INeedAPencil.com: Free SAT and College Prep Online
the problem:
Lasting social change relies on an educated population, so INeedAPencil.com empowers low-income high school students and makes them stellar candidates for college admissions and scholarships with its free SAT prep program. Funded and admitted, students go on to earn bachelor’s degrees and contribute positively to society. Partnering with schools, INeedAPencil.com is the first free online test prep program used by schools and community organizations. This starkly contrasts with paid tutors and school programs, which cost money and vary in quality. Moreover, the functions on the site, which show projected scores and customize sessions, are unprecedented.
Representative of a consistent trend, college bound seniors in 2008 from the lowest income bracket scored a 1320 cumulative score compared to students in the highest income bracket, who scored 1676 cumulatively. That difference, of over twenty five percent, makes a world of difference in admissions and must be closed. INeedAPencil.com provides an innovative, high quality alternative for students who cannot afford other SAT preparation and do not have viable local options. INeedAPencil.com raises students’ scores by approximately 200 points when used in its entirety; that increase helps eliminate the significant disadvantage that low-income students already confront in this process.
In addition to my entrepreneurial experience, my basic demographics make me the right man for the job. No organization tackling these issues has a college student at the helm. I know exactly what it takes to connect with and empower high school students—that was me a couple of years ago. Other programs are led by philanthropic adults or corporate dinosaurs, all who mean well and have much to offer, but none who can be as effective as I can be.
vital stats:
people impacted:
22,000people involved:
1why it's important:
Lasting social change relies on an educated population, so INeedAPencil.com empowers low-income high school students and makes them stellar candidates for college admissions and scholarships with its free SAT prep program. Funded and admitted, students go on to earn bachelor’s degrees and contribute positively to society. Partnering with schools, INeedAPencil.com is the first free online test prep program used by schools and community organizations. This starkly contrasts with paid tutors and school programs, which cost money and vary in quality. Moreover, the functions on the site, which show projected scores and customize sessions, are unprecedented.
Representative of a consistent trend, college bound seniors in 2008 from the lowest income bracket scored a 1320 cumulative score compared to students in the highest income bracket, who scored 1676 cumulatively. That difference, of over twenty five percent, makes a world of difference in admissions and must be closed. INeedAPencil.com provides an innovative, high quality alternative for students who cannot afford other SAT preparation and do not have viable local options. INeedAPencil.com raises students’ scores by approximately 200 points when used in its entirety; that increase helps eliminate the significant disadvantage that low-income students already confront in this process.
In addition to my entrepreneurial experience, my basic demographics make me the right man for the job. No organization tackling these issues has a college student at the helm. I know exactly what it takes to connect with and empower high school students—that was me a couple of years ago. Other programs are led by philanthropic adults or corporate dinosaurs, all who mean well and have much to offer, but none who can be as effective as I can be.
the plan of action:
A blend of influences inspired me to get involved in education technology. I often visited and spoke with my sister, who had been teaching middle school math in West Philadelphia. I still recall one visit around Thanksgiving when I was working with one of her students asked me three separate times, an adolescent boy mind you, how to spell the word ‘ball.’ I was shocked. A friendly boy, fun to talk to, who definitely had a good teacher, was so far behind. It was not because he was stupid or unmotivated, but he just did not grow up in the same environment or with the same resources as the kids in the suburbs.
I wanted to know how I could do my part to close this achievement gap. When I returned home to Florida after that vacation and walked back into my high school, I knew what needed to be done. In my junior year of high school, March 2006 and onward, I drew from my experiences of spending Saturday mornings beating my head with my test book preparing for the exam and long afternoons tutoring other students and showing them how to beat the SAT. INeedAPencil.com grew from a local tutoring program and basic text-only site to the dynamic national program it is today.
I ran into problems like having no programming experience, lacking original SAT content, language barriers with my development team and a limited ability to reach out to potential students. So I built a team of web developers, hired curriculum specialists, learned some of the cultural idiosyncrasies of my Indian development team and launched a guerilla marketing campaign to get the word out. To date we’ve helped over 18,000 students ace the SAT and get into college with an average score increase of about 200 cumulative points. We are expanding our scope with dozens of after school programs nationally using the website and by forming partnerships with companies that provide direct information about colleges and specific degree programs that we can deliver to INAP students.
how you can get involved:
Tell high school students/their parents/their counselors
Suggest improvements to the site
Recommend college access groups with which we can work
Blog about us or suggest the site to media outlets
project updates:
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