Equal Opportunity Schools
Problem & Mission
• EOS changes lives and narrows the achievement gap by moving minority and low-income
students who can handle the challenge into their school’s most rigorous high-quality courses
• Research shows that rigorous high-quality courses (Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate courses) have many benefits for students
– Significantly improved educational outcomes and altered life trajectories
• Yet, minorities and low-income students are under-enrolled in AP/IB courses at almost all of
the high schools that offer these courses
– We calculate that at least 580,000 minority and low-income students who have the
potential go missing from AP/IB courses every year
– They are not getting the quality of education they deserve, but often it is just across
the hallway
• Mission: EOS will close race and income enrollment gaps in AP and IB programs in America’s
public schools by 2020
Solution
• EOS has piloted our program with eye-opening results
– Proof of concept: Closed AP/IB enrollment gap in one year at Battery Creek High
School in South Carolina with improved AP/IB pass rates
– Successful pilot: Nearly doubled the number of Latinos in AP/IB in San Jose Unified
School District in one year with AP/IB performance steady
• Now we are building an organization that will reach 4,400 high schools nationwide
• We offer these schools a five-phase service to help them get the minority and low-income
students who should be in AP/IB in those classes:
– Make the case for change and align stakeholders
– Set targets and launch an action plan for closing the enrollment gap
– Guide efficient outreach & enrollment process
– Enhance program quality and academic supports
– Support year-long implementation
• Our strategy involves
– Leveraging the power of expectations, the power of setting ambitious but
feasible targets, and the power of lowering the cost of change
– Achieving economies of scale
– Partnering aggressively with other organizations
– Pursuing strategy that improves college outcomes most efficiently (highest ROI)
– Focusing on measurable results
– Gaining momentum to reach harder-to-sell schools and for a policy tipping point
Growth & Financial Plans
• Growth: Next two years will prove concept at regional scale leading to national roll-out
• The startup costs are $1.65M for year 1 and $2M for year 2
• After year 2, we will achieve financial sustainability by charging a fee to schools for our
consulting services