Title:

Pathways to College Access and Success

Authors:

Katherine L. Hughes, Melinda Mechur Karp,

Baranda J. Fermin, and Thomas R. Bailey

Community College Research Center,

Columbia University, Teachers College

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Vocational and Adult Education

2005

This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No.
ED-99-CO-0163 with DTI Associates, Inc., and their subcontractor, the
Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia
University. Ivonne Jaime served as the contracting officer's technical
representative. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent
the positions or policies of the Department of Education. This
publication includes information about and references to products,
commodities, services or enterprises from other organizations, both
public and private. Inclusion of these does not constitute an
endorsement of them by the U.S. Department of Education.

U.S. Department of Education

Margaret Spellings

Secretary

September 2005

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in
whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this
publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of
Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Pathways to
College: Access and Success, Washington, D.C., 2005.

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Contents

List of Exhibits

Key Terms

Acknowledgments

Executive Summary

Pathways to College: Access and Success

Study Sites and Site Contexts

Findings

Recommendations for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Researchers

Methods Appendix

Works Cited

Appendix: Enhanced Profiles of Research Sites

Southern California MCHS

Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment

Minnesota IB

New York City's College Now

Dallas Tech-Prep

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1: Case Study Chart

Exhibit 2: Minnesota IB Classroom Observation

Exhibit 3: New York City Dual Enrollment Developmental English Course

Exhibit 4: Sample Pathway for a College Now Student Beginning in the
Learner's Academy

Exhibit 5: Sample Pathway for a College Now Student Beginning in a
Gateway Course

Exhibit 6: New York City Dual Enrollment Saturday Theater Workshop

Exhibit 7: Conceptual Model of the Credit-Based Transitions Program
Influence on Student Outcomes

Exhibit A-1: Southern California Middle College High School District
Graduation Requirements

Exhibit A-2: Southern California Middle College High School---Sample
Schedule for 11th-Grade Students

Exhibit A-3: Southern California Middle College High School Outcomes,
2003--04

Exhibit A-4: Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
Program--Health Careers Academy Sample Courses Sequence

Exhibit A-5: Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment Outcomes
2003--2004

Exhibit A-6: Minnesota International Baccalaureate Pathways and
Requirements

Exhibit A-7: Minnesota International Baccalaureate Outcomes, 2003--04

Exhibit A-8: College Now, New York City Prerequisites for College Now
Credit-Bearing Courses

Exhibit A-9: College Now, New York City, Prerequisites for College Now
Credit-Bearing Courses

Exhibit A-10: College Now, New York City Outcomes, 2003--04

Exhibit A-11: Dallas, Tech-Prep Curriculum and Program

Exhibit A-12: Dallas, Tech-Prep Student Outcomes, 2003--04

Key Terms

AA -- Associate in Arts

AAS -- Associate in Applied Science

AP -- Advanced Placement

AS -- Associate in Science

ADA -- Average Daily Attendance

California Community College -- Pseudonym for postsecondary partner of
Southern California Middle College High School program

CAS -- Creativity, Action, Service (see Minnesota IB profile for more
information)

CBTP -- Credit-based transition program

CPR -- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

CTE -- Career and technical education

CUNY -- City University of New York

Dallas Tech-Prep High School -- Pseudonym for secondary partner of
Dallas, Texas, Tech-Prep program

Dallas, Texas Tech-Prep Program-- Pseudonym for the program partnership
between Dallas Tech-Prep High School and Texas Community College

ELL -- English Language Learner

FTE -- Full-Time Equivalent

IB -- International Baccalaureate

ID -- Identification card

IEP -- Individualized Education Plan

Iowa Community College -- Pseudonym for postsecondary partner of
Metropolitan

Counties, Iowa Dual Enrollment program

Learner's Academy -- Two-year sequence of courses for ELL students at
the New York

City Dual Enrollment program

MCHS -- Middle College High School

Metropolitan Counties, Iowa Dual Enrollment -- Pseudonym for the program
between Rural High School and Iowa Community College

Minnesota IB -- Pseudonym for the IB program studied in Minnesota

New York City Dual Enrollment -- Pseudonym for the program partnership
between New York City High School and New York Community College

New York City High School -- Pseudonym for secondary partner of New York
City Dual Enrollment program

New York Community College -- Pseudonym for postsecondary partner of

New York City Dual Enrollment program

PC -- personal computer

Regional Medical Center -- Pseudonym for hospital partner of
Metropolitan Counties,

Iowa Dual Enrollment program

Rural High School -- Pseudonym for secondary partner of Metropolitan
Counties,

Iowa Dual Enrollment program

Southern California Middle College High School -- Pseudonym for
secondary partner

of Southern California Middle College High School program

Texas Community College -- Pseudonym for postsecondary partner of
Dallas, Texas,

Tech-Prep program

The Global EDGE Tech Prep Consortium -- The Tech-Prep consortium of
which the

Dallas, Texas Tech-Prep program is part

TOK -- Theory of Knowledge (see Minnesota IB profile for more
information)

OVAE -- Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of
Education

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Rebecca Cox and Andrea Soonachan of the
Community College Research Center (CCRC) for commenting on previous
drafts, and Lisa Rothman, also of CCRC, for her thorough management of
the contract details. We are grateful to Polly Hutcheson for her
excellent research assistance. To Ivonne Jaime and Braden Goetz of the
U.S. Department of Education, we wish to extend our appreciation for
their guidance throughout the entire project. We are additionally
grateful to Hans Meeder, former OVAE Deputy Assistant Secretary for his
support and direction of this research project. For their able
administration of the contract, editorial advice, and assistance in
planning and conducting research, the authors are exceptionally grateful
to Louisa Fuller and Laura Lanier of DTI Associates -- A Haverstick
Company.

We also wish to thank the many students, teachers, staff members, and
coordinators within the schools and credit-based transition programs
that participated in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs project. Though we are unable to name
all of these individuals, their willingness to assist us in this project
and provide access to program participants, staff, activities, and
documents has not gone unappreciated.

This report is dedicated to the memory of Arlene Kahn for her support
and contribution

throughout the project.

Executive Summary

This report looks at the ways that credit-based transition programs
(CBTPs) may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in
college. It highlights promising practices used by CBTPs to help
students who might have been considered noncollege-bound prepare for
college credit course work. The report also discusses the challenges
that credit-based transition programs face when trying to include such
students.

This report is the final report from the Accelerating Student Success
Through Credit-Based Transition Programs study, which was initiated by
the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult
Education (OVAE) in the fall of 2003. The goal of the study is to better
understand the characteristics of credit-based transition programs
(CBTPs) and the students they serve. These programs, such as Tech-Prep,
dual or concurrent enrollment, International Baccalaureate (IB) and
Middle College High School (MCHS), allow high school students to take
college-level classes and earn college credit. They sometimes also
provide services to support the main aspects of the high
school-to-college transition.

CBTPs are widespread and interest in them by policymakers, educators,
parents, and students has increased in recent years. In addition, while
these programs are not new, the idea that they should be accessible to a
broader range of students is a new approach. In the past, CBTPs enrolled
primarily academically proficient and high-achieving students. Today,
however, a growing number of policymakers, education reform groups, and
researchers argue that middle- and even low-achieving high school
students may benefit from participation in these programs.

Yet, despite their popularity nationwide, there is limited
research-based information on CBTPs, particularly those programs that
include a broad range of students. The research for this report was
conducted in the spring and fall of 2004. Case studies were undertaken
in five states---California, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, and Texas. Two
dual enrollment programs, an MCHS, an International Baccalaureate
program, and a Tech-Prep program were studied.

The first section of the report describes the sites and examines some of
the ways in which contextual features influence program implementation.
The report then highlights findings regarding four key program
features---student recruitment and selection processes; curriculum;
support services; and data collection and use. For each feature, the
researchers investigated the current practices of the case study sites,
identified those practices that seemed most promising in meeting the
needs of middle- and low-achieving students, and identified barriers to
implementing them. Readers should note that the data reflect program
practices at the time the research was conducted in the spring and fall
of 2004. In addition, in order to give the study participants anonymity,
the specific research sites were given pseudonyms. When given
permission, the name of the general program is used.

Key Findings

Student Recruitment and Selection

At the sites studied, student recruitment is typically done informally.
The result is that students in CBTPs tend to be motivated, mature, and
responsible. In addition, some sites are becoming more selective because
of conflict with the sponsoring postsecondary partner over unprepared or
disruptive students. Some sites set admissions requirements or select
only some students into the program. Other sites have no such
requirements, and students need only to sign up for the CBTP to
participate. Programs without formal admissions requirements can still
pose informal barriers to admissions. For example, relying on
word-of-mouth to inform students about the program does not maximize
knowledge about the program among the high schools' student bodies as a
whole. Open participation does not necessarily ensure broad access.

\* In order to ensure that all students---including those not usually
seen as college-bound---learn about the program and have the opportunity
to enroll, programs should initiate formal recruitment strategies
involving middle school and high school guidance counselors and parents,
as well as teachers.

Curriculum

CBTP course work falls into three categories: high school course work,
which meets graduation requirements but also may give students the
knowledge and skills necessary for success in college-level classes;
developmental course work, which is explicitly designed to prepare
students for the demands of college-level work; and, college credit
course work. These courses may be organized into a curricular pathway, a
clear route moving students from one level of course work to another.
Developmental course work and the presence of curricular pathways help
ensure that students from a range of academic backgrounds are able to
participate in the CBTP. Creating these pathways and helping students
take advantage of them are often challenging for programs, however,
because they require high schools and colleges to work together closely.

\* In order to maximize the range of students participating in CBTPs,
programs should implement clear curricular pathways. Pathways should
include high school courses aligned with college admissions
requirements, and developmental course work leading to college credit
courses. These pathways should be clearly communicated to students.

Support Services

Nonacademic as well as academic support services are essential in
helping students understand and meet the demands of a postsecondary
environment. This is particularly important for students who have
previously not been successful in school. In general, services vary
along two dimensions. They may vary in their sponsor, meaning whether
they are offered by the high school, by the college, or through a
collaboration. They also may vary in their content, for example whether
services provide academic support, general personal support, or specific
college-preparatory activities, such as assistance with college
applications or financial aid. Services offered through collaboration
often are more cohesive and tailored to students' needs.

\* Students in CBTPs should ideally have access to both high school- and
college-sponsored services, as well as customized services that are
developed collaboratively by the institutional partners.

Data Collection and Use; Perceived Benefits of the Programs

Most sites do not have systematic data collection procedures, and most
of the data available at the sites indicate short-term outcomes, making
program evaluation difficult. There is little data sharing between high
school and college partners, and many sites lack staff time and
knowledge to collect and use data effectively. Despite these
limitations, study participants do indicate that there are three primary
benefits to students who participate in CBTPs: the opportunity to earn
free college credit, gaining "a taste" of college, and increased
confidence in their academic abilities.

\* Perceived benefits are not yet supported by evaluation research.
Programs should engage in data collection in order to confirm that
students, particularly middle- and low-achieving students, do achieve
these outcomes from their program participation.

Recommendations for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Researchers

The data indicate that three broad areas should be addressed by programs
and policymakers seeking to help middle- and low-achieving students
enroll and be successful in CBTPs: student access, institutional
collaboration, and data collection for program evaluation.

Broad access to CBTPs should be encouraged by:

\* Developing multiple ways to ensure that all students---regardless of
academic background and level of motivation---learn about the CBTP;

\* Developing a program culture that is supportive of and encourages
students from different backgrounds and academic levels to participate;
and

\* Structuring the program and the curriculum with an eye towards
increasing access, such as by creating developmental sequences of
courses.

Policymakers can support programs in these efforts by providing
incentives for programs that enroll middle- and low-achieving students.

Collaborative relationships should be encouraged by:

\* Clearly establishing the roles and benefits for each institution in
the partnership,

\* Supporting broader integration between the secondary and
postsecondary sectors, and

\* Simplifying the credit earning and credit transfer process.

Policymakers have a strong role to play. They can compel the two
institutional sectors to rethink and align their standards, curriculum,
and assessment practices. Aligning high school graduation requirements
with college entrance requirements is an important first step.
Articulation of high school with college course work also would help
students transitioning to college know that they are prepared.
Policymakers also should support dual credit programs, in which students
receive high school and college credit for their program course work, as
opposed to receiving one type of credit or the other.

Practitioners should work with researchers to collect outcomes data that
can be used for outcomes analyses. Policymakers should support outcomes
analyses that begin with students' performance prior to program
participation, include comparison groups, and follow students through
college matriculation and graduation.

In order to assist researchers in their efforts to evaluate the outcomes
of CBTPs, the report presents a conceptual model. The model suggests
ways that program features may work together in order to promote the
success of middle- and low-achieving students as they make the
transition from secondary to postsecondary education. Future research
should test the model.

The findings from the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transitions Program study lend credence to the enthusiasm many
policymakers and educators have for CBTPs. CBTPs have the potential to
help a wide range of students, not only the most academically advanced,
but also the middle- to low-achieving students, become prepared for
postsecondary education.

