A BluePrint for Success: Case Studies of Successful - Educational ...

A Blueprint for Success
last 2 summers. Full enrollment for middle school students is set at 96 students, 32 per grade level,
so that no class size is larger than 16 students.
The organization’s mission is to create relevant and responsive programs that bolster students’ academic
success and improve access to high quality college preparatory educational opportunities,
while engaging students and supporting them in making a commitment to educational equity.
In its expanded form, The Partners Program is designed to provide a pipeline to college graduation,
starting with programs for middle school students and continuing through college graduation. The
final pieces of this pipeline are still being developed.
Both before and after this recent growth, the core program of The Partners Program has been a tuition-free,
full-time summer academic and enrichment program for low-income Oakland Unified
School District (OUSD) middle school students. While in the early years the goal for these students
was high school completion, the current goal is helping them to progress toward 4-year college graduation
and a life of self-sufficiency and giving back to one’s community. More than 98 percent of
program alumni have graduated on time from high school – almost double the local public school
rate - and many have gone on to graduate from college and even graduate school, and are now leading
successful lives and careers.
In the past 5 years, the summer middle school program enrollment has doubled, the leadership development
programs for high school students have been significantly expanded, the leadership development
programs for college students have been added, and the high school transition program for
8th and 9th graders and their families and the college transition program for high school juniors and
seniors have been created and implemented. In fall 2011, the program launched its latest expansion:
a year-round academic support program for middle school students taking place on-site at two
OUSD middle schools serving primarily low-income students.
Beyond helping individual students and families, The Partners Program since its inception has been
committed to supporting public education in Oakland; these new partnerships with two OUSD
middle schools deepens this commitment.
The Partners Program is not intended to be a substitute for public education, nor does the program
aim to remove students from public schools. Instead, The Partners Program, created in partnership
with public school colleagues, augments public school services and helps improve public school students’
academic performance and social skills. This commitment is exemplified by the partnerships
with OUSD middle schools, the fact that nearly 100 percent of Partners middle school program participants
are public school students, and the fact that more than 80 percent of Partners program participants
continue their educations in public high schools.
Educational Policy Institute 94 www.educationalpolicy.org