College Readiness Resources

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AACC and AASA

The American Association of Community Colleges and the School Superintendents Association (AASA) regularly convenes leaders to share promising practices in college readiness between K-12 and community colleges.

Reports of the proceedings are available:

Dialogue to Improve Readiness (June 2016)

Expanded Pathways for Access and Success:  K-12 and Community College Students (June 2015)

Dialogue to Improve College Readiness Proceedings (September 2014)

Data Sharing

Glendale Community College (AZ) has piloted a data sharing agreement with Glendale (AZ) Union High School District to receive and send critical data between the two institutions.  As the largest feeder high school to GCC, the high school has agreed to share GPA, test scores and curriculum patterns with the college.  The college in turn will share placement scores and first semester enrollment success with the high school.  When this is all accomplished, discussions with college faculty and high school curriculum specialists will ensue.  Once deemed successful, this data sharing will be replicated with the other high schools in the service area.

Programs (Residential)

The Lead will launch June 1, 2015 – ten days after the last high school graduation in the county. The program ends ten days before the start of fall semester. The program is designed to move college-minded students directly to campus after high school graduation, before life elements deter them from their college aspirations. Yavapai College seeks to remove the barriers and create the environment that leads to a successful start in college – and to engage students for so much of their summer that there will be no time to get derailed.

The Lead is a free, residential program housed on the Prescott Campus of Yavapai College. The intensive summer session involves programming throughout the day, many evenings and most weekends between June 1 and July 31, 2015. Students will be required to participate in all activities. Most Lead students will likely be eligible for federal financial aid, but the restrictions on aid are now so tight that the College believes it would be disadvantaging these students by using their limited aid early. The Lead is offered free of charge to Yavapai County high school graduates.

The program is built around the college’s First Year Experience course, FYE 103 Success for College, Career and Life. This three-credit hour course is designed to serve as the core of the Lead experience – offering life and college success strategies, including community building activities, designed to help students make a successful transition to college. Paired with this experience will be instruction in writing and reading sufficient to award the students completion of a writing course – either developmental or, ideally, ENG 100 Introductory Composition for those students who arrive prepared for the college-level writing course.

College-ready students who wish to take an additional course will have the option of completing PSY 101 – Introductory Psychology during this program as well. In addition, a rich, living-learning co-curricular experience will create additional opportunities for growth, cultural exploration and acclimation to college.

 Outcomes

At the conclusion of the eight-week program, students will have become familiar with college life. They will:

  • have earned no fewer than 3 and up to 9 credit hours of college coursework
  • be registered for fall semester at Yavapai College
  • have been awarded their Federal financial aid package
  • have a cohort of fellow students and a variety of faculty and staff with whom they have close relationships
  • have their fall room assignments in the residence halls and have their move-in date scheduled

Professional Development

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech) launched the two week Guidance Counselor Leadership Institute (GCLI) in the summer of 2014 to high school guidance counselors in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties to enhance the economic development of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties through increased college going rates of area residents.  More specifically, however, the goals of the GCLI were:

  1. To provide an overview of OCtech’s mission and programs.
  2. To gain a stronger working relationship between OCtech and service area high schools.
  3. To assist OCtech in enrolling high school graduates that have begun the process of enrollment, but have not completed the process.
  4. To assist OCtech in identifying, and enrolling high school graduates who have made no plans to enter the workforce, enter the military, or enter any post-secondary institution.
  5. To more effectively plan for middle college (dual credit) enrollment for the Fall of 2014.  This includes assistance in identifying potential students, testing (and remediating where necessary), registering, and scheduling classes prior to the start of the 2014-2015 academic year).

Read more about the program here.

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