Breaking Down Boundaries

For far too long, persistent opportunity gaps have disadvantaged Connecticut’s low-income students, Black and Latinx students, English learners, and students with special needs.

RISE high schools work together to disrupt multigenerational opportunity gaps by ensuring all students experience success as they transition to, through, and beyond high school. For us, this work begins as students transition between middle school and high school.

We focus on freshman success because research shows that Grade 9 on-track achievement (i.e., whether a student earns enough credits to promote on time to sophomore year) is the single best predictor of whether a student will graduate from high school within four years -- more so than test scores, family income, or race/ethnicity.

However, it’s not enough for students to obtain a high school diploma; students must graduate from high school with a well-matched postsecondary plan and the skills and confidence to achieve their college and career goals. While 70 percent of Connecticut jobs require some education beyond a high school diploma, only 20 percent of low-income high school graduates in Connecticut will go on to earn a postsecondary degree within six years of graduating from high school.

RISE partners with educators across Connecticut who are deeply committed to improving educational outcomes for low-income and underrepresented high school students. By building a community of educators and students that work together to achieve shared goals in support of student success, RISE pushes beyond the boundaries of what education has been to realize a vision for what school communities could and should be.