Exhibit 1: Features of Credit-Based Transition Programs Case Study Sites

+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| Case  | Type   | Case   | St  | Is  | D   | School | Pr    | Lo  |
| Site  | of     | Site   | ate | th  | oes | Demogr | ogram | cat |
| Name  | P      | Pa     |     | ere | the | aphics | Admis | ion |
| (     | rogram | rtners |     | st  | p   |        | sions | of  |
| Pseud |        |        |     | ate | rog | (20    | Req   | C   |
| onym) |        |        |     | pol | ram | 03-04) | uirem | oll |
|       |        |        |     | icy | of  |        | ents? | ege |
|       |        |        |     | a   | fer |        |       | C   |
|       |        |        |     | ppl | D   |        |       | las |
|       |        |        |     | ica | ual |        |       | ses |
|       |        |        |     | ble | c   |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     | to  | red |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     | the | it? |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     | pr  |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     | ogr |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     | am? |     |        |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| Sou   | Middle | Sec    | C   | Yes | Yes | Total  | Yes   | C   |
| thern | C      | ondary | ali |     |     | High   |       | oll |
| Calif | ollege | Pa     | for |     |     | Sc     |       | ege |
| ornia | High   | rtner: | nia |     |     | hool/P |       |     |
| M     | School | So     |     |     |     | rogram |       |     |
| iddle |        | uthern |     |     |     | Enro   |       |     |
| Co    |        | Cali   |     |     |     | llment |       |     |
| llege |        | fornia |     |     |     | -330   |       |     |
| High  |        | Middle |     |     |     |        |       |     |
| S     |        | C      |     |     |     | El     |       |     |
| chool |        | ollege |     |     |     | igible |       |     |
|       |        | High   |     |     |     | for    |       |     |
|       |        | School |     |     |     | Free   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | and    |       |     |
|       |        | P      |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        | ostsec |     |     |     | educed |       |     |
|       |        | ondary |     |     |     | Lunch  |       |     |
|       |        | Pa     |     |     |     | -75    |       |     |
|       |        | rtner: |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        | Cali   |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        | fornia |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        | Com    |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        | munity |     |     |     | acial/ |       |     |
|       |        | C      |     |     |     | Ethnic |       |     |
|       |        | ollege |     |     |     | Compos |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ition- |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Afri   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | can-Am |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | erican |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 45  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Hi     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | spanic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | --55   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| Me    | Dual   | Sec    | I   | Yes | Yes | Total  | No    | Ho  |
| tropo | Enro   | ondary | owa |     |     | High   |       | spi |
| litan | llment | Pa     |     |     |     | School |       | tal |
| Coun  |        | rtner: |     |     |     | Enro   |       | P   |
| ties, |        | Rural  |     |     |     | llment |       | art |
| Iowa  |        | High   |     |     |     | -400   |       | ner |
| Dual  |        | School |     |     |     |        |       | or  |
| Enrol |        |        |     |     |     | El     |       | C   |
| lment |        | P      |     |     |     | igible |       | oll |
|       |        | ostsec |     |     |     | for    |       | ege |
|       |        | ondary |     |     |     | Free   |       |     |
|       |        | Pa     |     |     |     | and    |       |     |
|       |        | rtner: |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        | Iowa   |     |     |     | educed |       |     |
|       |        | Com    |     |     |     | Lun    |       |     |
|       |        | munity |     |     |     | ch-18% |       |     |
|       |        | C      |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        | ollege |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | acial/ |       |     |
|       |        | Ac     |     |     |     | Ethnic |       |     |
|       |        | ademy: |     |     |     | Compos |       |     |
|       |        | N      |     |     |     | ition- |       |     |
|       |        | ursing |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        | A      |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        | cademy |     |     |     | Whit   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | e--95% |       |     |
|       |        | Ho     |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        | spital |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        | Pa     |     |     |     | Afri   |       |     |
|       |        | rtner: |     |     |     | can-Am |       |     |
|       |        | Re     |     |     |     | erican |       |     |
|       |        | gional |     |     |     | or     |       |     |
|       |        | M      |     |     |     | Hisp   |       |     |
|       |        | edical |     |     |     | anic-- |       |     |
|       |        | Center |     |     |     | 5%     |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| Minn  | I      | Sec    | Min | Yes | Yes | Total  | No    | H   |
| esota | nterna | ondary | nes |     |     | High   |       | igh |
| Int   | tional | Pa     | ota |     | (   | School |       | Sch |
| ernat | B      | rtner: |     |     | but | Enro   |       | ool |
| ional | accala |        |     |     | not | llment |       |     |
| Bac   | ureate | Min    |     |     | a   | -      |       |     |
| calau |        | nesota |     |     | uto | -1,415 |       |     |
| reate |        | I      |     |     | mat |        |       |     |
|       |        | nterna |     |     | ic) | IB     |       |     |
|       |        | tional |     |     |     | P      |       |     |
|       |        | B      |     |     |     | rogram |       |     |
|       |        | accala |     |     |     | Enro   |       |     |
|       |        | ureate |     |     |     | llment |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -692   |       |     |
|       |        | P      |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        | ostsec |     |     |     | El     |       |     |
|       |        | ondary |     |     |     | igible |       |     |
|       |        | Pa     |     |     |     | for    |       |     |
|       |        | rtner: |     |     |     | Free   |       |     |
|       |        | None   |     |     |     | and    |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | educed |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | L      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | unch - |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | 45%    |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | E      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | nglish |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | La     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | nguage |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Learne |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | rs-10% |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | acial/ |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Ethnic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Compos |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ition- |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | White  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 75% |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Afri   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | can-Am |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | erican |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | or     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Hi     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | spanic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 10% |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | A      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | sian - |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | 15%    |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| New   | Dual   | Sec    | New | No  | No  | Total  | Yes   | H   |
| York  | Enro   | ondary | Y   |     |     | High   | for   | igh |
| City  | llment | Pa     | ork |     |     | School | coll  | sch |
| Dual  |        | rtner: |     |     |     | Enro   | ege-c | ool |
| Enrol |        | New    |     |     |     | llment | redit |     |
| lment |        | York   |     |     |     | -3,255 | co    |     |
|       |        | City   |     |     |     |        | urses |     |
|       |        | High   |     |     |     | El     |       |     |
|       |        | School |     |     |     | igible | No    |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | for    | for   |     |
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|       |        | ostsec |     |     |     | and    | elopm |     |
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|       |        | York   |     |     |     | 23     |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | 14     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | R      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | acial/ |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Ethnic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | Compos |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ition- |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | White  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 45  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | (in    |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | immi   |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | grants |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | from   |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | Soviet |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 11  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | spanic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 21  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | \*     |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | A      |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+
| Da    | Tec    | Sec    | Te  | Yes | Yes | Total  | No    | H   |
| llas, | h-Prep | ondary | xas |     |     | High   |       | igh |
| Texas |        | Pa     |     |     | (   | School |       | sch |
| Tech  |        | rtner: |     |     | but | Enro   |       | ool |
| -Prep |        | Dallas |     |     | not | llment |       |     |
| Pr    |        | Tec    |     |     | a   | -      |       |     |
| ogram |        | h-Prep |     |     | uto | -1,640 |       |     |
|       |        | High   |     |     | mat |        |       |     |
|       |        | School |     |     | ic) | R      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | acial/ |       |     |
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|       |        | ostsec |     |     |     | Compos |       |     |
|       |        | ondary |     |     |     | ition- |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     |        |       |     |
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|       |        | Tech   |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        | Prep   |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
|       |        | Cons   |     |     |     |        |       |     |
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|       |        |        |     |     |     | spanic |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | -- 12  |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | p      |       |     |
|       |        |        |     |     |     | ercent |       |     |
+-------+--------+--------+-----+-----+-----+--------+-------+-----+

Pathways to College Access and Success

How can we help all youth have smoother and more successful transitions
to college? CBTPs, such as Tech-Prep, dual or concurrent enrollment,
International Baccalaureate and MCHSs, may provide one answer. These
programs allow high school students to take college-level classes and
earn college credit and sometimes provide services to support the many
aspects of college transition.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult
Education (OVAE) initiated the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs study in the fall of 2003 to better
understand the characteristics of these programs and the students they
serve. Previous project activities include focus groups with CBTP
practitioners and a review of the dual enrollment policies of all 50
states. \[footnote 1: The reports from these two activities are
available on the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transition Programs project's Web site at:
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html. Reports
can also be accessed at http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu.\] This report, the
final report of the project, presents the findings from case studies of
five diverse CBTPs in order to:

> Describe the practices of programs that enroll a broad range of
> students;
>
> Identify the programmatic characteristics that support middle- and
> low-achieving students in their college courses and their transition
> from secondary to postsecondary education, and
>
> Explore the ways in which CBTPs may support the
> secondary-to-postsecondary transition of middle- and low-achieving
> students by developing a framework that outlines the mechanisms by
> which these programs might lead to postsecondary success.

CBTPs are widespread and interest in them by policymakers, educators,
parents, and students has increased in recent years. A recent survey of
a nationally representative sample of public high schools measured the
prevalence of these programs. Seventy-one percent of public high schools
reported that, during the 2002-03 school year, students took courses for
dual credit, meaning they took a course for both high school and college
credit (Waits, Setzer and Lewis, 2005).

There has been limited research on these programs. Some descriptive and
anecdotal data are available (Bailey and Karp, 2003). Yet little is
known about how the programs work, much less their effectiveness in
facilitating successful transitions to college.

In addition, while CBTPs are not new, the idea that they should be
accessible to a broader range of students is a new approach. In the
past, CBTPs such as IB enrolled primarily academically proficient and
high-achieving students. However, a growing number of policymakers,
education reform groups, and researchers argue that middle- and even
low-achieving high school students may benefit from participation in
these programs (AASCU, 2002; National Commission on the High School
Senior Year, 2001; Lords, 2000).

Yet it is unclear the extent to which middle- and low-achieving students
can enroll in credit-based transition programs, or how well such
students may fare in the programs. The national survey found that most
high schools impose student eligibility requirements for participation
in dual credit programs, such as minimum grade point averages or minimum
scores on standardized tests (Waits, Setzer and Lewis, 2005). These
requirements are often in addition to any imposed by the postsecondary
institution sponsoring the course. Thus, while the programs are now
widely available, they may be accessible to only a small subset of
students.

Previous research suggests that certain types of CBTPs---comprehensive
and enhanced comprehensive programs---may be more effective in meeting
the needs of middle- and low-achieving students (Bailey and Karp, 2003).
Comprehensive and enhanced comprehensive programs provide students with
an academically intensive experience, encompassing a significant portion
of a student's course work over several semesters or years. Enhanced
comprehensive programs, in addition to the academic experience, also
include intensive support services intended to address the social and
personal skills needed for college success. Having both academic and
social preparation seems particularly important for programs seeking to
include students beyond the traditional CBTP participant.

This report gives an in-depth look at five different programs, all of
which currently, or are making efforts to, include a broad range of
students. We hear from practitioners and the students themselves about
how these programs are attempting to make some students college-ready
who might have been considered noncollege-bound. Promising practices
will be described, as well as barriers to such practices. These findings
are based on qualitative research that can potentially inform further,
outcomes-based research.

The next section of this report presents the five case study sites and
examines some of the ways in which contextual features influenced
program implementation. The following section presents the cross-case
findings, focusing on four key program features---student recruitment
and selection processes; curriculum; support services; and data
collection and use. As the sites collect limited outcomes data, we
briefly discuss the benefits that study participants felt students
gained through their CBTP experiences. The report concludes by
presenting recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and
researchers.

Throughout this report, the present tense is used when discussing the
sites and study findings. Readers should note that the data reflect
program practices at the time the research was conducted in the spring
and fall of 2004, and we cannot be certain that these practices are
still in place. In addition, in order to give the study participants
anonymity, the specific research sites were given pseudonyms. When given
permission, the name of the general program is used.

Study Sites and Site Contexts

The five CBTPs studied \[footnote 2: See the methods section in the
Appendix for details on site selection and site visits.\] were located
in five states---California, Iowa, Minnesota, New York and Texas---and
included two dual enrollment programs \[footnote 3: Dual enrollment is
used throughout this report to refer to programs in which students are
simultaneously enrolled in high school and college courses. In some
cases, students receive either high school credit or college credit, but
not both. In other cases, students receive high school and college
credit, an arrangement referred to as "dual credit."

.\] (one with a career and technical focus), an MCHS, an IB program, and
a Tech-Prep program. \[footnote 4: For more information on each program
type, and further detail on each site, please see the program fact
sheets, one-page site briefs, and site case reports, which are available
on the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based Transition
Programs study Web page at:
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\]

In order to develop a deep understanding of the programs' structures and
features, two visits were made to each site.

The sites chosen represent not only a variety of program models, but
also a range of state, district, and community contexts. In addition to
describing the context under which each case study site functioned, this
section looks across sites to explore the ways that state and local
contexts may influence program operations. State contexts include
statutes guiding the operations of the CBTP, as well as fiscal issues,
state curriculum standards and testing requirements. District and
community contexts include local resources (financial and otherwise), as
well as institutional and community relationships.

Programs were selected for the study based on staff's assurances that
they were accessible to a wide range of students. Southern California
Middle College High School (MCHS) is located on the campus of its
postsecondary partner, California Community College. California state
statutes require that dual enrollment opportunities be provided to
students, and specific statutes define the goals of middle college high
schools. As do most such schools, California MCHS focuses on providing
disadvantaged and low-achieving students with academic and social
preparation for college by providing first-hand experiences on a college
campus, opportunities to take college credit courses, and a caring
environment with small classes and close teacher-student relationships.

Textbox: Title: Southern California MCHS

In the fall of 2003, 150 MCHS students enrolled in college courses
(earning, on average, 3.6 credits); 175 students enrolled in college
courses in the spring of 2004 (earning, on average, 4.2 credits).

The Middle College program in California enrolled 330 students in grades
9 through 12 during the 2003-04 school year. Students take courses at
the high school until they are ready to enroll in college courses at the
community college. College courses---taught by college professors with
regularly matriculated college students---are dual credit, meaning they
count toward high school graduation as well as toward college.

Some MCHS students receive an associate degree at the same time that
they graduate from high school. In addition, the MCHS helps students
access support services offered by the college.

Many of the schools in the large urban school district in which MCHS is
located are characterized by low academic performance and a high
incidence of violence. In contrast, students and teachers find the MCHS
to be a safe, intellectually focused school. During a focus group with
MCHS students, they were asked why they chose to attend MCHS. One
student described neighboring schools as follows: "You're sent there to
learn and they don't really care about their \[students at other
schools\] future, and then that's why most schools....they have security
guards to make sure you don't bring any weapons to school or start more
violence." Many of the school's teachers make similar comments in
describing their decision to work at the high school.

The Southern California MCHS program has operated on the campus of
California Community College for more than 14 years. Recent changes in
leadership, among other factors, have led to the two partners differing
on the program's future. This is due partly to increasing limitations on
resources. The K-12 school district is struggling to provide space for
all of the district's students and to allocate funding for school
operations. The community college also feels space limitations, a
problem that has worsened in recent years due to the discovery of
earthquake faults on the campus that limit new construction. The strains
that the college feels on both its revenue and space resources have led
to an increased tendency to limit the high school's use of the college's
facilities.

The Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program, also known as
the Health Careers Academy, is a partnership between Rural High School,
Iowa Community College, and a local health care center, Regional Medical
Center. Iowa state statutes allow for students in the 11th and 12th
grades to enroll in dual enrollment programs and explicitly support
technically oriented dual enrollment by providing additional funding for
these programs.

Textbox: Title: Metropolitan Counties, Iowa Dual Enrollment Program

All Rural High School students who were enrolled in the Metropolitan
Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program during the 2003-04 school year
completed the program, thereby earning 10.5 college credits each. All of
the students also matriculated into nursing degree programs at local
colleges.

Located in a rural area outside of a larger city, the Health Careers
Academy is one of 11 technically oriented dual enrollment programs
overseen by Iowa Community College. It is available to high school
students in the seven-county area served by the college. Because Rural
High School is the sole high school in its small district, and sends
only a handful of students to the program, the Iowa Dual Enrollment
program includes students from two other high schools within the
Metropolitan Counties area.

The Health Careers Academy is an intensive year long course of study
focused on preparing students for health careers. Students can earn up
to 10.5 college credits, licensure as a certified nursing assistant, and
high school elective credit. In addition to their college course work,
students are expected to engage in clinical practice at the Regional
Medical Center. They also are given opportunities to observe health care
professionals and access to college support services. Students meet
daily at either the Regional Medical Center or a satellite campus of
Iowa Community College.

In operating the Iowa Dual Enrollment program, Iowa Community College
takes the lead in curriculum design, recruiting and hiring instructors,
and logistics. Iowa Community College relies heavily upon its high
school partners to recruit, screen and select students for the
credit-based transition programs. Rural High School is given a
significant amount of autonomy in its marketing of the program and
student recruitment processes.

The Health Careers Academy, as well as the 10 other academy programs
overseen by Iowa Community College, has experienced rapid growth since
its inception in the 1980s. Those who work in and with the Iowa Dual
Enrollment program attribute much of this growth to the investment of
both the college and the area high schools in the programs, as well as
to the strong leadership provided by the college.

The Minnesota IB program is located in a large high school with a
growing Asian and Hispanic immigrant population in a major metropolitan
area. The program's context is shaped not by the state's dual enrollment
policies, but by the state's IB statutes, which allow for state funding
for teacher professional development and student examination fees.
Despite these statutes, budget conditions have left the Minnesota IB
program struggling to cover program costs.

The IB program gives students the opportunity to engage in rigorous
liberal arts course work created and overseen by the International
Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). At Minnesota IB High School, a
selection of preparatory courses is offered to ninth and 10th- grade
students, after which students choose one of three IB pathways. Courses
that lead to the full IB diploma encompass most of the 11th- and 12th-
grade years and prepare students for examinations developed and scored
by the IBO. Exams that receive a score of four or higher (out of seven)
generally lead to college credit, although postsecondary institutions'
policies on credit award vary. In the spring of 2004, 75 percent of the
IB exams given at Minnesota IB High School received a score of four or
higher.

Textbox: Title: Minnesota IB

During the 2003-04 school year, almost half of the school's 1,415
students participated in the Minnesota IB program.

The Minnesota IB program's school district offers school choice to its
families. The program serves to attract students to the high school, as
it has a strong presence and positive reputation in the community. One
Minnesota IB junior stated, "I probably wouldn't have come here if it
wasn't for the IB program. I would have probably gone to private school,
I think. Because it kind of had a reputation. My parents knew about it,
that's the reason they were really going to send me...." In addition to
being a school of choice, the Minnesota IB program is open-access, so
students do not need to apply to enroll in pre-IB or IB courses.

The Minnesota IB program does not have a postsecondary partner. The
training of program instructors and curriculum development is overseen
and provided by the International Baccalaureate Organization of North
America (IBNA). The school plans to provide IB training and professional
development to all of the school's teachers, enabling all teachers to be
qualified to teach IB courses. This is critical in the eyes of the
principal who hopes to expand the Minnesota IB program so that all
students attending the high school will take at least one IB course.

