Whatever It Takes, Transforming American Schools, The Project GRAD Story will be released at the Project GRAD USA conference in Houston, Texas on January 10, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The book, by author Holly Holland, documents one of the most innovative and successful educational reform initiatives in America. Holland describes how this program began 12 years ago in Houston, Texas at Jefferson Davis High School as a scholarship program and then evolved into its current status as a national urban and rural school reform initiative.

In the book, Holland documents how Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) grew in Houston from serving one school in the Near North Side of Houston to a comprehensive pre-k to 16 model that now serves 71 public schools in the district.

“The Houston Independent School District’s partnership with Project GRAD has resulted in incredible achievements for both our students and our teachers,” says HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra. “Not only has Project GRAD been requiring teachers to expect more from their students, but it also is encouraging students to expect more academically from themselves.”

Whatever it Takes recounts the evolution of Project GRAD and the experiences of many disadvantaged students who have seen their dreams become a reality. The book shows how Project GRAD, a comprehensive non-profit school reform initiative, was able to assist students and families in some of the most economically disadvantaged school districts in the nation.
“It’s hard to be cynical about education reform when you talk to so many disadvantaged students whose lives have literally been transformed because of Project GRAD’s interventions,” Holland says. “This is no panacea, but it has made a big difference to thousands of students who previously only dreamed of attending college.”

Consider the experiences of Griselda Mani, a Jefferson Davis High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice University and now attends The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. “I had an interest in becoming a physician in high school but I got a little scared and discouraged at the time,” says Mani. “It doesn’t scare me now. I’m not intimidated anymore.”

Whatever It Takes will be released at the Project GRAD USA Annual Conference to more than 200 participants and to educators and community leaders locally as well as nationally.
The book was commissioned by the Ford Foundation to determine if its philanthropic investments had been successful. The book determines it was.

“I am humbled by the achievements of the students and how the book describes the program whose mission is to better serve our communities through education in Houston and the USA,” says Jim Ketelsen, Project GRAD Founder and Former CEO of Tenneco.

Whatever It Takes gives readers insight into what the ground-breaking program is all about, including intensive support and training for teachers and administrators, college scholarship funding, social services support on campuses and an academic summer program for students on a college campus.

“Project GRAD has been responsible for changing the lives of innumerable students from challenging backgrounds by inspiring them and letting them know that it is possible to complete a college education,” says Robert Rivera, Project USA‘s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. “Project GRAD closely works with them on many different levels to ensure their academic success.”

Project GRAD is a nonprofit pre-k through16 school reform model helping students, teachers, and families in twelve school districts across the country. The mission of the program is to ensure a quality public education for all children in economically disadvantaged communities so that high school graduation rates increase and graduates are prepared to enter and be successful in college.

Project GRAD now serves 133,000 students nationally in 217 schools in Akron, Atlanta, Brownsville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kenai Peninsula, Knoxville, Lorain, Los Angeles, Newark, and Roosevelt, New York. For more information about Project GRAD Houston, please visit www.projectgradhouston.org.