Aim High
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: San Francisco, CA
Founded: 1986
Mission: The mission of Aim High is to inspire a life-long love of learning and instill a sense of community, opportunity, and respect so that students are prepared for success in school and life.
Tags:
bay area, middle-secondary education, summer program, teacher training, athletics, educational preparation, family involvement
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Alec Lee.
An accomplished educator, Alec Lee co-founded Aim High in 1986 and serves as full-time Executive Director. Alec has a Masters in Education from Harvard University, and received a Klingenstein Fellowship from Columbia Teachers College. He taught history at Lick-Wilmerding High School, a college preparatory high school in San Francisco, for 17 years. As the Executive Director, Alec works closely with…
See full bio.
Financial Data
| Read Annual Report | Overhead Ratio: n/a |
| Total Revenue: $2,019,218 |
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
2030 Harrison Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
Twitter:
Story:
This is a story of Sabrina, a graduated student from Aim High, and is currently a sophomore at SF School of the Arts:
When I was first going into Aim High after elementary school, my mom said "you're signed up for summer school!" and I said I didn't want to go. As I went through Aim High, I realized it's not summer school, it's much more. It's really fun.
In elementary school, I got away with not doing my homework. At Aim High, the consequence of not doing homework is Study hall instead of activities. I loved my activities, so as soon as I got home from Aim High I sat down and got my homework done. That helped me in middle school and high school, I got that routine down- home, homework done, play- and that helped my grades.
[Usually] over the summer, it's all time for play, and when you get back to school, you've forgotten everything. At Aim High, we review things we learned the previous year, and we prepare for things we'll learn the next year, so we're already ahead of the other students. We're ready, and things are fresh in our minds.
After the first year, I was really looking forward to coming bck. That summer I wasn't doing the chores my mom asked me to do, and she got out her phone and said she would call Aim High and I wouldn't get to go back. I got so worried! My uncle was making fun of me- he said, "if you don't clean your room, you can't go to summer school and you can never do your homework again!" My family laughs about how much I love being here, but I couldn't imagine myself not being here.
This year, after my first year of high school, I came to orientation with my little sister, and I asked my site director if I could come back as a volunteer. I love coming back to Aim High now, with the students who just finished elementary school, helping students with their work and being a mentor to them. I really want to be a teacher.
(Read more about other success at: http://www.aimhigh.org/pdf/09AnnualReport.pdf)
Expert Reviews of Aim High
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Aim High for High School is widely-recognized for helping underserved, and particularly students of color, in San Francisco high schools and middle schools change their attitudes towards college (participants report a higher level of engagement and confidence in school). And this allows them to successfully pursue higher education. Aim High participants are more academically prepared and supported than their low-income peers. Aim High for High School has demonstrated a consistent ability to help kids improve academically--especially in critical areas like math. Aim High for High School is one of the few local summer school providers that has measurable academic and social gains for students. The program increase students' feelings of connectedness and feelings of success while addressing the "summer learning loss" that plagues most inner-city schools. Aim High have multiple programs in San Francisco, Oakland, South Bay, and Marin County (a total of 12 programs plus an environmental education program).See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Experts praise Aim High for High School's leadership's focused mission and organizational capacity as key drivers of its past success. Multiple experts make a point to call out the organization's financial efficiency.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Experts suggest Aim High for High School tweak its programs to better-target participants, to serve more students, or try alternative models like year-round classes. Some mention a need to reduce the cost per student economics as the organization develops.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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Aim High for High School is one of the few local summer school providers that has measurable academic and social gains for students. The program increase students' feelings of connectedness and feelings of success while addressing the "summer learning loss" that plagues most inner-city schools. | ||
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Aim High for High School provides rigorous academics and achieves excellent academic results. 99% of Aim High for High School's participants are students of color. | ||
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The number of low-income, middle school students from public schools in San Francisco served by Aim High for High School attests to the program's impact. | ||
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Aim High for High School reaches at risk students who might become discouraged with school. It offers them an exciting program, educational enrichment, an a broader perspective of what education can be. Students become more excited about and engaged in their learning and, so, are more likely to set higher goals and continue studying through college. | ||
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Aim High for High School has demonstrated a consistent ability to help kids improve academically--especially in critical areas like math. They also seem to impact attitude with participants reporting a higher level of engagement and confidence in school. | ||
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The success of Aim High graduates in high school and college shows their impact. We have had many Aim High students attend our schools and they are more academically prepared and supported than their low-income peers. | ||
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Aim High for High School has a long track record of success in helping to prevent learning loss during the summer. | ||
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Aim High for High School does an excellent job of identifying traditionally underrepresented students early, and providing them with the environment and mindset to attend college. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Marketing |
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Aim High for High School communicates their work well. | ||
Program Design |
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Aim High for High School has a youth development orientation, as well as a focus on college AND career progression. | ||
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Aim High has a clear mission and program model and a very talented staff. | ||
Demonstrated success |
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Aim High for High School has years of service, as well as a committed leadership and mission integrity. | ||
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Aim High for High School is a well established part of the San Francisco and the greater Bay Area community. It is a well respected institution with strong leadership and relatively low overhead. It is impressive that it has been funded for over 25 years and has been growing over that time. | ||
Leadership |
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Aim High for High School has a strong executive leadership, a strong board and consistent quality across multiple program sites. | ||
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Aim High for High School has an outstanding Executive Director, Alec Lee, and strong board. AIM High for High School does an excellent job of raising money to support their programs. | ||
Operations |
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Aim High for High School has strong board leadership that carefully calculates growth strategy to ensure quality. Aim High for High School also has strong operational capacity, and is able to run multiple programs on multiple sites. They have minimized costs by partnering with other educational organizations to utilize unused facilities. | ||
Financial health |
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Aim High for High School enjoys great financial records and provides academic rigor for its students. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Serve more students |
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I would like to see them improve their capacity to serve outside of San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Alameda Counties. Aim High for High School should come to Contra Costa and Solano. | ||
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Aim High for High School could clarify their target audience. | ||
Try year-round service |
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Aim High for High School currently only serves kids during the summer. It would be great if they could go year-round. | ||
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Several years ago Aim High for High Schools began efforts to engage in year round schooling via a charter school. The effort was unsuccessful and has resulted in some residual perception problems within the San Francisco education community. Additionally, they can continue to strengthen the academic portion of their program. | ||
More collaboration |
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Aim High for High School should develop tighter metrics to gauge student achievement and work more collaboratively with similar organizations in the area to expand geographic reach. | ||
Create an endowment |
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Aim High could serve more students with more campuses. Aim High has no endowment and must raise money for the operating cost each year. With an endowment, the effects of the local economy or shifts in school district funding would have less of an impact. | ||
Reduce costs |
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Aim High for High School sites are relatively small and expensive on a per-student basis. | ||
Better target participants |
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Aim High for High School could have a more strategic focused program by placing students in high schools that are aligned with their mission. | ||
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There can be improvements on the organizational level to reach students who are most often disengaged. Currently, admission is based on student self-selection to apply. | ||
Leadership
Alec Lee
Executive Director
Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.