Concurrent Enrollment:

Concurrent Enrollment:

Impact Study of “EXCELerate” Pilot Project

11/1/2013

R

EPORT

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UTHORS AND

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ONTRIBUTORS

Final Editing and Publishing: Dr. Ric Baser, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Tulsa Community College. Compilation, Document Development, Editing, TCC Narrative Perspective: Rick Roach, Dean of High School Relations and George Kaiser Endowed Chair of Collegiate Academies, Tulsa Community College.

Student Data Collection and Analysis: Dr. Kevin David, Director of Planning and Institutional Research, Tulsa Community College.

Financial Data Collection and Analysis: Shane Netherton, Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer, Tulsa Community College.

External Review: Dr. Juanita Gamez Vargas, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma. TPS Narrative Perspective: Lisa Reynolds, Concurrent/Dual Coordinator, Tulsa Public Schools

UPS Narrative Perspective: Lisa Witcher, Former Class Principal 2013, Currently Director of Secondary Education, Union Public Schools.

Concurrent Enrollment Policy Guidelines: Faculty Association Concurrent Enrollment Committee, Tulsa Community College

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ABLE OF

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ONTENTS

Report Authors and Contributors ... 0

Purpose of Report ... 1

Background ... 1

Findings ... 2

Table 1 Percentage of EXCELerate Students Requiring Expanded Admissions Criteria to Enroll in TCC Courses. 3 Increased Participation ... 4

Figure 1 Demographics of TPS and UPS concurrent students a part of the total concurrent student population before and after EXCELerate. ... 4

Comparable Success ... 5

Figure 2 Persistence and matriculation to TCC by concurrent group. ... 5

Policy Implications and Recommendations ... 5

Table 2 Exception: ACT or GPA Admissions Requirement ... 6

Table 3 Exception: Admission Requirements for High School Sophomores ... 7

Table 4 Exception: Combined Workload Hours ... 8

Table 5 Exception: Academic Probation ... 9

Table 6 Exception: Faculty Qualifications ... 10

Table 7 Exception: Remediation ... 11

Table 8 Exception: PLAN score admissions requirement... 12

Financial Analysis ... 12

Financial Implications For TCC ... 13

Limitations of the Study ... 13

Lessons learned ... 13

Division of High School Relations ... 14

Expanded Research ... 14

Comprehensive Research Initiative ... 15

External Review ... 15

Conclusion ... 17

Appendix A: Demographic characteristics of students in the two groups. ... 18

Appendix B: High school information of students in the two groups. ... 19

Appendix B:High school information of students in the two groups. ... 20

Appendix C: Student success outcomes for students in the two groups. ... 21

Appendix E: TPS Narrative Perspective on EXCELerate ... 23

Appendix F: UPS Narrative Perspective on EXCELerate ... 29

Appendix G: TCC Narrative Perspective on EXCELerate ... 34

Appendix H: Concurrent Enrollment Partnership Guidelines ... 36

Table 9 NACEP Standards that have been Approved as TCC CEP Guidelines ... 37

Appendix I: TCC Concurrent Enrollment Faculty Responsibilities... 44

Appendix J: Concurrent Enrollment Site Visit Form ... 45

Tulsa Community college ... 45

Appendix K: Concurrent Enrollment Instructor Review Form ... 46

Tulsa Community college ... 46

Appendix L: Response to Additional Questions ... 47

Addendum October 2013 ... 47

Responses to Data and Analysis Questions from OSRHE ... 51

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P

URPOSE OF

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EPORT

This report provides an overview and analysis of the Tulsa Community College (TCC) EXCELerate pilot project for the five-semester pilot period. The number and demographics of students who participated are included, as well as related retention, persistence, success, and matriculation data. Overall, the report includes data and analysis for determining the effectiveness of the pilot project, the success of students, and costs incurred by TCC to operate the program, which may have future implications if the project continues. In addition, a narrative analysis of the operation of the pilot at each high school site within the Tulsa Public School (TPS) and Union Public School (UPS) districts is provided.

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ACKGROUND

In early 2010 the Tulsa P-20 Council, an action committee comprised of a cross section of community, non-profit, public school, technology center, and higher education leaders, examined the high drop-out rates in the Tulsa Public School system. During the discussions, many of the public school superintendents in Tulsa County noted the positive impact that concurrent enrollment had on the performance and persistence of their students. In promoting P-20 Council objectives to effectively link education with an array of resources to support individuals as they move through the developmental pipeline, the council advanced an objective to “increase accessibility to higher education for all students including concurrent and dual enrollment programs.” The council agreed that removing transportation, financial, and policy barriers was necessary to broaden student access to higher education through concurrent enrollment. One of the Council’s strategies required requesting that the OSRHE broaden the concurrent enrollment admissions policies to reach a wider range of students. Dr. Ric Baser, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of TCC, was asked to develop proposed policy exceptions to be submitted to the OSRHE for consideration. Prior to submission to the OSRHE, approval was requested and granted by the TCC Board of Regents. TCC requested the policy exceptions April 2010, however, approval was not received until September 2010, which delayed the implementation of the EXCELerate pilot until spring 2011. Since the fall 2010 student cohort had already been admitted under normal concurrent enrollment policy, a one-semester extension was subsequently approved to allow the collection of data for four full semesters. OSRHE approved an additional policy exception in April 2012 to allow the use of the ACT Plan for admission. Additionally, a one-semester term extension was granted to prevent “stranding” student participants in the middle of an academic year, resulting in a five-semester pilot. While the P-20 Council and TCC fully supported the expansion of the concurrent program, both understood that further study was required prior to considering OSRHE policy implications. Each institution collected and retained data for analysis at the end of the pilot in order to determine program success. Dr. Juanita Gamez Vargas, Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Department provided assistance with all research components including: research design, data collection, and data

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analysis. Approval of the policy exceptions and a financial agreement between TCC, TPS, and UPS created an unprecedented opportunity for students to enroll in a dual-credit college course(s) at any of nine TPS high schools or Union high school during the regular school day for $12.75 per three-credit course. The partners worked collaboratively and developed schedules to increase opportunities to as many TPS and UPS students as possible during the regular school day. Public relations and marketing departments from the institutions also collaborated to create the term “EXCELerate” to brand the pilot project and differentiate it from regular concurrent enrollment at TCC. Since the implementation of the pilot project, several notable developments occurred. TCC developed an office of High School Relations and appointed a Dean, who subsequently was endowed as a Chair of Collegiate Academies by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Union Public Schools completed a $28 million Union Collegiate Academy construction project and Tulsa Public Schools created Will Rogers College High School during the “Project Schoolhouse” efficiency initiative in 2011-2012. TPS completed an extensive renovation to the Will Rogers College High School annex building at a cost of $850,000 in order to provide students a more collegiate experience. These notable developments indicate the growing support in the Tulsa area for expanding college access to high school students through convenient concurrent enrollment opportunities while maintaining course quality and supporting a collegiate experience.

