issues & Choices (SEL) and advisory meetings/circles and a number of community building and enrichment opportunities such as movie making, original music making as well as daily physical challenges. We will also be providing weekly opportunities for parents and guardians to engage in learning with their children as well as connecting parents and guardians to relevant and pertinent resources. During a traditional summer Aim High provides intensive, tuition-free summer learning opportunities to the Bay Area’s most vulnerable middle schoolers. Our multi-year program offers students five weeks of rigorous academics, outdoor education, enrichment opportunities, and college/career exploration. Ideally, students attend Aim High for four consecutive summers—from sixth grade through ninth grade—to mitigate the summer slide and encourage academic gains. |
| Program impact | Since our inception in 1986, Aim High has prepared more than 9,000 low-income middle school students for high school, college and career success. We are now the largest tuition-free summer academic program in the Bay Area—serving over 2,000 students at 18 campuses. Year after year, students are excited to return to our program: on average we maintain a 70% retention rate summer-to-summer. As a result of their participation in Aim High, 91% of students report feeling more confident about doing their schoolwork in the upcoming year and 85% of students show improvement in their reading, writing, math and science. Of those students who graduated our program in 2009, 74% went on to enroll in a two or four year college compared to a national rate of 50% among low-income students. And our Pathways to Teaching Program has provided hundreds of students of color with meaningful job opportunities and a pipeline to the field of education. Aim High educators receive 5 times as much professional development through our program as they do from their school districts. And in our classrooms, teachers are given the freedom to express themselves creatively, reigniting their passion for teaching and sparking insights that ripple into their classrooms during the school year. 68% of our educators are teachers of color and 28% are Aim High graduates, which helps to create a meaningful learning experience for our students. |
Community programs are organized into categories known as Community School Elements. All community programs associated with Aim High are listed below and each program may be provided at 1 or more schools. You can use the 'Show Details' buttons to learn more about each program.
Academic & Social Emotional Learning (3 programs)
Programs to help bolster academic learning with SEL skills and competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.