New York City Dual Enrollment program is operated through a partnership
between New York City Community College and New York City High School.
This partnership is one within the larger College Now program, which is
composed of all the City University of New York (CUNY) colleges and
approximately 200 secondary schools. The goals of College Now include
improving the academic skills and achievement of high school students
and ensuring that graduating students are prepared to do college-level
work. The colleges offer a tailored program of academic and preparatory
courses and workshops to their partnering high schools. New York does
not have state legislation concerning dual enrollment. In its stead, the
CUNY system has set forth its own guidelines in such areas as
curriculum, recruitment and selection, and the hiring and training of
instructors for all College Now programs.

Textbox: Title: New York City Dual Enrollment

During the 2003-04 school year, 511 students participated in New York
City Dual Enrollment.

New York City High School is severely overcrowded and during the first
year of this research operated on a double schedule to accommodate all
of its students; the following year the school operated on a triple
schedule. This means that the school day lasts from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
with different students (freshmen and sophomores as a group, and juniors
and seniors as a second group) and teachers assigned to different
portions of the day. Program courses are taught primarily by high school
teachers at the high school.

Textbox: Title: New York City Dual Enrollment

Seventy-nine percent of the college credit course enrollments in New
York City Dual Enrollment during summer 2003, fall 2003, and spring 2004
received grades of C or higher, the minimum grade for receiving college
credit.

New York City Dual Enrollment program offers a range of courses and
services to students at New York City High School.

College credit courses are offered after school to students who meet New
York City Community College's requirements. These courses are not dual
credit in that they do not also yield high school credit. For those
students who do not meet the admissions requirements (which are based on
state high school exit examinations), New York City Dual Enrollment
offers developmental courses as well as an intensive program for English
Language Learners (ELL), the Learner's Academy. These opportunities
focus on preparing students for their high school exit exams and college
enrollment. New York City Dual Enrollment also offers students a variety
of support services, including field trips related to course work and
writing workshops.

The Dallas, Texas, Tech-Prep Program consists of a partnership between
Texas Community College, Dallas Tech-Prep High School, and The Global
EDGE Tech Prep Consortium. Tech-Prep, which is federally supported,
\[footnote 5: Tech-Prep programs are supported at the federal level by
the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998. For
more information on the legislation, please go to:
www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTE/legis.html.\] is designed to link two years
of high school and two years of community college course work through a
sequenced program of study in a career or technical field. The federal
funding stream creates a three-fold partnership between the high school,
college, and consortium. The consortium provides funding to its more
than 30 partnering secondary schools, coordinates programming and is
responsible for reporting on the program to the college and to the
state. The respective departments at the college are responsible for
oversight of the Tech-Prep curriculum for the nine pathways supported by
the consortium, and provide guidance and support to the program's
teachers. All program instruction takes place at the high school by
teachers approved by The Global EDGE Tech Prep Consortium.

Textbox: Title: Texas Tech-Prep

In 2002-03 there were 297 enrollments (some students may be enrolled in
more than one course) in the Dallas, Texas, Tech-Prep courses.
Approximately 47 percent of those enrollments resulted in the students
becoming eligible for college credit upon matriculation into Texas
Community College.

Texas Tech-Prep High School is the only high school in its formerly
rural, but rapidly urbanizing, community in Texas. At the high school,
students can enroll in Tech-Prep sequences in a variety of fields,
including criminal justice, early childhood education, culinary arts,
and information technology. These courses are articulated with the
college, meaning that the college oversees the courses but does not
automatically award college credit to students. Instead, students
completing a Texas Tech-Prep course must enroll in Texas Community
College and petition for their credits to be placed on their college
transcript.

Although the consortium is housed on the campus of the community college
partner, it is not fully integrated into the structure of the college,
as it has its own governing board and steering committee. The federal
Tech-Prep funding that the consortium receives is in part based upon the
number of students who participate in Tech-Prep at the high schools and
then enroll in a specified Tech-Prep major at the college. If students
do not enroll at the partnering college in their Tech-Prep major, and
stay enrolled for the required length of time, the consortium loses
funds. This leads to some conflict over program goals among the three
different partners and the students participating.

Contextual Influences on Study Sites

As the above descriptions make clear, the state and district
environments of our five sites differed considerably. Given the research
methods used for this study, we cannot draw strong conclusions about the
influence of program context on program structure, nor can we be certain
that program structure influences student outcomes. Still, it is
important to understand the settings in which these programs exist,
because such contexts do present challenges and opportunities for
programs.

Throughout the data collection and analysis phase of the study, a number
of themes regarding the influence of context on program implementation
emerged. This section highlights those themes in order to provide
information about the (potentially unintended) consequences that
contextual factors may have for program operations.

Institutional collaboration

States with policies concerning CBTPs often leave the details of
collaboration for partnering districts or institutions to address. This
level of autonomy is oftentimes welcomed. However, the governance of
these partnerships, combined with the institutions' willingness and
ability to engage in collaboration, influences the ease with which the
partnerships function.

In the case of California, state policy unintentionally hinders
institutional collaboration. According to state dual enrollment
regulations, California high school students enrolled in college courses
are treated as adults. Therefore, parents and high schools do not have
direct access to student records, such as transcripts, without the
students' permission. The MCHS, therefore, often finds it difficult to
keep track of students' enrollment in college courses. This is
particularly problematic when those courses are meant to be counted
toward students' high school graduation requirements. Thus, to ensure
that students receive appropriate high school credit for their college
courses, the students must be relied upon to share their enrollment
information with the two institutions.

Also in California, the leasing agreement between the high school and
the community college is the only official documentation of any
collaborative duties or responsibilities. Interview respondents often
spoke of misunderstandings resulting from either the MCHS or California
Community College being unclear of what is expected of them and how they
are benefiting from the partnership.

In contrast, the roles and expectations of each partner in the Iowa Dual
Enrollment program are clear to all involved. Responsibilities for
program activities are formally distributed to specific individuals
throughout the partnership. Those involved at the college, in
particular, have responsibilities for the program as part of their job
descriptions. Study participants indicate that such clarity helps the
program run smoothly and makes all partners feel they are valued and
respected members of the partnership. The high school district
leadership recognizes the significance of Iowa Community College's
leading role in coordinating the numerous details of the program. As the
district superintendent said, "You have to have strong leadership on the
college end, somebody that\'s kind of your coordinator or your contact
person, and that\'s going to work with the schools and build a
relationship with the schools, and vice versa. The schools don't have
the same flexibility that the college staff does. \..."

Standards, testing and curriculum

State standards and testing requirements influence the operations,
courses and activities of the programs involved. In some cases, they
limit student access to the CBTP, while in others they complicate
efforts at aligning program curricula.

At three of the case study sites, students' ability to enroll in program
course work (either at the developmental or college level) is influenced
by student performance on state tests. In Minnesota, students who have
not passed the eighth grade basic skills test must enroll in the basic
level of English or mathematics, which prevents them from enrolling in
IB preparatory courses. At Texas Tech-Prep High School, students who do
not pass the state exit exams are ineligible for elective courses, and
thus cannot enroll in Tech-Prep, as the program's courses are considered
electives.

In the New York City Dual Enrollment program, eligibility for placement
in college credit-bearing courses is determined by a minimum score on
state high school exit exams or the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment
Test (PSAT) or Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Yet, students who do
not meet the requirement can enroll in non-credit developmental courses
that help students improve their reading comprehension and writing
skills. Thus, doing poorly on these exams does not preclude eventual
enrollment in college courses, and the program is structured to offer
students help to improve their performance.

In some cases, state curriculum requirements at the secondary school
level seem to compete with the content of the college course curriculum.
At both Texas Tech-Prep and California MCHS, high school faculty feel
that the secondary education system's curriculum requirements are not
aligned with the community college's curriculum, which often forces them
to make instructional choices as to which requirements they follow. For
example, a teacher in the Texas Tech-Prep program said that the
different requirements result in a course curriculum that could not
possibly be covered in the time allotted. The state's required
curriculum for high school courses includes content not covered by the
college curriculum, and vice versa. Thus, this teacher often has to
choose which content to cover; because her primary affiliation is with
the high school, she chooses to cover those standards rather than the
college's.

In many sites, then, program staff find it challenging to address state
requirements for high schools within the context of a CBTP. Though these
challenges are not insurmountable, instructors and administrators in
these programs do find that having to align complex state requirements
with those of the program or college proves difficult at times.

Resources

Funding, staff time, and space are resources that seem to be influenced
by state and district contexts. Programs receive funding from a variety
of sources. While the Texas Tech-Prep program is federally funded and
the New York City Dual Enrollment program is supported by the City
University of New York (CUNY), the majority of the funding supporting
the programs at the other three sites comes from the operating budgets
of the secondary schools, which are from either state or district
revenue sources. Funding the programs in this latter manner makes the
programs particularly sensitive to state budget shortfalls or changes in
priorities. California and Minnesota in particular have experienced
shrinking education budgets for the past several years.

The question of expanding access in a context of fiscal constraint
weighs heavily on the minds of many of the study participants. The
Minnesota IB program faces the possibility of asking students and
families to pay the IB exam fees in the future, which could pose a
deterrent to broad student participation. In the more than 10 years that
the program has operated, the district, using portions of its state
allocations, always has heavily subsidized or wholly paid these fees. In
contrast, the New York program is considered part of CUNY's core mission
and so is not perceived as being subject to funding cuts by program
staff.

High school and community college administrators and program staff
expressed that committing staff time to the CBTP has been extremely
important to the quality and sustainability of the program. The
Minnesota, New York, Iowa, and Texas programs all provide resources to
support program coordination, though not necessarily on a full-time
basis. The coordinator for the Minnesota IB program has an additional
planning period in order to accommodate her coordination and teaching
roles both within the IB program and the school in general. In Texas,
federal funds provide for the consortium staff, as well as a stipend for
the high school-based coordinator. In some cases, program instructors
receive compensation as well from the program or district. Such
practices help ensure that program staff have adequate time and
incentives to support the CBTP. Still, for most of those involved, their
CBTP responsibilities are in addition to other school or institutional
commitments.

Classroom space also influences the operation of the CBTP programs. In
the New York City Dual Enrollment program, the pool of teachers
available to teach in the program is restricted by the school schedule
that was imposed to alleviate the school's severe congestion. During the
years of the study, the school ran for multiple sessions each day. In
order to be free to teach the College Now courses in the afternoon, at
the end of the juniors' and seniors' school day, teachers need to be
assigned to an early schedule. In California, the community college has
become more vocal in arguing that its own space limitations means it can
no longer dedicate space to the MCHS. The school district, however, is
undergoing space constraints of its own and does not want to lose the
college location. As a result, the partnership has become strained,
calling into question the ability of the MCHS to continue to operate on
the college campus. Thus, diminishing resources have the potential to
negatively affect these programs.

Findings

The goal of the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transitions Program project was to explore the program features that
might help middle- and low-achieving students successfully make the
transition from high school to postsecondary education. In investigating
program practices at each site, the study focused on four programmatic
features and processes: student recruitment and selection, curriculum,
support services, and data collection. For each feature, the researchers
investigated the current practices of the case study sites, identified
those practices that seemed most promising in meeting the needs of
middle- and low-achieving students, and identified barriers to
implementing them. Given that the programs' outcomes data are limited,
the last part of this section describes what practitioners and students
perceive the benefits of the programs to be.

Student Recruitment and Selection

Given this study's focus on the promise of expanding CBTPs to middle-
and low-achieving students, the five programs' student recruitment and
application procedures were a particularly significant area of study.
Programs were selected for the study based on staff's assurances that
they were accessible to a wide range of students. It is important to
remember, however, that for some of the programs the initial application
process and procedures cover both general program and college course
admittance (such as in Iowa and New York City), while in other programs
the initial application is for entry into the program with a subsequent
process necessary for college course enrollment (such as in California
and Texas).

Much of the student recruitment for all the programs occurs informally.
For the most part, high school-based counselors and teachers advertise
the different programs to students, often using materials printed by the
college partners. At the California site, MCHS staff visit local feeder
schools and broadly disseminate written information and applications.
Similarly in Minnesota, information is shared with potential and
incoming students and their parents. In both New York City and in Texas,
the high school-based program teachers must recruit enough students to
fill their courses, or they will not be offered.

The screening and selection process varies from site to site. In
California, where there are many more applicants than spaces, the MCHS
staff use a rubric to score and rank students' applications. They look
carefully at grade point averages (GPAs), test scores, any disciplinary-
related issues, and students' essays. In New York City, students who
wish to enroll in college credit-bearing courses must have certain
minimum test scores, as required by the college. However, there are no
admissions criteria for students entering the program through the
noncollege credit-bearing courses. The Texas Tech-Prep program has an
application form that asks for students' GPAs and interest in the course
work; however, students are rarely turned away. Finally, students
interested in the Iowa program and Minnesota IB course work simply
register for those courses. For the two career-themed programs,
screening focuses on whether the students show a serious interest in the
topic area. As the Texas culinary teacher said, he does not want
students who think they are signing up for "Eating 101."

Who are the students participating in these programs? In general, for
all of the programs,

the students must be motivated. Students applying to MCHS have to plan
ahead

because they must submit essays and prior school records. The curriculum
of the Iowa

Health Careers Academy program is intense and accelerated, and the
clinical component

requires students to perform their work before regular school hours. At
the Minnesota High School it is common knowledge that the IB program
requires a great deal of hard work. New York City's dual enrollment
program occurs after school, so students have to be able to handle
additional course work on top of their regular curriculum. As a New York
City school counselor says, "I think the kids who are academically
motivated and want to learn and want to take extra stuff \[course work
and activities\], they hear \[about\] it from their friends."
Additionally, although the Texas Tech-Prep courses meet during the
regular school day, several of the concentrations require independent or
off-site work, and earning the college credits requires planning and
follow-through.

The students also have to be mature and responsible. "Maturity" was
heard repeatedly in the interviews, when program staff were asked about
student screening. Participating students must act maturely,
particularly those who leave their high schools to take college courses
(as in California and Iowa). As the Iowa instructor says, "This is not a
class for somebody who is having attendance problems and other issues at
the high school, because there's a lot of maturity involved."

When directly questioned about the students in the programs many
respondents said that they aim to have a "mix" of students, or primarily
students "of the middle range." However, the data show some ambiguity
regarding participating students' backgrounds and abilities. For
example, while one New York City program teacher says that the program
targets "middle-level students, the ones that I suppose are more likely
to enter the community college system. ...." he goes on to say that, for
the College Now classes he teaches, "I target probably some of the
better classes in this school. ..." Another teacher says that, "I hate
to say it, but it's the top of the class that winds up in these certain
classes." At the MCHS, one respondent describes the student population
as including at-risk students, while another individual says it does
not. Thus, some contradiction is evident among our respondents' views of
the kinds of students their programs were serving.

This contradiction can possibly be explained by the fact that four of
the programs have recently been, or are in the process of, making subtle
adjustments to their recruitment and selection processes. Programs
either recognized as being elite or with very specific entrance
criteria, Minnesota IB and New York City Dual Enrollment, are attempting
to broaden their student targeting. California and Iowa's open access
programs are tightening up their screening processes. Each of these
programs has specific reasons for their actions.

Although clearly an academically challenging program, Minnesota IB staff
and students characterize the program as "open to anybody." They said
that entry into the program is "self-selection"---that the decision to
enroll is up to the individual student, who must decide whether he or
she wants to be challenged. As the school's parent coordinator says:

I think the program is really accessible. I think the challenge is for
us to communicate with those students and families and have them
accessible. As far as I know, we've never had---there haven't been
students who want to take IB classes that haven't been able to.

However, at the same time, staff and students are recognizing that,
despite the official open-access policy, there are some informal
barriers to entry. It appears that students who are already on an
accelerated track in middle school are those counseled to enroll in IB
courses at a later time. In addition, the racial and ethnic composition
of the IB students population does not reflect that of the school as a
whole. As both students and staff noted, this results in a comfort
issue; one student said, "People have not taken \[Advanced Placement \]
AP or IB classes because they know they'll be the only one that's of
color or of a different race, so they won't take the class."

