Colleges in Action: Programs Employing College Students in P-12 Support Roles
NPSS-Aligned Student Support Programs
There are numerous evidence-based approaches to supporting P-12 students’ holistic thriving. Learn how partnerships between institutions of higher education, schools, districts, and nonprofit organizations can make a breadth of opportunities available for higher education students to serve and work in roles as tutors, mentors, student success coaches, postsecondary transition coaches, and more, in P-12 schools and out-of-school time programs.
Supporting Kindergarten Readiness
Jumpstart College Corps at the George Washington University
Program Overview:
- Jumpstart is a national nonprofit that recruits and trains college students to implement its early childhood education curriculum in preschools in underserved communities. In partnership with AmeriCorps and nearly 100 universities around the country, Jumpstart provides language, literacy, and social-emotional programming for young children to promote quality early learning.
- George Washington University (GW) offers a strong example of a Jumpstart partnership. Jumpstart recruits, trains, and supports GW students, many of whom receive federal work-study funding, to serve in Washington D.C. area early childhood classrooms and community settings to support children’s kindergarten readiness. GW allocates upwards of $375,000 in Federal Work-Study (FWS) funding every year to support 80 or more Jumpstart Corps Members.
- GW’s Jumpstart program attracts significant numbers of first-generation college students, who are racially and ethnically highly diverse. The combination of FWS and the AmeriCorps Education Award is a strong financial incentive, and Corps Members also enjoy the opportunity to serve in diverse communities.
- GW has been a Jumpstart site and partner since 1995, and offers a strong model for leveraging FWS opportunities, made possible through campus and community partnerships, to engage college students in supporting Pre-K students, educators, preschools, and early childhood programs.
Program Impact:
- Since 1993, Jumpstart has trained more than 50,000 college students and community volunteers to transform the lives of over 123,000 preschool children nationwide.
- Jumpstart has more than 4,000 AmeriCorps FWS tutors across the country.
- In 2023, George Washington University held its annual MLK Day of Service event, where Jumpstart Corps Members were joined by the Secretary of Education, the CEO of AmeriCorps, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
- Over nearly 30 years, GW’s Jumpstart program has partnered with DC childcare centers and DC Public Schools to provide literacy, oral language, and social-emotional development programs for thousands of preschoolers and their families.
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