Preparing Black and Latino Young Men for College and Careers: A Description of the Schools and Strategies in NYC's Expanded Success Initiative

The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) provides funding and technical support to 40 relatively successful New York City high schools to help them improve college and career readiness among black and Latino male students. This preliminary report describes key components and strategies of ESI and begins to look at factors that might influence the potential to apply ESI more broadly.

• ESI's theory of action centers on integrating academics, youth development, and school culture; within this framework, schools created their own plans to fit the needs of their school communities. Tweet
• Several important strategies were not evident in most school work plans, including wraparound services, attendance, behavior supports, and family outreach, indicating that schools may require additional resources and partnering organizations to address these strategies. Tweet
• Successfully launching ESI requires not only funding but a strong infrastructure of personnel and support to ensure that staff have the resources to expand existing strategies and start promising new ones. Tweet
• To study impact, ESI will not only look at test scores, four-year graduation rates, and indicators of college readiness, but also student belief in their ability to succeed and aspirations for the future. Tweet