College Success Arizona acquires national professional development program

College Success Arizona welcomes an important national program with significant potential to impact post-high school enrollment and attainment rates. Called the Go Alliance Academy, the program supports the success of all students by providing timely and relevant professional development for school counselors, principals, teachers, the staff of college access programs and others.

Formerly run through the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), the Go Alliance Academy will now be facilitated through the Arizona College Access Network (AzCAN), which is a program of College Success Arizona. Arizona previously had access to the Go Alliance Academy training modules as part of a compact SREB held with numerous states. A number of those compacts remain in place and future plans include designing new training and re-engaging additional states.

“We are excited to take over leadership of a proven program with endless possibilities for both growth and impact,” says Rich Nickel, president and CEO of College Success Arizona. “COVID-19 has created new challenges for students, and we will be able to develop and package trainings to best address the diverse needs of the whole child – not just in high school, but throughout their educational journey.”

Typical training modules have included College, Career and Academic Planning, Financial Aid and College Applications, College and Career Advising in the Early Grades, Maximizing School Counselor Impact on Student Success and many others. Future training modules may address social and emotional learning, which is top of mind for educators and school counselors. College Success Arizona will also explore opportunities to break longer trainings into shorter modules to make them more accessible.

In Arizona, the Go Alliance Academy programming is already provided via trained facilitators from AzCAN, as well as through the Arizona Department of Education and Arizona GEAR UP. Benefits include continuing education credits, an Arizona College Access certificate and more.

“If we are truly committed to increasing educational opportunity and access for students living in low-income communities in Arizona, it’s important to provide counselors and educators with the right tools and trainings,” says Robert Neese, Executive Director of Arizona GEAR UP. “The content we provide with our partner schools as part of this program is typically not part of our students’ curriculum, which is why it’s so valuable.”

Information about training currently offered through AzCAN can be found here.