Thus, there is beginning to be an understanding that an elite, non
diverse program, however officially open-access, may be
self-perpetuating without measures taken to specifically broaden the
student population. To do so, program staff are making strong efforts at
communicating with the counselors and parents of incoming students to
clarify the open-access nature of the program. In addition, the IB
coordinator is working with the coordinator of the school's
Multicultural Excellence Program (MEP) to develop support systems
encouraging minority students to enroll (or remain enrolled) in IB
courses, and helping IB students of color to develop a network of
supportive peers.

In the case of the New York City program, the coordinators want to
ensure broad access by a high school population increasingly composed of
immigrant and English Language Learner (ELL) students. Yet, given the
college's requirements for enrollment in credit-bearing courses, only
certain students can enroll in those courses. As will be described in
the section of this report on curriculum, the coordinators developed a
developmental sequence of courses, with different entry points, some
open to any student. Thus, this program is making strong efforts to
bring in students of all abilities and prepare them for college course
work.

In contrast, California MCHS and the Iowa Health Careers Academy have
become more selective or are considering doing so. There is widespread
agreement among the staff of the MCHS that recent cohorts of students
are more mature and at a higher academic level than were prior ones.
Because of the large number of applications the MCHS receives, the
school can be selective about whom it accepts. In addition, conflict
with the sponsoring college in previous years over disruptive and
unprepared high school students likely contributes to the high school
screening students more carefully. As a high school administrator
stated:

I think the college kind of got tired of the kind of student they had
here because they were hard to control in this open environment. ...
They weren't preparing them to get to college; they were just kind of
here and expected to go take some college classes, and it doesn't really
work like that.

Similarly, Iowa Community College trusts Rural High School staff to
adequately screen and select students. However, after incidents in the
last few years where students enrolled because they saw an opportunity
to leave the high school for part of the day, the college coordinators
and particularly the instructors favor better screening. Thus, screening
of students, or lack thereof, has implications for a smooth-running
partnership between the high school and college partners. In addition,
the content of the program has become more difficult. As the
college-based coordinator said:

Our program has changed. ...There's more rigor in the class now. One of
those reasons is we've added a medical terminology class, and that is
hard. ...If a student is not a little bit better student, they may have
a lot more trouble.

In Texas, teachers speak of the application process as determining a
"good fit" so that students will succeed in the course work. Also in
Texas, an increase in program demand allows teachers to more carefully
select their students. In general, many respondents spoke against open
access and in favor of screening to ensure that students would be
successful in their college course work.

Promising Practices

Overall, the five case study sites enroll a range of students and do not
limit participation to higher-achieving students. It should be noted
that access to the programs is not limited by state policies. While four
of the five states have policies addressing CBTPs (New York State does
not), the policies comment very little on student eligibility criteria,
in contrast to the policies of some other states.

However, not limiting participation does not ensure broad access. In
general, if CBTPs want to engage a broader range of students, there are
several measures that can be taken.

Programs should have more formal and strategic recruitment strategies.
In particular, program staff should have a consistent understanding of
which students are eligible and which students are to be targeted.
Program staff should thoughtfully analyze which students would best
benefit from the program, and whether these are the students applying.
This analysis ought also to consider how the program structure might
affect which students participate. For example, the New York City Dual
Enrollment program informally limits which students have access, because
the program is run after-school and does not provide dual credit.
Students who have after school commitments (such as employment, sports,
or other extracurricular activities) are unable to participate in the
program.

More formal recruitment activities should involve the middle school and
high school counseling staff. Also, since it appears that much
recruitment is done by peers, peer recruitment strategies could be
formalized and institutionalized. Better and broader outreach to parents
might also have an effect. Several students in the Minnesota program
said they were encouraged to enroll by their parents, and the program is
trying to reach parents with more targeted program information. Other
programs tend to involve parents after their child is enrolled, not
before.

It does appear that making efforts to include middle- to low-achieving
students does not

mean that programs will be entirely open access. Coordinators and
teachers felt strongly that some screening of students is necessary
before they are allowed to enroll in

college credit course work. Students must have adequate academic and
personal

preparation if they are to succeed in their college level courses. In
addition, evidence

from the California and Iowa sites suggests that unprepared students do
cause strains in

the secondary-to-postsecondary partnership.

The Iowa program gives an excellent example of how a screening process
can be structured and used to communicate to all students how they can
prepare themselves for program participation. This process is not being
used at Rural High School, the case study high school site, but at
another high school participating in the Health Careers Academy.
\[footnote 6: Due to the limited number of students participating in the
program from Rural High School, a decision was made to observe program
operations at another stie.\] The program coordinator created a rubric
to use in screening student applicants that includes mathematics courses
taken, attendance, behavior, and state test scores. The rubric then is
shared with students who express interest in the Health Careers Academy.
In this way the rubric helps students think about the future and plan
accordingly. Because students may apply to participate in the Health
Careers Academy in the 11th grade, if their rubric scores are low
relative to other applicants, they can work to improve their marks on
the different criteria and apply again for the 12th grade. Any student
can potentially meet the requirements and participate. The high school
principal said that the rubric helps students understand that they are
making a commitment to the academy and that "it is a privilege to be in
the program."

Barriers

Sites encounter difficulty recruiting and selecting middle- and
low-achieving students into CBTPs for a number of reasons. Sites
struggle to balance access with the desire to ensure student and
programmatic success. The academic and social skills demands of the
programs can restrict access to students with certain skill sets, and in
some cases the postsecondary partners reinforce the importance of
setting a minimum level of entry standard.

In addition, the programs tend to lack clear systems for recruiting
students. Some rely heavily on word-of-mouth to inform students about
the program. Though this appears to be effective in reaching students
who are engaged in the school, are motivated, or have strong
relationships with their teachers, such recruitment does not maximize
knowledge about the program among the high schools' student body as a
whole.

In some sites, the CBTP is not well-understood by those not involved.
Some guidance counselors know of the program, but not enough to counsel
students to enroll in it. Additionally, some teachers and guidance
counselors who are not involved in the program do not understand the
program's purpose or target student, and so actively discourage some
students from enrolling.

Finally, programs struggle to attract disengaged students when the
students do not see a benefit to their participation. Particularly if a
program meets after school, students are sometimes reluctant to enroll
in it, as they do not want to take on the extra work. Thus, a number of
sites are seeking to find ways to answer students' question of "What's
in it for me?" If sites have trouble finding ways to convince students
of the CBTPs' relevance, they cannot convince them to enroll.

Curriculum \[footnote 7: In this report, curriculum refers to the
structure of CBTP courses, their goals, and ways that they ensure that
all students are prepared for and have access to college-level course
work.\]

Comprehensive and enhanced comprehensive CBTPs, by definition, have
curricula that encompass much of students' high school experiences, and
each of the five case study sites have created a multicourse curriculum
culminating in college credit.

The data indicate that CBTP course work falls, loosely, into three
categories--- high school, developmental, and college credit. Though
these categories may overlap in some cases, they are distinguishable by
their curricular goals. First, CBTPs may include high school course
work. These courses count toward students' high school graduation
requirements. They may also prepare students for college course work by
giving them the basic knowledge and skills necessary for success in
college-level classes, particularly when instructors are aware of
college expectations and infuse them into their classes. However, the
primary purpose of high school course work is to enable students to meet
high school graduation requirements.

High school courses may be enough to prepare students for college course
work. However, some students---particularly middle- and low-achieving
students---need additional preparation for college course work. To
address their needs, and to maintain access to college courses for a
range of students, two of the programs established an intermediary
series of courses. Developmental course work is explicitly designed to
prepare students for the demands of college-level work. Unlike high
school courses---which are aligned to high school graduation
requirements---developmental course work is closely aligned with college
course work. Finally, CBTPs include college credit course work. These
are the capstone experiences that define CBTPs. Depending upon the
program, students may earn college credit in a variety of ways.

High School Courses

High school courses, first and foremost, meet the requirements for high
school graduation. They are also the first step in preparing students
for college course work, and the data show that they can help students
gain the skills necessary for college. In New York City, for example,
the regular high school mathematics and English course sequences
culminate in state examinations called the Regents exams. The City
University of New York has aligned its entry requirements with these
exams, so that any student receiving a score of 75 or higher is
considered qualified for college admission. Students who are successful
in their regular high school course work, therefore, also are prepared
for success in college.

A similar situation occurs in California, where MCHS teachers
deliberately use their course content (intended to fulfill high school
graduation requirements) to prepare their students for the expectations
of college courses. For example, the high school English teacher has
students make use of the college library when writing a research paper
in order to teach them research skills. He stated, "I give them
college-level work but I don't treat them like college students. I work
them through it. I spend more time breaking it down for them..."
Students' skills are developed through regular high school classes in
ways that help them prepare for college.

The sites in the study use regular high school courses to prepare
students for college in two ways. The first way, as illustrated above,
is to explicitly link the high school curriculum to college course
expectations. Program teachers and staff in California, Minnesota and
New York make deliberate attempts to align the demands of high school
and college credit courses. (It should be noted that, particularly in
California and New York, the extent to which high school and college
course work are linked varies significantly among teachers.)

Exhibit 2:

Minnesota IB Classroom Observations

Following is an excerpt from an observation of a diploma-level
International Baccalaureate course. It demonstrates the level of rigor
often found in courses offered through credit-based transition programs

This course focused on knowledge---how knowledge is constructed, how
people gain knowledge, and how to evaluate knowledge. The class was
beginning a unit on the construction of knowledge in mathematics.

In order to get the class thinking about math, the teacher put a proof
on the board. Through a number of steps, he demonstrated that 2 can
equal 1. This set off a furor in the room. Students began calling out
that it is not possible because the teacher did it incorrectly. "No! You
can't use your given, it needs to be two equations to bring it back in!"
The students started to have side conversations amongst themselves as
they discussed the merits of the proof.

The teacher said that he didn't have the answer, and a student got upset
with him: "Why do you do this? You bring in random things that nobody
knows the answer to and it drives me crazy!" The teacher addressed the
dissent in the class regarding the validity of the proof: "It made sense
to me. Obviously, there's something wrong. On your own, see if you can
figure it out. What is wrong with it?"

The real reason he gave the proof, the teacher explained, is to show the
students that "truth" can be defined in different ways. How does
mathematics define truth? The class began a discussion of this question.
The discussion touched on a wide range of topics, including Morse Code,
science fiction, language, and Plato. One student noted that
probabilities are logic and math, and the teacher said that logic, then,
is the basis of math. The student replied, "Or is math the basis of
logic?" \[End of Textbox\]

A second approach is to assume that regular high school courses prepare
students for college-level work without making special effort to ensure
that they do so. This is the case in Iowa and for some of the Tech-Prep
concentrations in Texas. \[footnote 8: The Texas Tech-Prep program
includes a number of concentrations, with significant variation among
them. In some cases, high school elective courses are required
prerequisites for enrollment in college courses, and, in these
concentrations, the high school courses do explicitly prepare students
for college-level work. In other strands, such as criminal justice, high
school courses are not explicitly linked. And, for all concentrations,
general high school courses (those fulfilling graduation requirements)
are not linked to the Tech-Prep curriculum.\] The regular high school
curriculum is not clearly aligned with college credit courses, though
success in high school courses is seen by program staff as an indication
that students are ready for college credit courses. For example, in
Iowa, completing high school biology is seen as evidence that students
have the background knowledge to enter the Health Careers Academy.
However, the high school biology teacher said that human biology---the
basis for health sciences courses---is not covered in her course. Thus,
when high school courses and the CBTPs are not explicitly linked, there
is no way to ensure that high school course work prepares students for
admission to college credit courses, or even to college generally.

Developmental Courses

At the Minnesota and New York City sites, CBTP staff do not rely
exclusively on the regular high school curriculum to prepare students
for college courses. Additional classes, developmental course work, have
been created to explicitly address the skills and knowledge students
would need in college courses. The primary goal of these classes is to
prepare students for college course work, rather than to ensure high
school graduation. Depending on the program, these courses may provide
the students with credit toward high school graduation or with elective
credit.

At both sites, developmental courses are seen as a way of ensuring that
a broad range of students have access to the CBTP, since they focus on
skill development. As the New York City college-based coordinator
explained, middle- and low-achieving students often need additional
academic instruction to slowly build their skills to a college-ready
level: "...what we need with these kids is time, and sequence."

Exhibit 3: Observation of a New York City Dual Enrollment Developmental
English Course

Following is an excerpt from an observation of a College Now English 99
class. For students with difficulties in writing, English 99 is a
developmental course focusing on writing skills by incorporating the
expectations of college course work.

The teacher passed around a handout and said he had an exercise for the
day's class. The page had two paragraphs for the students to edit. The
students began to quietly redo the paragraphs, during which time the
teacher called the students up front individually to talk about their
course work. When all the individual conferences were completed, the
teacher told a male student to, "Take us through the first one, tell us
the corrections you made along the way."

The students gave different ideas as to how the paragraph could be
rewritten. The teacher complimented some of the students for their
ideas; and the exchange of the ideas went back and forth between the
students and the teacher. End of Exhibit.

The Minnesota IB program has a clear preparatory course of study that
builds students' skills during ninth and 10th grade in order to prepare
them for the IB diploma program. These courses meet high school
graduation requirements, yet they are also significantly enriched and
modified in order to develop students' academic skills. Moreover, unlike
high school courses, their primary goal goes beyond high school
graduation to preparing students for the IB diploma. The pre-IB course
content and pedagogy are specifically targeted toward IB demands. Pre-IB
courses are closely aligned with the requirements of diploma courses and
build students' skills in a sequential manner over multiple semesters.
The result is that, by their junior year, students are familiar with and
able to achieve the expectations of diploma courses, and they have the
higher-level critical thinking, reading, writing, and mathematics skills
necessary for success on IB exams.

Any student in the school is permitted to enter pre-IB courses as long
as they have passed the state's eighth grade reading exam. By keeping
pre-IB classes open-access, the Minnesota program believes that it
ensures broad participation in the IB program. Students entering ninth
grade with low or mediocre academic skills have two years to build their
skills. One shortcoming of the pre-IB course work, however, is that it
does not allow students to enter the program at any point in their
academic career. If students do not enroll in developmental courses in
ninth or 10th grades, they are likely to have difficulty entering IB
diploma courses.

The New York City Dual Enrollment program created a developmental course
of study in order to encourage students who are not ready for college
course work to participate in College Now. Students who do not receive a
score of at least 75 on their state high school exit exams are provided
with a number of opportunities to enhance their skills so that, over
time, they become prepared for college course work.

New York City Dual Enrollment offers two developmental courses for
students in need of significant remediation. The Learner's Academy is a
two-year sequence targeted at preparing ELL students for high school
exit exams. High school and college instructors jointly teach this
theme-based course, which also includes significant support services and
enrichment activities. Students earn high school elective credit for
their Learner's Academy courses. The program also offers New York City
Community College's remedial English course at the high school. This
course helps students improve their writing skills sufficiently so that
they can progress to college credit course work, and they earn one high
school elective credit.

New York City Dual Enrollment also offers two intermediate developmental
opportunities to students, called Gateway courses. These are college
courses offered by New York City Community College that do not require a
75 Regents exam score for enrollment. Instead, students with C averages
or better in their high school English classes enroll in Gateway
courses, which focus on literacy skills. Rather than garnering general
education college credit, these courses lead to elective college credit
that is less easily transferred to other postsecondary institutions.
Gateway courses build students' reading and writing skills while serving
as an introduction to college, though with less of the rigor of general
education college credit courses.

In both the Minnesota and New York programs, successful completion of
developmental courses leads to enrollment in college credit courses.

College Credit Courses

As the defining feature of a CBTP, all sites in this study offer
students the opportunity to take college courses. Of the five sites, the
California MCHS is the only one where the students take college credit
courses on the campus with regularly matriculated college students. New
York City Dual Enrollment, Texas Tech-Prep, and Minnesota IB all offer
courses at the high school, with high school instructors certified as
college adjuncts or trained in IB curricula teaching the courses. (The
exception to this is the Learner's Academy in New York, in which
students spend half of their time at the high school and half at the
college.) In the Iowa Dual Enrollment program, high school students
comprise their own class, which meets at a local hospital or a college
satellite center. The instructor, however, is a college adjunct and not
a teacher at the high school.

