What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its

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What the best and wisest parent wants for his own
child, that must the community want for all of
its children. Any other ideal for our schools is
narrow and unlovely acted upon, it destroys our
democracy.          

• John Dewey from  School and Society, 1907

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BRIDGING THE GAP FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE

• For all the communitys children

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THE POWER OF SCHOOL/UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP

• Lynne Miller
• University of Southern Maine
• NBHE January 29, 2009

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FOR EVERY 100 EIGHTH GRADERS IN MAINE

• 85 want to attend college
• 76 graduate from high school
• 50 are accepted to college
• 40 enroll in the fall
• 23 earn a degree

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ONCE IN COLLEGE, TOO MANY ARE NOT PREPARED
25-50 OF INCOMING STUDENTS NEED REMEDIAL WORK
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REMEDIATION AFFECTS GRADUATION
Source Kirst, M. (2004). The high
school/college disconnect. Educational
Leadership, 62(3), 51-55.
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WHAT WE ARE HEARING

• Raise Student Aspirations
• Require College Prep as the Default High
  School Curriculum
• Increase College Applications
• Create Seamless Transitions (K-16/20)

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THE MISSING PIECE COLLEGIAL CONVERSATIONS

• Among high school and college faculty
• sharing expectations
• and frustrations,
• collecting wisdom,
• crafting responses

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CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WRITING

• Originally Involved composition instructors from
  community colleges and universities in
  examination of expectations and assignments
• Evolved into a statewide conference on
  Conversations about Writing that engaged high
  school and IHE faculty
• Resulted in changes at school and college levels
  

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COLLEGE WRITING REQUIRES

• Correct standard written English
• Creating complex theses
• Distinguishing analysis from summary is critical
• Writing that goes beyond personal experience
• I am not asking how you feel about this issue
  Im asking what you think about this issue.   

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HIGH SCHOOLS RESPOND

• Inclusion of more non-fiction reading material
  essays, criticisms, book reviews, journal
  articles
• Decreased emphasis on narratives and increased
  emphasis on expository and analytic essays
• Increased emphasis on elements of syntax and
  style
• I think instead of I feel

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The UNIVERSITY RESPONDS (USM)

• Adoption of national placement test
• Elimination of all remedial courses in English
• Three credit course for accomplished writers
• Four credit section for those less accomplished
• Both sections satisfy the Gen Ed writing
  requirement

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CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MATH

• Originally involved Gen Ed math instructors and
  public school reps in examining expectations and
• assignments
• Produced a brochure on College Ready Math that
  was widely distributed
• Resulted in changes at school and college levels
  

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COLLEGE MATH REQUIRES

• Mathematical Reasoning
• Computation
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Data Analysis and Statistics
• www.maine.edu/collegeready

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HIGH SCHOOLS RESPOND

• Movement to four years of math for all
• Increased use of technology
• Increased emphasis on automaticity/ less
  dependence on calculators for simple computations
• Re-examination of how math is scheduled

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THE UNIVERSITY RESPONDS (USM)

• Adoption of the Accuplacer for math placement in
  place of campus test
• Supplemental model in all Gen Ed math courses/
  4 credit hours
• Elimination of two of the three remedial courses
  in math
• Arithmetic is the only remedial course
• Others grant credit toward graduation, but not
  toward Gen Ed math requirement

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THE UNIVERSITY RESPONDS (USM)

• USM Faculty Senate Proposes
• New Recommended High School Program of Study for
  Admission
• 4 Years Math

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A JOINT RESPONSE

• THE MELMAC ACCUPLACER PILOT
• 13 schools/ 7 campuses participated
• 1060 high school juniors took the math
  Accuplacer ( 91 of those enrolled)
• School and university faculty co-constructed 12th
  grade math courses to remediate deficits

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WHY is ACCUPLCER IMPORTANT?

• Over 1,000 colleges and universities use it to
  determine placement in MATH (Gen Ed or remedial
  courses).
• All seven Maine community colleges/ five of seven
  Maine university campuses
• It provides data that can be used to plan for
  REMEDIATION in HIGH SCHOOL AND NOT IN COLLEGE

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Finding 1 The Academic Gap

• 75 WILL NEED SOME FORM OF REMEDIATION IN MATH IN
  COLLEGE IF THEY DONT IMPROVE THEIR MATH SKILLS
  WHILE THEY ARE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL

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Results
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Finding 2 The Aspirations / Preparation Gap
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Dylan wants to be a Business Manager

• Arithmetic 23.7
• Algebra 24.2
• ( Passing score 65)
• A business major has to take college algebra,
  probability, statistics, microeconomics, and
  macroecnomics.

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Joanne wants to be a psychologist

• Arithmetic 38.3
• Algebra26.9
• (Passing score 65)
• A psychology major requires courses in
  statistics, psychological statistics, anatomy and
  physiology, and experimental methods

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Greg wants to become an environmental scientist

• Arithmetic 69
• Algebra 22
• (Passing score 65)
• An environmental science major requires courses
  in calculus, analytic chemistry, physics,
  chemistry 1 and 2

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Natalie wants to be a nurse

• Arithmetic score 21
• Algebra score30
• (Passing score 65)
• A nursing major requires courses in statistics,
  anatomy and physiology, organic chemistry,
  microbiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology

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NOW WHAT ?

• Newly designed twelfth grade math courses,
  geared to Accuplacer data, are being offered this
  year in ten of the participating schools.
• Courses were developed in each school with the
  assistance of a university faculty liaison.
• Evaluation is in progress.

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LESSONS LEARNED

• THERE HAS TO BE ROOM AT THE TABLE FOR VOICES
  FROM PRACTICE.
• COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY CAN COLLABORATE.
• ASPIRATIONS ARE NOT ENOUGH.
• ACADEMIC PREPARATION IS AN IMPORTANT KEY TO
  SUCCESS.

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• My mother would say, When you acquire knowledge,
  you acquire something no one could take away from
  you
• (Craig Robinson)

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