RCEC is a grassroots movement in southern California with diverse cross-sector leadership throughout Riverside County. The RCEC formed in July 2014 in response to participation in a working session at the U.S. Department of Education. Representing members from area school districts, higher education, city/county officials, and private industry, RCEC collectively commits to the following goals geared to increase postsecondary access and attainment in our community through the 2019 school year: Increase percentage of students applying to three or more colleges by 60%, increase percentage of FAFSA completions from 52.3% to 93% through school years 2018-2019, increase the percentage of students enrolling in postsecondary education from 52% to 65%, and increasing the percentage of students who are college ready per the Early Assessment Program (EAP), by 20%.

In In September, 2015, RCEC was awarded a three year Gates Foundation implementation grant to support this work in the RCEC districts with the intent to ‘scale out’ to the rest of our county. Since then, the RCEC ‘hub team’ has been working with the Carnegie Foundation to accelerate improvements in existing educational systems by applying improvement science research to identify and address specific problems.