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

A Blueprint for Success
who are attracted by our small size and our growth trajectory, knowing that their investments have
more significant impact here than they might in a larger organization.”
One particular challenge Director Fanning noted is that many funders like to “support something
new, which leaves our strong core program needing support. Some good work is neither new nor
terribly innovative, yet is strong and effective - and for these efforts it is hard to attract investment.”
Another challenge is to find the funds to hire a second half-time, year-round staff member. Director
Fanning added:
The end goal for Partners students is that they graduate from four-year college ready for a
life of financial self-sufficiency and giving back to their communities. As a small organization,
our primary challenge moving forward is how to support these students throughout
high school and college with meaningful programs and interventions that help them to
stay on track, given our small budget size and the fact that we don’t expect to grow much
bigger than we currently are. Our plan at present is to raise enough funds to support an
alumni case manager who will keep in touch with students after they matriculate to 9th
grade, connect them with resources at their high schools and colleges and at other nonprofit
organizations, and have the capacity (time, resources) to intervene effectively with the students
who are struggling most.
What We Do Best
John Fanning, Director of The Partners Program, indicated that their “greatest value added is helping
middle school students prepare for, identify, research, apply to, and enroll in high quality college
preparatory high schools.” He noted that approximately 80 percent of Partners students attend public
high schools, most of them in Oakland, so Partners’ staff work closely with students and families
to help them understand the local district’s Options process (Oakland’s open enrollment process)
and also how to identify top high schools using graduation rates, college admission requirement
completion rates, and standardized test scores. Over the last 3 years, the percentage of Partners middle
school students who matriculate to high quality college preparatory high schools has increased
significantly, from 20 percent to 50 percent, with a target of 70 percent for the next 9th grade class.
Director Fanning added, “being a small program that can’t support students intensively through
their high school years, we know that guiding them toward strong high schools is a very important,
effective, and impactful strategy for us, and we’re proud of the progress that we’ve made.”
The biggest challenge Director Fanning identified to this particular success is the cultural draw of
the large “name brand” public high schools, “the ones that everyone has heard of and where many of
our students’ friends will go and where their families have gone.” Unfortunately, for the three large
public high schools that Partners’ students historically have attended most often, the percentage of
freshmen that graduate four years later with college admission requirements completed is less than
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