Challenges, Benefits, Lessons Learned and Future Recommendations Lisa Witcher, Principal Class of 2013, Concurrent Enrollment Coordinator,
Union Public Schools January 30, 2012
As concurrent enrollment coordinator, I oversee, perform or delegate the following: patron and parent education regarding our concurrent program, the timeline for fall and spring enrollment, the courses we offer, the times we offer those courses, the procedures students follow to enroll, the demographic data of our concurrent students, and the academic eligibility of concurrent students. I also monitor their academic progress, counsel students regarding academic needs and college plans, provide tutoring for students, and collect the final data each semester about our students’ success.
Benefits: (administrative, college/high school faculty, students, parents)
Our partnership with Tulsa Community College offers several benefits to Union High School students through the EXCELerate program. On the surface, taking college level classes on the high school campus allows students to stay involved with culture of UHS. Additionally, since Union Public Schools purchases the text books and Tulsa Community College has reduced fees and tuition to a small sum, our students benefit economically as well. Many of our graduates are whole semesters ahead in their degree programs thanks to EXCELerate. Paramount to these advantages is the learning experiences our high school students have encountered. Students are developing confidence in their own learning; they are developing resilient learning habits and self-discipline; they are learning time management and endurance. Our graduates who have participated in EXCELerate report that they feel more prepared for collegiate work because they spent in college classes while still attending high school. Finally, with each passing semester, we encourage more and more first generation college students to take a concurrent course. When they are successful, we know that our community is one student closer to an educated populace.
Parents also benefit from our partnership as they observe their student’s ability to navigate change, increased rigor and responsibility, time management and stress. Parents are able to contact counselors and administrators at Union High School to help students respond to these changes and prepare for the more
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permanent changes that will occur when students attend college full time. Additionally, parents benefit economically from the partnership as the cost of three credit hours is only $12.75. Moreover, when students are academically prepared, but emotionally unprepared for the college experience, parents are able observe their student struggling and able to plan more responsibly for their student’s freshman year. Finally, EXCELerate brings TCC’s Tulsa Achieve program into the spotlight, educating parents about a viable choice for the students’ first two years of a four year degree, or educating parents about the benefits of an associate’s degree. Having Tulsa Community College on our high school campus brings all of these benefits to our parents.
Our faculty benefits from this partnership as the academic demands of the college curricula empower and validate our practices. There have been some areas in composition and critical analysis where our faculty have collaborated to give more time and intention to teaching these skills. In other areas, like mathematics and senior English, we have been assured that our efforts to educate students are preparing them to be academically ready for success in college.
TCC instructors have willingly shared syllabi that we can use in professional development as we revise curriculum maps and that we can share with students to illustrate the relevance of the skills we are teaching. Likewise, we have received feedback from our TCC colleagues that they love teaching college classes in the high school environment. They like seeing how a high school in their community serves students, promotes higher education and the education of a growing and diverse populace.
Challenges: (administrative, college/high school faculty, students, parents)
We are successfully trying to merge two institutions that have unique cultures. When we embarked on this partnership, some challenges arose – but none that were insurmountable. Early college and concurrent programs are meant to build a bridge from high school to college. Colleges are very accustomed to college students acting independently. High schools are very accustomed to offering oversight and a gradual release of responsibility to their students. Identifying and navigating these differences was one of our first hurdles.
Students and parents also had to learn the differences between college and high school very quickly. Students could not come to a counselor or principal with an academic issue like they do in high school. Parents could not see progress reports on-line through the parent portal our district offers. The number of grades taken in a college class differs immensely from the number of grades that are given in a high school class – even a high school AP class. College instructors are not accustomed to answering to parents or other educational institutions about the academic progress of the student; this is something the student is solely responsible for in college. Consequently, procedures and policies like parent teacher conference nights, eligibility checks, co-curricular
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activity absences were all areas where both the high school and the college professionals had to find common ground.
High-stakes testing in the public school arena affects the daily schedule of our high school. While we work diligently to protect the college atmosphere and hours our college classes are taught, the state-mandated testing schedule interrupts instruction across the board. Other co-curricular events that might affect or conflict with the hours we offer college classes also had to be considered. Our Director of Student Life had to learn to work around the days and times we offer college classes so our high school culture did not interrupt our college environment.
We don’t enroll students the same way. While there are many similarities, both institutions had to operate under new timelines and learn new vocabulary to enroll students correctly and efficiently.
Lessons Learned / Future Recommendations: Protect the college environment.
Establish a working communication system where college instructors feel comfortable communicating with high school staff on attendance issues, academic issues, or other concerns that might inhibit a student’s success.
