Secondary-Postsecondary Learning Options: Mott Middle College and Miami Valley Tech Prep

A Forum — September 29, 2006

American Youth Policy Forum's compendium, The College Ladder: Linking Secondary and Postsecondary Education for Success for All Students, highlights the growing number of programs that allow high school students to enroll in college courses. These programs, which AYPF refers to as Secondary-Postsecondary Learning Options (SPLOs), are rapidly growing and expanding. AYPF focused on SPLOs that are engaging first generation, low-income, and low-performing students and underrepresented minorities. The College Ladder describes the outcomes for these SPLOs, highlights the best practices in the field, and also raises a number of issues for both policymakers and practitioners to consider as the field continues to grow.

Jennifer Brown Lerner, AYPF Program Associate and co-author of the compendium, explained that SPLOs are schools and programs that link secondary education with two- and four-year institutions of higher education and allow high school students to participate in college-level courses for credit and not for credit. The compendium covers 22 SPLOs grouped into four categories: dual enrollment, Tech Prep, middle or early college high schools, and programs serving disadvantaged youth.

AYPF searched existing literature for evaluative data on SPLOs. Unfortunately, there were significant data limitations such as few third party evaluations, more qualitative than quantitative data, data concerning only short-term outcomes (i.e. following students only through high school graduation or after one semester of postsecondary education). Much of the challenge in obtaining longitudinal data was that studies typically did not follow participants through college graduation or into job market and researchers often ran into difficulties linking data from K-12 and postsecondary education, as they operate as two unique systems.

The outcomes considered were: credits earned during high school, performance on high school standardized tests, high school graduation rates including other high school outcomes, college-going rates, college placement test/remediation, college course grades/GPAs, college retention, degree attainment/time to degree, and job market outcomes. Most SPLOs had documented three to six of these nine potential outcomes. When the evaluations were able to compare SPLO participants to their peers who had not participated in a SPLO, they found that SPLO participants had better outcomes. The major findings cover six main areas:

• Type of student served: SPLOs are viewed as a strategy to increase access for underserved populations.
• Sources of funding: Funding formulas must distribute dollars fairly, so that institutions are paid based on the amount of services they provide to students.
• Course rigor: SPLOs need to ensure they provide college-level courses and work. Several program elements to consider include: location, faculty preparation, prerequisites for participation, and program length.
• Extra supports: For students to be successful, SPLOs need to provide students with appropriate experiences and supports based on their individual needs. Most common extra supports are: caring adult advisors, academic assistance and tutoring, college success classes, and peer support networks in a safe environment.
• Formal sanctioning: While many states have some state framework to support SPLOs, many SPLOs have grown as a result of flexible local policies
• Transferability of credit: Very little data is available on what courses transfer for credit or how students use credit earned from participation in a SPLO.
• Collaboration: Collaboration between secondary and postsecondary teachers and administrators helps create a supportive environment for SPLO participants.

In addition, The College Ladder also flags a number of policy areas that need to be considered as SPLOs grow and expand. These include: funding, alignment of programs and systems, equitable access to SPLOs, transferability of credits, quality and accountability, data collection, evaluation, and research.

Following the overview of The College Ladder, there were presentations from two of the included SPLOs: Miami Valley Tech Prep Consortium and Mott Middle College High School.

Ron Kindell, Director, Miami Valley Tech Prep Consortium (MVTPC), explained that the MVTPC is hosted by Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH and is composed of 64 high schools and career centers. MVTPC aims to create seamless career pathways beginning no later than students’ junior year of high school through, at minimum, an associate’s degree. Tech Prep students can participate in 11 career pathways that encourage students to matriculate to Sinclair Community College for an associate’s degree program and take advantage of the prior credit earned through their participation in Tech Prep. .

Research has shown that MVTPC graduates outperform their peers on these important college success measures:

• Passage rates on placement exams
• Need for remediation (38% for non-participants v. 19% for participants in math, 32% for non-participants v. 18% for participants in English)
• Academic performance in first math class
• Cumulative grade point average
• Retention from year one to year two of the college program

A key component of MVTPC is career pathways, which serve as a tool for both students and parents to create an educational/career plan. A career pathway is a coherent, articulated sequence of rigorous academic and career courses, commencing in Grade 9 and leading to an associate degree, and/or an industry-recognized certificate or license, and/or a baccalaureate degree. These career pathways were developed, implemented and maintained in partnership with secondary and postsecondary education, business, and employers. The career pathway is shaped by the State Technical Competency Profile (TCP), essential competencies for broad occupations and/or specific competencies for sub-occupations, and a competency matrix to facilitate instructional program customization. The TCP is refined by the MVTPC through industry review, secondary/postsecondary collaboration and coordination., In addition, there is ongoing classroom-level improvement through curriculum mapping, sharing of facilities and resources between the high school and postsecondary partner, and teacher licensure.. Students embark on a pathway, which includes enrollment criteria, the opportunity to earn dual credit in high school, and assessment procedures and standards.

MVTPC has several strategies beside career pathways to support its students’ diverse needs. It provides faculty with professional development, composed of contextual integrated academic leadership teams to promote cross-curricular coordination and Teacher in Industry for Educational Support (TIES), a teacher externship program. Student support and engagement strategies at MVTPC are critical because many students are first-generation college students. These include: a recruitment and orientation program, early Accuplacer testing, academic resource centers, competitions and recognition, worksite-based learning, capstone projects, and financial aid. Sinclair Community College has awarded $2,204,678 to 2,031 students since 1996.