F

INDINGS

The Tulsa Community College Planning and Institutional Research department conducted an analysis of the EXCELerate pilot program to examine the characteristics and success of the students participating in the pilot. A total of 1,118 juniors and seniors took TCC classes at either Union High School or one of the Tulsa Public Schools high schools during the Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, and/or Spring 2013 semesters. This report presents data for EXCELerate students as well as for a comparison group of high school students who took TCC courses on one of TCC’s four campuses during the same semesters. Part of the EXCELerate program involves expanded admissions requirements for concurrent students. Typical admissions criteria require a composite ACT score of 19 or a GPA of 3.0 for seniors and an ACT score of 21 or GPA of 3.5 for juniors. Juniors and seniors in the EXCELerate program can be admitted to TCC with a composite ACT score of 19 or a high school GPA of 2.5. Starting with admission for Fall 2012, students can also enroll if they have earned a 19 on the ACT PLAN test. Although relatively small percentages of EXCELerate students needed the lowered requirements to enroll in TCC courses during the first three semesters of the program, those numbers increased during the 2012-2013 academic year (see Table 1). The percentage increase is largely due to the increase in juniors enrolling in 2012-2013. Juniors were more likely than seniors to not meet the standard admissions criteria.

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T

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EXCEL

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TCC

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Semester Percentage Requiring Expanded Admissions Criteria Spring 2011 5.3% Fall 2011 2.5% Spring 2012 1.3% Fall 2012 15.4% Spring 2013 27.0%

Appendix A , B, and C display statistics regarding the demographic characteristics, high school information, and student success measures of EXCELerate students as well as a comparison group of high school students who took TCC courses on one of TCC’s four campuses during the same semesters. The student success measures used for this report are persistence to the subsequent semester in TCC courses, the number of high school seniors in spring semesters who matriculated to TCC in the subsequent fall, course retention (defined as earning a grade other than a W or AW), and the number of grades with a C or better in TCC courses. Statistical testing revealed that the EXCELerate group contained significantly more Black or African American (8.9% vs. 1.5%) and Hispanic (8.8% vs. 2.8%) students, as well as juniors (23.8% vs. 13.3%), than the TCC campus group. Findings on student success indicated that concurrent students taking classes at TCC campuses had significantly higher rates of course retention (96.1% vs. 91.7%) and grades of C or better (89.8% vs. 83.3%) than those in the EXCELerate group. Yet, it is important to note that the success rates of both groups were higher than the overall rates of all TCC students (71.1% of Spring 2013 grades in all TCC courses were a C or better), suggesting high levels of success for concurrent students both at their high schools and on TCC’s campuses.

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INCREASED PARTICIPATION

Figure 1 displays percentages based on all concurrent students who enrolled in TCC courses before EXCELerate began (Spring 2010) and the first semester of the EXCELerate pilot program (Spring 2011). Specifically, the figure shows a significant increase in the percentages of students from TPS and UPS as well as for African American and Hispanic students.

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TPS

UPS

EXCEL

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In fact, the percentages of African American and Hispanic concurrent students taking TCC courses more than doubled once the EXCELerate program began. These findings highlight the important and positive impact that the pilot program is having on providing access to college for high school students of color

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21.4%

2.4%

2.3%

37.4%

5.1%

5.1%

Students from TPS/UPS

African American

Students

Hispanic Students

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COMPARABLE SUCCESS

Students in the EXCELerate program persisted and matriculated at about the same rate as those concurrent students who took TCC courses at the College’s campuses (Figure 2). Neither of these differences was statistically significant, but it is noteworthy that the EXCELerate students matriculated to TCC at a rate that is almost 2% higher than that of concurrent seniors taking a course on one of TCC’s campuses.

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TCC

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Note. In response to a request for more information and analysis from Chancellor Johnson on July 29, 2013, an addendum follows the body of this report. The addendum answers specific questions related to a preliminary four-semester report prepared in September 2013.

Policy Implications and Recommendations

Seven exceptions to OSRHE concurrent enrollment policy were approved for the pilot. ACT scores necessary for admission to TCC for students in the pilot were 19 ACT or 2.5 GPA rather than 21 or 3.5 for juniors and 19 or 3.0 for seniors. Sophomores were allowed to take a three-credit College Readiness course. Extracurricular courses were excluded from the calculation of maximum workload hours for students in the pilot. Academic probation was allowed for concurrent students in the pilot. Qualified high school teachers were allowed to teach college courses in the high schools participating in the pilot. Enrollment in remedial/developmental courses was allowed, and ACT Plan scores were allowed for satisfying admission requirements (the last exception was added April 9, 2012). The policy exceptions and recommendations are listed in the tables below. Current OSRHE policy is stated as well as the exception and rationale used for requesting the exception. Findings and implications of each exception are included. Recommendations for discontinuance, extension, and/or expansion of the exceptions were made based on the findings of the study

55.0%

30.6%

54.9%

28.7%

Persistence to Next Term

Matriculation to TCC Next Fall

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:

ACT

GPA

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Current policy Exception

Admission: Concurrent enrollment admission requirements:

Juniors – 21 ACT (composite) or GPA of 3.5 and subject score of 19;

Seniors – 19 ACT (composite) or GPA of 3.0 and subject score of 19.

Juniors – 19 (composite) ACT or 2.5 GPA and subject score of 19;

Seniors – 19 ACT (composite) or 2.5 GPA and subject score of 19.

Rationale: Align concurrent admissions requirements more closely with first-time-freshman requirements. Recent research questions ability to predict college success based only on ACT score and GPA.

Findings and Implications: The total percentage of students needing the concurrent enrollment admission exception increased over the five-semester period from 5.3% in Spring 2011 to 27% in Spring. Junior class participation also increased from 12.7% in Spring 2011 to 32.8% in Spring 2013. Student cohorts admitted by exception to policy performed similarly to those admitted under current policy.

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study and/or possible concurrent admission policy revision. In addition, it should be noted that based on the evidence collected during the EXCELerate Pilot, TCC recommends that the concurrent admissions criteria be reviewed and possibly broadened to include additional school districts to increase access to the capable high school student population.

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Current policy Exception

Admission: Sophomores are not allowed to participate in concurrent enrollment.

Allow high school sophomores with a 17 PLAN score or equivalent EXPLORE score to enroll in TCC’s Strategies for Academic Success as a prerequisite for concurrent enrollment in their junior and senior years. The course will be taught by a TCC faculty member on the high school campus.

Rationale: The course will prepare students for concurrent enrollment by teaching strategies for college success.

