College Readiness Solutions Made Easy

Empowering People. Delivering Results.

Past and Current Partners

THE PATH TO TRANSFORMING THE COLLEGE READINESS LANDSCAPE

The APA Pathway to Transformation (TM) framework helps educators and organizational leaders improve student outcomes, increase leader effectiveness, and streamline operational processes.

Our team helps partner schools, districts, and county's develop their own pathway to transform their education system by identifying key challenges, implementing priority reforms, and aligning practices to achieve results.

We work with you to create a custom solution tailored to your organization's specific needs and goals.

Contact us today to get started!

Our Vision

Our goal is to help 1,000,000 traditionally underserved students pursue a college degree and a career they love.

Our Mission

The team at Relentless Pursuits Unlimited is driven by one mission: to help 1,000 school, district, and county leaders operationalize their counseling practices and college readiness strategies and systems so they can significantly increase the number of college-bound students.

We are passionate about helping school counselors, district, and county leaders create a systematic approach to improving their counseling practices and college readiness outcomes among those who have traditionally been underserved and helping them support their students as they prepare for a life they'll love beyond high school.

For more than two decades, we've helped school districts of all sizes and across multiple states operationalize their college readiness strategies and systems using our proprietary framework. The results? Better practices and higher post-secondary outcomes for all students.

People

We empower school, district, and county leaders to reach their highest level of success with deep, practical expertise, and solutions.

 

Results

We deliver results: better practices, better strategies, and a broad college readiness and financial aid lens. 

About Me

Meet Dr. Vernell, CEO of Relentless Pursuits Unlimited, a global personal development, entrepreneurial, and educational consulting firm that provides world-class consulting and coaching to help school leaders accelerate results and achieve organizational success.

With more than 20 years of experience as a school district leader, and higher education and K-12 school counselor, Dr. Vernell coaches district, school, and county leaders nationwide on strategies to operationalize college readiness systems and improve student outcomes, increase leader effectiveness, and streamline operational processes.

Dr. Vernell has severed on several local and national boards and foundations, as well as statewide and national steering and advisory committees on technology, college admissions, college preparedness, and financial aid.  Her work has been featured in academic journals and in the press.

 

CCR Challenges District and School Leaders Face

Policymakers and educators agree that postsecondary preparedness, enrollment, and attainment in the United States are critical to remain competitive in the global market.  Researchers have argued that Central school district offices across the United States face demands by educators and policymakers to ensure that students are prepared for college. The way in which central district offices respond will likely be influenced by:

Prioritization of district and school funding to address workforce and skill gaps

Training, technical support, and Board-level policies to increase college enrollment and not just ensuring students are college ready

 

The right strategy, systems, and skills to deliver the right results.

6 Essential Elements Needed to Improve Your School, District, or County's College Readiness Outcomes

Element 1

Establish Leadership Commitment

Effective planning and implementation of a college readiness system require consistent district leadership. This is where RPU can help!  Dr. Vernell and her team offer key support to help district leaders assess their capacity to support a college readiness system that is instrumental in preparing students to succeed in college and the workplace.

 

Element 2

Audit College Readiness Systems & Data Infrastructure

Schools, Districts, and Counties need high-quality, reliable systems and data products that support decision-making.  RPU offers a comprehensive audit of your school, district, or county’s counseling and college readiness data infrastructure to identify the presence of college success indicators.

 

Element 3

Prioritize College Readiness

County and district-level resources to fund at the individual, site and system levels that support the college readiness agenda must be a priority.  The RPU team will work to understand funding restrictions and make recommendations and highlight effective funding strategies used nationwide regardless of budget size.

 

Element 4

Strengthen Adult Capacity

In order to promote continued gains in college readiness, counties and districts should invest in enhancing the capacity of adults to use data effectively. This includes improving knowledge of how to access, collect, filter, organize, manage, and probe data systematically and acting upon results in a timely manner. 

Utilizing RPU’s proprietary framework, Dr. Vernell and her team will custom-develop an intensive 90-day program that will help increase the capacity of adults in schools or districts.  It may include multiple workshops (both in-person and virtual) and training focused on creating positive and lasting change.

 

Element 5

Form Fruitful Partnerships

Developing high-quality, collaborative partnerships with Institutions of Higher Education are critical to ensuring college readiness and success. RPU can help districts generate ideas and work alongside the district’s leadership team to establish meaningful college partnerships.

 

Element 6

Develop & Execute Action Plan

Identify concrete supports that are used to promote college readiness and take needed action.  College readiness supports refers to programs or activities that are enacted to bring about intended change in individual performance, behavior, or environment. 

Transformation Starts With A Conversation

What We Do

RPU provides a variety of services to school counselors, and county and district leaders, all with the goal of enhancing counseling practices and increasing college and career readiness outcomes for students. We offer consulting services, professional development, workshops, and coaching support to help leaders implement effective college readiness strategies in their organizations.

We also provide data analysis and support to help leaders to track progress and identify areas of need. Our data services include student tracking, college and career readiness assessments, financial aid counseling, and graduation rates.

Partnering with us means that you're committed to doing things differently to achieve different results

While our signature service for schools, districts, and county's are 90-day multifaceted engagement consisting of discovery, coaching, training, workshops, and more, we also offer these services a la carte.

Counselor Training

Whether we are retained for one-hour, two-hours, four-hours, or multi-day workshops, RPU provides ready-to-implement strategies your team can use to start changing the CCR and FA landscape in your school or district.

School or District Consulting

School counseling support is critical to your school or district’s CCR and financial aid success.  If you’re looking to build out a long-term solution with innovative strategies to change your school or district’s college-going culture from the inside out, we can help.  Contact us today!

Client Testimonials