About ACES

Mission

The mission of ACES is to close the academic achievement gap of at-risk inner-city students in grades four through eight.

Program Facts

  • The 2009-10 school year marks the fifteenth anniversary of ACES!
  • ACES provided more than 17,000 hours of in-class tutoring/mentoring support to inner-city fourth through eighth grade students during the 2008-09 school year.
  • ACES families cite both improved academic performance and better behavior as outcomes of participation in ACES.
  • ACES middle school students participated in service learning projects with one dozen Twin Cities organizations in 2008-09, totaling more than 150 hours of service in the community.
  • More than 250 individuals volunteered for ACES in 2008-09 as tutor/mentors, special event workers, associate board members, and board members.
  • ACES served more than 350 students during the 2008-09 school year.
  • 96 percent of ACES students are eligible for free/reduced lunch, an indicator of poverty; 98 percent are minority; 51 percent are male, 49 percent female.
  • ACES year-to-year student-retention rate is 15 percent higher than the national average despite high mobility rate of its student populations.
  • ACES partners with numerous Twin Cities organizations, including Students Today Leaders Forever, Minneapolis Public Schools, St. Paul Public Schools, Page Foundation, the St. Paul Saints, and Minnesota Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, Lynx, Wild, Swarm, and Thunder!
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