Findings and Implications: Multiple challenges were manifested in attempting to test this exception. The Academic Strategies course was modified for the pilot in order to be offered at a site other than a college campus. Analysis of feedback from students and faculty indicated the revised version of the Academic Strategies course called College Readiness was too rigorous for sophomores.

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study. It should be noted that TCC does not recommend the extension or expansion of the exception for sophomores to enroll in TCC’s Academic Strategies for Success at this juncture.

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Current Policy Exception

Workload: A high school student may enroll in a combined number of high school and college courses per semester not to exceed a full-time college workload of 19 semester-credit-hours.

Allow a combined college workload of 19 hours excluding – extracurricular elective courses.

Rationale: Too restrictive. Students can incorporate extracurricular elective courses (e.g., yearbook, band, chorus, and athletics) and still be successful.

Findings and Implications: 27% or 116 of 561 students required the exception to the 19 combined-hour workload to be eligible for concurrent enrollment during the 2012-2013 academic year. The exception was applied to 100 TPS and 16 UPS student enrollment applications. The disparity between TPS and UPS requests for this policy exception will require further review. Since secondary institutions define extracurricular (sometimes referred to as co-curricular) courses differently, criteria for determining “extracurricular elective courses” should be more strictly defined to ensure standard and equitable compliance to this policy in the future.

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study and/or possible policy revision to the concurrent Workload policy. It should be noted that TCC recommends that the concurrent Workload policy be reviewed and revised to better reach a high school population capable of succeeding in college-level course-work.

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Current policy Exception

GPA requirement: High school students may

continue concurrent enrollment in subsequent semesters if they achieve a college cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above on a 4.0 scale.

Allow students who receive a cumulative GPA below 2.0 to be placed on academic probation for one semester. Student must achieve a semester GPA of at least 2.0 to remain in concurrent enrollment.

Rationale: TCC will provide on-site academic support for the students in the pilot. This exception will allow students the opportunity to continue enrollment and improve their performance in the same way regular students are supported.

Findings and Implications: There were few requests for this exception during the initial pilot period. In those instances, the TCC and TPS coordinators agreed that it was not in the students’ best interest to be granted probationary status. A grant funded project initiated Fall 2013 at Will Rogers College High School provides mandatory tutoring for students who fell below the 2.0 GPA requirement during the Spring 2013 semester. Results will be shared with OSRHE upon completion of the initiative.

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study. It should be noted that that based on current data and experience, TCC does not recommend the extension or expansion of the exception to allow concurrent students a semester of academic probation unless under special conditions such as mandatory tutoring or some other enhanced academic support intervention. The risk of students becoming ineligible for financial aid makes this exception to policy precarious. A hold harmless approach should be considered if the exception is continued.

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Current policy Exception

Faculty: To ensure the students achieve college credit through a collegiate experience, high school students must be taught by regular faculty whose primary educational employment is as a faculty member at the institution delivering the course.

Allow high school teachers who meet TCC faculty qualifications to teach concurrent enrollment courses. For review and selection, high school faculty members will be required to present undergraduate and graduate transcripts along with an updated résumé.

Findings and Implications: This exception was recently implemented in Fall 2013 for the first time in the EXCELerate Pilot involving two instructors at TPS East Central High School for ENGL 1003 - Academic Strategies and ENGL 1113 - Composition I. Success measures for the qualified high school instructor-taught sections will be compared to other ENGL 1003 and ENGL 1113 EXCELerate sections and results shared with OSRHE after the semester ends and grades are recorded.

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study and/or possible concurrent collegiate experience policy revision. It should be noted that TCC recommends that the concurrent collegiate experience policy be reviewed and possibly broadened to include the utilization of qualified high school faculty who fully meet the NACEP and normal hiring standards of the College in providing qualified faculty and rigorous college-level coursework for delivery on high school sites.

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Current policy Exception

Assessment/remediation: Concurrently admitted high school students are not allowed to enroll in any remedial/developmental courses offered by colleges or universities which are designed to remove high school curricular or basic academic skills deficiencies.

Allow concurrently admitted students to enroll in remedial/developmental courses offered by TCC. Rationale: TCC will provide remedial courses on the high school campus in collaboration with high school faculty to ensure course content will prepare students for college level work.

Note: It is understood that high school students enrolling in remedial/developmental courses are not eligible for a tuition waiver and will be responsible for tuition and fees.

Findings and Implications: N/A: Remedial courses were not offered during the pilot project period due to the lack of established criteria for high schools to transcript non-college-level courses. That noted, TCC Professor Lori Mayberry has developed a pre-college algebra “transitional” math course, which has shown significant promise. Students who complete the transitional math course have subsequently demonstrated a success rate in College Algebra in excess of 90 percent (see Appendix M).

Recommendations: Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study. It should be noted that Tulsa Community College does not recommend the extension of the exception to provide traditional remedial/developmental courses to concurrent students. While TCC does not support the continuance of traditional developmental course offerings for concurrent students, evidence garnered from Professor Lori Mayberry’s College Algebra transitional course shows great promise. The College/High School collaboratively designed “transitional course” models could be applied to such gateway courses as College Algebra, Freshman Composition, and lab sciences.

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PLAN

Current policy Exception

Current policy does not allow for the PLAN score to be used as a qualifier for concurrent enrollment.

*Minimum ACT Plan Score of 19 [equivalent to an ACT composite score range of 20-24] may be used to admit juniors and seniors (Note: juniors and seniors must have taken the ACT Plan during their sophomore year to qualify for this exception)

*This exception was added April 2012

Findings and Implications: TCC started using the ACT Plan score admission exception in Fall 2012 and is currently collecting data to determine if there is a correlation between ACT Plan admission and student performance as compared to students admitted under existing policy.

Recommendations Based on the findings garnered from the EXCELerate Pilot, Tulsa Community College recommends forwarding the EXCELerate pilot project report to the OSRHE Council on Instruction for further study and/or possible concurrent admission policy revision. It should be noted that TCC recommends that the concurrent admissions criteria be reviewed and possibly broadened to better reach the capable high school student population. TCC recommends the extension of the concurrent enrollment ACT PLAN score 19 admission exception and consideration of revision of the concurrent enrollment PLAN score 19 admission exception to an ACT PLAN score of 18. An ACT PLAN score of 18 predicts an estimated 19-23 ACT score which more closely aligns with ACT score admission requirements recommended for all concurrent enrollment students in Oklahoma. Since all high school sophomores in Oklahoma are provided the ACT PLAN assessment at no personal cost and at their high school site, the use of the ACT PLAN in qualifying students for concurrent enrollment mitigates the financial and transportation barriers associated with students being required to take the ACT test.

