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BRYC College Signing Day 2022

Baton Rouge Nonprofit Improves ACT Scores, College Readiness for Under-Resourced Students

  • December 27, 2022
Baton Rouge Youth Coalition logo

While the ACT national average dropped to a 30-year low this year, a Louisiana nonprofit dedicated to advancing equity to higher education access is bucking the trend.

The Baton Rouge Youth Coalition is a college-access-focused nonprofit that prepares high-achieving, under-resourced high school students to enter, persist in, graduate from college and earn career-track jobs. Through free outside-of-school programs, BRYC assists more than 300 students from 44 high schools in the likes of academic and ACT tutoring, college application and financial aid assistance, and health and wellness programs for college and beyond. Since welcoming its first ninth-grade Fellow cohort in 2014, BRYC has had 577 College Fellows and Alumni attending 94 colleges.

The Baton Rouge Youth Coalition’s Class of 2022 averaged a 22 ACT composite score, ranking above the state average of 18.1 and the national average of 19.8. A total of 68 senior Fellows received 320 college acceptances and $5.56 million in financial aid. Ninety-six percent enrolled in two- or four-year schools. In addition, on the latest October test, 15 Fellows (BRYC students) from the Class of 2023 increased their ACT scores as high as four points.

Baton Rouge Youth Coalition Class of 2022 At-A-Glance:

68

Senior Fellows

22

Average ACT Score

96%

Percentage of Students Enrolled

$5.56M

Total Aid Awarded

Fellows attend, either in person or virtually, BRYC on one assigned day per week after school for three hours of grade-specific programming: Grades 9 and 10 attend Underclassmen Transition; Grade 11, ACT Preparation; Grade 12, College Access, and BRYC’s Persistence team supports fellows in college and beyond. BRYC pays for two ACT tests a year for juniors. Dhillon says fellows must maintain a 3.5 GPA and 80% attendance rate in BRYC programming, and the youth coalition offers college tours, campus retreats, college information sessions, and summer enrichment programs to its Fellows.

"There are thousands of young people from a lower-income standing who face barriers to attaining the resources to graduate high school, score well on standardized tests, earn financial aid, and develop the skills needed for the workforce. We have built a community of dedicated students and caring adults under one collaborative support system functioning to convert the high school educational journey into personal and professional opportunities.”

Aareena Dhillon, BRYC Director of Upperclassmen Learning
BRYC Students
  • 'Different, Dynamic, and More Efficient'

BRYC has had a longstanding history implementing MasteryPrep’s test prep solutions for the ACT into its tutoring curriculum and academic lesson planning. MasteryPrep works to level the standardized assessment playing field by partnering with districts, schools, and college-readiness programs nationwide so that they gain greater access to mastery-based college readiness services and resources.

“The MasteryPrep products have enhanced our ability to prepare our Fellows on the ACT and improved so many of their scores,” Dhillon says. “We do consistent practice testing to monitor their scores, shape lesson plans to work on their weaknesses, and provide them access to follow-up study hall videos so that their comfortability levels are high for the real test.”

MasteryPrep’s Practice Testing & Analysis for the ACT includes official ACT practice tests to enhance the practice-testing experience. After students take their practice tests, MasteryPrep provides detailed reports that give teachers insights into student performance and data-driven recommendations to boost outcomes. “Study Hall” videos cover the most important tested content on the ACT, bolstering content mastery, test-taking skills, and assisting students with working on their subject areas on which they need the most help.

“These are all strategies and tricks I wish I had when I took the ACT,” said Dhillon. “From plugging in answers in Math, to realizing the correct situations for comma use in English, to skimming and scanning techniques in Reading and Science—they all teach our Fellows just a different, dynamic, and more efficient way of conquering this test.”

BRYC Executive Director Lucas Spielfogel authored MasteryPrep’s College Playbook, which helps set up a student’s high school years for college success. It includes:

  • Valuable lessons and advice on what colleges really want to see in applications
  • Everything students need to know about standardized tests, how to compare exact costs among colleges
  • Information on how to understand financial aid awards
  • Tips on writing personal statements
  • Insights on how time management, setting goals, and creating healthy habits can make the most out of high school careers

“Every BRYC Senior Fellow receives a copy of the book, and we work with them throughout their senior year on useful tips on how to apply to college and receive maximum financial aid,” Dhillon says. “Our goal is for them to have student loans less than $5,500 for college. Even after college, we offer our alumni a support network for anything they may need as they make that college transition and stay on track at their respective schools.”

BRYC students 2

Unpaid testimonial. Individual results may vary, and testimonials are not claimed to represent typical results. ACT score average and gain data courtesy of MasteryPrep client district and based on year over year ACT test data for the same cohort. All testimonials are real participants, and may not reflect the typical user’s experience, and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.

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ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT, Inc. and are reproduced with permission. SAT® is a trademark of the College Board. MasteryPrep LLC has no affiliation with College Board MasteryPrep SAT programs are not approved or endorsed by College Board. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) is an ACCUPLACER® exam, which is a trademark of College Board. MasteryPrep has no affiliation with College Board or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), and the TSIA2 Mastery program is not approved or endorsed by College Board or the TSI. WorkKeys® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. The WorkKeys programs are not approved or endorsed by ACT, Inc.

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