The University has a plan

As one of the world's leading centers of higher education, the University of California has the resources, the talent, the dedication and, most importantly, the determination to prepare California's children - all our children, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or geographic location - for successful lives in the 21st century. It's a commitment that stretches back to the University's founding more than 130 years ago, and which continues today.

Once California's most pressing need was to develop our agricultural and industrial potential. Today, it is to develop the intellectual potential of our children. University of California research in action transformed the Central Valley into the world's most productive farming region, helped launch the biotech industry and continues to revolutionize science and medicine. Now, we are putting our expertise to work to overcome another equally pressing problem - improving education from kindergarten on up.

The University of California is prepared to significantly expand its established roles to help reshape the current patterns of educational opportunity in this state by stimulating and contributing to the improvement of California's educational system. The University can provide unparalleled educational expertise, considerable resources, and can act as a catalyst for mobilizing groups and institutions to develop partnerships to support these efforts at home, in business, in the community and in the schools.

The University of California's four-point strategy will aid students in overcoming educational disadvantages, so that we can begin reversing the trend of student bodies that do not accurately reflect society.

Partners in Action

Drop by a school classroom some afternoon and you may find a UC engineering student helping a fourth-grader master the mysteries of fractions. Visit a UC campus some weekend and you may get to meet some of the public school teachers who are on campus to learn the latest techniques in education. It's all part of the University's partnership with targeted public schools. Each University of California campus is actively working with a select number of local schools to help realize change. From student tutoring to on-campus training for teachers to reaching out to the community to helping parents learn how to prepare their children for college, the University of California is taking the lead in improving education throughout the state.

Partners for Successful Schools

Change Comes One Student at a Time

Today, Mistee Hightower is a UC Davis senior preparing for a career in international relations. Just a few years ago, she was one of the hundreds of ambitious young men and women who wanted to succeed but who needed an extra boost. She credits her success to her mother's determination and to the University's Early Academic Outreach Program that helped sharpen her study skills so that she would be better prepared to attend a major university. Mistee supplied the determination and dreams, EAOP helped make them a reality for her and for hundreds of other students who have benefited from special programs including MESA and Puente.

Modifying and expanding existing academic development programs. MESA, EAOP and Puente have proven track records when it comes to helping educationally disadvantaged youngsters achieve. By strengthening these programs with additional resources more children can participate and benefit. From science fairs to on-campus summer academics, these programs bring students, families and communities together in the challenge of preparing for and being admitted to the college of their choice.

Families are the Foundation for Success

Getting the Word Out

From visiting with astronauts aboard a spacecraft to finding out what a college basketball player really does in the off-season, from helping parents find ways to finance their children's education to providing high school counselors with information on the changes in the UC application, an aggressive informational campaign is underway.

Using publications as well as new technologies, the University of California is reaching out to students and their families. By working with students, families, educators and communities, the University is creating exciting and informative materials and computer projects that help children as early as elementary school understand the benefits of college, what it takes to get in to college, and what campus life is like.

Harnessing UC's Research Expertise

Putting the University of California's unparalleled research expertise to work on these challenges in education is also a high priority. As the state's public research university, UC is coordinating research activities and augmenting existing research efforts in an attempt to better understand the differences in educational attainment and achievement in society.

The University is looking for answers. We want to find out why some groups of students achieve so differently than others and what can be done to change this trend. Then, UC will put that understanding to work in the schools to benefit California's students and their teachers.

This Universitywide effort will coordinate work that is already underway as well as research in the planning stages. It involves experts in education as well as in such diverse fields as sociology, public policy, economics, history, public health, psychology, social welfare, anthropology, ethnic studies, city and regional planning.

This ambitious plan to improve educational opportunity in the lowest performing schools in the state - where underrepresented minority students are most heavily concentrated - offers hope as a long-term, strategic solution.

Aiming High

The University has already committed itself to this ambitious program because it is the right thing to do for California.

The University of California and all of higher education in the state have entered a new era in terms of how educational opportunity is allocated. Calling this initiative his highest priority, UC President Richard C. Atkinson said, "the University now has the opportunity to shape an approach to diversity that puts greater emphasis on promise and potential and less on characteristics like one's gender or the color of one's skin." The initiative emphasizes not only his personal commitment, but the power of partnerships as the schools, businesses, community organizations and the government join together.

Leading the effort is Dr. Karl Pister, former chancellor of UC Santa Cruz and long-time dean of the UC Berkeley School of Engineering of which he is also a graduate. Dr. Pister was specially chosen for this position by President Atkinson because of his commitment to diversity in education and his leadership in many diversity programs that opened up the field of engineering to women, and other projects for which he is nationally recognized. Working closely with Dr. Pister and President Atkinson is Richard C. Clarke, the retired CEO and Chairman of the Board of PG&E who was co-chair of the Outreach Task Force and who heads the Outreach Advisory Committee.

Results in Action

Over the next five years, the University of California intends to:

• Increase the number of UC-eligible graduates from partner high schools by 100 percent and increase the number of competitively eligible students (those who are eligible for admission at the most selective UC campuses, such as UC Berkeley and UCLA) by 50 percent;
• Increase by 100 percent the number of UC-eligible graduates and by 50 percent the number of competitively eligible graduates from academic development programs, such as MESA, EAOP and Puente;
• Increase by 200 percent the number of contacts each UC campus has with elementary, middle school, high school and community college students and their families regarding preparation for college.

Sharing the Cost

California was once a leader in public education. But the schools we knew are only dim memories for today's public school students. Instead of being in the top 10 nationally in per pupil spending as we were a generation ago, California now lags near the bottom 10, outspending by only a few hundred dollars per student per year Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, even the nation's poorest state, Mississippi.

While this plan will not change the education every child in California receives, it is a start.

The University of California commits $60 million annually to efforts that enhance students' academic preparedness for a University education, but to make this plan a reality, an additional $60 million is needed. The University is launching efforts to generate funds from public and private sources.

The plan is endorsed by leading California policy makers, legislators, and leaders of business and industry who are committed to seeing the children of this state realize their ambitions, their goals, and their dreams for the 21st century.