At those sites where the college courses are being delivered by the
college partner exclusively for high school students (Iowa, New York,
and Texas), the college provides curriculum and instructional
supervision. The control exerted by the college over the curriculum and
its delivery varies. In the Iowa Dual Enrollment program, the college
tightly controls the curriculum by giving program instructors PowerPoint
slides (similar to those used by professors at the college) for each
lesson and providing them with course materials. In other programs, the
college gives the high schools more leeway in implementing course
objectives. At Texas Tech-Prep, for example, teachers are given a set of
student outcomes by the college, but they are given significant freedom
in achieving those objectives. In New York, teachers submit their
syllabi for approval by the college department offering the course.

Though it can make sense to give high schools flexibility in curriculum
delivery, there is evidence in some instances that the courses, or
portions of them, do not resemble work typically found in a college
course. For example, some teachers replace long readings with shorter
ones so as not to overburden students.

It should be noted that college credit courses do not automatically
yield college credit for students. Credit earning varied among sites. In
California and Iowa, students earn both high school and college credit
for their college credit courses, and the college credit is placed
automatically on a college transcript. In New York City, students also
earn their credit via college transcript but do not earn high school
credit. For students in all these sites, if they matriculate to a
college outside for their CBTP partnership, it is the receiving
institution's choice as to whether or not credit will be granted for the
CBTP course.

In Minnesota and Texas, the credit earning process is not done via
transcript. IB students take an end-of-course exam. Successful
completion of the exam earns them credit if they submit their test
scores to the college they enroll in, and the college chooses to grant
them credit for their scores. In Texas, students earn articulated credit
through the Tech-Prep program. After successfully completing their
Tech-Prep course, students must enroll in Texas Community College,
declare their major to be the same as their Tech-Prep concentration
(students in the criminal justice concentration, for example, must
declare criminal justice as their major), and take at least six credits
at the college, in that major. Once they have completed these
requirements, they can petition the registrar's office to place their
articulated Tech-Prep credits on their college transcript.

When asked about these credit-earning procedures, students generally
indicated that they understood the procedures and did not find them
onerous. The students had not yet, however, tried to use the credits.
Restrictions placed on college credit in a number of sites indicate that
students may not always receive college credit for CBTP participation,
so that, if credit earning is their primary goal, they may be
disappointed.

Curricular Pathways

Frequently, staff at the study sites speak of arranging CBTP experiences
in an ordered, progressively challenging fashion that move students from
one experience to the next. Such course sequences can be conceptualized
as curricular pathways providing structure to students' academic
experiences. Curricular pathways are clear routes that students may use
to moves from one level of course work to another, linking high school
courses to developmental courses, and developmental courses to college
courses. Students need not engage in each step of the pathway, as in New
York City, where students may move directly from the Learner's Academy
into general education college courses, bypassing Gateway courses if
warranted. However, the steps should be available and logically ordered.
A number of individuals in our sample indicate that curricular pathways
can play an important role in helping CBTPs meet the needs of a range of
students, because they help students build their skills in a progressive
manner. The New York City Dual Enrollment program coordinator explained,
"I think it is really important that we do whatever we can ... to
strengthen students' communication skills, particularly reading and
writing. But not to do it in a quick fix way, but to do it...with an
idea and a fix on sequential development."

Exhibit 4: Sample Pathway for a College Now Student Beginning in the
Learner's Academy

+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Grade   | College Now     | Sequence Rationale                      |
| Level   | Course          |                                         |
+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 10th    | Learner's       | Identified by the school as an ELL, the |
| grade   | Academy --      | student is recruited by the program's   |
|         |                 | high school coordinator and enrolls in  |
|         | Global Studies  | the Learner's Academy. This full-year   |
|         |                 | course gives the student high school    |
|         |                 | elective credit and prepares him or her |
|         |                 | for the state's Regents exam in Global  |
|         |                 | Studies.                                |
+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 11th    | Learner's       | The student continues in the Learner's  |
| grade   | Academy         | Academy. The second year focuses on     |
|         | -E              | improving reading and writing skills in |
|         | nglish/Language | preparation for the state's Regents     |
|         | Arts            | exam in English/Language Arts. It also  |
|         |                 | gives him or her high school elective   |
|         |                 | credit.                                 |
+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 12th    | English 99      | Based on his or her Regent's exam       |
| grade   | (Basic Writing) | scores, the student enters English 99,  |
| -- fall |                 | a developmental writing course, in      |
|         |                 | order to continue to strengthen her     |
|         |                 | writing skills. As part of the course   |
|         |                 | the student completes the Gateway exit  |
|         |                 | exam, which assesses her readiness for  |
|         |                 | college credit courses. The student     |
|         |                 | receives high school elective credit.   |
+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| 12th    | Oral            | Based on the student's performance in   |
| grade   | Communications  | English 99 and on the Gateway exit      |
| --      |                 | exam, the student is recommended for    |
| spring  |                 | enrollment in Oral Communications. This |
|         |                 | is a college course that provides the   |
|         |                 | student with 3 elective college         |
|         |                 | credits.                                |
+---------+-----------------+-----------------------------------------+

a\) The Learner's Academy is a two-year sequence of courses for ELL
students. In addition to preparing for college-level courses, Learner's
Academy students can participate in a variety of enrichment activities.

Although every case site in the study has some sort of curricular
pathway, not all of them create pathways leading from one level of work
to another. The California site does not always help students create
logical progressions through their high school and college course work.
In fact, in California and Texas, students often enroll in high school
courses after taking a college class. As a result, college courses are
not a culminating or capstone experience for students, nor does the
rigor of students' course work necessarily increase over time. In Iowa,
completion of the Health Careers Academy is certainly a step in a
pathway leading to a college degree in the health professions, yet there
is not a clear pathway from high school course work into the Academy.

Exhibit 5: Sample Pathway for a College Now Student Beginning in a
Gateway Course

  ---------- ------------------ ------------------------------------------
  Grade      College Now Course Sequence Rationale
  Level                         

  11th grade Literacy and       The student is recruited by program
  -- fall    Propaganda         teachers. Based on his or her previous
                                academic performance, the high
                                school-based coordinator advises the
                                student to enroll in a Gateway Course,
                                which focuses on strengthening literacy
                                skills. The student earns 3 college
                                elective credits.

  11th grade Critical Thinking  Although the student increased his or her
  -- spring                     skills, scores on the Gateway exit exam
                                require the student to take another
                                Gateway Course to further strengthen his
                                or her reading and writing. He or she
                                enrolls in Critical Thinking, earning
                                another three college elective credits.
                                This semester, his or her skills are
                                strengthened enough that he or she scores
                                above a 75 on the English Regents exam.

  12th grade Introduction to    The student enrolls in Introduction to
  -- fall    Sociology          Sociology, a general education college
                                course. He or she receives 3 college
                                credits which are easily transferable.

  12th grade English 101        The student enrolls in English 101,
  -- spring                     another general education college course.
                                He or she receives three additional
                                college credits that are easily
                                transferable.
  ---------- ------------------ ------------------------------------------

The Minnesota IB program does have a curricular path to prepare students
for the Diploma program. However, as noted earlier, this pathway does
not include a developmental component that could help students enter the
program after the ninth or 10th grade. In fact, according to some study
respondents, the curricular pathway serves to discourage open access by
creating unequal educational experiences for students within the school.
Students who do not enter the pathway early in high school are unable to
enter diploma courses because they do not have the proper background or
skill set. An IB teacher notes this problem by saying, "...they just
sign up for whatever their freshman year, and then in the sophomore year
they decide they'd like to do more IB courses and then they run into a
problem because...they don't have the proper prerequisites."

The New York City Dual Enrollment program has a curricular pathway
spanning developmental and college courses. Students can engage in a
variety of developmental activities, as described earlier. They then may
move to the Gateway courses, which prepare them for college general
education classes. Each step in the pathway serves a distinct purpose in
preparing students for college-level work, and students who do not
progress out of Gateway courses, for example, are still better prepared
for college than they would have been without any College Now
activities. Moreover, because students do not need strong academic
skills to enter the pathway, broad access to College Now is possible.

Promising Practices

The findings from the five case study sites can be used to create a
model of a promising credit-based transition program curriculum that,
though in need of confirmation through future research, provides a sense
of how curricular pathways might be structured in order to provide
access to the program and to college for a wide range of students. The
data suggest that the primary component of an ideal curriculum would be
the presence of a clear curricular pathway encompassing high school and
developmental course work, aligned with the demands of college course
work, and culminating in student enrollment in a college course.
Curricular pathways should have multiple access and exit points in order
to allow students of all academic levels to enter the pathway at any
point in their academic career. In this way, pathways help ensure that
middle- and low-achieving students have access to CBTPs.

Curricular pathways also may provide students with a clear set of
expectations for entry into college credit courses. Sequential pathways
communicate to students the steps they must take toward being
college-ready. Even if a student does not proceed to the final step,
moving through a curricular pathway with set standards at every level
should advance students' academic skills and college readiness.

The first step in a curricular pathway should be high school course work
that is aligned with both high school graduation requirements and the
requirements to enter college credit course work. Alignment with college
expectations should be made explicit, in order to deliberately help
students prepare for college, even as they complete their high school
graduation requirements. For many students, completion of such aligned
high school course work will be enough preparation for entry into
college credit courses.

Not all students will be ready for college-level study as high school
juniors or seniors, however, so developmental course work should be
present in order to provide the additional academic support needed.
Again, this course work should be closely aligned to the demands of
college courses. A range of developmental activities also should exist,
thereby allowing students with varying academic needs to have
appropriate entryways into the pathway.

Aligning high school and developmental curricula with college
expectations is heavily reliant on strong collaboration and
communication among high school and college instructors. High school
faculty understand the capabilities of their students and what methods
will most effectively help them be ready for college-level work. College
faculty are knowledgeable of the content and pedagogy used at the
college and can communicate this to high school faculty. They should
drive the objectives and standards of developmental course work, while
high school faculty drive the pedagogical approaches used to reach those
standards.

Such collaboration is seen in the Learner's Academy in the New York City
Dual Enrollment program, as well as in the New York program's use of
college curricula for developmental activities. Both efforts aim to
ensure that developmental activities prepare students for the actual
demands of college credit courses.

In fact, the developmental aspect of the New York City program seems
particularly promising, because the program has multiple developmental
activities and entry and exit points. Students of any academic level can
enter the pathway and build their skills. Those students with stronger
skills may immediately enter Gateway or even general education college
credit courses. The presence of the Learner's Academy ensures program
access even for students whose first language is not English.

The data make clear, however, that merely having pathways is not enough.
An ideal program would have transparent pathways. Without being clearly
visible and easily understood, pathways may serve only to confuse
students. The students in New York City Dual Enrollment, for example,
are not always sure of where their current course work can lead them. In
addition to helping students already in the program navigate the
pathways, transparency can promote broad student access to CBTPs.
Ensuring that students---both in and outside of the program---have clear
information about curricular pathways, and helping them to plot a
course, means that students who are less motivated or less engaged in
school will not be inadvertently excluded. Transparency may be
accomplished by more strongly including guidance counselors in the
program so that they can make students aware of the program's pathways
as they help students plan their high school course work.

Creating transparency for curricular pathways relies heavily on strong
communication not only between program faculty and students, but between
program faculty and nonprogram faculty as well. Instructors not involved
in the CBTP should be made aware of the standards students must meet in
order to enter college courses. This is so that they can help students
not already involved in the program meet the standards for entry, to
give all students the tools they need to enter a CBTP pathway, and to
make sure that pathways do not become de facto sorting mechanisms.

An effort toward this end is being made in the Minnesota IB program. The
mathematics department asks all IB and non-IB instructors to cover
material considered prerequisites to IB diploma-level study. The
department also has created an alternate route to an IB diploma
mathematics course that does not require participation in pre-IB
courses. As a result, students can enter IB mathematics study at any
point in their career. The success of this arrangement, however, is
predicated on the willingness of non-IB teachers to understand and cover
IB material. Effective communication between IB teachers and their
colleagues makes the arrangement possible.

Curricular pathways should, of course, lead to student enrollment in a
college credit course. These courses will vary in their content and
structure according to the goals of the program and contexts within
which they are offered. However, college credit courses should mirror
college-based courses as closely as possible. They should be overseen
(and preferably taught) by college faculty in order to ensure that
content, pedagogy, and outcomes align with those at the college.

Barriers to Implementation

Certainly the contexts within which CBTPs exist can create barriers to
the effective collaboration and communication needed to implement
transparent, developmental curricular pathways.

First, these activities require a significant investment of time,
something that is often lacking in the school day. At most sites,
instructors at the high school and college, as well as administrators,
profess a deep belief in the value of professional collaboration.
However, they are hard pressed to find the time to engage in such
collaboration, given the other demands placed upon them in their jobs.

Moreover, collaboration is predicated on ongoing trust between the
partnering institutions. In two of the partnerships in the sample, one
or both of the partners lacks

confidence in the other's willingness to engage in meaningful
collaboration. In one

case, the secondary partner feels the college based coordinators do not
respect its input

and do not understand the constraints under which it operates. In
another, the college

administration feels that the presence of high school students on its
campus undermines

its status as a college, and some college faculty object to teaching
high school students. Once trust is established between partnering
institutions there comes a greater

willingness to be flexible and to reach compromises around program
arrangements.

Two of the partnerships examined do not trust that each has the other's
interest in

mind.

Communication is equally difficult for many CBTPs. Faculty who are not
involved may not understand or value the CBTP, and thus may be unable or
unwilling to help their students enter the program. Communication to
students at many of the study sites is somewhat haphazard; as described
earlier in this report, for the most part, students have to be already
motivated to discover and enroll in the CBTP. Particularly in large
schools with few guidance counselors, poor communication about the
program may inhibit the participation of middle- and low-achieving
students in the CBTP.

Without good collaboration and communication, the logistics of
developing and implementing a coherent developmental curriculum can be
daunting. Scheduling, in particular, can be troublesome, as is the case
in Minnesota. The all-encompassing IB curriculum makes scheduling
difficult and often promotes a feeling of constraint for students who
want to take non-IB electives but also need to fulfill their IB
requirements. Additionally, the school's block schedule sometimes
interferes with teachers' attempts to prepare students for IB exams.
Although not insurmountable, the scheduling needs of the program
sometimes conflict with the scheduling needs of the school as a whole.

Curriculum development, even when not conducted within a partnership, is
a complicated, time-consuming and difficult process. Creating multiple
curricula, all aligned with one another and with high school and college
curricula outside of the program, requires significant effort on the
part of program instructors at both institutions.

Therefore, it is not surprising that none of the sites in our sample
include all the curricular components and collaborative relationships
encompassed by our model of promising programs. Each site does, however,
incorporate key features of this model in an attempt to help all
students prepare for and succeed in college course work.

Support Services

The data analysis also focused on the types of support services that are
available to assist students in their movement through the curriculum
and towards college courses and once they are in those courses.
Nonacademic as well as academic support services seem to be essential in
helping students understand and meet the demands of a postsecondary
environment. Such services are likely to be particularly important for
students who have not been successful previously in school.

There is a great deal of variation in both the types and extent of
services offered to students in the different programs. In general,
services vary along two major dimensions: their sponsor, meaning whether
they are offered by the high school, by the college, or through a
collaboration; and their content, for example whether services provide
academic support, general personal support, or specific
college-preparatory activities, such as assistance with college
applications or financial aid. Some services are difficult to
categorize, as they have multiple goals.

Who Provides Services?

The high schools sponsoring the CBTPs offer support services typical to
most high schools, such as college nights or college fairs, financial
aid workshops, and academic advising, among others. Special academic
support is available for students with learning disabilities. Aside from
the size of the school influencing students' access to services such as
counseling, we do not detect any significant differences across the
schools in terms of the services offered to all students. The high
schools by themselves do not offer services especially for students in
the CBTP, except that the Minnesota high school has implemented advisory
periods and IB students are clustered in their own advisories. In
California, the high school is the CBTP, so many services, as described
below, relate to students' dual enrollment.

