UPCS/Clark Institute Partners

The UPCS/Clark Institute for Student Success is a unique partnership of three organizations each dedicated to advancing the quality of education for underserved youth.

The University Park Campus School is a small grade 7-12 secondary school in Worcester, Massachusetts that has been recognized as a national model of schools where traditionally underserved students achieve at high levels without significant attrition. Since opening in 1997, all graduates have gone to college and all students have passed the rigorous state graduate exam.

Clark University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in New England, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the five-year BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition-free for eligible students.

The university, through the Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education, is dedicated to preparing outstanding urban teachers as part of a broad effort to enhance education possibilities for urban youth, transform schools and renew urban community life.

Jobs for the Future is a Boston-based nonprofit that seeks to accelerate the educational and economic advancement of youth and adults struggling in today’s economy. JFF partners with leaders in education, business, government, and communities around the nation to: strengthen opportunities for youth to succeed in postsecondary learning and high-skill careers; increase opportunities for low-income individuals to move into family-supporting careers; and meet the growing economic demand for knowledgeable and skilled workers.

Donna Rodrigues, the founding director of the UPCS Institute for Student Success, is Associate Vice President at JFF, where she works with the Early College High School Initiative to help create quality schools for underrepresented students. Early College High Schools are small schools designed so that students can earn both a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit. Serving as a professional development provider for these schools is a primary goal of the institute because it provides a concrete example of excellence.

JFF coordinates the Early College High School Initiative, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and a number of local foundations. By 2008, 12 partner organizations will create or redesign more than 170 pioneering small high schools. Jobs for the Future coordinates the Early College High School Initiative and provides support to the partners and to the effort as a whole.