When early academic outreach programs were first created and took aim at reaching out to students of color, the initial idea was to inspire and motivate students to prepare for college in a general way.

However, with a greater emphasis on higher grades and higher SAT scores, and in response to stiffer competition and admission standards which are becoming more selective, the focus has shifted.

 The new trend, according to Juan Lara, associate director of undergraduate admissions and director of the Educational-Opportunity Program at the University of California at Irvine, is to concentrate on career goals, as opposed to programs that simply provide basic information. In other words, to create curriculum-based programs which cater to the specific academic or career interests of students.

 "This new trend may sound like tracking...and it is. But that's what's been going on all along," says Lara, adding that students of color have traditionally been placed on the wrong track. While some professionals in the field may disagree with Lara, all agree that precollegiate programs work. After thirty years, they contend, the bad ones have ceased to exist and the good ones--the ones that have tested well in regards to elevating achievement levels--remain.

 Robert Willis, director of Maryland's Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) program and the affirmative action officer at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, says, "All programs that motivate, assist and prepare students, provide a model."

 "One thing we all have to realize is that minorities and women are still under-represented in the workplace. As such, there is still a need to strengthen the whole pipeline--from early outreach, to enrollment, retention and graduation," says Willis. Despite the under-representation, says Willis, "We've done a good job getting students to college, but now we need to go another step."