ASU college readiness program WeGrad accelerates academic success for multicultural students

Arizona State University is launching WeGrad in 2022, a national family education and engagement online program designed to accelerate the academic success of multicultural students.

WeGrad is the next generation of ASU's American Dream Academy program. WeGrad’s vision is to offer a comprehensive, transformative and collaborative program bringing together a community of families, students and schools behind the mantra of “We graduate together!”

“Families are the first teachers in a child’s life. Providing resources and support for families on how they can guide their children’s education journey is our fundamental responsibility as educators,” said Edmundo Hidalgo, ASU vice president of outreach partnerships.

WeGrad will usher in a new era of learning next year through an online video curriculum that offers families access anytime and anywhere. The program design is to give users the tools to impact their students' education through a 55-minute curriculum featuring 15 episodes and an introductory session. Charting the course for your child’s educational journey, taking charge of their academic success and understanding the college admissions requirements are some of the topics covered in these sessions. The video curriculum will be available in both English and Spanish, and the program will be accessible to the public in early 2022 through WeGrad.asu.edu. 

“The Tolleson Union High School District has seen a remarkable growth in participating families with this program. We believe that all families, Spanish-speaking and English-dominant, will be able to benefit from the program,” said Nora Gutierrez, superintendent of Tolleson Union High School District. 

WeGrad builds on ASU’s 15 years of in-person family education programs under the renowned American Dream Academy. This acclaimed, Arizona-based readiness program trained more than 50,000 parents, impacting 150,000 students through 700 programs. The WeGrad model will continue the academy’s in-person training, but its emphasis will be to transition to a fully online, national program in 2022 that will have an unlimited reach to positively impact families across the nation.

WeGrad offers partnership and content integration opportunities. For more information, contact Alejandro Perilla, ASU director of family programs, at 602-496-1021 or aperilla@asu.edu.