Efforts to improve the academic achievement of low-income and minority high school students must include ensuring that highly qualified students are not "undermatched" — directed to "safe," non-selective colleges with mediocre academic standards and poor graduation or transfer rates, a report from MDRC finds. The report, Promoting College Match for Low-Income Students: Lessons for Practitioners (10 pages, PDF), offers lessons learned from a program piloted in three Chicago public high schools that delivered crucial information to help qualified students (grade point average of 3.0 and an ACT score of 20) and their families make well-informed choices about college. Promising strategies include encouraging students to aim high by choosing four-year colleges that meet their academic, personal, and social needs; engaging parents early and often in the process; guiding students and their families through the steps, tools, and technologies that can help them find the best college match; urging students to apply for financial aid as early as possible; and developing relationships with admissions officers at institutions that are a good "match." The College Match program is funded by the Heckscher Foundation for Children and the Jack Kent Cooke, Ford, Joyce, Kresge, Lumina, MacArthur, Spencer, and Teagle foundations.