Educate each other (high school to college) about culture, procedures, policies that each are governed by and establish common ground on those early.
Plan and execute parent and student orientation nights.
Educate your parents and students early and with compassionate intention about the expectations of a college level course.
Show parents and students the differences and similarities between college and high school classes. Discuss strategies to navigate and plan for those differences.
Educate parents on how to coach students on making good decisions instead of saving them from poor ones.
Create a standard time at mid- term to have students submit mid-term grades to high school counselor or administration.
Encourage parents to procure the student log-in information to the college’s student management system in order to see grades and progress.
Create timelines and calendar dates for reoccurring tasks like text book ordering and enrollment dates. Meet regularly to monitor progress.
Allow faculty shared time to create high school courses that will continue building more bridges to the college arena for under-represented populations.
Create systems of support for students who may be first generation college students. Agree who will hire the tutors or additional staff that will coach under represented populations. Many students have the academic skills to succeed, but they lack emotional maturity or self-discipline. Realize that “college readiness” includes fostering and supporting both academic readiness and self-discipline and resilience.
32 Addendum: November 2013
Union High School Narrative Perspective on EXCELerate: Challenges, Benefits, Lessons Learned and Future Recommendations
Lisa Witcher, Executive Director of Secondary Education, Concurrent Enrollment Coordinator, Union Public Schools
November 22, 2013
The success Union High School students continue to experience within the EXCELerate initiative compels us to continue looking at our systems, policies, philosophies, and practices. We are proud to report that we have increased our concurrent enrollment by 15% and established a firm handle on the following goals we set a year ago. We have:
Protected the college environment.
Educated each other (high school to college) about culture, procedures, policies that each are governed by and establish common ground on those early.
Planned and executed parent and student orientation nights.
Educated parents and students early and with compassionate intention about the expectations of a college level course.
Have shown parents and students the differences and similarities between college and high school classes. Discussed strategies to navigate and plan for those differences.
Educated parents on how to coach students on making good decisions instead of saving them from poor ones. Created a standard time at mid- term to have students submit mid-term grades to high school counselor or administration.
Encouraged parents to procure the student log-in information to the college’s student management system in order to see grades and progress.
Met regularly to monitor progress.
We have added an on-line program entitled Naviance. Naviance allows students to upload their common applications to colleges, tracks the students interests and starting with the graduating class of 2014 will track the persistence of our Union High School students in their journey toward a two and/or four year degree.
We still are working towards:
Establishing a working communication system where college instructors feel comfortable communicating with high school staff on attendance issues, academic issues, or other concerns that might inhibit a student’s success. Allowing faculty shared time to create high school courses that will continue building more bridges to the college arena for under-represented populations. However, we have opened On-Line College Algebra up to students in our Survey of College Algebra students who will intentionally take the ACT in the fall so more students can take advantaged of the partnership between TCC and Union in the CALC program.
Creating and adhering to timelines and calendar dates for reoccurring tasks like text book ordering and enrollment dates.
Creating systems of support for students who may be first generation college students. Agree who will hire the tutors or additional staff that will coach under represented populations. Many students have the academic skills to succeed, but they lack emotional maturity or self-discipline. Realize that “college readiness” includes fostering and supporting both academic readiness and self-discipline and resilience. However, we have
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established a mentoring program, Paracleet, for 33 of our seniors. Adults in the Union community will mentor 33 senior through their senior years and then throughout each year of college. The mentor will help the student with the financial aide process, college application process, scholarship applications, re-submitting financial information, enrollment, transportation, work schedules and the host of other real life hurdles college students sometimes have to face along.
Challenges:
Open communication between high school faculty and/or administration and TCC faculty continues to be a challenge. We have a common goal. We want these students to be successful and resilient in a college level classroom. We have a great deal in common and yet there is still a level of threat or discomfort felt when a high school counselor or administrator asks about the progress of a high school student. We are interested in developing more trust between TCC faculty and the administration offices at Union High School.
Successes:
In the spring of 2013, 98 out of 100 students taking the On-Line College Algebra course finished with a C or better. The CALC program within EXCELerate has opened several doors for our students. Twelve of those 98 students did not speak English as their first language. Several were first generation college students. A few were first generation high school graduates.
The EXCELerate program has allowed Union High School students to accumulate over three thousand hours of college credit and saved an enormous amount of money for our Union families during a particularly difficult economic era. Additionally, having classes on the campus of Union High School has further enabled us to create a climate that allows students to practice the self-regulation and resilience they will need to master as a full time college student. When students see their peers “going to college” at UHS, the dream of a college education becomes one step closer to being a reality.
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