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 proactive 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” of high 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 involve forty 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 1200 career 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 that addresses 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.
.
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, Cabell County Career Technical Center Director
Mr. Jack Richmond, Raleigh County Career Technical Center Director
Mr. Doug Kieger, Wood County Career Technical Center Director
Budget
Transition Course Development
Parental/Student Orientation Workshop
Tuition for 10th Grade Transition Course (400 students)
Tuition for Senior Year College Courses (average 12
credit hours for 400 students)
Textbook Costs
Administrative Costs (Counselor’s travel, meetings, etc)
TOTAL COST OF PROJECT
Annual Costs:
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
$333,500
$332,000
$332,000
Total Costs
$997,500
$
1,500
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
10 @ $1,100
10 @ $1,100
10 @ $1,100
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
3 hours @ $50
3 hours @ $50
3 hours @ $50
180,000
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
12 hrs @ $50
12 hrs @ $50
12 hrs @ $50
720,000
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
40 @ $400
40 @ $400
40 @ $400
48,000
FY 2006
FY 2007
FY 2008
$5,000
$5,000
$5,000
15,000
33,000
$ 997,500