From Senioritis to College Credit:
College 101 in High School
Donna Younger, Director, Learning Center
[email protected]
Georgia Kariotis,
Coordinator for Non-native Students, Learning Center
[email protected]
Kristine Panopio, Academic Advisor,
Student Support Services TRiO, Learning Center
[email protected]
July 27, 2006
Nineteenth International Conference on
The First Year Experience
Toronto, Ontario
www.oakton.edu/learn
From Senioritis to College Credit: College 101 in High School
Project Summary
The pilot bridge program prepares high risk, secondary students for college during their last semester of
high school. College 101, College Success Seminar is offered to college able students in collaboration with
two district high schools. Students completing the course prepare for higher education and receive three
college credits. College teachers use a hybrid online model. The specific learning goals of the program are
to a) define student’s goals b) develop learning skills c) prepare students for personal future success in
career, communication, wellness, and money management. Funding is shared between the College, the
high schools and a special grant from the Illinois Community College Board, P-16, allowing high school
students to enroll in college classes. The program completed its third year with sixty students participating.
Program Elements
The foundation of the program consists of articulation activities for new first year students.
The College
 Components in place at the college included high school on-site college placement testing,
on-campus field trips for college information sessions, financial aid workshop, advising
sessions for new students, and existing online College 101 course. College Success courses
have been offered for fourteen years. The College uses the WEBCT course management
system.
 The college provided instructors who met weekly or bi-weekly with the students and online
assignments the remainder of the time.
 Other college offices cooperating in the project include Admissions, Registration/Records,
Cashier, Advising, and Counseling.
 Students are able to use all college facilities such as library, computers, and fitness center.
The High school
A College and Career counselor at each high school worked with the college instructor in coordinating
meeting times, rooms, student passes, and troubleshooting problems. At one high school, a Hispanic
Family Liaison was also involved.
Students
Counselors selected prospective college able students from high level English as Second Language,
first generation, 1.5 generation, students with disabilities, undecided, or other high-risk populations.
Class size was small, from five to twenty students.
Sixty students have completed the program during the last three years of the pilot.
Course Materials
Keys to Success in College, Career and Life, fourth edition, Carol Carter, Joyce Bishop, Sarah Lyman
Kravits, with companion WEBCT course, and Super site. Prentice Hall, 2003.
Your College Experience: Strategies for Success (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac), 6th Edition,
companion website, John N. Gardner, A. Jerome Jewler, Thomson, 2005.
Implementation
Planning, trial and error, and revising were the mode. Several planning sessions were held with the
high school counselors and college administrators during the year prior to implementing the program.
Student selection and course logistics were considered during the fall term. An
introductory/orientation for the prospective students was held at the end of fall term. Spring term
involved registration, launching the course and completing before high school graduation activities
(12 weeks).
Assessments
Of the sixty students enrolled in the project over the last three years, at least twenty-five enrolled at
the College. Fifteen students enrolled in other colleges or universities, and the remaining twenty
students are working.
Pre-and Post Learning Assessment Style Survey Inventories (LASSI) were completed in year
two. No significant changes occurred in the students’ self- assessment of their learning skills.
At the conclusion of the course, students were asked to identify their learning style and give
examples of how it was used because of this course.
The pilot project, 2004, received an Illinois Council of Community College Administrators
Innovation Award.
Program Infrastructure:
Funding: current and future opportunities
Seek state, institutional, and other funding to support the program. Program used State of
Illinois, P-16 Grant, a grant of $2700 from the college’s Educational Foundation, and a
donation from a publisher.
Cooperative Agreements
Each high school is different in requirements for partnership agreements. Some schools are
eager for emergent design and others require specific contracts.
Outcomes
 Smoother transition and articulation for high school students.
 Increasing student retention and perseverance at the College and other institutions
 Enhancing high school-community college partnerships.
Success, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
Assumptions about high school students:
 High school students are computer capable
 Students can balance graduation requirements, work, outside activities and a college course.
 Students can afford college textbooks. Texts were provided in years one and three. In year
two, only two students bought a text.
 Students will attend an extra class
 Students will be eager to participate, and “buy in” to the program.
Challenges: With a hybrid independent class
 Computer/CD problems
 Infrequent contact (rely on emails, telephone, appointments)
 No regular classroom with computer lab access
 Low attendance and high drop-out rates
 Procrastination on big projects
 Most students are disorganized (students needed a 3 ring binder and student planner)
 Counselor selection of students and their abilities did not always match with required college
skills
Future classes, emphasize:
 Transitioning from high school to college; assess motivation of students early
 Expectations of a college and on-line student; refer to “Being a Successful On-line Student”
<http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp>
 Team-building exercises; everyone is accountable and supportive of one another
 Stronger connections with guidance counselors and support staff; meet few weeks before
classes start, and throughout the semester
 Course goals that should include successful completion of current classes in high school;
allow more time to reflect on current situation: Ask students, “How does your current attitude
and self-assessment affect current class performance? What current skills should you keep
and improve upon….what needs to change?”
 Smaller assignments; avoid assigning major projects at the beginning of the course
 Regular classroom and equipment; need easy access to computer labs with log in and hall
passes
 Use of interactive and group assignments in class, perhaps less use of videos and DVD’s
 Recognize student diversity in creating assignments and requirements
The Future
 Short-term goals are to add one or two high schools each year.
 Long-term goals are to expand the project throughout the district high schools.
 A research project is planned to track students after the program, and their college success
measured against a control group without the program.
 Develop a stronger partnership continuum with TRIO