On April 25, 2011, United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) and a group of local Santa Barbara community leaders and educators had the opportunity to visit and research College Ready Academy High School #11 in Watts, CA. The trip was coordinated by UWSBC and made possible through the generosity of the Santa Barbara Foundation and Santa Barbara Airbus.

The visit to this unique learning environment offered participants the opportunity to explore and learn from an innovative best model practice that is dramatically increasing the graduation rate and learning skills of high school students in Los Angeles. Local leaders returned to Santa Barbara with some new insights that could potentially be applied within the Santa Barbara County education system and community programs.

College Ready Academy’s hybrid learning model has not only resulted in the fastest turn around low-performing school, but its implementation of a 21^st technological model utilizes technology to advance students’ education while exposing students to the ever-evolving world of technology.

As an educationally focused organization, United Way is pursuing community driven 10-year education goals that aim to increase the graduation rate of Santa Barbara County students by 50% and increase the amount of students reading at or above grade level by 50%. A major initiative helping our community achieve this goal is United For Literacy (UFL).

UFL utilizes a variety of innovative tools, including a web-based accelerated reading improvement program called Reading Plus. Reading Plus is currently being used by more than 1000 students at over 20 local Santa Barbara County schools and community organizations.