Ambler Ochstein

Breakthrough Collaborative

Breakthrough Collaborative pursues a dual mission to: 1. Increase academic opportunity for highly motivated, underserved students and get them into college ready to succeed; and 2. Inspire and develop the next generation of teachers and educational leaders. Our vision is to create an empowering educational experience that results in equitable access to higher education for our students and prepares our teaching fellows for education sector roles, enabling all of our students, teaching fellows, and instructional coaches to achieve their full potential as learners, teachers, leaders, and agents of change in their communities. Breakthrough has been improving educational outcomes for young people since 1978, with the establishment of a single site at University High School in San Francisco. Over the next 20 years, Breakthrough grew to a collective of independent sites across the country. Today, the Breakthrough national office located in Oakland, CA serves a collaborative network of 24 Breakthrough affiliates throughout the U.S. by providing program standards and resources including curricula, evaluation tools, and teaching fellow recruitment. Breakthrough affiliates carry out direct services to middle- and high school students from under-resourced communities, college undergraduates serve as teaching fellows, and professional teachers serve as instructional coaches in their localities.