From Cradle to College- Measuring Success and Programmatic Design to Help Children Succeed?

Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is a nonprofit organization established in 1970 that uses education to disrupt intergenerational cycles of poverty. HCZ's operation spans 97 blocks in Central Harlem, and its innovative and effective programs positively impact children from birth through postsecondary education. HCZ’s Center for Higher Education and Career Support program (CHECS) supports students, many of them the first in their family to attend college, as they attend school and subsequently begin their professional careers. 

The Capstone team developed a set of key cognitive and noncognitive indicators that predict college readiness and completion across five developmental stages: early childhood, elementary school, middle school, high school, and postsecondary. This academic literature review prioritized studies with samples more representative of HCZ’s population with regards to factors such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and social capital.  

Key themes emerged from the findings. First, a number of indicators were present across multiple stages, including academic performance, attendance, behavioral and emotional regulation, parental involvement, and the perception of one’s educational experience. Second, cognitive and noncognitive indicators were inherently linked. Last, a students’ ability to meet readiness benchmarks at one stage influenced their ability to meet them at a later stage.  The report concluded by offering suggestions on future data analysis to test indicators against HCZ’s population, which in turn provides HCZ with a framework to evaluate their current efforts regarding college readiness and completion; this framework will further HCZ’s mission of ensuring every student graduates from college and successfully enters the workforce.