The ALPHA Center is an infrastructure for establishing long term engagements between faculty/campus personnel and K-12 education. The purpose is to foster collaboration between interested groups, focusing attention and resources to insure a quality education for all students. Specifically, the ALPHA Center concentrates on five outcomes:

1. Increasing the number of high school students in the Inland Empire who are UC eligible.

2. Reducing the number of entering freshmen who are in need of remedial Mathematics courses.

3. Ensuring that students who enter UCR as a result of our outreach efforts will have the mentoring, academic, and financial support structure to be successful in completing a degree or a credential.

4. Creating with schools, K-12 teacher professional development opportunities which will:

• strengthen teacher content knowledge;
• improve pedagogical content knowledge;
• create a pathway for securing an advanced degree or an additional credential;
• open the door to teachers interested in connecting with national/state/regional professional groups.

5. Engaging UCR ladder faculty in outreach activity and facilitating connections to research and evaluation.

The key to the success of ALPHA is its connection to the core of the UCR Campus. ALPHA activities involve the three elements important to the UC System, research, teaching and service.