College AIM and DCSD Memorandum of Understanding (24-25)

                      MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN

                                      COLLEGE AIM, INC.

                                               AND

                            DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

PURPOSE

This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) confirms an understanding and outlines the terms
of cooperation between the DeKalb County School District (hereinafter referred to as “School
District”) and College AIM, INC (hereinafter referred to as “College AIM”), a non-profit
organization located at 342 South McDonough Street, Decatur, GA 30030). College AIM guides
and supports high school students to and through college, including technical college, two-year
colleges and four-year institutions, by (among other things) running workshops to help students
explore and connect to postsecondary opportunities, providing individual postsecondary
advising, taking students on college visits, counseling students regarding financial, academic
and social support services through college graduation, and providing scholarships and access
to scholarship opportunities. The School District operates public schools in DeKalb County,
including McNair High School (hereinafter referred to as “McNair”), Stone Mountain High School
(hereinafter referred to as “Stone Mountain”), Towers High School (hereinafter referred to as
“Towers”), Cross Keys High School (hereinafter referred to as “Cross Keys”), and Lithonia High
School (hereinafter referred to as “Lithonia”).

Collectively, the aforementioned parties will work together towards the following primary
outcomes:

A. At least 60% of Class of 2025 graduates from Towers, McNair, Stone Mountain, Cross Keys,
   and Lithonia high schools will enroll in a postsecondary education program within 16 months of
   high school graduation.
B. Class of 2025 graduates from Towers, McNair, Stone Mountain, Cross Keys, and Lithonia
   graduates will collectively secure at least $50 million in grant and scholarship offers.
C. At least 65% of Class of 2025 graduates from Towers, McNair, Stone Mountain, Cross Keys,
   and Lithonia high schools will complete the FAFSA by 7/31/25.

To reach these outcomes, College AIM will also work towards intermediary goals including:
D. 90% of seniors at partner high schools will have match/fit-oriented college lists built by 1/31/25
E. 90% of seniors at partner high schools will apply to college by 7/31/25
F. 60% of seniors at partner high schools will complete individual financial analysis meetings by
    7/31/25
G. 60% of seniors at partner high schools will complete their intent to enroll in a postsecondary
    education program by 7/31/25




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TERM

This Memorandum of Understanding outlines the partnership between College AIM and DeKalb
County School District during the term of August 12, 2024 through July 31, 2025.

ROLES OF EACH PARTY

A. Role of College AIM During the 2024-2025 School Year and 2025 Summer

During the 2024-2025 School Year, College AIM will collaborate with the respective
administrations and counseling departments of McNair, Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys
and Lithonia, as well as district staff, to coordinate the programming and schedule for College
AIM’s activities in partnership each school for the 2024-2025 school year.

Once scheduled with the school administration, counseling department and other school and
district staff, College AIM will provide full-school “postsecondary prep” programming at McNair,
Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys, and Lithonia. Programming will include both Access
(during high school) and Success (post-graduate) support for students.

Access Programming (during high school, to support postsecondary enrollment) will include:

  I.    College Prep Workshops - for 9th-11th grade students
 II.    Individual Postsecondary Advising - for all 12th grade students, including college list
        development, application completion and submission, essay writing and editing, FAFSA
        support, scholarship application support, recommendation/transcript requests and other
        tasks in Naviance, supplemental student recommendations and more
 III.   Local, state-wide and out-of-state college visits - for 9th through 12th grade students,
 IV.    Scholarships - including the CAPS Scholarship, Goucher/College AIM Scholarship, BLEST
        Scholarship, Genevieve Ramsey Scholarship, DeKalb Alphas Scholarship and Dell
        Scholarship (More than $1 million will be awarded to DCSD students and alums in 24-25
        through College AIM-specific and partnered scholarships)
  V.    College Admit Day - College fair with free applications and on-the-spot acceptances and
        scholarship awards
 VI.    College 101 - Series of workshops for 12th grade students to prepare for the transition to
        college, including enrollment tasks that may need to be completed over the summer
VII.    Signing Day - Celebration for all students from partner high schools who are enrolling in
        postsecondary education programs

Success Programming (post-graduate, to support postsecondary matriculation, graduation and
career success) will include:

  I.    Summer Melt Prevention - Intensive student outreach and tracking in June and July to
        ensure that students enroll in college




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 II.    Financial Support - Access to College AIM’s emergency and enrollment assistance funds,
        connections to basic needs supports on and off campus, connections to additional
        scholarships
 III.   Individual Skill-based Success Coaching - Coaching for students in their first
        postgraduate year to help students with critical thinking, goal setting and prioritization,
        academic achievement, self care and community connectedness
 IV.    Daily Office Hours - Virtual support with academic, social, and financial challenges that
        may arise for our students while they’re enrolled or attempting to enroll in college.
 V.     Career Coaching - Workshops for our college students on a variety of topics including
        resumes, interviewing, effective networking and LinkedIn profiles

To fulfill these roles, College AIM will place a team of at least three individuals at each partner
high school. These individuals will include a Postsecondary Access Coach, Postsecondary
Success Coach and at least one Program Specialist, with roles as follows:

  I.    The Postsecondary Access Coach will serve as the team lead, working primarily with
        twelfth grade students, supporting their postsecondary application and financial aid
        processes. The Postsecondary Access Coach will be a full-time College AIM employee,
        based at each partner high school.
 II.    The Postsecondary Success Coach will work with students upon completion of their
        postsecondary application and financial aid processes, to provide support with the
        transition to postsecondary education programs as well as persistence and graduation
        from those programs. The Postsecondary Success Coach will be a full-time College AIM
        employee, with time split between the partner high school and remote work to support
        students who are enrolled in college.
 III.   The Program Specialist(s) will be an AmeriCorps member or members, hired and trained
        by College AIM, who conduct(s) Postsecondary Prep Workshops and support(s) on
        other initiatives for ninth-, tenth- and eleventh- grade students. Program specialists will
        be part-time members, expected to provide service hours at each partner school for
        20-30 hours per week.

