Access ASU, a K-12 outreach division at Arizona State University (ASU) dedicated to increasing access to higher education and preparing Arizona students for success, announced WeGrad, a program that provides digestible courses that help support busy families in preparing their students for college, is now available directly to families for the first time.
For 17 years, WeGrad has been the go-to program for elevating academic success for more than 70,000 K-12 students and families. Now, thanks to grant funding through 2024, families with middle school and high school students can access the program digitally, at no cost.
The digital course is a self-paced experience delivered conveniently through SMS text messaging and WhatsApp and is available in both English and Spanish.
The middle school curriculum covers 10 lessons on topics such as parents' role in academic success, making the most of parent-teacher conferences and building responsibility to achieve academic success. The high school curriculum delves deeper into college preparation with 16 lessons offering insight into university admissions, college entrance exams, high school transcripts, cost and financial aid and investing in college. The elementary curriculum will be released in January 2024.
“WeGrad equips families from diverse backgrounds with the essential tools to ensure their child's academic success; now more Arizonans than ever before have access to this incredible resource,” said Alex Perilla, director of family engagement at Access ASU.
Diana B. Figueroa, senior vice president of marketing, communications and strategic initiatives at Education Forward Arizona added, “The increased accessibility of this amazing program is very exciting. We know that family support is critical to student success, therefore expanding access to WeGrad at no cost will have a tremendous impact and can help Arizona in reaching its statewide Achieve60AZ goal of 60 percent attainment by the year 2030.”
To participate in the WeGrad college readiness program, individuals are encouraged to sign up for the Access ASU K-12 Family Fusion newsletter at eoss.asu.edu/
