Classroom at the Workplace: College Prep

Classroom at the Workplace 2For some students pursuing higher education, their inability to finance preparation for college admissions testing leaves them at a competitive disadvantage to students with greater resources. A good SAT score can influence college acceptance and provide scholarship and grant opportunities. However, SAT test preparation costs an average of $1,000 per student – a financial burden many families in Boston cannot shoulder. Classroom at the Workplace: College Prep supports students’ academic success and provides viable work experience and wages so that Boston students with limited financial resources can earn money for their families and college while improving academic skills and increasing their competitive edge.

For Classroom at the Workplace: College Prep, the PIC partners with Harvard University's Standardized Test Equalization Project (STEP) to provide SAT preparation for 11th and 12th grade Boston students pursuing higher education. Students in the program receive paid release time from work to attend SAT test prep classes 90 minutes a day, three days a week over the seven weeks of the summer program as part of the their full-time job. Harvard University undergraduates and graduate students trained by an anonymous test prep company provide intensive tutoring to small classes of three to five students. As classes take place in corporate training rooms, offices, and conference rooms, the professional learning environment reinforces for students the connection between academic and career success. Additionally, students earn monetary "bonuses" according to their score improvement from the pre-program SAT to the post-program SAT.

The PIC and Harvard's STEP program piloted Classroom at the Workplace: College Prep during the summer of 2007. Seventy-seven (77) students from 12 Boston Public Schools attended SAT Prep as part of a summer job at nine employer sites (six of the nine are state agencies). Seventy-four (74) students completed the program for a 96% retention rate. On average, students increased their SAT math scores by 59 points, their critical reading scores by eight points, and their writing scores by ten points for an average 77 point SAT score increase.

  • Employers provide the job, paid release time to attend class, and on-site classroom space
  • Harvard University 's STEP program hires, trains, manages, and pays for tutors.
  • The PIC recruits and prepares the students, recruits employers, and coordinates class space and program implementation. PIC career specialists also support relationships between workplace supervisors and students.

Classroom at the Workplace: College Prep participating employers:

  • Department of Administration and Finance
  • Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Department of Housing and Economic Development
  • Department of Public Safety
  • Department of Transportation
  • Liberty Mutual
  • Sovereign Bank
  • University of Massachusetts

EMPLOYERS: Find out how to participate in the Classroom at the Workplace program.

STUDENTS: Find out how to participate in the Classroom at the Workplace program.