This fall, the 32 students in STEP UP started seventh grade at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland, a milestone that marks the beginning of the second half of an intensified college prep process.

STEP UP (Steering Talented and Engaged Pupils Towards Undergraduate Programs) started in 2003 in East Cleveland’s five elementary schools. The idea was to offer after-school, weekend and summer enrichment activities to students from first through twelfth grades to encourage academic achievement and to whet their interest in college.

The first STEP UP class had 35 students, and as students moved or dropped out, others were added to the program. Now that the students are in seventh grade, new students will no longer join the program if STEP UP students move from the district. Eighteen of the original 35 students remain with STEP UP.

Staying on target for college during the difficult junior high years is the focus of STEP UP’s master plan for the next three years, said Amiya Hutson, the CSP advisor and "guiding light" who has tutored the group from the start.

Ms. Hutson will work with the CSP staff to identify the students’ educational strengths and deficiencies. Then she will add enrichment activities, including homework and tutoring, to keep the student achievement levels high. Drug and alcohol awareness and self, career, and college counseling activities are being added to STEP UP's ongoing educational and enrichment programs.

The performance of the STEP UP students on the Ohio Achievement Test (OAT) in sixth grade was encouraging. Forty-three percent of them scored in the advanced category and 11 percent at the accelerated level. On average, the STEP UP students scored 50 points higher on the OAT than East Cleveland students not in the program.

Ms. Hutson’s work to build parental ties and parental involvement has been important. For their children to stay in STEP UP, parents must attend at least 75 percent of the events organized by Hutson and CSP.

Hutson holds quarterly workshops for parents on academic and financial aid planning and she meets with each parent or guardian five to six times a year.

Parents are invited along on field trips, such as this year’s trips to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Learning Center, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, and a college visit to Pittsburgh.

One parent, Charlene Thomas, got interested in going to college because of STEP UP. Her daughter, Danisha Pickens, a math whiz, helped her mom pass the math portion of the GED. Thomas is now in college, getting financial help from a CSP adult learner scholarship.

A retired couple from Greater Cleveland started STEP UP when they established a fund at The Cleveland Foundation. They wanted to help students in great need by offering enrichment programs and a promise of college. The program calls for students to apply for scholarships when they go to college; the donors' fund will pick up the remaining tuition.

STEP UP continues to get strong support from the Cleveland Foundation. "I’m quite thrilled with the partnership with CSP and East Cleveland," said Caprice H. Bragg, the foundation’s vice president for gift planning and donor relations. "We are happy with all the work that Amiya has done with the students.

"We are excited that they have reached this milestone and that we are part of the effort to continue to enrich their education." Ms. Bragg said.