U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education: Improving the Graduation Rate and College Preparation in High–Poverty High Schools

CS4Ed is working with the McKinley Group and C2 Technologies, Inc. (C²) to provide technical assistance and support that will assist the ED in promoting the effective implementation of projects and activities carried out by recipients of the Smaller Learning Communities Program (SLCP) and The High School Graduation Initiative (HSGI) program grants. These activities include the implementation of strategies to increase students' completion of high school, receipt of Federal student financial aid and enrollment in postsecondary education.

As part of this project, CS4Ed is providing technical assistance to the Department of Education's Federal Student Aid (FSA) pilot program to provide real–time access to data on FAFSA completion by students in 20 sites distributed across the country. This includes preparing a cross–site report summarizing and analyzing the implementation efforts of all of the pilot sites, individually and collectively.

The project is also building a professional learning community that is designed to build the capacity of the HSGI grantees to implement effective programs and strategies to reduce the dropout rate and reengage out–of–school student to complete their education.

Finally, we are providing support to ED staff in carrying out on–site monitoring reviews of HSGI grantees for the purpose of assessing their progress in implementing their projects and their compliance with all applicable federal laws and regulations.