Strategies for Concurrent Enrollment Programs to Support a More Diverse Group of Students Emphasized at 2010 NACEP Conference :: National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP)

Strategies for Concurrent Enrollment Programs to Support a More Diverse Group of Students Emphasized at 2010 NACEP Conference

Most educators and policy makers now agree that the majority of today’s youth need to earn college degrees to qualify for the jobs of the 21st century, to provide for their families and themselves, and to create the workforce necessary for the country to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Concurrent enrollment is one of the most effective, scalable models available to prepare large numbers of high school students for college and increase their chances of earning postsecondary degrees. However, states and concurrent enrollment programs that look to dual and concurrent enrollment programs to increase college readiness and completion rates among all students must provide the support services necessary to help typically underrepresented high school students and students in the academic middle to succeed in college classes.

The theme of the October 2010 NACEP National Conference in Minneapolis, “Building our Quality, Broadening our Reach,” focused on strategies to help concurrent enrollment programs support a more diverse group of students. Both the keynote speaker and plenary panel speakers recommended ways of broadening the reach of concurrent enrollment. Likewise, four presentations highlighted efforts by programs to reach students in the academic middle. Five other presentations highlighted efforts to increase college readiness among career/technical and rural students. Summaries of some of these sessions are presented below. They share an emphasis on orientation and college success workshops before high school students register in college courses, guiding students into sequential college coursework, and academic and social advising built into dual and concurrent enrollment classes.

For states and concurrent enrollment partnerships seeking to increase student access to and success in college, the strategies identified at the conference have potential to meet the growing need to effectively serve the greatest number of students.

Recruiting and Serving Students in the Academic Middle
Elizabeth Barnett, a researcher for the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST), Teachers College, Columbia University, shared research on student success through a partnership with the Middle College National Consortium. In her presentation “Recruiting and Serving Students in the Academic Middle,” she included the goal of the study which was to find out which characteristics or events were associated with success in college classes while in high school. Three hundred students were included in the study which included data collected from the students’ eighth grade test scores, senior surveys, and college transcripts. Results showed that student success was associated with the high expectations of the high school instructors, a sense of belonging, rigor in the college class, and engagement in the program.

Supporting Middle-Achieving High School Students in College Courses
Barnett, along with her colleague Katherine Hughes from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) of Columbia University, presented in another session on “Supporting Middle-Achieving High School Students in College Courses.” The researchers looked at the supports offered to career/technical students in Florida and New York dual enrollment programs as well as those offered in an early college high school. Successful supports included:

curricular pathways to build skills sequentially and provide structure to students’ experiences;
academic supports before students participate in dual and concurrent enrollment courses, including: student orientation; 30 minutes advising once each week on academic, social, and personal issues; and each staff member mentoring five students in weekly meetings; and
academic supports during student participation in dual and concurrent enrollment courses, including: supplemental instruction overseen by tutors and faculty and early warning and guidance systems.

What Does Enhanced Dual Enrollment Look Like?
In a session entitled “What Does Enhanced Dual Enrollment Look Like?” Cecilia Cunningham, Executive Director of the Middle College National Consortium, and Robert Baird, Vice-President for School-University Partnerships at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, presented lessons learned from studies of Early and Middle College High Schools about the supports necessary for first generation and minority students in dual and concurrent enrollment programs. Cunningham and Baird described their vision for scaling the successes of Early and Middle College High Schools to reach a larger number of students by enhancing dual and concurrent enrollment programs through the provision of additional student supports. Most of their recommendations include similar kinds of support to those identified by the CCRC/NCREST researchers:

orientation sessions prior to college course work
tutoring and wide range of study skills (e.g. conducting research, working in groups) built into every class to create “seminars” with extended time for class
student mentors from campus
college counseling provided by all teachers from 9th grade on
connections with community social services
academic plans—for all students—that include mandatory college experiences
use of summer time for course work and preparation
sequential course experiences

Making CEP Doable for Students in the Academic Middle
Barbara Hodne, Sharon Ornelas, and Kay Peters from the University of Minnesota –Twin Cities and partner schools shared information from their pilot project in their presentation on ““Making CEP Doable for Students in the Academic Middle.”” Their pilot started with three courses, approximately 230+ students, and 18 high schools. They collected data on the education level of parents, whether students qualified for free or reduced price lunch, high school grade point average, and language spoken at home. Key findings for success from their pilot included:

the importance of identifying and tracking students who may struggle
explicit modeling of self-assessment and self-monitoring more important than specific tools used;
the importance of student ownership and motivation, community of support and building trusting relationships

NACEP’s recently adopted Strategic Plan commits the organization to continue promoting strategies that will help our members increase access and success in concurrent enrollment courses for students who are underrepresented in higher education. NACEP recently joined as a partner of the Pathways to College Network, an “alliance of national organizations that advances college opportunity for underserved students by raising public awareness, supporting innovative research, and promoting evidence-based policies and practices across the K-12 and higher education sectors.”