Gear Up Program

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs
The GEAR UP program is a discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. GEAR UP provides five-year grants to States and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty middle and high schools. GEAR UP grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follow the cohort through high school. GEAR UP funds are also used to provide college scholarships to low-income students.

GEAR UP partnerships supplement (not supplant) existing reform efforts, offer services that promote academic preparation and the understanding of necessary costs to attend college, provide professional development, and continuously build capacity so that projects can be sustained beyond the term of the grant.
> www.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html

NCUST Award Excellent Urban Schools

National Center for Urban School Transformation Excellence in Education Award Criteria

The NCUST Excellence in Education Award was established exclusively to recognize public schools or public charter schools serving urban communities. To help urban school districts and their partners transform urban schools into places where all students achieve academic proficiency, evidence a love of learning, and graduate well prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, the workplace, and their communities.

Eligibility Criteria
The district where the school is located must serve a city with a population of at least 50,000. At least 50 percent of the school's students must meet the eligibility criteria for the federal free- or reduced-price lunch program. Secondary schools, however, may be considered if at least 50 percent of the students meet the federal criteria in two-thirds of the elementary schools that feed into the secondary school. To be considered for an Excellence in Education Award, a school may not have any selective admissions criteria. A school must have met AYP performance goals for all student subgroups for the previous two academic years.
> edweb.sdsu.edu/ncust/awards/criteria.html