Kindell stressed the need for college-led partnerships with K-12 institutions. While K-12 often provides the push toward higher education, colleges rarely provide the kind of pull offered by MVTPC and other SPLOs. A third-party broker can be helpful in connecting secondary and postsecondary education systems.

Chery Wagonlander, Principal, Mott Middle College High School (MMC) in Flint, MI explained that MMC attracts students from a diverse array of social, economic, racial, and cultural backgrounds who are unhappy or unsuccessful in their traditional district high school. Founded in 1991 and located on the campus of Mott Community College, MMC provides a supportive high school experience and opportunities for students to enroll in college-level courses. Initially funded through the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, MMC has established itself as an alternative district school for students who are often considered failures in traditional schools. MMC has been successful in having students both graduate from high school and enroll in postsecondary education.

Flint is the urban center of Genesee County, which is in a transitional economic phase. Although there is growth in technology-related jobs, the county is still struggling and declining in population in the wake of the auto industry's departure 15 years ago. Genesee County is composed of urban, suburban and rural communities, with a total population of 443,947 (119,716 in City of Flint), as of 2004. According to 2000 census data, the population is 53.27% African-American, 41.39% White, and 2.99% Hispanic and the average household income is $28,015, and the median income for a family was slightly higher at $31,424. Flint is the home of Mott Community College, Baker College, Kettering University and University of Michigan-Flint.  

The impetus for creating MMC came from several factors. There is a persistent local dropout rate for the city of Flint that had hovered at 10% since 1997-98 with an alarming increase in middle school-age dropouts. Dropouts represent all demographic and socioeconomic segments of the community. MMC was a response to meeting the needs of these youth and has been successful in also lowering the Flint’s dropout rate.

For students who choose to attend MMC, nearby school districts release these students to MMC. Eligible districts include those within Genesee Intermediate School District and the surrounding districts. The Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funds also follow the student to MMC and state funds for dual enrollment help cover the cost of student enrollment in college courses at Mott Community College.

After realizing that MMC students needed additional supports as they transitioned into higher education, the curriculum was redesigned to help students overlap high school graduation and associate’s degree requirements. It continues to emphasize interdisciplinary, team-taught courses and requires work internships. MMC embodies six design principles:

• Power of the site: Students are exposed to a college environment and the world of academic success through their interaction with traditional college students on the campus of Mott Community College.
• Teaching and learning: All courses are designed by MMC staff. There is a 1:22 teacher: student ratio.
• Student assessment: To support incoming students with weak first-year GPAs so they do not give up hope of success, MMC GPAs are weighted toward later years, no grade below a C is given, and if a lower grade is deserved, the student simply repeats the course.
• Student support: Climate of intimacy, counseling approach to discipline, and focus groups.
• Democratic school governance: Shared decision-making.
• Professional development: Staff work to identify best practices and emphasize school-related factors over which MMC has control.

For the 2006-07 school year, MMC has 392 students. The racial breakdown reflects Genesee County’s makeup, and 138 students are dually enrolled in 336 courses at Mott Community College.

Student outcomes are impressive. MMC’s dropout rate was 5% for the 2005-06 school year and has been close to that number since 1994. Since 1994, incoming GPAs have hovered around 1.6, while graduating GPAs have remained at approximately 3.0. In the 2005-06 academic year, 71% of MMC graduates were enrolled in higher education institutions.

A three-year study from 1997 and a 10-year study completed in 2003 identified the top factors that contribute to engagement, persistence, and academic success of high-risk students in Genesee County. There are several pedagogical factors: school and class sizes are small, classes are interesting, fun, and teaching is directed to a variety of learning styles. Teachers care, know how to listen, and want to help. Teachers have high expectations and give students the opportunity to make decisions. There are two structural factors: MMC gives students a fresh start through weighted GPAs and other grading practices, and most importantly, MMC offers struggling students an opportunity to experience a college environment.

Much of the work with MMC students focuses on the process of reengagement in an academic environment. This process has three phases: Disengagement (alienation, anger, fear, boredom), change/motivation (insecurity, fragility, emotional), and reengagement (empowerment, belonging, pride, independence). Significant gender differences exist in the factors that facilitate reengagement. Male students had a hard time persisting and reinventing themselves socially. Male students benefited especially with teachers who cared and provided students a safe place to express their feelings. . Female students benefited most from leadership opportunities, tutors and labs, adults who teach to different learning styles and take as much time as needed to explain material.

Strategies for collaboration between K-12 and higher education gleaned from MMC’s work are:

• Shared participation in administration, with ample planning time
• Opportunities for teacher collaboration
• Shared facilities, resources, and responsibility
• Opportunities for work-study for students
• Dual enrollment
• Grant support

The question and answer period addressed a number of policy-related issues Wagonlander voiced concern with the lack of transferability of credits between K-12 and higher education. She also highlighted the efforts in Michigan, to extend state support for K-12 general education services from the age of 20 to 21. Although this plan is still in the recommendation level, it shows that the Michigan Department of Education and State Board of Education, the higher education governing body, are becoming quite flexible as both levels consider doing business differently, to allow students to overlap and integrate their high school and first two years of higher education.

 

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