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

A Blueprint for Success
erate a college-going culture among students within Dallas ISD, EIF provides mentoring for its students
through staff members and volunteers who can offer positive adult influences for college and
career paths.
EIF: G3 (Get Ready. Get Set. Go to College!)
EIF students enhance their life skills by completing grade-level specific, monthly EIF:G3 workshops
that promote personal and professional development. EIF students are introduced to a variety of
skills such as decision making, conflict resolution, note-taking, academic integrity, college major selection,
business etiquette, and financial literacy. Students also learn life skills that are crucial to academic
and professional success but are not formally taught in standard school-based curriculum. EIF
will continue to strengthen the integration of technology to make the personal development and skill
building workshops available to more students.
Academic Recognition
EIF students are recognized during academic celebrations that publicly honor academic achievement
in order to create and maintain a culture of learning that will extend beyond high school. Celebrations
are held in a similar fashion to a pep rally usually reserved for sports, providing students with a
chance to cheer for and celebrate their peers for their hard work in school. Celebrations promote
improved academic performance through positive peer influence.
Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program
The Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program offers rising EIF juniors and seniors in high school meaningful
leadership and career experiences at Dallas-area companies via paid summer employment. Interns
gain job application experience and learn job-related skills and useful information about the company/organization
and its industry, and professional etiquette in general. Host companies over the last
three years have included AT&T, Atmos Energy, Brinker International, Children’s Medical Center
of Dallas, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase, Parkland Hospital, and Southern Methodist University.
Parent Outreach
Through parent outreach, EIF helps families create strong linkages between programmatic efforts,
home, and school environments. Parent outreach helps educate and empower parents/guardians to
effectively assist their students through high school completion and college planning processes. Some
topics explored through parent life skills meetings include raising children of integrity, protecting
children from bullying, using the Internet to explore college options, and securing finances for college.
Parent outreach can help offset the impact of not having a guardian who attended college, and
strengthen relationships between students/families and their school community.
College Entry Prep
EIF students receive opportunities for interactive individual and group sessions to complete essential
college enrollment processes including college applications, scholarship applications, federal and state
financial aid applications (FAFSA and TASFA), and essay writing. Students are also assisted with
Educational Policy Institute 65 www.educationalpolicy.org