All of the postsecondary partners offer a range of services (although as
noted previously, the Minnesota IB program has no college partner), but
students are limited in accessing them. Students in the Texas Tech-Prep
program are not officially considered college students and so cannot use
any college-based services. The Iowa Health Careers Academy students are
considered students of the college and thus can take advantage of the
services offered, but there was no evidence that they do so, likely
because of the distance to the college and some lack of effort on the
part of the program's staff to orient them to the college's facilities.

Only in California and New York do the students really make use of
support services provided by the college. Students in the New York
program may use the college's facilities and services, and the high
school-based coordinator and instructors make efforts to bring the high
school students to the college. At the California program, students who
are enrolled in college courses have access to all of the college's
facilities and services, and even high school students not taking
college courses are generally welcomed by college services staff.
Students acquire information at three different counseling centers on
the college campus as well as at the high school counseling office. In
addition, the colocation of the MCHS and the college means that program
students can easily take advantage of the range of services offered.
Even so, ensuring that the students know about the services and make use
of them requires a focused effort. As a counselor at the California MCHS
said:

The challenge for me is to make sure we bring those services to our
students because our students don't have the fortitude to go out and
seek those services. That is one of my biggest challenges, to make sure
I set up a system where we bring in presenters...to discuss services and
tell the students what it is that they can do for them, and set up tours
so the students know where to go.

It is significant that, in the California and New York programs,
collaboration between secondary and postsecondary counseling staffs
brings about the creation of activities especially for program students.

Each of the high schools in the study provides some support services to
all of their students. Because the high schools are limited in the
services they could offer, however, the additional supports provided by
the CBTP appear to be important in helping students be successful in
their college course work and future transition to college. For example,
New York City High School has only one college counselor assisting 700
seniors with their college application, advisement, and paperwork needs.
For the specialized college-level health careers curriculum taught in
the Iowa program, the high school seems unable to provide much in the
way of academic support. In Minnesota, academic support services such as
structured study groups and review sessions are provided to those in the
upper levels of the IB program who are preparing for IB testing.
However, there is no focused support targeting those who might have been
struggling in the beginning stages of the program. A counselor at that
high school spoke of the need for better academic support:

But he \[referring to a teacher\] said, the problem that he was facing
with the IB and the AP was, the standards were there and there was no
time for the prep. It was, they either had to jump through that hoop,
they either make it or they don't. They either pass or fail... and so I
think a lot of feeling and thoughts that I hear, is that we need
something to prepare these kids better to handle these heavy-duty
classes, and we need better safety nets to catch them.

The Texas program offers the most striking example of one possible
result of a lack of structured and consistent college preparation
services; a teacher in an IT program said:

I notice some teachers that still tell these kids, 'Oh, you've got to go
to a four-year school.' We're not into that. A couple of reasons, you
know... just the statistics that tell us that less than five percent of
the jobs where they require a four-year education, so why spend the
money? Plus we know that college is not for all kids. I mean, bottom
line is a lot of kids start and never finish their first semester, let
alone the first year. Let alone they, you know, get a four-year degree.
It's got to be what's right for them at their time, so, we try to---not
steer them, 'cause it's got to be their choice. ...

Yet in contrast, teachers in other Tech-Prep concentrations, such as
criminal justice and child development, said they do counsel students on
the importance of college to different career paths. Still, some of the
students interviewed in focus groups said that their teachers did not
talk about college. Thus, students in this program are receiving
different messages from their high school about college. More contact
and familiarity with the program's college partner might provide
students with more consistent information about the importance of
preparing for college.

What Services Are Provided?

In terms of the content of the services available, students can get
academic support and advising, participate in career exploration
activities, and gather extensive information on and assistance with
college application procedures. Again, some of these services have
overlapping goals.

Academic support is often provided informally by program instructors,
but in some cases there are formal academic support services, such as
those described in Minnesota. In California, several structures are in
place to support students enrolled in college classes, such as regular
progress reports that are required from the college professors, and a
weekly Friday class during which high school teachers give assistance to
the students on their college course work. Informally, college
professors assist high school students enrolled in their courses after
class time and also refer them to the college's Learning Skills Center,
a tutoring center.

Academic advising, for planning an academic program of study, is usually
done with the program coordinators or regular high school counselors. In
California, students are encouraged to meet with the college counselors;
as the high school principal said:

They're encouraged to take college classes... And we sit down with them:
"Okay, have you taken poli sci?" "No." "Take that class, and it counts
for government. What about working on your AA degree?" "Oh, I don't
know. I didn't know anything about that." "Okay. Well, you should think
about that, and then we're going to make you an appointment to go meet
with the transfer counselor, and she's going to tell you what the
benefits of that are, and then she's going to help you select some
classes." So that's kind of what we do. We try to encourage as much as
possible every 11th- and 12^th^- grader to have at least one class at
the college; that's why they're here.

Several students in the IB program say they wished for better academic
advisement, as they find planning their IB course of study to be quite
complicated. In Texas, the high school counselors advise students on the
Tech-Prep options, and The Global EDGE Tech Prep consortium staff visit
the high school to explain to students the sequence of courses available
at the college.

Career exploration is available in some of the programs. Students in the
Iowa program have opportunities for structured career exploration in the
health-care field, via a one-day event at a university hospital and
multiple job shadowing experiences. These activities are coordinated by
the college and a nonprofit intermediary partner. In California, all of
the high school's homerooms receive an orientation to the college's
career center, which offers career self-assessments, and information on
internships and job openings. In Texas, the Early Childhood Education
concentration in particular offers work-based learning experiences as
part of the curriculum. Additionally, since many of the Tech-Prep
teachers have industry experience, they are able to provide information
to students about different career paths.

College preparation activities include exploring and visiting different
colleges and learning about college applications and financial aid
procedures. Students in California again have a rich array of options.
For example, the college's transfer center organizes college visits;
during one of the project's site visits a busload of college and MCHS
students headed to University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) for
the day. The high school-based counselors bring in numerous college
representatives to give presentations. The transfer center also provides
a state-funded part-time individual who conducts regular workshops on
the college financial aid process as well as individual assistance in
that area. Both Iowa and Texas Community College staff present
information about their own programs and application procedures.
Students in the other programs mostly have to make use of the regular
high school-based services.

Exhibit 6: Observation of New York City Dual Enrollment Saturday Theater
Workshop

On a Saturday in the spring of 2004, students from the Dual Enrollment
program met at the college to have a discussion with a professor of
English, which was followed by a trip to see The Producers on Broadway.
This observation demonstrates the ways that support services can help
familiarize students with the expectations of a college classroom.

The professor asked the students to "think about why we laugh." He began
to discuss the theories behind laughter and humor. He told that students
that there are parts of The Producers that some people might find
offensive, and so it is important to think about appropriate and
inappropriate humor---what "can we laugh at and what shouldn't we laugh
at."

The professor asked the students for their opinions about what is and is
not OK to laugh at. When he asked, "What shouldn't we laugh at?" one
student replied, "Death," and another said, "Religious, ethnic, and
racial groups." Another student said that we shouldn't laugh when people
are being bullied, but then a girl replied that it kind of matters "how
it's portrayed." A large number of students seemed to agree that
religion and ethnicity are off limits, but then a boy said that this is
OK, sometimes. He asked the class, 'Have you ever seen *Chappelle's
Show*?' The teacher replied that this is a good point. "Is it OK to make
fun of a racial group if you are part of that group?" And a boy replied,
"I guess it depends on who's making the joke." The professor pointed out
that Dave Chappelle makes fun of African-American culture, but he is
African-American. The professor brought up the intent---perhaps the
issue is whether jokes are meant to be funny or harmful. Throughout this
conversation, the students were very attentive and quiet. As the
discussion progressed, more and more students were volunteering answers
and participating.

Throughout this discussion students honed their speaking, listening, and
critical thinking skills, which are skills necessary for success in
college courses. End of Exhibit.

As discussed previously, one kind of college preparation that CBTPs
potentially provide is knowledge of and a sense of comfort with the
college environment. The sites did not engage in activities supporting
this knowledge consistently, however. In New York City, high school
students enrolled in college courses can use the college facilities;
however, it is unclear the extent to which they do so. The high
school-based instructors say they made efforts to take their classes to
the campus, but sometimes cannot find the time to do so. As mentioned,
students in Texas and Iowa are unlikely to visit the campus of the
postsecondary partner. Again, because of the colocation of the MCHS and
college campuses in California, students are likely gaining this type of
preparation. As the assistant principal said,

I think this is an absolutely outstanding program for students, and I
would feel comfortable putting my child here because the students have
an opportunity to network and engage in various learning environments
with college professors. And so, in terms of being competitive, they're
competitive not only in an academic sense, but they also have the social
exposure from networking and taking classes with college students.
They've already had the opportunity to work one on one, or hand in hand,
with the professors to talk about their grades. In terms of college, the
exposure is there now for the college environment.

Personal and social supports are also not as prevalent. We did not find
any formal mentoring, although some programs had implemented this or
similar strategies to improve students' self-esteem and self-confidence
in the past. Organized group events that might build students' support
for one another or celebrate students' accomplishments are also lacking,
except at the New York City program. The Iowa program has just
instituted a program completion and awards evening event.

Services that are the most unique and hard to categorize, meaning that
they potentially provide academic and personal support, as well as
college and career preparation, come from collaboration between the
secondary and postsecondary institutions. In New York, the high school-
and college-based program coordinators collaborate in a meaningful and
regular way to create social, college-based activities that also support
the students' academic learning. Many of the activities are targeted
towards the students in the entry levels of the program, to try to
improve their skills and to encourage their continued participation.
These activities include cultural events at the college as well as field
trips to other institutions in New York City. For example, to complement
a social studies curricular unit on capital punishment, students
attended an all-day symposium at the college. A representative from
Amnesty International spoke, and the students participated in a
discussion afterwards.

In California, collaboration is more haphazard and based on individually
developed relationships, but it does occur. Collaboration between high
school and college counseling staffs resulted in the creation of an
industry-themed, college credit seminar that takes place weekly in the
Career Center. A variety of speakers presents a curriculum that covers
mortgage banking, real estate appraisal, accounting, and information
technology. Speakers and students dress in business attire. The program
is closely aligned with a real estate certification program; if students
continue on to the certification program, the sponsoring company will
cover the cost of the state real estate examination. Certainly some of
these activities are aimed at increasing students' professional skills,
which could contribute to personal self-esteem or self-confidence.

Promising Practices

From this brief description and analysis of the support services offered
by the various programs, one can see the added value that collaboration
contributes. As with curriculum, when high school and college-based
instructors and coordinators come together to determine students' needs,
and how to support students' transition to college, the programs appear
to be more cohesive and comprehensive. Thus, ideally students in CBTPs
would have access to both high school- and college-sponsored services.
In addition to the services that are already provided to all students of
those institutions, customized services should be developed
collaboratively. As pointed out above, New York City and California
provide examples of this collaboration.

Customization of services seems particularly important. The range of
possible support services is vast, and programs cannot be expected to
offer a full range. Instead, CBTPs should assess their goals and the
needs of their students, and tailor the services they provide to best
help students attain the goals of the program. They should provide an
array of services to their students, but should work to keep their
services focused on students' needs and goals.

Many of the sites do just this. In Iowa, support activities are focused
on career exploration, in keeping with the occupational focus of the
Health Careers Academy. In New York City, ELLs are given the opportunity
to practice their language skills during discussions and lectures, while
other students are given the opportunity to learn about college through
visits to New York City Community College's campus. Sites also should
work with individual students to ensure that, when a range of services
is available, students make use of the services most appropriate for
them.

In addition, the data demonstrate the importance of giving students
information about support services and setting aside time for students
to learn about and to access the services. If students do not know about
support services, they cannot take advantage of them. Allotting time
within the regular school day, such as is being done in the MCHS
homeroom periods, or in the Minnesota IB students' advisory periods,
helps to ensure that all students are given consistent information on
available support services.

Barriers to Implementation

A significant barrier to providing students with an array of services is
that the status of the program students is different from that of
regularly matriculated college students. When program students do not
have official status as college students, and where the program does not
bring students to the college campus, students' access to services is
generally limited to those available at their high schools. This barrier
may be magnified for students enrolled in high school or developmental
courses, who may need the most support but are the least likely to be
considered part of the college community.

When CBTP students do have the right to make use of the college's
services, there are still often barriers to them doing so, as was
described in Iowa. Time may be lacking within a program's curriculum to
provide orientation to services, and geographic distance may make access
difficult for students.

Data Collection and Perceived Benefits

Drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of CBTPs in helping students
enter and succeed in college is reliant on the presence of outcomes
data. Ultimately, we are interested in knowing whether students who have
participated in CBTPs are more likely to enroll in or persist in college
than their peers who have not participated, or if former CBTP
participants complete college in higher numbers or at a faster rate than
nonparticipants. The present study was not designed to measure the
effectiveness of the programs, but it did explore data collection at
each site and the barriers that sites face in collecting these data.

Although many respondents to the study indicated that they believe in
the value of outcomes data and profess the desire to collect and use
them, most sites do not have systematic data collection procedures. Most
of the data available at the sites are for short-term outcomes, such as
program completion rates. In California, for example, the high school
collects data on student progress toward high school graduation,
including the number of college credits earned by students that also
meet high school graduation requirements, as well as students'
postgraduation plans. California Community College does not collect any
data specifically pertaining to students in the MCHS.

Similarly, Minnesota International Baccalaureate High School maintains
data on student participation in IB courses and their success on IB
examinations, but not on college matriculation or persistence, or on
students' ability to translate their IB exam scores into college credit.
In Texas, the high school keeps data on how many students take a
Tech-Prep course; the Consortium collects data on students' eligibility
for articulated credit; and the college keeps track of student use of
Tech-Prep credit at Texas Community College. These three sites do not
follow students beyond their first year in college.

Both Iowa Community College and New York City Community College have
longer-term outcomes data in addition to short-term program completion
data. Iowa Community College has data on former program students
currently enrolled at the college and thus the college is able to track
students' progress toward graduation as well as their major. In New York
City, the university system of which the college is a part has similar
information for students who matriculated anywhere in the CUNY system.
At both of these colleges, however, the data are for students who
participated in any CBTP in high school, and are not disaggregated by
the specific high schools in the study---Rural High School or New York
City High School.

Overall, then, it appears that sites' data collection efforts are
focused on demographics, enrollment data, or short-term outcomes data,
and rarely on long-term outcomes. And, there are no data for students
who do not matriculate within the CBTP partnership. Moreover, data
pertinent to the study and requested by the research team were difficult
for the sites to generate. Though the information is available, the
sites found it challenging to gather and report the data in a way that
is of interest to the research team. Much of the data took months for
the sites to compile, and much was generated specifically for this
study, at the request of the researchers, rather than on a regular
basis.

Promising Practices

Given the lack of data available at the case study sites, it is
difficult to determine promising data collection practices for CBTPs. It
does appear that data collection is facilitated when the postsecondary
partner is involved in the process, as colleges often have dedicated
institutional research staff skilled in data collection and analysis
techniques. In Iowa and New York, the postsecondary partners at both
sites collect and use long-term outcomes data.

In Iowa, data collection also is facilitated by the college's decision
to register dual enrollment students (including those in the Health
Careers Academy) in the same way as regularly matriculated students.
Students are given a code indicating their enrollment in the program,
and their transcript information can be accessed and used for outcomes
analyses as is any other college student's. In this way, the students
can be easily identified and followed upon their matriculation into the
college.

Barriers to Data Collection

Why do the case study sites have such difficulty collecting and
generating data, particularly on the long-term outcomes of their
students? Two primary themes highlighting the challenges facing sites
emerge from the data. First, even in strong partnerships, there is
little data sharing or collaboration on data gathering between partners.
Second, sites have serious capacity problems, lacking staff time and
knowledge to collect and use data effectively.

Lack of Data Sharing

At all five sites, data collection efforts are conducted by partners in
isolation from one another. Partners are uncertain what, exactly, the
other institution collects. High schools assume that colleges have
long-term outcomes data when the college actually does not, for example.
Partners often do not share their data with each other. This sometimes
results in a duplication of effort, as seen in Iowa, where both the high
school and the college collect data on student completion of the
program.