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INANCIAL

A

NALYSIS

TCC subsidized concurrent enrollment through tuition waivers (less estimated state reimbursement) at a total cost of $441,039 over four semesters with EXCELerate student waivers accounting for $154,549 of the total (Appendix D). In addition, TCC provided a concurrent enrollment director (now Dean of High School Relations) and reassigned full-time faculty to serve as Faculty Liaisons to ensure course quality and rigor at an average cost of $133,082 per semester for an approximate total of $532,328 for the four semester period. TCC also substantially subsidized course fees in order to broaden access resulting in an approximate average of a $104 fee waiver per student. The average $104 fee waiver multiplied by 990 students during the four-semester period resulted in a cost of $102,960. The approximate cost for TCC to support the EXCELerate project is $270,000 per semester resulting in a total estimated cost of the pilot project at the end of the fifth semester of the pilot of $1,350,000.

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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR TCC

TCC invested substantial resources during the pilot project period and recently expanded a revised EXCELerate fee discount to all students taking concurrent courses during the school day at high schools and other approved EXCELerate sites in the TCC service area. TCC plans to continue to invest in the EXCELerate project through tuition and fee subsidies as well as human resources necessary to ensure course quality and rigor. TCC hopes to eventually shift some of the project cost to partnering school districts by assigning qualified high school faculty to teach the courses at the high school during the school day.

L

IMITATIONS OF THE

S

TUDY

Due to financial constraints and student selection concerns, Academic Strategies (redeveloped for delivery at a high school site and offered as “College Readiness” course) was only offered during Spring 2011. The EXCELerate program’s rapid growth has stretched the resources of the participating institutions. The alliance agreement and supporting OSRHE policy exception included a provision to allow qualified high school teachers to teach college courses in the high school during the regular school day. Due to a soft economy, public schools in Oklahoma are understaffed. Class sizes are at an all-time high, especially in financially challenged urban school systems such as Tulsa Public Schools. The result is that the participating school districts have not been able to afford reassigning teachers from forty or more students in a high school course section to a minimum of ten and maximum of twenty-five in a college course section. While TCC has endeavored to assign qualified adjunct faculty to the high schools, many are not available to teach during the day. Those who are available may not want to teach cohort groups of high school students at a high school campus, and others may not possess the skills or interest necessary to engage students who are slightly younger and less mature than traditional college students.

L

ESSONS LEARNED

Organizational and cultural differences became apparent through a variety of interactions between members of each organization. Overall, the institutions worked in a very collaborative and collegial manner. A constant overarching challenge during the EXCELerate pilot project related to differences in organizational cultures of the institutions, especially the differences between K-12 and higher education. Three pilot project coordinators, one from each institution, prepared narratives identifying benefits, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for improvements (see appendices E, F, and G). Member responses indicate conflict when guiding principles and cultural norms were challenged by new institutional relationships, but all showed resilience and creativity in dealing with various challenges. While student success is a core value of each institution, apparent differences exist in expectations of student attitude, performance, and behavior, not only between secondary and higher education institutions, but between secondary institutions as well. The differences might be related to individual

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coordinator expectations or organizational culture and institutional identity. The coordinators developed a rapport and close professional relationships based on trust and respect over the period of the pilot. The original TPS Concurrent/Dual Coordinator, Vicki Simmons, resigned during the summer 2012 and was replaced by Lisa Reynolds, an experienced TPS advisor who was already an advocate of the pilot project at her assigned high school. Ms. Reynolds quickly assimilated and became an invaluable member of the EXCELerate team. Lisa Witcher, former Assistant Principal and currently the Director of Secondary Education at UPS, was instrumental in supporting faculty needs at the Union site as well as educating students and their parents about adjusting to college rigor and professors’ expectations.

D

IVISION OF

H

IGH

S

CHOOL

R

ELATIONS

In response to the popularity of the EXCELerate program and subsequent robust growth of concurrent enrollment offerings in the TCC service area, TCC created a High School Relations Division charged with providing academic oversight, administration, and strategic planning for concurrent enrollment. Administrative decisions are based on NACEP Accreditation Guidelines and review of NACEP Standards for Accreditation. Since August 2012, actions by the Dean of High School Relations include: Faculty Liaisons: The Dean recruited full-time faculty as liaisons to support faculty adjuncts teaching at high school sites. Faculty Liaisons provide academic oversight by observing one or more class sessions at the site as well as checking syllabi and grading rubrics used for determining student grades. Faculty Liaisons, who have taught the class, also provide insight for classroom management issues and empower adjuncts to create a collegiate environment at the site. Regular monthly meetings with liaisons are held to review site visit and adjunct instructor evaluations. Meeting topics address communication challenges between institutions as well as process improvement. TCC has begun supporting EXCELerate faculty through training and orientations which are provided each semester. Approximately 60 attendees participated at the most recent session. Information packets are disseminated to faculty, Faculty Liaisons, and Associate Deans that included TCC policy, CEP guidelines, and high school site-specific information. The Dean of High School Relations in collaboration with the TCC faculty association concurrent enrollment committee continues to improve support for quality and rigor through the implementation of the Concurrent Enrollment Partnership (CEP) guidelines (see appendix H).

E

XPANDED

R

ESEARCH

Findings on student success indicated that concurrent students taking classes at TCC campuses had statistically significantly higher rates of course retention (96.2% vs. 92.1%) and grades of C or better (90.2% vs. 84.9%) than those in the EXCELerate group. Yet, it is important to note that the success rates of both groups were higher than the overall rates of all TCC students (71.4% of Spring 2012 grades in all TCC courses were a C or better), suggesting high levels of success for concurrent students, both at their high schools and on TCC’s campuses. A comprehensive research initiative is under way to discover possible reasons for this difference and to fully inform all stakeholders.

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C

OMPREHENSIVE

R

ESEARCH

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NITIATIVE

TCC Planning and Institutional Research will continue preparing student data analysis reports each semester to inform program administrators. Further investigation of factors related to concurrent enrollment such as college readiness, access, integration, retention, and self-efficacy related to student perceptions of post-secondary capability will be assessed. A mixed methods research design will utilize Qualtrics Survey Software licensed through the Institutional Research department at TCC. The questions were constructed to gain information from students, faculty and administration and will focus on the areas of stakeholder perceptions of concurrent enrollment processes, effectiveness, impact, retention, and influencing factors. In addition to providing valuable data to stakeholders, the research will also serve as a self-study requirement for National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnership (NACEP) accreditation. The comprehensive research initiative builds on previous data and includes:

TCC IRB approval by the Dean of Assessment, Dr. Steven Wilson, on January 15, 2013

Research Review Board (RRB) application approved by Tulsa Public Schools and Union Public Schools Development of Formative Evaluation Logic Model with TCC, UPS, TPS

Surveys, interview and focus groups research questions derived from NACEP Standards for Accreditation Research Recommendations

Analysis of Findings and Formal Report, target date January 2014

Application submission for NACEP Accreditation target date January 2015

Recommendations for longitudinal evaluation research design will be included in the final research report

E

XTERNAL

R

EVIEW

Dr. Juanita Gamez Vargas, Assistant Professor, Jeannine Rainboldt College of Education, University of Oklahoma was retained to provide guidance to TCC for all research components for the comprehensive report. Dr. Vargas met with the TCC EXCELerate research team on several occasions during the pilot project to offer assistance and advice regarding data needs, collection, and analysis. See Dr. Vargas’ review below.

