Breakthrough Collaborative

We serve our constituencies across a Collaborative network of 24 affiliates throughout The u.s., reaching an average of 8,000 students and nearly 1,000 teaching fellows each of The last three years. Together, Breakthrough is addressing The opportunity gap for students on their path to college and The teacher development gap by building a pathway for The next generation of educators. Our national team provides The strategic leadership and new program innovations driving Breakthrough's national vision and mission, as well as The services, resources and support that allow our 24 affiliates to focus on The most effective ways to deliver consistently excellent Breakthrough programming that also reflects local community context. (continued)students from under-resourced and underrepresented communities across The united states face entrenched systemic inequities that prevent them from accessing The educational opportunities and guidance they need to pursue and secure a four-year college degree. While not The only avenue to success, a college degree remains The most reliable lever in breaking The cycle of generational poverty and maximizing lifetime earnings. If we wish to optimize both our nation's competitiveness in The global marketplace and its quality of life at home it is imperative that we recognize The immense potential of our nation's lower-income students to perform at The highest levels of achievement and simultaneously consider how to inspire, equip, and retain education professionals better prepared to educate students in ways that close The persistent achievement gap between students at opposite ends of The socio-economic spectrum. Now in its 44th year of continuous operation, The Breakthrough Collaborative is doing both.nationwide, high school graduates who attend Breakthrough are two times more likely to enroll in a four-year college than all other students - including those from The most affluent backgrounds. More than half of Breakthrough's high school graduates enroll in colleges ranked "very competitive or higher. + Breakthrough students exceed The national average for six-year college completion and are 40% more likely to earn degrees than college students from similar socio-economic backgrounds. + Breakthrough moves The needle toward educational equity by intentionally recruiting teaching fellows who better reflect The experience of students attending The nation's public schools - 76% of our teaching fellows identify as people of color, compared with 20% of The nation's school teachers and 50% of The students in u.s. public schools. Many of our teaching fellows also represent The students we serve, with 49% of teaching fellows demonstrating financial need and 47% being The first in their families to attend college. + Breakthrough creates a pipeline from its summer teaching fellowship to career outcomes: 76% of college graduates who participate in Breakthrough's fellowship pursue careers in education, with 55% serving as classroom teachers. + Breakthrough's average annual cost per student, at approximately $2,750, offers a cost-effective solution to a persistent and well-documented equity deficit in The nation's educational system.a brief summary of Breakthrough's accomplishments during The one-year time period corresponding with this return:+ student and teaching fellow reach: approximately 6,200 middle and high school students and over 800 college-aged teaching fellows participated in The organization's summer 2021 program. + strategic plan and Collaborative standards: in february 2019, Breakthrough adopted an ambitious strategic plan that will grow our national impact by more effectively leveraging economies of scale while intentionally preserving The capacity of affiliates to innovate in their local communities. As part of this process, national and affiliate staff began to develop a foundational set of "Collaborative standards" with The goal of driving greater collaborative-wide alignment across four key areas: programming for students, programming for teaching fellows, organizational health, and operational roles and responsibilities.+ Collaborative capacity building: in order to support The long-term programmatic and operational success of The Collaborative, in The 2020-21 fiscal year The national office initiated Collaborative standard assessment pathway plans for every affiliate, creating tailored support to complement The suite of tools, resources, services, and strategic partnerships to increase technology, data management/analysis, financial, and operational capacities of individual Breakthrough affiliates. + new program initiatives: with new support from national funders, Breakthrough is piloting four new initiatives: 1) a math tutoring pilot with two affiliates; 2) college success programming with six affiliates; 3) school-year program development with six affiliates; and 4) an updated social-emotional learning framework to improve support and responsiveness to The growing needs of our students. + race & equity planning: The national office continued to prioritize its redi (race, equity, diversity and inclusion) initiative by developing a response plan to robust data collection from staff and trustees from The prior year. The redi initiative is now in progress across our organization, including The board of trustees, staff culture activities, curricula and program support. + enhanced data systems: The national office continued work to develop a governance model for The "Breakthrough starter pack" tool, a system to provide efficiencies in data collection at The affiliate level to drive better program decision making in real time. This model creates a defined Collaborative process for future development and management of The shared data system.+ board development: Breakthrough Collaborative continued to improve The size and diversity of our board of trustees with leaders across The country representing a range of industries and sectors. The current demographic make-up of trustees is 52% members who identify female and 52% who identify as people of color.