A strikingly effective way to ensure the success of disadvantaged students in college.

The Posse Foundation is premised on the notion that if dropout-prone high school students can enroll in college with a posse—a peer group they bring with them that all support one another—that they’re more likely to succeed. It’s been running for twenty years now, grouping 600 students into groups of 10 students, and enrolling them in 40 participating colleges (including Bryn Mawr, Middlebury, DePauw, Brandeis). Their average SAT scores are markedly below the average in the colleges that admit them, but by any measure, these students are among the most successful in their college classes. This doesn’t just highlight the weakness of SAT scores as an indicator of academic success, but it also highlights how easily the achievement gap can be erased, at least for the right kids. 

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »