College access

GEAR UP

Exposes GEAR UP cohorts to STEM and creative-industry careers, produces recruitment-ready video content, and increases participation and retention by teaching students about emotional resilience, a memorable college and career-readiness experience.

We support music-industry and STEM career exploration, outreach and recruiting, participant retention, and college and career readiness with the SEL books, keynotes, and the recording and music video program.

FAQs

Straight answers.

Yes, and the grade banding is designed for it. A cohort entering in 7th grade can use the teen advanced edition through high school, with the material's difficulty carried by the discussion and application rather than by replacing the book each year. Because the books are consumable, each year is a fresh copy.
GEAR UP is measured on postsecondary enrollment and persistence, and the non-cognitive factors are where cohorts most often lose students after the handoff to college.

Coordinators working with college persistence programs at partner institutions find the first year is where the cohort thins. Anything that travels with the student helps.
Yes. The recording and video production programming introduces audio engineering, live sound, studio production, and media as concrete career paths — fields with real entry points that a student can picture. Great for arts, music, stem, public speaking, soft skills, life skills, and social emotional learning camps.

For a cohort model, that exposure lands better in the middle grades than college talk does, and it gives the later college conversation something to attach to. Our Psychological Effects of Music keynotes are great for end of year banquets and kick off events.
Yes. GEAR UP is measured on high school completion and postsecondary enrollment, and attendance, behavior, and course performance are the indicators that predict both.

Coordinators building dropout prevention programs or a student attendance improvement plan across a cohort need the engagement piece — the part students choose. Increasing student engagement and motivation is what the Enrichments are for.

Aligned to that framework, not a claim about your completion rate.
The non-academic side: self-management, persistence, and managing setbacks. GEAR UP programming often covers financial aid, coursework, and campus visits thoroughly while leaving the social-emotional dimension to chance.
GEAR UP cohorts are drawn from high-poverty schools, and in most service areas that means students from communities mainstream material does not reflect. Programs asking about culturally relevant social emotional learning, social emotional learning for black students, culturally relevant books for elementary, or empowering books for black males are asking a question worth asking. Evaluate it yourself rather than accepting a claim. Request a sample and put it in front of two or three students from the cohort. That answers it better than anything we could write here.
That is much of the point. GEAR UP follows students through the years when early warning indicators emerge, and attendance, behavior, and course performance predict high school completion more reliably than demographics do. Ninth-grade course performance in particular correlates strongly with graduating. Coordinators searching for dropout prevention programs, high school dropout prevention programs, or middle school programs for at risk students are working the same window. Engagement programming is the piece that addresses whether a student stays connected — the What Works Clearinghouse guide on preventing dropout recommends exactly that kind of curricula, connecting schoolwork to college and career success while building capacity to manage challenges.
Yes. Summer components are where many GEAR UP sites use it most, and the material works in short daily blocks.
GEAR UP is a federal Department of Education award, so Uniform Guidance cost principles apply — necessary, reasonable, allocable to the approved project. Quote, W-9, and invoice provided; SAM.gov registered.
Yes. Recording and video production programming is a good multi-year fit because the work deepens as students do — a seventh grader and an eleventh grader do the same activity at different levels rather than needing different programming. It carries both halves of the engagement recommendation in the dropout prevention research: a visible career connection and collaborative work that requires managing frustration and critique.
Yes. The recording and video production programming introduces audio engineering, live sound, studio production, and media as concrete career paths — fields with real entry points that a student can picture. For a cohort model, that exposure lands better in the middle grades than college talk does, and it gives the later college conversation something to attach to.
That is central to the method. Melody and rhythm aid recall, so the material carries concepts in song structure rather than as content to study. Students retain a chorus far longer than a handout. For a multi-year cohort that matters — what a seventh grader learned is still available in tenth grade.
Yes, on the underlying self-assessment and articulation rather than as a resume workshop. The recording programming is where career prep happens in the practical sense: deadlines, revision, collaboration, and a standard to meet.
GEAR UP is measured on postsecondary enrollment and persistence, and non-cognitive factors are where cohorts most often lose students. Our material addresses persistence and managing setbacks. It is one input. College access programming, aid counseling, and academic preparation all matter more, and we would rather be a well-described component than an overclaimed cause.
No. We send our own staff to run the programming. We do not train your staff to run it. Recording and production is a skill set, not a procedure. Trying to hand it off in a few hours would be like teaching a doctor to perform surgery in an afternoon — you would get a session that technically happened and a result nobody wants to hear. Across a multi-year cohort this comes up more than once. The answer does not change — we bring our staff each time.
No. We are supplemental. We do not replace your SEL curriculum, your trauma-informed practice, or any program you already have in place. If you run a core SEL program, keep it — ours adds a music-based component alongside it. If you have trauma-informed protocols, training, and referral pathways, those stay in force exactly as they are. Nothing in our material substitutes for them, and our facilitators are not a substitute for your clinical, counseling, or behavioral staff. Your approved cohort services stay as written across the grant period. This is an added component.
Yes, and for a cohort model an assembly is efficient — it reaches the whole grade level at once rather than the students who opt in. The Psychological Effects of Music interactive School Assembly is the format. Pep rally ideas for middle school and high school assembly formats are both available, and GEAR UP sites often use one as a cohort kickoff at the start of a school year.
45 minutes to 2 hours. Most schools book a class period or 90 minutes. The 90-minute format is the one we recommend when you have the room. 45 minutes works for a single class period or a tight bell schedule, and 2 hours suits a half-day event, a grade-level rally, or a Black History Month or Red Ribbon Week program. Tell us your bell schedule and we will fit the session to it rather than asking you to build around us.
Yes. The Psychological Effects of Music interactive School Assembly is built for exactly this — a family engagement event where parents and children participate together rather than sitting through a presentation. That is the difference that matters for attendance. Families come to an event where something happens; they skip an information night. The session is music-driven and participatory, so a parent who speaks little English and a fourth grader are in it on the same terms. GEAR UP requires a parent and family involvement component across the grant period. A family engagement event is documentable against it, and for a cohort model it reaches the same families year over year. Military Installations and Youth Programs

How this program runs

Same SIWM work. Built for GEAR UP.

Start with the social emotional learning books. Add a keynote. Bring a recording program when you want participants writing and performing — we produce the song and video.

CASEL 5 SEL competencies; National Core Arts (Music/Media Arts); Common Core ELA writing & public speaking; CTE Arts/A-V & career-readiness pathways; STEM/STEAM.

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The Psychological Effects of Music