The Gear Up Program

Newtown High School Students visit to Hunter College

Background

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs

GEAR UP is a federally funded initiative designed to ensure that disadvantaged middle and secondary schools students are prepared for, pursue, and succeed in postsecondary education.

GEAR UP is based on a collaborative approach involving partnerships among local schools, community-based organizations, businesses, and institutions of higher educating. These partnerships work together to strengthen academic programs and student services in schools and help parents and students gain knowledge about postsecondary options so that students are more prepared academically and financially to enter and succeed in college.

GEAR UP grants provide opportunities for low-income youth to acquire academic skills, information, financial assistance, and psychosocial support from middle school through high school to fulfill this mission.

In August 1999, LaGuardia Community College/Queens Urban Partnership (LaGCC/QUP) received a 5-year federal grant to implement a GEAR UP Program in three low-income, culturally diverse communities in Western Queens. Services began in the three high needs junior and intermediate schools (IS 61, JHS 189, and IS 145), and continued in three high schools in the same neighborhoods.

This GEAR UP program is designed to provide services to teachers, parents, and 7th grade student cohort through 11th grade with the help of the following GEAR UP and Queens Urban Partnership partners: the Queens Child Guidance Center, the Queens Borough Public Library, and Teaching Matters, Inc.

In the fall of 1999, the LaGuardia Community College/Queens Urban Partnership (LaGCC/QUP) GEAR UP Program contracted with Capital Assessments, Inc. (CAI), an independent research and evaluation firm, to conduct a 5-year comprehensive evaluation of the GEAR UP Program. The overall purposes of the evaluation are to access the planning, implementation, and impact of the program on students. teachers, and parents.

The first year evaluation report focused on planning and early implementation of the LaGCC/QUP GEAR UP program. The second year evaluation report focused on the implementation and early steps stages of impact of the program. The third year report examined the changing needs of students and schools as students transitioned to high schools. The fourth year report will focus on students' academic progress, and their knowledge and attitudes about college.