Back on Track Assessment FIRST TIME USER Guide
Overview
Back on Track Through College Model
Across the nation, millions of young people have either dropped out of school or are not
making progress toward high school graduation. The majority of these young people obtain a
high school credential — in almost all cases a GED certificate — and close to half of those enroll
in postsecondary education. Yet despite their persistence, a college degree or credential
remains an elusive goal. Only 5 percent of all youth and adult GED completers go on to earn a
postsecondary credential.
Jobs for the Future has developed a Back on Track Through College Model to drive growth and
scale in this emerging field of practice. The model draws on lessons learned in JFF's work with
innovative diploma and GED-granting programs, districts, national youth serving networks and
community colleges that support many of them, and a decade of JFF's work developing and
scaling up early college high schools for low-income, first-generation college goers.
Back on Track Through College Assessment
The Back on Track Through College Assessment tool is designed to help you determine the state
of key Back on Track Through College features at your school. Jobs for the Future will use your
assessment data to help you better understand which program features your school/program
has in place that support the phases of the model. JFF clients can also access a rich set of
resources, including recommendations for action, best practices and resources based on their
specific assessment results.
WE RECOMMEND YOU CREATE A PERSONAL LOGIN FOR ACCESSING JFF RESOURCES so you
are able to save your results, come back and update your assessment at a later time, get
personalized recommendations based on your input, email your assessment or
recommendations to yourself or a colleague.
For instructions on creating a login, see page 2
To continue without creating a login, go to page 3
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REGISTRATION: go to http://application.jff.org
In the upper right hand corner, click Login to be taken to JFF registration page.
Complete the required fields (indicated by *).
After you have completed registration, you will get a “Success!” screen where you can login
with your new username and password. Login to get back to the assessment tool
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GETTING STARTED
Click on the Back on Track Assessment Tool, or go right to:
http://application.jff.org/botassessment/
STEP 1: Assess Back on Track at Your School
When completing the assessment, you can work on one phase at a time by clicking on the
headings: “Enriched Prep,” “Postsecondary Bridging,” or “First Year Support,” or you can also
work on all phases at the same time by clicking on “Open all levers at once.” You also have the
option of printing the complete assessment and guiding questions. This may be helpful if you
want to bring a hard copy of the assessment to a team meeting then come back later to enter
the results.
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Once you open any or all levers, you will see a similar display as the one shown below.
Each Feature includes Guiding Questions. Mouse over “Guiding Questions” to see a list of
questions to help you assess whether you have the feature “in place”, “in development” or “not
yet.” You can also press and hold the “shift” key to lock the window in place and the “esc” key
to release.
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Select the boxes that correspond to where your school is with each of the features.
Click on the
button at the bottom of the page,
or use the link in the left menu for Step 2 to select your priorities.
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STEP 2: Select Priorities. This is where you choose priorities for features not yet underway.
The box on the left displays the features your program is still developing and those not yet in
place. Select and click on each feature that is a high priority for development; these will appear
in the box on the right. You can explore all of the features, but we recommend picking a "top
10" or less to focus on. You can return to this page to change your focus and create a new list of
priority features.
Click the "Get Resources for Your Priority" bottom at the bottom to access tools, resources, and
links to exemplar schools/programs for each priority feature you chose.
Remember, if you want to save your answers and recommendations for future access, be sure
to log in (top right of screen). See instructions on page 2.
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STEP 3: View Recommended Resources
You will be able to scroll through all of the examples and resources associated with your
selected priorities. You can browse the resources and download or connect to resources
appropriate for your needs. There will be a summary of your selected priorities at the top.
Click on any priority to see all the related recommended resources.
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Remember, if you want to save your answers and recommendations for future access, be sure
to log in (top right of screen). See instructions on page 2.
Getting Help
If you have questions or run into any trouble using the Back on Track Through College
Assessment Tool, please contact:
Mamadou Ndiaye
Senior Project Manager
Jobs for the Future
617.728.4446 x210
mndiaye@jff.org
WWW.JFF.ORG
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