Beyond 12

Postsecondary student coaching: research has shown that academic, social, and emotional engagement are crucial to success in college, and that hands-on support is often critical to ensuring that students from low-income backgrounds persist past the difficult first years. To complement its alumni tracking efforts and to provide students who most need help with crucial support system, Beyond 12 has created a network of postsecondary coaches who provide 1:1 coaching services to students who attend its partner programs, beginning the summer after their senior year of high school and continuing through their second year of college. In this "near peer" model, recent college graduates who successfully completed their own college degrees, the majority of who are the first in their families to attend college, are assigned to college-bound high school graduates. In addition to being matched based on shared academic, professional and personal interests, coaches are matched with students who will attend their alma mater or a similar institution so they are familiar with the characteristics that make their institution unique and can provide context-specific guidance. Coaches are carefully screened, selected and trained, and commit to working with their students for a minimum of two years. Coaches and students stay in regular contact virtually, through video chat, telephone, email, text messaging, and social networking platforms. Coaches help students navigate the difficult high school-to-college transition and to improve their effectiveness in and out of the classroom when they are on their college campus. Coaches interact with students for 30-minute sessions that occur weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly, depending on a student's needs and risk profile. Ultimately, coaches help students make the most of their college experience by helping them become academically and socially engaged in campus life. The intensive supports students receive from their coach during their first two years of college helps them build the foundation for the future academic, financial, social and personal success.

Beyond 12 is a technology-based services organization that advances its mission through two core activities: an innovative technology product and a personalized coaching service. The Beyond 12 platform allows high schools, college access organizations, and colleges to collect, track, analyze, and share longitudinal student performance data. Key components of the system include: a first-of-its kind alumni tracker that allows high schools to track their alumni's qualitative and quantitative college data to enable them to evaluate the efficacy of their college readiness models and to inform future program design. A student mobile application, connected to the alumni tracker, that allows students to report post-secondary data to their high schools. The tools also allow students to set goals, assess their college progress, and connect with peers who share common academic and career interests. An analytics engine that integrates data from multiple sources and allows Beyond 12 to create a comprehensive student risk and success profile. When it is fully developed, the engine will act as an early detection system for our college partners and will combine predictive modeling with data mining to assess a student's risk of dropping out of college.