Mission
BetterGrads helps high schools cultivate their greatest potential network: alumni.
Devoid of public high school alumni networks rich in social and human capital, many students suffer in educational guidance, academic performance and career development.
We provide BetterGrads.com as a model to enable public schools to build these latent high school alumni networks to create a “College-Going-Culture” at their school.
Vision
Every high school student should have access to excellent college mentoring regardless of their high school, background or resources available to them in their environment.
Challenges of College Preparation
Compared to peers at private schools, public high school students lack networks of peers, adults and real college students who can support their college and career aspirations.
These students lack sufficient access to college resources, suffer academically and finish high school with insufficient resources to pursue the career of their choice.
The cycle continues, as public schools lack the financial capacity to provide this support.
BetterGrads.org helps connect these high school students with their greatest potential network: high school alumni.
“As a high school career counselor, I have experienced firsthand the negative impact of California’s education budget cuts. I used to be available five days a week for my students. Now, it’s only two days a week. This is not sufficient time to prepare my students for college—let alone share much info on college with them. With hundreds of students under my guidance—and thus, hundreds of unique circumstances—I have been forced to stop my open office hours for the year. Now, I will only meet each student one time, for a single hour, over the course of the year. … Amidst these major cuts and reductions in resources, creative and low-cost approaches are desperately needed to make up the difference between what the schools can provide and what the students need.”
– Elaina Edwards
Academic Guidance Counselor
Del Valle & Phoenix High Schools
