Who Is Altera

Since 2000, Altera’s purpose has been to help rural students and families pursue ambitious life goals and achieve social equity through education. In the U.S., opportunity is tied to education, yet many of our families struggle to gain access to the educational “wealth ladders” that lead to success.

We give students and families the resources they need to articulate meaningful future goals, envision a path to success, and develop the skills and confidence that will help them overcome barriers and achieve steady progress. We emphasize a “permission to fail and start again” approach, fostering a mindset aimed at personal growth and planning.

Our initial work focused on introducing rural, low-income students in Washington State to postsecondary educational and training options and how to prepare for them. Surpassing even our highest expectations, 99% of our first three student cohorts (3,200 total) formally applied to 2-year or 4-year colleges and universities, as well as military service, apprenticeships, and technical programs. Since then, we’ve worked with partner school districts to support over 10,000 additional students.

As our work evolved, we saw the need for and value of earlier academic support. So we secured grants to offer summer school, tutoring, and mentoring programs to students across grades K–12. And we adopted an asset-based view of rural communities, developing local curricula designed to empower young people living there to become motivated and resilient learners.

Today, we begin even earlier, offering a preschool curriculum that families use at home to teach foundational skills so their children will be kindergarten ready. To address the logistical challenges often found in remote areas, we deliver our program through solar-powered cellphones enhanced with AI tools that support the many languages that are spoken in our diverse communities.

Our current trajectory reflects both the practical needs of our families and their growing realization that our models could also benefit other communities across the country and around the world.