“In 2010, Tulsa Community College (TCC), Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) and Union High School (UHS) met to discuss strategies to expand college access to a diverse student population in local high schools. Tulsa Community College (TCC), located in the second largest city in Oklahoma, annually enrolls 30,000 course-credit seeking students among its four campuses. Tulsa Public Schools (TPS), composed of nine high schools, has a diverse student population of which 85% are on the free and reduced lunch program. Union High School (UHS) encompasses a 28-square-mile boundary of southeast Tulsa and a portion of the city of Broken Arrow. UHS has one high school of

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which 62% of the students are on the free and reduced lunch program and recently experienced an increasing number of Latino student enrollments. The purpose of the EXCELerate project was to increase concurrent enrollment access to junior and senior high school students, through the elimination of identified barriers such as Oklahoma’s concurrent enrollment state policy, financial aid and transportation. Together the three institutions agreed to address these barriers by requesting a broadened admissions exception from Oklahoma state policy, tuition discounts, free textbooks and offered the courses at the high school campuses. In September 2010, TCC received approval from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE) to begin a two-year pilot concurrent/dual enrollment project known as EXCELerate. The EXCELerate project received special provisions from OSRHE to remove the identified barriers for students to participate in dual enrollment (state policy, financial aid and transportation).The state policy for dual enrollment admissions was broadened for junior and senior high school student enrollment. The existing OSRHE state policy for juniors was an ACT composite score of 21 or a high school GPA of 3.50. For seniors, the state policy was an ACT composite score of 19 or a high school GPA of 3.00 to participate in dual enrollment courses. The EXCELerate exception for juniors and seniors was the ACT composite score of 19 or a high school GPA score of 2.50.As anticipated by the high schools and TCC, many of the students who qualified for EXCELerate had financial aid issues, the second barrier to enrollment. Tuition waivers were made available by the Attend College Early (ACE) scholarship (provided by OSRHE) resulting in no tuition costs for the EXCELerate students. In addition, TCC lowered the student fees to $12.75 per three credit hour course to cover library and assessment fees. EXCELerate students received another dual enrollment incentive when TPS and UHS paid for the college course textbooks. With these cooperative incentives to remove the financial barriers, OSRHE and TCC provided low-cost three-hour courses and the high schools provided the textbooks at no cost to the students. The final identified barrier, transportation, was eliminated when TCC faculty traveled to the high schools to teach the courses. The first semester of the EXCELerate pilot program began in January 2011, a result of receiving OSRHE approval after classes had started for the Fall 2010 semester. TCC requested and received approval from OSRHE for an additional semester for the EXCELerate pilot project so TCC could collect data on Fall-to-Spring persistence. Therefore, the two-year program became a five-semester program, Spring 2011-Spring 2013. The EXCELerate pilot project was successful on various levels as illustrated by the data in the preceding sections. The enrollment increases indicated that if the EXCELerate program continuance was authorized, student enrollment would continue to increase. In addition, a survey was conducted by TCC, TPS, UHS to the juniors and seniors participating in the EXCELerate project and the narratives gleamed expressions of appreciation and excitement from the students who never had considered taking college level courses. The project provided first-generation college students affirmation that they could be successful enrolling in college. In addition, this affirmation created a pattern of persistence with students accumulating six or more college hour credits. In addition to the feelings of achievement expressed by the students, other supportive resources provided by TCC and the local high schools, TPS & UPS, contributed to the student’s success. These resources removed any financial and non-school related barriers to persisting in dual enrollment courses. The resources were the reduced or

no-17

tuition waivers, free textbooks provided by the high schools, and providing the courses at the high school campuses. Physical access to participate in dual enrollment courses at the high school was significant given the geographic size of Tulsa, OK and demographic population of the EXCELerate students. In Tulsa, the four community college campuses’ distance from the high schools require access to private transportation since public transportation is limited. The majority of EXCELerate students (especially juniors) did not have access to private transportation and appreciated having the dual enrollment courses at their campus. In addition, some of the EXCELerate students had household and/or employment responsibilities after school so easier access to the courses was essential for their persistence course and completion. Overall, the EXCELerate pilot project was successful in allowing junior and senior high school students access to concurrent courses. In conclusion, there are five recommendations from TCC as a result of the EXCELerate pilot project. I support their recommendations based on their access to personnel and financial resources and commitment to remove barriers to concurrent courses for under-represented and underserved high school students. In addition, the program administrators presented their research to the Council on the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) which was enthusiastically received as pivotal in concurrent and dual enrollment research. Mr. Roach continues to receive inquiries on the success of EXCELerate from across the country. I appreciate TCC, TPS and UPS’s commitment in providing concurrent course access to Tulsa high school students and know Oklahoma’s first EXCELerate model will inspire other nation-wide urban and rural public school and community college communities to pursue concurrent college access.”

C

ONCLUSION

In conclusion, the findings and implications of this report are significant because they address challenges of recruitment, retention, and ultimately the need to have an understanding of the experiences of marginalized students who are capable, but not previously identified, for early college success. Moreover, by gathering data about marginalized students, institutions can more fully support their needs for early college success. Results of future studies may be generalized and transferable to larger populations of students who could benefit from similar strategies and interventions. The state of Oklahoma may benefit from policy revisions informed by data and information included in this report.

18

A

PPENDIX

A:

D

EMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS IN THE TWO GROUPS

.

Note. Totals across semesters in the far right column represent unduplicated numbers and students who enrolled in multiple terms are only counted once in the totals column for each group; thus, the sum of the individual semester numbers do not always equal the values in the totals column.

a _{Some students took courses in the EXCELerate program as well as on one of the TCC campuses; these students are counted in both groups to most accurately reflect the} student populations taking courses at the different locations.

