About College Access for All

In fall 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina announced an ambitious set of goals for New York City schools: By 2026, 80% of our students will graduate high school on time, and two-thirds of our students will be college ready.

Through the Mayor’s Equity and Excellence reforms, New York City will address our students’ academic, social, and emotional needs from the first book they successfully read by themselves until their high school diploma and college acceptance letter are in hand.
As part of this plan, College Access for All: Middle School (CA4All: MS)—a holistic early college awareness program that includes college trips, student workshops, family engagement, and professional development opportunities for staff—ensures that every middle school student will be exposed to a college-going culture and will have the opportunity to visit a college campus at least once in grades 6–8. College Access for All: Middle School will promote high school, college, and life success.

In the first full year, 20,000 7th graders across 10 community school districts and district 75 participated in activities including: early college awareness training for over 1,200 school and college access vendor staff; a three-day long professional development for Parent Coordinators; visits to 10 CUNY college campuses; and a College Awareness Day on January 11th, as proclaimed by the New York City Council. These events engaged students, parents and guardians, and other community members about the importance of being college-ready and the increased possibilities when school communities are immersed in the process.