Moreover, a lack of communication regarding outcomes data
collection---and particularly the definition of those outcomes
sought---means that, in some cases, the same piece of data might mean
different things to different partners. Such is the case in Texas, where
the college, consortium, and high school use different definitions for
the same variable. For example, the high school considers a "Tech-Prep
student" to be any student enrolled in a Tech-Prep course, while the
consortium counts only those who registered to receive articulated
credit. The college uses an even more stringent definition, considering
only students who apply for and receive articulated credit to be
"Tech-Prep students." In this site, even determining program enrollment
is complicated.

The fragmentation of data collection efforts makes longitudinal analyses
of student outcomes difficult, even in sites where outcomes data exist.
Fragmentation also means that student achievement cannot be followed
over time, because the information gathered at the high school is not
given to the college for follow-up. Without access to students' high
school records, colleges cannot control for prior academic experiences
in determining the influence of program participation on student success
in college. In Iowa, for example, the college has preliminary data
indicating that Health Careers Academy students matriculating into the
college have stronger academic skills than other first-time college
freshmen. However, without access to high school achievement data, the
college cannot demonstrate that this outcome is due to program
participation, rather than other factors.

To some extent, the lack of data sharing stems from programs' concerns
over student confidentiality. Program staff frequently said that they
were concerned that sharing data with other institutions would violate
their students' privacy. They were particularly concerned about data
that were linked to individual students. Thus, programs are reluctant to
share data in ways that include student identifiers.

When programs do not collect data with individual student identifiers,
however, long-term follow-up on student outcomes is not possible. This
is true whether the reason for the lack of identifiers is because of
privacy concerns, or some other reason. In California, for example, the
college does not identify MCHS students enrolled in college credit
courses. It is therefore unable to determine if any MCHS students
matriculate into the college, because they have no way of
differentiating former MCHS students from others in their data system.

Overall, the lack of coordination means that pieces of data are
collected in isolation from one another. Data can be used to generate a
snapshot of programs at a given moment in time, but not to tell a story
of student achievement or matriculation and persistence in college.
There are not enough coherent data to explore long-term outcomes,
particularly in a rigorous manner.

Lack of Capacity

Sites also lack the capacity to collect and use data. In many sites,
data collection is peripheral to staff's stated duties. Particularly at
the high schools, collecting data on the CBTP is not a focus of their
efforts. High school staff primarily concentrate on day-to-day
operations and collecting data required for state and federal reports.
In Minnesota, for example, the school did not focus on the IB
participation rates of students from various racial and ethnic
backgrounds until it included broadening participation in IB in its
state accountability goals. With this goal made explicit, the school is
now attuned to the data regarding participation rates on the part of
students from various backgrounds.

There are similar constraints at the postsecondary level. Both the Iowa
and New York sites have college-based institutional research offices and
are committed to using data effectively. But these offices have a myriad
of other reports and data analyses that they are required to complete,
and they have little time to analyze CBTP outcomes data. In Iowa the
director of institutional research said, "I can't think of anything I
couldn't tell you, if I had the time to do it." He makes clear, however,
that such time is difficult to come by, as other priorities come ahead
of exploring the outcomes of the CBTP.

In addition to time, partnerships faced other capacity issues. The New
York City college-based coordinator indicated that she does not have the
physical space to hold onto students' paper records for more than two
years. And, in a number of sites, staff are uncertain how to collect the
data they most desired---alumni outcomes. Iowa has attempted to survey
alumni of both its Health Careers Academy programs and the college
generally, and found that their response rates were very low. Iowa is
uncertain how to guarantee that any efforts at following up with alumni
would be fruitful.

Similarly, programs are uncertain how to gather data on alumni who do
not matriculate into the partnering postsecondary institution. In Texas,
for example, the consortium coordinator said that she has to use a "hunt
and peck" strategy to find alumni, because they often transfer out of
Texas Community College prior to earning an associate degree.

Data collection, particularly for long-term outcomes, does not seem to
be a priority for most of the sites in our study. Though they understand
the importance of collecting and using data, constraints on their
capacity and competing priorities inhibit their ability to engage in
data-gathering efforts. If long-term program outcomes are going to be
explored, funding and staff time need to be dedicated to these efforts.
Without increased capacity, as well as increased willingness to engage
in the process, it is unlikely that sites will improve the outcomes data
available.

Perceived Benefits to Students

Although this study did not systematically explore student outcomes, it
did investigate what program practitioners and students believe to be
the benefits of participation. Across the case study sites, respondents
indicate that there are three primary benefits to students: the
opportunity to earn free college credit, gaining "a taste" of college,
and students' increased confidence in their academic abilities. In
addition, many teachers mention that they benefit from their involvement
in the program, which we will briefly discuss.

College Credit

Study participants believe that the opportunity to earn free college
credit benefits students, particularly those from disadvantaged economic
backgrounds, by making a postsecondary degree less expensive and
potentially shortening the time it would take to earn a degree. A New
York City instructor explains, "Six hundred kids in the course of a year
are going to get college credit and it's not going to cost them a
penny." In Iowa, students earn nearly a full semester's worth of credit
at no cost, in addition to having the opportunity to earn a credential
that enables them to gain skilled employment. In Texas, where students
often do not receive credit for their Tech-Prep courses, the chance to
earn the credit is still seen as an important benefit by both teachers
and students. This benefit presumably encourages students to matriculate
in college by making it seem more affordable.

At California MCHS, students can earn enough college credit to earn an
associate degree at no cost. This credit also positions the students
well within the state's university system, potentially helping them
transfer to a four-year college or university. According to the high
school counselor,

That's the goal... to transfer to a four-year and, you know, it's a
tremendous advantage, not only financially, because they don't have to
pay for the first two years, and it's free, but then it's much easier to
get into a UCLA-type of school as a transfer student if you did well on
your associate degree.

In Minnesota, earning college credit is dependent on passing an exam and
having a university recognize the exam scores. Moreover, some of the
staff feel that the credit is less important than the curricular
experiences offered by the IB program. Yet, for the students, the
opportunity to earn free credit is a very real benefit. One student said
that she decided to pursue a full IB diploma mainly because she thinks
it might help her graduate from college more quickly.

In fact, students across the sites seem to view free college credit as a
key reason for participating in CBTPs, even if they are not assured of
being able to apply their credit toward a college degree. As the
college-based New York City College Now coordinator noted, credit seems
to serve as a "carrot" for students, encouraging them to participate in
the program. It is much harder to entice students to enroll in CBTP
activities that do not bear college credit than in those that do.

A Taste of College

Study participants additionally believe CBTPs give students the
opportunity to get a taste of college. Students in CBTPs are, in
essence, able to practice the academic and social aspects of being in
college, thereby potentially becoming prepared for actual college
matriculation. This benefit is most clear in California, where students
are on a college campus and attend class with other college students.
California MCHS students also experience college by learning to network
with college instructors and students and to balance freedom with
responsibility.

Though the MCHS gives the most easily recognizable example of students
experiencing what it is like to be a college student, participants at
other sites note that their students receive this benefit from their
CBTP participation, as well. In Iowa, students take a semester's worth
of college classes over the course of a year on top of their regular
high school courses. One of their college courses is a self-paced
medical terminology course that requires them to study independently.
The Iowa nursing instructor explained that the heavy workload prepares
them for the academic demands of college and "...that gives them a taste
of, you are responsible in college. You know, you read a chapter a day
and then you test..." The information technology strand at Texas
Tech-Prep makes similar demands on those students.

In New York City, students in the Learner's Academy attend class on a
college campus. Students indicated that they feel like they are "a real
college student" and that they learn about college from spending time
there. "You know how the teachers will deal with you. You know, they're
different than the high school." New York City students who are not in
the Learner's Academy, but are in other College Now courses also are
given a taste of college through trips to the campus and the opportunity
to obtain a college identification (ID) card. A high school-based
instructor said that the visits are helpful to the students because
"They can see the college in action... they get to see a whole different
atmosphere to high school." Another added, "And they get to act like
little adults. And they do. You know, you see them and they really do
act like little college kids. They're so proud when they get their
college ID and say, look at me, I'm a college student."

The support services offered by some of the sites also make the CBTPs
safe places for students to try their hand at a college course, since
they may be more likely to be successful than if they enrolled in
college on their own. Particularly for middle- and low-achieving
students, knowing that there are support services to help them be
successful may encourage them to enroll in CBTPs when, without those
services, they may have chosen not to do so.

Additionally, in Iowa and Texas, students are able to explore a career
path without being penalized if they changed their mind. Iowa program
staff note that students sometimes discover that they do not want to
pursue a career in health care, and that it is better the students
realize this in high school, while taking free college courses, than
after they have paid for a number of semesters of college course work.
Texas Tech-Prep faculty, particularly those in the Child Development and
Criminal Justice strands, agree. And the students themselves feel that
the opportunity for career exploration is invaluable; as one said:

...if you want to become a teacher, and you do an application, you don't
get to get into a class until about your third or fourth year. You've
already paid for so much, well, say you get into a classroom and you
really don't like kids, you can't---most of us can't just go back and
say, 'Oh, I'm just going to start over.'

Increased Confidence

According to students, a third benefit is the increased confidence
gained through their participation in CBTPs. Although the sites
encourage such confidence in a variety of ways, participants believe
that students leave their CBTP with increased belief in their ability to
be successful in the future. Some of the increased student confidence,
according to study participants, is a direct result of their experiences
learning about college, as described above. Because college is familiar
to them, students realize that they can be successful in that
environment.

Students' confidence is also increased by student success in college
course work. Study participants believe that once students discover that
they can achieve in one college course, they are more likely to believe
that, they can succeed in college generally. Explained a college dean in
Texas, "\[The students\] realize that...if the college is willing to
give me credit for it, I'm probably doing college level, and that again
helps them to understand that yes, I do have that ability; I can do it."
In discussing a student who had difficulty in her class, a New York City
instructor agreed. "But he did all his work. And it was a challenge for
him. And he wrote a letter at the end to me that said---it was just
really simple. It said, 'I never really thought I could go to college,
but now I see I can!'" Thus, success in college courses is believed to
breed the confidence that students can use to motivate themselves in
future academic pursuits.

The programs help students gain confidence in other ways, too. The
clinical experiences in Iowa are an important way to help students feel
more secure in their abilities. The director of secondary programs said,

> ...when I'm thinking about the Health Academy, I see these students
> come in for the orientation in the spring, and they're shy and timid
> and they don't know what they're doing. And then they're watching the
> kids who are in the program, who look like they've been doing this for
> years. Well, they've only been doing it for about eight months. And
> yet, they grow so much in their self-confidence and come to sense who
> they are and what they can do.

Likewise, the sense of community students find in the California MCHS,
New York Learner's Academy, Minnesota IB, and the Iowa Health Careers
Academy helps students feel comfortable with their academic abilities
and goals. Explained a Learner's Academy instructor, "The kids protect
each other, look out for each other... And they're helping each other.
They're motivating each other, which is nice..." And the MCHS principal
says, "I think kids feel like they can be academic here, and that's
okay; whereas, in a lot of schools... you can't carry books. You can't
act like you're smart. We don't have that problem here ...."

Perceived Benefits to Teachers

Many of the CBTP teachers, in particular high school-based teachers who
are teaching college-level courses, speak of benefits to themselves from
their involvement in the program. Teachers say that teaching
higher-level course material to motivated students is stimulating and
enriching to themselves. In New York, teachers said that teaching in the
program is "fun" and that the smaller class sizes allow them to really
get to know their students. Teachers in that program are also paid for
their involvement, because it is an after-school program, and so there
are many teachers vying to participate.

Teachers also spoke of benefiting professionally from the training and
interaction with postsecondary faculty. One Minnesota IB teacher said:

The training that I've attended has been excellent kind of
training. They give you curriculum. They give you lessons. They give you
suggestions. So I've benefited immensely from the training sessions. And
they treat you well, too, which is nice. I mean, they treat you like
professionals, which is very nice. And, so, I hope every teacher has the
opportunity at some point to get some type of that training, because
it's really been beneficial.

In the New York City and Texas programs, where the high school-based
instructors meet regularly with their college counterparts, high school
teachers speak of this interaction as being important and useful to them
in their teaching.

Recommendations for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Researchers

This report has presented data from five diverse sites and highlighted
promising program features that the data suggest should be included in
CBTPs if they are to meet the needs of middle- and low-achieving
students. Additionally, various challenges and barriers faced by
programs as they attempt to implement these features were described.
This final section presents recommendations based on the data to
policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.

For Policymakers and Practitioners

Lessons learned from the fieldwork can assist policymakers and
practitioners in their continuing efforts to encourage the development
of CBTPs. Three overarching themes arose from the data: access,
collaboration, and the need for data collection.

Encourage Broad Access

We have described several ways in which access to CBTPs may be formally,
or informally, limited, even though staff members in all the case study
sites make significant attempts to provide students with information
about the program. In order to encourage broad access, programs should:

\* Develop multiple ways to ensure that all students---regardless of
academic background and level of motivation---learn about the CBTP.

This entails giving all students information about the program early
enough in their academic careers to allow them to plan for program
participation. It also means that this information should be shared with
students frequently, so that those with less access to information
sources are still likely to learn about and enroll in the CBTP. Just
providing the information is not sufficient; students must also be made
aware of the benefits to their participation, such as college
preparation and credit. Involving parents, all teachers in the school,
guidance counselors, and other school support staff in recruitment
efforts may help broaden the spread of program information to all
students.

\* Develop a program culture that is supportive of and encourages
students from different backgrounds and academic levels to participate.

Ensuring access is not simply a matter of disseminating information. In
a number of sites, study participants indicated that students also need
to feel comfortable in the program. They need to see other students like
themselves participating in CBTP activities and to feel that their
academic needs and concerns are being met. Programs in the study are
beginning to address this explicitly, by seeking to change the
reputation of their program, targeting activities at underrepresented
students, and using support services to create a CBTP culture that feels
comfortable to students not previously or frequently involved.

\* Structure the program and the curriculum with an eye towards broad
access.

A developmental sequence of courses can help to maintain program access
for all students, particularly middle- and low-achieving students who
need opportunities to build their skills before attempting college
credit courses. Curricular pathways with multiple access points ensure
that students at different levels can enter the program. A program in
which course work is part of the regular school schedule likely helps
more students participate, as opposed to an after-school program.
Programs also should be attentive to encouraging access for special
education and ELL students, who may have additional needs beyond the
opportunities available through the program's developmental pathway.

Policymakers can support practitioners in these practices. States can
provide incentives for programs that enroll middle- and low-achieving
students. The programs studied were located in states that did not
strongly restrict student access, and these programs were attuned to
broad access. Despite these factors, it did not seem that the programs
were reaching their target population---disengaged, underachieving
students, who might not view college as a realistic option.

Create Strong Collaborative Relationships

Throughout the report, we have discussed the importance of
collaboration. Many of the promising practices identified rely on
collaboration among high school and college staff, as well as deeper
institutional collaboration. However, as has also been noted throughout
this report, collaboration is a difficult process and one with which
some programs struggle. Programs and policymakers should:

\* Facilitate collaboration by clearly establishing the roles and
benefits for each institution in the partnership.

Collaboration appears to be most successful when all partners perceive
that they are receiving benefits from the partnership, or when
particular goals drive strong commitment at the top levels of
leadership. In some cases, one or both partners participate
half-heartedly, doubtful as to what added value the other partner is
contributing. It does not seem to matter whether goals are
self-interested or altruistic, as long as they lend themselves to a
commitment to sustaining the program.

Collaboration occurs in different ways and among different levels of
individuals. Collaboration can be formal or informal and can occur
between the leaders of institutions, or between the staff or
instructors. Thus, in one site, the formal institutional-level
collaboration seems to be falling apart, while, at the same time,
counselors of the partnering institutions are working closely together
to share and integrate their services. At another site, collaboration is
strong between the partnering program administrators, uneven between the
instructors, and nonexistent between the top levels of leadership. In no
program is collaboration consistently strong and fruitful across all
levels of the partnership.

\* Support broader integration between the secondary and postsecondary
sectors.