Term Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Totals Across Terms

Student Groupa _{EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus}

Total Students 339 472 282 523 335 533 331 543 412 553 1,118 1,794 Gender Male 131 (38.6%) 167 (35.4%) 108 (38.3%) 208 (39.8%) 132 (39.4%) 207 (38.8%) 128 (38.7%) 213 (39.2%) 150 (36.4%) 208 (37.6%) 436 (39.0%) 689 (38.4%) Female 193 (56.9%) 305 (64.6%) 166 (58.9%) 315 (60.2%) 203 (60.6%) 326 (61.2%) 202 (61.0%) 330 (60.8%) 262 (63.6%) 345 (62.4%) 658 (58.9%) 1,105 (61.6%) Not Reported 15 (4.4%) 0 (0%) 8 (2.8%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 24 (2.1%) 0 (0%) Race American Indian or Alaska Native 16 (4.7%) 29 (6.1%) 7 (2.5%) 36 (6.9%) 10 (3.0%) 29 (5.4%) 13 (3.9%) 44 (8.1%) 10 (2.4%) 41 (7.4%) 40 (3.6%) 123 (6.9%) Asian 11 (3.2%) 8 (1.7%) 11 (3.9%) 14 (2.7%) 18 (5.4%) 17 (3.2%) 17 (5.1%) 18 (3.3%) 24 (5.8%) 19 (3.4%) 52 (4.7%) 43 (2.4%) Black or African American 43 (12.7%) 10 (2.1%) 16 (5.7%) 6 (1.1%) 18 (5.4%) 5 (0.9%) 16 (4.8%) 5 (0.9%) 34 (8.3%) 8 (1.4%) 100 (8.9%) 27 (1.5%) Hispanic of Any Race 27 (8.0%) 14 (3.0%) 16 (5.7%) 14 (2.7%) 23 (6.9%) 19 (3.6%) 31 (9.4%) 12 (2.2%) 43 (10.4%) 13 (2.4%) 98 (8.8%) 51 (2.8%)

Native Hawaiian /

Pacific Islander 2 (0.6%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.2%) 2 (0.2%) 1 (0.1%) White 166 (49.0%) 357 (75.6%) 182 (64.5%) 392 (75.0%) 212 (63.3%) 395 (74.1%) 197 (59.5%) 389 (71.6%) 220 (53.4%) 393 (71.1%) 600 (53.7%) 1,319 (73.5%) More Than One Race 12 (3.5%) 24 (5.1%) 26 (9.2%) 34 (6.5%) 32 (9.6%) 35 (6.6%) 35 (10.6%) 47 (8.7%) 56 (13.6%) 45 (8.1%) 104 (9.3%) 127 (7.1%)

19

A

PPENDIX

B:

H

IGH SCHOOL INFORMATION OF STUDENTS IN THE TWO GROUPS

.

a

Some students took courses in the EXCELerate program as well as on one of the TCC campuses; these students are counted in both groups to most accurately reflect the student populations taking courses at the different locations.

b

Totals across semesters in the far right column represent unduplicated numbers and students who enrolled in multiple terms are only counted once in the totals column for each group; thus, the sum of the individual semester numbers do not always equal the values in the totals column. The one exception is for class year, as described below in the c _note.

c_{Totals for class year are summed across the within-semester numbers, rather than unduplicated across terms, because some students took classes as both a junior and a senior.}

Term Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Totals Across Termsb

Student

Groupa EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus

Total Students 339 472 282 523 335 533 331 543 412 553 1,118 1,794

High School Class Year

Junior 43 (12.7%) 65 (13.8%) 71 (25.2%) 65 (12.4%) 45 (13.4%) 71 (13.3%) 111 (33.5%) 72 (13.3%) 135 (32.8%) 75 (13.6%) 405 of 1,699 (23.8%) c 348 of 2,624 (13.3%)c Senior 296 (87.3%) 407 (86.2%) 211 (74.8%) 458 (87.6%) 290 (86.6%) 462 (86.7%) 220 (66.5%) 471 (86.7%) 277 (67.2%) 478 (86.4%) 1,294 of 1,699 (76.2%)c 2,276 of 2,624 (86.7%)c

20

A

PPENDIX

B:

H

IGH SCHOOL INFORMATION OF STUDENTS IN THE TWO GROUPS

.

d

Students taking courses on TCC campuses came from 68 different high schools across the five semesters, with the most frequently represented high schools being Broken Arrow (18.8%), Jenks (13.9%), Homeschools (10.7%), and Bixby (9.1%).

High School (Union and Tulsa Public School Districts Only)d

Term Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Totals Across Terms

Student Groups EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus B T Washington 34 (10.0%) 4 (0.8%) 18 (6.4%) 3 (0.6%) 27 (8.1%) 2 (0.4%) 19 (5.7%) 2 (0.4%) 23 (5.6%) 5 (0.9%) 81 (7.2%) 11 (0.6%) Central 8 2.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.2%) 0 (0%) 2 (0.4%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.2%) 11 (2.7%) 1 (0.2%) 19 (1.7%) 2 (0.1%) East Central 20 (5.9%) 0 (0%) 28 (9.9%) 0 (0%) 28 (8.4%) 0 (0%) 17 (5.1%) 0 (0%) 19 (4.6%) 0 (0%) 60 (5.4%) 0 (0%) Thomas Edison 18 (5.3%) 16 (3.4%) 10 (3.5%) 22 (4.2%) 35 (10.4%) 20 (3.8%) 44 (13.3%) 7 (1.3%) 55 (13.3%) 10 (1.8%) 122 (10.9%) 51 (2.8%) McLain 5 (1.5%) 1 (0.2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.2%) 0 (0%) 6 (0.5%) 1 (0.1%) Memorial 27 (8.0%) 3 (0.6%) 4 (1.4%) 5 (1.0%) 16 (4.8%) 3 (0.6%) 1 (0.3%) 0 (0%) 3 (0.7%) 1 (0.2%) 45 (4.0%) 10 (0.6%) Nathan Hale 10 (2.9%) 0 (0%) 12 (4.3%) 0 (0%) 16 (4.8%) 0 (0%) 15 (4.5%) 0 (0%) 15 (3.6%) 0 (0%) 39 (3.5%) 0 (0%) Will Rogers 9 (2.7%) 1 (0.2%) 1 (0.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 33 (10.0%) 0 (0%) 45 (10.9%) 0 (0%) 56 (5.0%) 1 (0.1%) Daniel Webster 13 (3.8%) 2 (0.4%) 13 (4.6%) 1 (0.2%) 13 (3.9%) 0 (0%) 7 (2.1%) 0 (0%) 14 (3.4%) 0 (0%) 40 (3.6%) 3 (0.2%) Union 195 (57.5%) 24 (5.1%) 196 (69.5%) 13 (2.5%) 200 (59.7%) 23 (4.3%) 195 (58.9%) 7 (1.3%) 226 (54.9%) 7 (1.3%) 650 (58.1%) 57 (3.2%)

21

A

PPENDIX

C:

S

TUDENT SUCCESS OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS IN THE TWO GROUPS

.

