College Transition Model: College Courses at the High School

Background

Today’s reality that students must continue their education beyond high school in order to obtain quality employment requires education systems to design for all students effective and efficient transitions from secondary to postsecondary education.

In the report Pathways to College Access and Success, written by the experts from the Community College Research Center, the researchers found that it was important to encourage the participation of disadvantaged and lower-achieving students in credit based transition courses. The report also stated that one important way to encourage broad access is to create career pathways that build students’ skills over a series of semesters. The pathways should include high school courses aligned with college entry requirements; developmental courses that build students’ skills; articulated (EDGE) courses; and college courses taught in the high school.

Purpose

The fact that West Virginia’s college going and graduation rates for community and technical colleges rank below the national average creates a major concern for West Virginia. One method of addressing the problem is to become pro-active in developing transition pathways for students who in the past have been left out of the traditional college going pathway.

Focus

It is the intent of this model is to establish a career pathway for the “neglected majority” ofhigh school students to participate in a college transition program (college courses at the high school) that could culminate in an associate degree one year after high school. The model would be developed and implemented by the community & technical college consortia. Each consortium will pilot two college transition programs that involveforty high school students. This will result in a total of 10 community and technical college consortia and 1200 high school students who would be participating in the pilot.

Components of the Model

Each community & technical college consortia will determine which secondary schools will participate in the pilot project. Faculties from the participating high schools and college will attend an orientation workshop.

The College Transition Program will consist of four components: Requisites,10th Grade Year, 11th Grade Year and 12th Grade Year.

Requisites

At the end of 9th grade, a cohort of 1200career technical education students will be identified to participate in the college transition program. The requirements for participation in the program are:

▪ must be a first generation college-going student

▪ must have a GPA of 2.2 or higher

▪ must receive a teacher/counselor recommendation

A parental/student orientation will be held for the participants. Parents/Guardians/Mentors and students will be asked to sign a contract of intent for the college transition program.

Tenth Grade Year

During the 10th grade, the student cohort will be enrolled in a 3 hour for-credit college orientation course. A standardized college orientation course syllabus will be used by every participating consortium. The orientation course will contain the following elements:

  1. Study Skills
  2. FASFA application
  3. Accuplacer assessment and diagnosis
  4. Development of an Education Plan for each student which will include a career pathway
  5. “Soft” skills training
  6. Career exploration
  7. Standard college orientation instruction

The time sequence of the college course will be as follows:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the college credit portion of the curriculum will be taught. On Tuesday and Thursday, students will receive developmental instruction thataddresses their individual academic deficiencies. This is a year long course.

At the end of 10th grade, students will be assigned to a college counselor who will work with the high school counselor to assist the student in the college transition process.

Eleventh Grade

Students are monitored to insure their individual education plans are being met. College and high school counselors will schedule meetings throughout the year in order to address any challenges students may be experiencing. Opportunities for developmental help will be provided if needed. Students will access where appropriate to their pathway EDGE courses that equate to college credit.

Twelfth Grade

The senior year for the student cohort will consist of a blended curriculum. Students will enroll in the courses needed for high school graduation (typically two courses – English 12 and a math course). The remainder of their senior year schedule would be college courses taught either at the high school (some of the courses could be on-line) or at the college. Students who have shown timely progress will have one year remaining of college courses to obtain an associate degree.

College Transition Program Outcomes

  1. An increase in the number of students matriculating to postsecondary education
  2. Successful student matriculation to postsecondary without developmental coursework
  3. An increase in the number of students obtaining an associate degree.
  4. A time shortened/cost saving model for college students.
  5. An increase in the number of students who have the opportunity to obtain college credit while still in high school.
  6. An increase in the number of high school students who make informed decisions about career goals.
  7. An increase in curriculum discussions between high school and college faculty.
  8. Improved GPA of students at the high school level.

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Total Package Cost

$997,500

  1. 1200 students will benefit from college courses at the high school over a three year period.
  2. A tenth grade college credit course will be developed that will help transition students into college and a minimum of 5 additional college courses will be available for students during their senior year.
  3. Workshop materials will be developed for parents and students.

Note: Future extension of this project could be financed by reviewing the high school graduation requirement for obtaining financial aid through WV grant program, HEAPS and/or a special financial aid package for courses taught at the high school could be formulated.

Program Developers:

Dr. Kathy J. D’Antoni, Vice-Chancellor CTC

Dr. Marie Gnage, President WVU-P

Dr. Stan Hopkins, Assistant Superintendent of Schools

Dr. Janet Amos, Marshall CTC Academic Dean

Mr. Sid Valentine, WV Tech CTC faculty

Mr. Bob McClain, CabellCountyCareerTechnicalCenter Director

Mr. Jack Richmond, RaleighCountyCareerTechnicalCenter Director

Mr. Doug Kieger, WoodCountyCareerTechnicalCenter Director

Budget

Transition Course Development / $ / 1,500
Parental/Student Orientation Workshop / FY 2006 / 10 @ $1,100
FY 2007 / 10 @ $1,100
FY 2008 / 10 @ $1,100 / 33,000
Tuition for 10th Grade Transition Course (400 students) / FY 2006 / 3 hours @ $50
FY 2007 / 3 hours @ $50
FY 2008 / 3 hours @ $50 / 180,000
Tuition for Senior Year College Courses (average 12 credit hours for 400 students) / FY 2006 / 12 hrs @ $50
FY 2007 / 12 hrs @ $50
FY 2008 / 12 hrs @ $50 / 720,000
Textbook Costs / FY 2006 / 40 @ $400
FY 2007 / 40 @ $400
FY 2008 / 40 @ $400 / 48,000
Administrative Costs (Counselor’s travel, meetings, etc) / FY 2006 / $5,000
FY 2007 / $5,000
FY 2008 / $5,000 / 15,000
TOTAL COST OF PROJECT / $ / 997,500

Annual Costs:

FY 2006 $333,500

FY 2007$332,000

FY 2008$332,000

Total Costs$997,500