The Pre-college Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence is revamping their program and opening a new office at Milwaukee’s Rufus King Middle School this week.
The program started in 1999 and is designed to assist minority and low-income students on their path from high school into college. Services they offer include ACT prep sessions, tutoring and other after-school programs.
Assistant Director Gail Ford said the changes aim to increase the number of students who complete the program. Previously, around 68 percent of students who enrolled in the pre-college program ended up completing it.
One change that the program hopes will increase the amount of students finishing the program is by creating an age restriction for applications. Starting in 2019, students will no longer be able to apply at any grade. Now they will need to apply in eighth grade or after.
“In the old model, students enrolled in PEOPLE as early as second grade, so we expect that over the years we will lose some students, but we can certainly do better than 68 percent,” Ford said.
In years past, the program enrolled students in 15 districts across Wisconsin, including Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha. Now it will only provide services in the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Milwaukee Public Schools.
“PEOPLE began in these two communities,” Ford said. “These are the two largest districts in the state with the highest number of students of color and economically disadvantaged.”
Two of the main goals with these changes are to offer equitable services for all students and a more sustainable program structure.
Nearly 100 percent of students who complete the PEOPLE Program enroll in college. Roughly half of them will choose UW-Madison, and those who do are awarded free tuition.
The 2019 PEOPLE application is currently open and recruiting eighth graders in Madison and Milwaukee who plan to attend a partnership high school.
