Results
Academic success is measured in an increase in test scores, and in students staying in school and ultimately graduating. In these areas, RISE-DC intervention has been successful. In the last academic year, over 300 students raised their grades or test scores and maintained that improvement after working with RISE-DC.
Student retention rates continue at a high level for those students whom RISE-DC tutors. Since the inception of its programs in 2003, 95% of students who received significant tutoring time or SAT instruction remain on track to graduate or have graduated from high school. This is remarkable, especially when compared to the overall rate of 50% for students in Ward 8.
Further, according to the National Youth Policy Forum, half of all high school dropouts are incarcerated by age 35. RISE-DC’s work has a direct impact on lowering the incarceration rates of our urban, low-income youth.
In the 2020-21 academic year, our students have experienced success in the following key areas:
Keep Up / Village Watch
In 2020-21, RISE continued its “Keep Up” and “Village Watch” programs for McKinley Tech students, predominantly in a virtual format. A record 96% of the over 400 students served reported either raising their academic performance or test scores significantly due to RISE’s tutoring.
College Prep Plus
The College Prep Plus program helps prepare students for college and follows them until they have earned 60 college credits. Overall, 61% of the students in this program have either graduated from college or are on track to graduate within six years, more than four times the national average of 14% for low-income students who have matriculated.
LEAP
The new “Let Everyone Advance Program” was created as the pandemic wound down. RISE estimates 15% of students in D.C. completely stopped going to school. The LEAP program will target students who are at least three grade levels behind in either their math or reading skill level.
A Measurable Social Return on Investment
Success Markets, Inc. (SMI), an independent non-profit that helps organizations measure optimize their impact in making meaningful changes in the lives of the poor, recently completed a comprehensive evaluation of RISE-DC’s programs. The evaluation focused on estimating the value RISE-DC creates for all beneficiaries over their lifetimes.
SMI awarded RISE-DC their highest rating and reported the following:
The Social Return on Investment (SROI) for a RISE-DC student is approximately 21:1, or $21 in return for every $1 invested, an unusually high return.
Students who do not drop out from school due to RISE-DC’s efforts are the big value recipients.
RISE-DC also provides important benefits to students who would have graduated from high school even without its intervention, by giving them valuable skills they need to succeed in college.
Participating students receive, on average, an estimated $30,000 in additional lifetime income benefits as a result of RISE-DC’s programs. Of note, 75% of RISE-DC’s students have incomes below $12,000, including public assistance.
Communities receive an additional $12,000 for each student tutored in the form of increased tax revenues and cost savings.
Further details are available upon request.
