Success Boston Coaching
Last Revised: September 26, 2025
Program overview
Supporting college transition for underrepresented students: Success Boston Coaching is a nonprofit coaching program designed to help low-income, first-generation, and minority students in the Greater Boston area successfully transition into and complete college. Beginning with the Boston Public Schools (BPS) graduating high school class of 2009, Success Boston Coaching originally served about 300 students per class. Since 2015, the program has expanded to serve 1,000 students in each graduating year (over 40% of Boston Public Schools’ college-going graduates).
Personalized coaching: Success Boston Coaching generally matches coaches from local nonprofits with a Boston Public School student beginning in the spring of the student’s senior year, but students can also enroll during the first year of college. Students typically start receiving one-on-one college coaching during the fall of their first year of college. Coaches provide personalized support and meet with students regularly leading up to and through at least their first two years of college as they navigate academic, financial, and social barriers. Coaches offer advice and connect students with resources and professional opportunities.
Collaborating with local universities and nonprofit organizations: To implement the coaching model, Success Boston partners with 37 local colleges and universities that many low income and first generation students attend. These partnerships allow Success Boston coaches to meet with students on campus like other advising programs. In addition, Success Boston collaborates with local nonprofits to ensure the students are able to access the support they need on or off campus for academic support, financial aid, health needs, food, immigration assistance, or other services.
Preparing participants for the workforce: Success Boston partners with the Boston Private Industry Council, which connects students with local employers for summer jobs, internships, and career advising to ensure students are equipped with the skills and experience they need to enter the workforce after graduation.
- Strategies
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College access and readiness supports
- Location
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Boston (MA)
Three studies with rigorous designs provide some evidence for Success Boston Coaching as a strategy for improving outcomes related to college readiness and completion.
A 2023 quasi-experimental study of Success Boston Coaching found that among students in the graduating high school classes after the program scale-up, coached students were 5.6 percentage points (21 percent) more likely than non-coached students to complete college in four years and 15 percent more likely to complete college in five years. Coaching had similar-sized effects on students of different genders and minority groups.
A 2021 quasi-experimental study examined completion rates and other outcomes of Success Boston Coaching recipients and similar non-coached students. Looking at students in the pre- and post-scale up cohorts, Success Boston participants were 5-11 percent more likely to continue into their second, third, fourth, fifth, and six years of college, and earned 7-10 more college credits within the first four years of college. The study did not find any impacts on completion for the pre-scale-up cohorts. Effects were larger women in the pre-scale-up cohorts for the credit accumulation and early continuation outcomes.
A 2014 quasi-experimental evaluation of Success Boston’s first cohort found that Success Boston Coaching recipients had significantly higher college persistence rates and both Black and Hispanic Success Boston participants' graduation rates were 11 percentage points higher than their peers.
- Offering support throughout a student’s journey: Success Boston operates with four phases that address the transition from high school to college and then into the workforce after college graduation:
Getting ready: supporting BPS in helping to improve students’ academic preparation for college,
Getting in: providing transition coaching as students enter college,
Getting through: offering as-needed supports on campus to help them make progress toward college completion, and
Getting connected: ensuring students are prepared to enter the workforce.
Starting early (in high school): Low income and first-generation students are more likely to struggle with adjusting to academic and social life in college. Success Boston partners with BPS to connect high school students with coaches, typically in the spring of their senior year in anticipation of these challenges. Participants also complete programming over the summer before college starts to help prepare them for college-level classes. Engaging students with coaches before college helps students form a bond with their coaches and sets them up for academic success.
Providing support services, often on-campus: Overwhelmed students may struggle to seek out help when they need it most. Success Boston partners with nonprofits serving diverse communities across the Boston area to provide support services on and off campus and make resources as accessible to students as possible.
Data driven decision making: Since the program began in 2008, The Boston Foundation has commissioned several evaluations of the Success Boston program that have helped the program assess its impact. Success Boston tracks the outcomes of its students and also supports research on outcomes for Boston Public Schools overall. Conducting this type of research helps Success Boston identify trends and disparities in college access among students and facilitate data driven solutions to increase college enrollment and completion.