Term Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Totals Across Termsa

Student Group EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus EXCEL Campus

Total Students 339 472 282 523 335 533 331 543 412 553 1,118 1,794

Student Success Outcomes Persistence to Subsequent Semester 108 (31.9%) 171 (36.2%) 243 (86.2%) 441 (84.3%) 120 (35.8%) 166 (31.1%) 290 (87.6%) 454 (83.6%) 173 (42.0%) 208 (37.6%) 934 of 1,699 (55.0%) 1,440 of 2,624 (54.9%) Matriculation to TCC Next Fall 82 of 296 Seniors (27.7%) 120 of 407 Seniors (29.5%) N/A N/A 90 of 290 Seniors(3 1.0%) 114 of 462 Seniors (24.7%) N/A N/A 92 of 277 Seniors (33.2%) 153 of 478 Seniors (32.0%) 264 of 863 Seniors (30.6%) 387 of 1,347 Seniors (28.7%) Course Retention (Grades other than

W) 365 of 422 (86.5%) 666 of 707 (94.2%) 403 of 421 (95.7%) 837 of 866 (96.7%) 413 of 456 (90.6%) 777 of 797 (97.5%) 458 of 480 (95.4%) 842 of 874 (96.3%) 504 of 557 (90.5%) 841 of 879 (95.7%) 2,143 of 2,336 (91.7%) 3,963 of 4,123 (96.1%) Grades of C or Better 332 of 422 (78.7%) 619 of 707 (87.6%) 380 of 421 (90.3%) 779 of 866 (90.0%) 379 of 456 (83.1%) 736 of 797 (92.3%) 419 of 480 (87.3%) 795 of 874 (91.0%) 435 of 557 (78.1%) 773 of 879 (87.9%) 1,945 of 2,336 (83.3%) 3,702 of 4,123 (89.8%)

Note. Some students took courses in the EXCELerate program as well as on one of the TCC campuses; these students are counted in both groups to most accurately reflect the student populations taking courses at the different locations.

a _{Totals across semesters for student success outcomes in the far right column were calculated as follows: 1) Persistence totals are the sums of persistence numbers from each} term; unduplicated totals were not used because some students enrolled in multiple semesters and may have persisted after one term but not another. 2) Matriculation numbers reflect the sums of the numbers for Spring 2011, Spring 2012, and Spring 2013. 3) Course retention numbers reflect sums of the numbers across all five terms.4) Grade numbers reflect sums of the numbers across all five terms.

22

A

PPENDIX

D:

F

INANCIAL

A

NALYSIS

Term Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Total Across Terms*

Student Group** EXCELerate

Students Concurrent at TCC Campuses EXCELerate Students Concurrent at TCC Campuses EXCELerate Students Concurrent at TCC Campuses EXCELerate Students Concurrent at TCC Campuses EXCELerate Students Concurrent at TCC Campuses Waivers $ 80,100 $ 144,848 $ 87,495 $ 181,810 $ 101,425 $ 180,940 $ 107,928 $ 191,160 $ 376,948 $ 698,757

Less: Estimated State Reimbursement*** 56,508 102,185 63,522 131,994 73,634 131,362 78,388 138,840 272,052 504,381

Net Waivers Cost $ 23,592 $ 42,663 $ 23,974 $ 49,816 $ 27,790 $ 49,577 $ 29,540 $ 52,320 $ 104,896 $ 194,377

Waiver Amounts by High School Class Year

Junior $ 7,877 $ 18,023 $ 20,677 $ 22,636 $ 11,753 $ 23,143 $ 38,872 $ 26,296 $ 79,179 $ 90,097

Senior 72,224 126,825 66,819 159,175 89,672 157,796 69,055 164,864 $ 297,769 $ 608,660

*** Amount is based on percentage of actual reimbursements received the following fiscal year.

Credit Hours 1,200 2,170 1,206 2,506 1,398 2,494 1,488 2,635 5,292 9,805

Students 339 472 282 523 335 533 331 543 1,287 2,071

Total fees charged $ 35,340 $ 63,907 $ 35,517 $ 73,802 $ 41,171 $ 73,448 $ 43,811 $ 77,597 $ 155,838 $ 288,753

Total fees waived $ 30,240 $ - $ 30,391 $ - $ 35,230 $ - $ 37,488 $ - $ 133,349 $ -

Net total fees charged $ 5,100 $ 63,907 $ 5,126 $ 73,802 $ 5,941 $ 73,448 $ 6,322 $ 77,597 $ 22,489 $ 288,753

Average credit hours per student 3.5 4.6 4.3 4.8 4.2 4.7 4.5 4.9 4.1 4.7

Average fees charged per student $ 4.25 $ 29.45 $ 4.25 $ 29.45 $ 4.25 $ 29.45 $ 4.25 $ 29.45 $ 4.25 $ 29.45

Average waived per student $ 89.20 $ - $ 107.77 $ - $ 105.16 $ - $ 113.26 $ - $ 103.61 $ -

Institutional Overhead per Semester

TCC

Salaries $ 133,082

Textbooks $ -

Miscellaneous $ 5,000

$ 138,082

Overhead figure based on FY 2013 information

23

A

PPENDIX

E:

TPS

N

ARRATIVE

P

ERSPECTIVE ON

EXCEL

ERATE

January 30, 2012

The Concurrent/Dual coordinator serves as the liaison between colleges and universities and Tulsa Public Schools. The coordinator is responsible for facilitating course alignment between college/university courses and high school courses that meet the requirements of K-12 and higher education and for communicating the opportunities to the stakeholders of both.

Benefits: The partnership between Tulsa Public Schools and Tulsa Community College through the EXCELerate program has markedly increased participation in concurrent enrollment. Many TPS students lack transportation and/or the funds to participate in traditional on-campus college courses. The numerous exceptions allowed by the State Regents during the pilot have enabled this increased participation. The most beneficial exceptions have been: allowing PLAN as well as ACT test scores to determine eligibility, lowering the minimum GPA requirement, bringing TCC instructors to the high school campus, TCC’s reduced fees and tuition, and TPS’s textbook investment. Benefits to students and parents beyond the reduced costs have been three-fold. Students have experienced college while still in the supportive high school setting. Students have learned through that experience the importance of time management and increased personal responsibility as well as the academic rigor required of college classes. Parents have been given an educational opportunity to help their children take more responsibility for their learning before leaving home for college. Students and parents have also become more connected to the numerous opportunities available through TCC. Since many TPS students have no family members with college backgrounds, orientations held each semester on TCC campuses for all new EXCELerate students have allowed them to talk to TCC in a relaxed atmosphere about the Tulsa Achieves Scholarship and the various Associate Degrees students can earn.

Benefits have also been noted by the faculty and administration of the TPS high schools. Several secondary teachers have expressed interest in teaching EXCELerate courses in the future. Since some college classes have been required to meet in a secondary teacher’s classroom during state mandated testing or other conflicts, TCC instructors and TPS teachers have been able to network informally about student skills needed for

24

success in college. Faculty and administration at our high schools also report that the classes in their schools are actually an excellent advertisement. Word of mouth discussions by EXCELerate students about the project in Speech or the field trip in Art Appreciation have caused some students to take the ACT multiple times in order to participate.