B. Role of School District During 2024-2025 School Year and 2025 Summer

During the 2024-2025 school year, School District will provide to College AIM data on McNair,
Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys, and Lithonia students, as outlined below and to be
detailed further in a data sharing agreement upon signing of the MOU, for the purpose of
tracking such students to and through college. Furthermore, School District will provide:

  I.    Designated space at McNair, Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys, and Lithonia, for
        College AIM programming, with the specific space to be determined by each partner
        school’s administration;
 II.    Access to students at McNair, Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys, and Lithonia both
        during the school day and after school, with the intent of minimizing or eliminating
        missed instructional time, as agreed upon with the administration and staff of each
        school;


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 III.   $25,000 in funding per school partner, totalling $125,000;
 IV.    School buses for local college exposure programming, with nine twelfth-grade trips and
        four underclassmen trips per school, totalling $15,000; and
 V.     The School District’s best efforts in collaborating and partnering with College AIM in
        applying for grants from external sources, including, but not limited to, joint funding
        applications, joint meetings with potential funders and letters of support for grant
        applications.

Outline of Data Sharing, to be detailed further in a data sharing agreement upon signing of the
MOU:

On at least an annual basis, according to the timeline established by College AIM, DCSD shall
collect data pertaining to student demographics, course enrollment, site characteristics and
related outcomes specified by College AIM and provide that data to College AIM via their secure
web portal. DCSD shall also submit such individual student academic and disciplinary data
concerning College AIM participants as College AIM may specify. College AIM’s data collection
process conforms to the privacy protections specified in the Federal Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA). College AIM will maintain as confidential any personally identifiable
student information or information that is privileged or confidential under federal or state law and
that is conspicuously marked by DCSD as “privileged” or “confidential” before DCSD delivers to
College AIM. College AIM will destroy all individual student data when it is no longer needed for
reporting purposes. DCSD reserves the right to withhold, revise, and/or edit certain confidential
data such as student names, Social Security numbers and any other information the disclosure
of which would violate FERPA. College AIM agrees not to use any of the data collected under
this section in a manner that would violate, or cause DCSD to violate, any applicable provision
of FERPA. These data will be outlined in a Data Sharing Agreement, to be signed by both
DCSD and College AIM, prior to any data sharing between the aforementioned organizations.

REPORTING & MEETINGS

College AIM will provide quarterly impact data reports and an end of year impact data report
with data to demonstrate progress towards all projected outcomes. Reports will be reviewed by
DCSD and discussed to determine success of joint programming and adjustments needed to
support student success.

Members of both parties will meet at least monthly to discuss progress towards joint goals,
provide program updates and make strategic decisions about program implementation.
“Members” should include College AIM’s Director, Access Program & Partnerships and the
School District’s Executive Director of Student Advancement. Both parties may opt to include
other members of their organizations in monthly meetings to further collaboration around joint
programming and goals.

Additionally, College AIM and the School District will develop a regular meeting and reporting
cadence for collaboration between school-based staff from College AIM and DCSD.
School-level meetings will occur at least monthly at each school and will include College AIM’s
Postsecondary Access Coach, Postsecondary Success Coach, and Program Specialist(s), as


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well as a school administrator, as assigned by the respective school. Both parties may opt to
include other members of their organizations or members of other organizations providing
students at the respective school with postsecondary attainment support in monthly meetings to
further collaboration around joint programming and goals.

BACKGROUND CHECKS

Prior to student contact, College AIM will ensure that each employee or volunteer who has
contact with students at McNair, Stone Mountain, Towers, Cross Keys, or Lithonia, has
undergone the same criminal background check as is required of School District employees, in
addition to any mandatory background checks performed by College AIM for such employees
and volunteers. College AIM agrees that any individual charges against such persons revealed
by such background checks may be deemed unacceptable by School District, in its sole
discretion.

INSURANCE

College AIM and all of its subcontactors and consultants, if any, will maintain insurance in the
types and coverage amounts shown below, providing coverage for the term of this MOU. Before
the commencement of its activities hereunder, College AIM will provide School District with (A)
an endorsement from the insurer naming School District as an additional insured under the
liability policies, and (B) certificate(s) verifying that these insurance coverages and limits are in
force. College AIM waives all rights, including rights of subrogation, against School District and
its respective directors, officers, partners, board members, officials, agents, insurers,
subcontractors, consultants and employees for damages covered by any type of insurance
during and after the completion of College AIM’s activities hereunder. The limits of coverage
agreed upon by College AIM and School District will not be construed as a limit on College
AIM’s potential liability to School District.

     Type of Insurance                         Coverage Limits

     Commercial General Liability Coverage     $2,000,000 (Aggregate)/$1,000,000 (Per Incident)

     Professional Liability Coverage           $2,000,000 (Aggregate)/$1,000,000 (Per Incident)

     Sexual or Physical Abuse or Molestation   $500,000 (Aggregate)/$500,000 (Per Incident)



DeKalb County School District

By: ______________________________

Date: ____________________________

Printed Name and Title: ______________________________________
x/




College AIM, Inc.


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By: ______________________________

Date: ____________________________

Printed Name and Title: Sam Aleinikoff, Founder and Executive Director, College AIM




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