Achievers for Life

The goal of Achievers for Life (AFL) is to work with 6th grade students and their families in the hopes of preventing students from dropping out of high school. Sixth grade students were chosen because performance in middle school is more indicative of college readiness than high school academic work.

There are three components to AFL. In the first component, Family Advocates meet with families and help them work towards family social goals while also connecting them with any necessary social services. Participants also have access to free mental health services. In the second component, Achievement Advocates meet with students for one hour each week to encourage students to reach mutually established goals. Attendance, classroom behavior, and grades are also closely monitored.

In the third component, funds are provided to principals at AFL schools to encourage Parent Engagement Activities. These activities are research-based and include school-wide strategies to keep students and their parents engaged in learning.

The goal of Achievers for Life is to work with 6th grade students and their families in order to prevent students from dropping out of high school.

After one year of participation, students demonstrated statistically significant improvements in areas that predict early withdrawal from high school. On average, the AFL students improved their GPAs from 1.6 at the end of the 2006-2007 school year, to 2.1 at the end of the 2007-2008 school year, a 32% increase. When compared to their non-AFL peers, AFL students received 37% fewer suspensions in the 2007-2008 school year and had 36% less course failures in math and language arts.

Year two data is also available for a different set of AFL students. When compared to their non-AFL peers, this group of students demonstrated a 20% improvement in GPA, a 25% decrease in absences, and 26% fewer course failures.