Abstract
Some high schools in California have high rates of sending their graduating seniors on to college. Conversely, other high schools, especially in lower income, urban areas, have much lower rates of success. This thesis is a case study of a four-year (2006-2010) pilot project launched at the urban, lower income Sacramento Hiram Johnson High School with a goal of assisting more high school seniors apply and transition to college. In the case study, I outline some research on impediments to and remedies for college-going rates at lower income, urban high schools. With regard to the case study, I outlined demographics and academic achievements at Hiram Johnson High School. In the Operation College case study, I evaluated the pilot project based upon metrics for success outlined at the launch of the effort in 2006. Lastly, upon evaluating the data collected relative to the initial goals of Operation College and interviewing key stakeholders, I found that the pilot project did in fact illustrate success in meeting their narrowly defined goals at the onset of the project.