Talk:College Possible

{{Request edit}}

I am proposing an improvement/ replacement of this entry, which uses a lot of promotional language and no citations, to a version that is more in align with Wikipedia's guidelines on maintaining a neutral point of view and using only verifiable information. This page has been deleted before for being overly promotional, so this has been a recurring problem.

I volunteer with Admission Possible's communications team, and because of this conflict of interest, I'm hoping to get the input of other editors. Please take a look at the proposed version and suggest or make any changes you can think of. Your help is appreciated! Jenbendewood (talk) 18:47, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

 Not done See below comment under 'Improving this article'. Also, please reply at that section or below it so we can keep the proposal intact. Shearonink (talk) 02:19, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Proposed replacement follows:

Admission Possible

Founded	2000
Founder	Jim McCorkell
Location	Saint Paul, MN
Area served	Minneapolis-Saint Paul Milwaukee
Method	Utilize AmeriCorps volunteers to provide low-income students with ACT preparation, admission and financial aid counseling, and guidance in the transition to and through college.
Revenue	US $3.2 million
Volunteers	approximately 70 Corps members
Website	http://www.AdmissionPossible.org

Admission Possible is a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization whose mission is to help academically motivated, low-income students earn admission to and graduate from college. Its model utilizes recent college graduates as near-peer mentors to students lacking the social resources to successfully navigate the high school to college transition. Headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the organization currently serves students in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area and in Milwaukee.

History

Admission Possible was chartered as a nonprofit in September of 2000, beginning operations in two Saint Paul public high schools the next spring. By the 2008-09 school year, the organization was serving students in 17 schools across Minneapolis-Saint Paul and opened a second site in Milwaukee. In the current 2010-11 school year, the organization serves approximately 1,400 juniors and seniors in 17 Minneapolis-Saint Paul high schools and 230 juniors and seniors in 7 Milwaukee high schools.

Partner high schools

In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area:

• Saint Paul Public Schools

  Central High School

  Como Park High School

  Harding High School

  Highland Park High School

  Humbolt High School

  Johnson High School

• Minneapolis Public Schools

  Edison High School

  Patrick Henry High School

  Roosevelt High School

• Greater metro area schools

  Columbia Heights High School

  Coon Rapids High School

  Robbinsdale Armstrong High School

  Robbinsdale Cooper High School

  St. Louis Park High School

• Public charter schools

  Community of Peace Academy (Saint Paul)

  Higher Ground Academy (Saint Paul)

  Ubah Medical Academy (Hopkins)

In Milwaukee:

• Milwaukee Public Schools

  Alexander Hamilton High School

  International Peace Academy

  Milwaukee School of Languages

  Riverside University High School

  South Division High School

  Northwest Secondary School

• Milwaukee Choice Schools

  Saint Joan Antida

Programming

Admission Possible operates at no cost to students; however, students are expected to complete eight hours of community service each year. To be accepted, applicants must qualify as low-income (in practice this means being eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches) and they must maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher.

Average family income of accepted students is under $25,000 per year, and average GPA of students in the program is between 2.7 to 3.0. Over 90% of participants are students of color. In the Twin Cities, 32% of students are Hmong, 17% are African immigrants, and 15% are African-American; in Milwaukee, 43% of students are African-American and 26% are Latino/a.

A New York Times article from November 2005 quotes CEO Jim McCorkell as saying: “My starting idea was what if we replicated Kaplan for poor kids.” Students accepted into the program participate in over 320 hours of after-school sessions over their junior and senior years. Curriculum in the junior year is focused on ACT preparation, in the senior year on applying to college and for financial aid. Students also lead college awareness workshops for freshmen and sophomores in their school, in cooperation with their AmeriCorps coach, and participate in organized volunteer projects. The program has recently been expanding to include more services to program alumni enrolled in college, including support in renewing financial aid and help in utilizing the college’s own student resources.

Evaluation

The organization reports a 21% average ACT score increase during students’ junior year. It also reports that 98% of all of its students gain acceptance into any post-secondary institution. Wilder Research (an arm of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation of Saint Paul) performed an external evaluation of Admission Possible in 2006, and substantiated its claim that 91% of the organization’s students enrolled in college—a figure higher than comparable programs. The organization is currently undergoing an external, randomized controlled evaluation to address the problem of selection bias in previous program evaluations.

The Charities Review Council deems that it “meets all standards”.

Recognition

McCorkell was named an Ashoka Fellow, a recognition for social entrepreneurship, in 2006. The organization has been recognized with awards from the National Association for College Admission Counseling,, College Board, and the National College Access Network.

External links

Admission Possible
Corporation for National and Community Service
AmeriCorps

Improving this article

In my opinion the major problem with the article right now is the quality (or lack thereof) of the references, most of the citations are from the article subject's own website. Outside references - newspapers, magazine, TV stations' websites, etc. - that are from reliable sources are needed. Any possible tone issues can be handled by keeping a neutral point of view. Also, there might be some possible confusion between two entirely different organizations here - adMISSION POSSIBLE (from San Francisco, website ending with a '.com') and Admission Possible (from Minneapolis, website ending in a '.org'). User:Jenbendewood, while it can be difficult to edit an article when one has a relationship or close knowledge of the subject, it is not impossible. I suggest that you improve this article as you see fit, I'll keep an eye on it and you can also contact me with any questions on my talkpage. Shearonink (talk) 02:03, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

• Thanks for these suggestions! I just swapped out a lot of the website references in the Programming section in favor of outside references. Jenbendewood (talk) 19:50, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111215145807/http://www.admissionpossible.org/americorps.html to http://www.admissionpossible.org/americorps.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101109162012/http://www.admissionpossible.org/history.html to http://www.admissionpossible.org/history.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110713043752/http://insightnews.com/education/5161-admission-possible-students-scare-up-10000-pound-donation-for-foodshelf- to http://insightnews.com/education/5161-admission-possible-students-scare-up-10000-pound-donation-for-foodshelf-
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111216180432/http://www.admissionpossible.org/collegeprogram.html to http://www.admissionpossible.org/collegeprogram.html
• Added {{dead link}} tag to http://www.admissionpossible.org/uploads/harvard_comparative_historical_analysis_results_-_june_201.pdf
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110429032749/http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/3925 to http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/3925

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