Criteria

Description

Student Demographics

Demographic make-up of school’s student body is aligned with iMentor’s target population, as measured by:

• School is a public or charter high school
• Over 75% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch
• Over 75% of student body is black or Hispanic or is a recent immigrant to the United States (This criterion may vary depending on partner’s location)

Academic Performance

School partners demonstrate a baseline level of academic performance, as measured by the following being within 10 percentage points of the district average:

• School’s 4-year high school graduation rate
• School attendance rate
• 9^th grade credit accumulation
• College readiness rate as judged by proficiency on college entrance exams

College-going-Culture

School partners are developing strong college-going-cultures, as measured by the following being within 10 percentage points of the district average:

• School’s post-secondary enrollment rate
• School’s staffing structure dedicated to college counseling
• School’s college and career preparatory course enrollment
• School can demonstrate both the presence of college counseling supports for students at their school, but also articulates a need for the added capacity and individualized support through the college process that the iMentor model provides (articulated need)

Model Fidelity

School partners commit to iMentor model fidelity.

• School commits to enrolling all eligible students in a participating cohort in iMentor
• School commits to scheduling all students in a participating cohort for weekly iMentor class sessions during the school day (in a core academic or advisory class, not during lunch or after school)
• School commits to hosting monthly evening iMentor events on-campus for mentee-mentor pairs 
• School commits to providing, at minimum, 1 staff member per weekly class session to serve as the iMentor teacher, 1 staff members per monthly event and to include relevant staff in meetings with iMentor staff at least 3 times per year.

Depth of Integration

School partners plan to deeply integrate iMentor into all counseling, college, and relevant academic initiatives, as measured by:

• School articulates a willingness to include iMentor staff in relevant school-based faculty meetings (i.e. teacher grade team meetings, all-staff meetings, etc.)

Technology Access

Students at iMentor partner schools have consistent access to reliable internet-connected computers at their high school, as measured by:

• IDEAL: Students have unlimited access to reliable internet-connected computers (via school-based stationary computer lab or mobile laptop carts) and school has a clear and communicated technology policy
• MINIMUM REQUIRED: Students have weekly access to reliable internet-connected computers (via school-based stationary computer lab or mobile laptop carts)
• NOT ACCEPTABLE: Students do not have weekly access to reliable internet-connected computers at their school

School Leadership Support and Buy-in

School leadership is bought into the power of the iMentor model to support college readiness and success

Financial Investment

(IF APPLICABLE) School commits to a multi-year financial investment in iMentor programming.

• School leader can articulate source of funding for iMentor program fees for first year and for subsequent years as the program scales to full capacity, be it from their school budget and/or school commitment to fundraise to cover any gaps
• The potential for third-party financial support of iMentor program fees from school network, charter management organization, advisory board, and/or likelihood of eligibility for grants due to student population or school’s achievements