Your school is part of the West Virginia GEAR UP program. GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. The program is run by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC). A company called ICF is doing a study of West Virginia GEAR UP on behalf of WVHEPC to make sure GEAR UP is helping students as best as it can.

GEAR UP is asking all students in your grade to complete a survey about college knowledge, plans, and school activities. This survey takes about 15–20 minutes to complete. Your parent or guardian has been informed that you will be asked to complete this survey and your school has not received an objection to your participation from your parent or guardian. Filling out this survey is voluntary—you do not have to do it if you do not want. You can skip questions or stop taking the survey at any time. There are no consequences if you do not take the survey or finish the survey. Your answers to the survey questions will be kept private by the ICF and WVHEPC research team. We will only summarize answers to questions across groups of students in reports. Your individual answers will not be shared in any reports. Your name will not be on the survey and your individual answers will not be shared with anyone at your school or your parents/guardians. Completing the survey presents very little risk to you. Completing the survey will help to improve college and career programs at your school and other schools in West Virginia.

If you have any questions about the survey, you can contact Kimberly Good at kimberly.good@icf.com or (989) 573-3679. If you have questions about your rights as a research subject, you can contact Christine Walrath at christine.walrath@icf.com or (646) 695-8154.