Target Graduation 2014 End of Year Results
United Way for Greater Austin is pleased to report that our Target Graduation program served more than 1,500 students through Middle School Matters during the past academic year with more than 400 students utilizing three or more services.
Target Graduation, which focuses on boosting lagging graduation rates, was able to work closely with campus administration and local agencies to fund coordination of more than one million dollars’ worth of support services that meet individual students needs at Decker, Mendez and Webb Middle School.
Middle School Matters, an initiative of Target Graduation, focuses on improving campus culture for these three low-income middle schools in the Greater Austin area so that students may improve their academic performance and stay on the path to graduation and success. In 2014, more than 3,000 interventions were provided to students in areas including mentoring, tutoring, case management, out-of-school time, parent education and behavioral health. What’s more, 90% of teachers think these support services positively impact their student’s academic performance.
Target Graduation’s Summer Learning Camp also provided students with the opportunity to continue their learning during valuable out-of-school time. While at camp, students engaged in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) skill-building and learned everything from outdoor skills to filmmaking and volunteer leadership.
View the complete Target Graduation 2014 End of Year Results.
What Teachers are Saying about Middle School Matters
Feedback from teachers and administrators indicates that Target Graduation is playing an important role in their schools.
According to one response in the 2014 Campus Administration Survey, “Middle School Matters positively impacts every aspect of our learning community. I don’t know how we could be as successful without Middle School Matters.”
In fact, 70% of teachers saw a positive change in an individual student who received support from UWATX.
The positive response to Target Graduation’s presence on each of these campuses is overwhelming. Teachers feel that the services are, “an invaluable asset on our campus..a positive influence on the entire campus,” and that they are “valuable, needed and much appreciated!”