Challenges: The EXCELerate program has not always run smoothly during the three year pilot. Coordinating nine different high school schedules, TPS contact personnel, technology and classroom resources with TCC requirements has required constant vigilance. Recruitment and enrollment schedules and protocols implemented this fall helped spring enrollment run smoothly with an expected increase of over 70 students. A challenge will be carrying those protocols into the fall semester. Recruitment will happen in February at all high schools. TCC course numbers have been added to our student information system, so students can pre-enroll in EXCELerate at the same time they pre-enroll for the rest of their fall schedule. Administrators can then build their high school schedules with EXCELerate courses imbedded in the rest of the school schedule, rather than being added as an afterthought. This should alleviate the large scheduling conflicts often discovered during the beginning of school rush. During the pilot several of our high schools have been managed under the requirements of the SIG grant. These high schools often have to rewrite and reassign personnel to new schedules based on the results of the state EOI tests. When their schedules are rewritten, every other program at the school is affected, including EXCELerate classes. At one high school this fall, a school wide schedule change caused EXCELerate to lose half its eligible students.

Another challenge has been the lack of access to and quality of technology for both instructors and students. All instructors have access to SmartBoards and computers, but in some schools, speakers are antiquated and wi-fi and internet signals are slow or spotty. TPS students have now been given their own userID’s in order to access the TCC blackboard without being blocked, and TPS has assigned a technician to deal with any TCC instructor access or technology issues immediately. TPS has also scheduled a room check prior to the start of classes that allow each TCC instructor an opportunity to try out the technology in his/her room with a TPS ISS technician present to address any issues. Unfortunately, new equipment is still needed. A bond issue is being proposed to update all TPS technology.

Some high schools have had difficulty maintaining the 10 minimum required enrollment numbers to offer a class. TPS is conducting an analysis to determine what it would cost to transport eligible students from any non-participating school to Rogers College High for a morning or afternoon session of classes.

Accurate textbook orders have also been an issue. TPS requires at least a 4 week turn around in order to obtain a purchase order for books. That means: the coordinator needs a list of texts for requested courses, then

25

she/he requests a quote from the TCC bookstore, then the TPS Coordinator requests a purchase order from the Office of Secondary Schools. The TPS coordinator cannot pick up books not on the official purchase order. We have had several instances over the last three years when the book ordered was not correct for the instructor hired. Since TPS must open and number each of these books prior to class starting (which makes them used rather than new), the first day of class is too late to return and exchange books.

The EXCELerate paper trail is cumbersome. Four separate documents plus an online application are required. Each high school copies all documents delivered to the coordinator; the TPS coordinator copies all documents before sending to TCC; TCC enrollment services scans all documents before enrolling students. TCC enrollment services helped TPS with this process by providing personnel at each of the Spring 2013 enrollment days.

Finally, student supervision when classes are not in session continues to be an issue. Writing and math labs and tutors are needed and would help students use this time more wisely. Also, TCC instructors need to provide a substitute when they are absent. Cancelling class when high schools are expecting students to be in class and not providing for someone from TCC to substitute is a difficult burden for an already short staffed high school.

Lessons Learned and Future Recommendations

TCC instructors need a great deal of support to feel comfortable in the high school setting.

High school counselors need a great deal of support to feel comfortable with the extra responsibility required to help the TCC instructor.

Time needs to be given on the first day of class to allow students to set up their TPS UserID’s. Technology Bond issue needs to pass to update technology resources.

Fall semester TCC classes need to start at least one week after TPS classes start to deal with the inevitable drops and adds.

Structured recruitment plans and problem solving protocol should be constantly reviewed and improved. Remodel and updating of Rogers Annex needs finalized plan and timeline in order to provide pleasant adjunct campus experience.

Cost Analysis of transportation to and from Rogers College High for morning or afternoon sessions needs completed and evaluated. (Currently in process.)

26 Addendum: November 2013

Prepared by: Lisa Reynolds, Tulsa Public Schools Concurrent Coordinator Continued Benefits:

TPS students continue to enjoy increased access to college classes through the EXCELerate program. From Fall 2010 to Spring 2013, TPS showed a 61% increase in enrollment. Using approved high school teachers at East Central to teach some EXCELerate classes and the additional allocation of a teaching assistant at Rogers College High to supervise the commons area have alleviated some of TPS’ concern about unsupervised students.

East Central has allocated three of its instructors to teach four EXCELerate courses. This is TCC and TPS’s first attempt at implementing the NACEP model. These instructors have been able to provide additional support to East Central students by also supervising student Concurrent Cohort Study Groups (a non-graded class added to the TPS Course of Study last school year to serve concurrent students).

The most exciting developments have taken place at Rogers College High. TPS has given control of the Annex, a building on Rogers College High’s campus, to TCC. All EXCELerate classes meet in the Annex and TCC is coordinating GED classes at night. The commons area has been remodeled. New interactive Promethean boards have been installed. An elevator will be added in the summer of 2014. As bond issue money becomes available, more student use computers will be added.

In addition, Rogers College High students have had access to a JP Morgan Chase sponsored tutoring program which has markedly increased classroom performance. TCC’s Lissa Steadley has supervised and served as the lead tutor. She has been a tremendous addition to the Rogers’ program and is the primary cause of its success. These tutors have been instrumental in helping students develop the academic study skills needed to successfully navigate a college course. Rogers College High’s administration and faculty commitment to the success of their students in EXCELerate classes is evidenced by their invitation to TCC faculty liaisons and TCC’s Department of High School Relations to participate in Rogers College High’s Professional Learning Communities which discuss and develop action plans to address the question: “What do our students need to know to be college ready, and how do we measure that knowledge?”

Challenges addressed:

Recruitment and enrollment protocols put in place last school year helped both Fall and Spring enrollment run more smoothly. TPS requests regular rosters of student names in each class during each enrollment cycle in order to match and correct any errors prior to the bursar bill being issued. Also, TPS requests a written procedure for enrollment and billing instructions. Personnel changes at TCC caused a step to be missed during the Fall 2013 enrollment cycle.

Technology issues have largely been addressed. TPS students are now given their own UserName and Password, which allows them to have the access to TCC websites while using TPS computers. The technology bond issue passed last spring will provide continued upgrades to TPS’ technology system.

TPS high schools that have had low enrollment in courses due to smaller numbers of students eligible will be offered opportunities to send their students to other high schools to participate in EXCELerate courses. Currently, Hale High School students are attending classes at Rogers College High. Students are able to take the regular school bus to Rogers in the morning. TPS transportation has provided a van to return those students in the middle of the day.