Delaware Goes to College focuses on building a statewide college and career going culture preparing all Delaware graduates for success in post-secondary education and training. This requires a k-12 effort and only succeeds when it is a thread of all interactions with students. Successful college students are academically, financially and socially prepared prior to high school graduation. Through this grant, LEAs and charters will have the opportunity to implement a system wide college access strategy that leverages partnerships, school teams and the community to ensure students understand the college to career connection and graduate ready to succeed in all forms of post-secondary education.
The goal of the Delaware Goes to College grant is to build the capacity of districts related to improving college readiness, college affordability, and college success. The Delaware Department of Education (DOE) will fund projects that have a clearly defined focus and well-defined outcomes and have a commitment to sustain beyond the funding of the grant. Projects should be innovative, results-driven and founded in research-based best practices.
This grant program has the following broad focus areas:
- Increase access, college knowledge and transition skills for all students;
- Strengthen college to career connections for all students;
- Increase understanding of financial aid options for all students and parents;
- Provide targeted services to special populations including but not limited to: 1st generation college students, males of color, English Language Learners, students with disabilities and students who are low-income; and
- Develop system-wide supports and processes that extend beyond the life of the grant and engage students across middle and high schools (where applicable)
Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Self- Assessment;
- Partnership;
- College Access;
- College Success; and
- Efficiency of spending