The word "collaboration" does not seem to fully describe the type of
institutional relationship that CBTPs require. CBTPs promote deeper
institutional changes, such as high schools and colleges overcoming
their structural differences to integrate their goals, practices, and
services. Such widespread collaboration, and its potential impact,
mirrors the goals of the larger K-16 movement, in which high schools and
colleges are encouraged to work together to create a seamless education
system.

Policymakers have a strong role to play here. They can compel the two
institutional sectors to rethink and align their standards, curriculum,
and assessment practices. Aligning high school graduation requirements
with college entrance requirements is an important first step.
Articulation of high school with college course work would also help
students transitioning to college know that they are prepared.
Policymakers can do a great deal in supporting the difficult task of
integrating and streamlining secondary and postsecondary education.

\* Simplify the credit earning and credit transfer process.

Finally, CBTPs are a type of collaboration that is intended to yield
college credit for students. Yet credit earning in some of the study
sites is quite complicated, and it is unclear the extent to which
students retain their credits as they matriculate to different
postsecondary institutions. Policymakers should take steps to ensure
that earning credits through CBTP participation is not an onerous
process and that the credits are more easily transferable. It is clear
that transcripted credit, such as that earned in the California and Iowa
programs, is preferable to credit-in-escrow, such as that in the Texas
Tech-Prep program. Common course numbering across state college systems
also would help students transfer and keep their credits.

Policymakers also should support dual credit programs, in which students
receive high school and college credit for their program course work, as
opposed to receiving one type of credit or the other. In addition to
simplifying participation for students, dual credit also encourages
institutions to work together to align curricula.

Work With Researchers to Collect Outcomes Data

It would be useful to collect additional descriptive information on
CBTPs, such as the number of college credits high school students are
earning. Some states and programs have begun to report such descriptive
data (See Barnett, Gardner, and Bragg, 2004). Ultimately it is important
to know whether CBTP participants are more likely to enter and complete
college than nonparticipants.

Researchers' ability to evaluate CBTPs, however, is hampered by the
limited collection of outcomes data, particularly long-term data. In
order to provide information on program effectiveness to policymakers
and practitioners, it is imperative to:

\* Support the gathering of student-level data that can be used for
outcomes analyses.

Policymakers should support outcomes analyses that begin with students'
performance prior to program participation, include comparison groups,
and follow students through college matriculation and graduation. To do
this, high schools should compile data on CBTP students' grade point
averages, standardized test scores, extent of program participation,
on-time graduation from high school, and post-graduation planning.
Colleges should compile data on students' timely matriculation into
postsecondary education, use of credit earned through the CBTP,
persistence in college, and on-time completion of a postsecondary
credential.

These data should be linked in order to follow students from high school
to college. This will require secondary and postsecondary sectors to
share data and use common student identifiers. High schools and colleges
may need financial support as well as governmental urging to carry this
out.

Researchers should help program administrators collect these data in
forms that lend themselves to rigorous analyses and use the data for
internal evaluations and improvement efforts. Such efforts are, in
essence, an additional form of CBTP collaboration---that between
practitioner and researcher. And, like the collaborations discussed
earlier in this report, these efforts are likely to be difficult to
engage in, at least at first. However, they seem the most likely way to
ensure that data are available with which to conduct long-term
explorations of the influence CBTPs have on student matriculation and
persistence in college.

For Researchers

A primary goal of this project was to provide knowledge of CBTPs on
which future research may be based. Describing program features in
detail, as done in the previous sections, was the first step in
achieving this goal. The second step was to create a conceptual model
that suggests the ways that these program features may work together in
order to promote the success of middle- and low-achieving students as
they make the transition from secondary to postsecondary education. This
model is intended to help future researchers develop studies evaluating
the effectiveness of CBTPs and their various program components.

Prior to conducting the fieldwork, the researchers developed a
hypothesized model. The model relied on previous research on CBTPs and
secondary-to-postsecondary transitions indicating that rigorous
academics in high school, as well as social preparation for college, may
both help students succeed in college (See Adelman, 1999; Sax, Keup,
Gilmartin, Stolzenberg, and Harper, 2002; Tinto 1987, 1997). The case
study data were used to confirm the model. The data also helped the
researchers develop a better understanding of the components included in
the model and the ways in which these components interact. Ultimately,
the case-study research led to the creation of an evidence-based
conceptual model outlining the ways in which CBTPs may help students
enter and succeed in college. See exhibit 7 for a visual representation
of the revised model.

Exhibit 7: Conceptual Model of the Credit-Based Transition Program
Influence on Student Outcomes

![](media/image1.wmf){width="5.993055555555555in"
height="2.807638888888889in"}

Model Legend

Shaded Oval- Program Elements

Thin Line -- Student Movement

Clear Box -- Intermediate Outcomes

Thick Line- relationship between program elements and outcomes

Light Shaded Rounded Box - Outcomes

The model indicates that CBTPs give students an academic base for
college success, confidence in their ability to be successful in
college, and the opportunity to learn about the social and procedural
skills required of college students.

The multiple components found in CBTPs play important but distinct roles
in preparing students for college access and success. Program components
include high school courses, developmental courses, college credit
courses, and support services. The relationship among these components,
as illustrated in the model, is complex. Program components meet the
needs of students at various---and multiple---points in their academic
careers, an aspect of CBTPs that is particularly important for meeting
the needs of middle- and low-achieving students.

Laying the foundation for college-level study takes multiple forms. As
outlined in the section of this report on curriculum, students seem to
develop an academic foundation in high school courses that are aligned
with college curriculum, or through specially designed developmental
courses. These various preparatory activities are illustrated separately
in the model.

The model also illustrates that most of the presumed impacts from CBTPs
occur prior to students' enrollment in college credit courses. Although
college courses are the capstone experiences of CBTPs, program benefits
accrue over time. Students gain academic skills; feelings of success,
confidence, and motivation; and social and procedural skills at multiple
points in their CBTP experiences. These gains seem to influence their
future program experiences as well as ultimate program outcomes.

In exhibit 7, the program elements included in CBTPs are shaded in grey
and the desired program outcomes are to the far right. Heavy arrows
indicate student movement through the program elements. They illustrate
that students can move from high school course work through
developmental course work to college classes, college matriculation, and
college persistence. The multiple arrows leading to and from program
elements indicate that students may traverse these program components in
a variety of ways given their academic needs.

The clear boxes indicate the intermediate outcomes of CBTP
participation, which are also the mechanisms by which student success in
college might be promoted. Program features lead to these intermediate
outcomes but these outcomes facilitate student participation in future
program features, as well. In other words, students develop academic
skills and motivation through developmental courses. Increased skill and
motivation help students transition into and be successful in college
course work which, in turn, promotes more academic and motivational
growth.

The elongated box along the bottom of the model illustrates the support
services element of a CBTP. Supporting students prior to their
enrollment in college courses may help motivate and prepare them for
college credit courses. Supporting students while they are in college
courses may help them be successful in those courses and, in turn, may
further motivate them to matriculate to postsecondary education. The
double-headed arrows linking support services to developmental and
college course work indicates the symbiotic relationship between these
program elements. Support services help students succeed in their
courses, but their courses also help make support services---such as
workplace experiences or special trips and workshops---more meaningful
to students.

In addition, support services lead to intermediate outcomes of their
own. They increase students' understanding of the social and procedural
expectations of college by giving students a taste of college.

Ultimately, the model hypothesizes that student participation in college
course work and support services, with the attendant growth in academic
skills, knowledge of the social aspects of college, and motivation will
lead students to matriculate into postsecondary education. Students will
be likely to persist in college once there because of their strong
skills. Of course, concise measurement of program outcomes and impacts
is needed. This model, and the support for it that we find from our
qualitative data, should assist others in designing future studies of
CBTPs.

Suggestions for Future Research

Research is needed to test the conceptual model posed here and to
explore the impact of CBTP participation on student matriculation and
persistence in postsecondary education. In this final section, future
direction for this research is offered.

\* Confirm the relationship between program features and intermediate
outcomes.

The conceptual model in exhibit 7 hypothesized that participation in the
various elements of CBTPs have outcomes of their own. For example,
participation in developmental course work is presumed to increase
students' academic skills, participation in support services should
increase students' knowledge of college, and participation in either or
both of these components should increase student motivation to enroll in
college credit classes. These hypotheses, and the others set forth in
the model, need to be rigorously tested.

It also would be interesting to know if some program components have a
greater influence on intermediate outcomes than do other components. Do
developmental courses have a different impact on student motivation than
do support services? Are CBTPs truly dependent on the interaction of
multiple program components, or might some components be more necessary
than others?

Answering such questions may include a variety of research
methodologies. Programs may compare the academic achievement of CBTP
participants with nonparticipants, or survey students regarding their
college aspirations in order to detect differences in students before,
during, and after their participation in various CBTP components. In
order to understand student use of curricular pathways, programs may
track students over the course of their high school careers to examine
their trajectory through the CBTP.

Regardless, researchers should pay close attention to preexisting
differences among CBTP students and their peers not participating in the
program, as well as to any other factors that may be responsible for
positive outcomes. The study's qualitative data indicate that there may
be some preexisting differences among these two groups of students,
particularly in terms of motivation and college aspirations. Post
program

outcomes may reflect these differences, rather than any program-related
change. Similarly, at a number of the case study sites, the small size
of the program or the fact that students said they felt special because
they were in the program---rather than the ability to earn college
credit---was the most salient feature to students.

\* Confirm the long-term outcomes of CBTPs.

It is still unknown whether CBTPs actually achieve their goal of helping
students enter and succeed in college. This question should be a key
element of any future research agenda on CBTPs. Is it appropriate to
assume that participation in a CBTP will promote student attainment of a
postsecondary degree? Long-term outcomes analysis is clearly needed to
confirm this fundamental hypothesis.

Researchers should undertake outcomes research exploring student
educational attainment after their participation in CBTPs. Do students
earn college credit and if so, are they able to apply it toward a
college degree? What is the average length of time to graduation for
students who were in CBTPs, and is it shorter than for their peers?

As with the intermediate outcomes discussed above, studies of long-term
outcomes should be rigorous and include comparisons between students who
were in CBTPs and their peers who were not and controls for prior
academic achievement. Ideally, these studies might follow a cohort of
students from the beginning of high school through college graduation,
exploring differences between CBTP and non-CBTP students at various
points in their educational careers. They also should include the
outcomes of all CBTP students, whether those students attend the
programs' postsecondary partner or a different college.

The findings from the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transition Programs study lend credence to the excitement many
policymakers and educators hold for CBTPs. CBTPs are ambitious---both in
their expectation of high levels of student achievement as well as in
their structural characteristics. The programs have the potential to
help a wide range of students, not only the most academically advanced,
but also the middle- to low-achieving students, become prepared for
postsecondary education. Though long-term outcomes research is needed to
confirm the college-going behaviors of students in CBTPs, the findings
presented here indicate that it is plausible that CBTP participation has
a positive influence on students.

Methods Appendix

The Accelerating Student Success project included three inter-related
research activities in order to better understand the program elements
that may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in
postsecondary education. The first was to gather data through focus
groups with practitioners to identify program features important to
ensuring that CBTPs are of high quality and able to serve a broad range
of students. Second, a review of the dual enrollment policies of all 50
states was conducted in order to better understand the contexts under
which CBTPs function, highlight policy variation, and explore the
implications of this variation for programs. \[footnote 9: The reports
from these two activities are available on the Accelerating Student
Success Through Credit-Based Transition Programs project's Web site at:
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\]

Then, the findings from the focus groups were used to develop site
selection criteria for the case studies. Before being selected for
participation in the study, programs were required to demonstrate that
they encouraged participation by a wide range of students. They also had
to have graduated at least one cohort of students and engage in a
variety of quality control measures, such as using college syllabi or
college textbooks. Programs were required to have a designated staff
person in charge of the CBTP, and to provide professional development
for instructors.

Using these criteria ensured that the five programs chosen for the study
were long-standing, actively sought to enroll and support middle- and
low-achieving students, and included the program features that focus
group participants deemed important for successfully meeting the needs
of these students. In addition, sites were purposefully selected to
represent a range of state policy contexts; the various types of
comprehensive and enhanced comprehensive programs; and diversity in
geographic location and demographic composition.

Research was conducted in two phases. During the spring of 2004, teams
of two to three researchers visited each site for three to four days.
They conducted interviews with program faculty and staff and observed
classes and program activities. These activities focused on developing a
deep understanding of program structures and features. In general, the
researchers examined institutional and classroom processes, with less
attention paid to questions of regulation and financing, outside of the
direct impact these have on program implementation. \[footnote 10: State
Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access and Quality, available on
the study's Web page, provides detailed information on state policies
at: www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\]
Interviews were taped and transcribed for analysis, and notes taken
during observations were written into narrative form. During the visits,
researchers also sought to collect student and program outcomes. After
analyzing these initial data during the summer of 2004, the researchers
returned to each site during the fall of 2004. The second visits were
used to conduct follow-up interviews and observations in order to
confirm the initial findings and gather additional information.

Upon completion of the site visits, all data were uploaded into a
qualitative data analysis software program. In total, 117 interviews
were completed with faculty, staff, and students, as well as 63
observations of classes, support service activities, and professional
development activities. The analyses focused on state, district, and
school contexts; program structure; management and leadership;
curriculum; pedagogy and instruction; collaboration between the
secondary and postsecondary partners (where applicable); student
recruitment and selection; support services; outcomes data; and
sustainability, among others. Interactions among these elements, within
and between partnering institutions, were explored in so far as they
contributed to student college preparation. Barriers to successful
program operation also were explored.

Works Cited

Adelman, Clifford. 1999. Answers in the tool box: Academic intensity,
attendance patterns, and bachelor's degree attainment. Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and
Improvement.

American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). 2002.
"The open Door...Assessing the promise and problems of dual enrollment."
Washington, D.C.: AASCU State Policy Briefing 1 (1).

Bailey, Thomas and Karp, Melinda Mechur. 2003. Promoting college access
and success: A review of dual credit and other high school/college
transition programs. Report prepared for the Office of Vocational and
Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education. Community College
Research Center, Teachers College. Columbia University. New York, N.Y.

Barnett, Elisabeth, Gardner, Douglas, and Bragg, Debra. 2004. *Dual
credit in Illinois: Making it work.* Champaign, IL: Office of Community
College Research and Leadership, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.

Lords, Elizabeth. 2000. "New efforts at community colleges focus on
underachieving teens." The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 30, 2000,
p. A45.

National Commission on the High School Senior Year. 2001. Raising our
sights: No high school senior left behind. Princeton, N.J.: The Woodrow
Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Sax, Linda J., Keup, Jennifer R., Gilmartin, Shannon K., Stolzenberg,
Ellen B., and Harper, Cassandra. 2002. Findings from the 2002
administration of your first college year (YFCY): National aggregates.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Higher Education Research Institute, University of
California, Los Angeles.

Tinto, Vincent. 1997. "Classrooms as communities: Exploring the
educational character of student persistence." The Journal of Higher
Education, 68 (6): 599-623.

Tinto, Vincent. 1987. Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures
of student attrition. Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago Press.

Venezia, Andrea, Kirst, Michael W., and Antonio, Anthony L. 2003.
Betraying the college dream: How disconnected K-12 and postsecondary
education systems undermine student aspirations. Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University's Bridge Project.

Waits, Tiffany, Setzer, J.Carl, and Lewis, Laurie. 2005. *Dual credit
and exam-based courses in U.S. public high schools: 2002-03* (NCES
2005-009). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center
for Education Statistics.

Appendix: Enhanced Profiles of Research Sites \[footnote 1: In order to
give the study participants anonymity, the specific research sites were
given pseudonyms. However, the name of the general program is used in
some cases.\]

Southern California MCHS Program Profile

As previously described in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Program September 2004 site profiles, \[footnote
2: Please see the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transition Programs study's Web page on the

U.S. Department of Education's Web site to download and view two-page
profiles of each of the study's five case sites at:
[www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html](http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html).\]
the CBTP in California is composed of a partnership between Southern
California Middle College High School (MCHS) and California Community
College. In general, MCHSs focus on providing at-risk students with
academic and social preparation for college and tend to be characterized
by small class sizes, support services, and close teacher-student
interaction. \[footnote 3: Please also see on the study Web page, listed
above, the program description for more information on the MCHS program
model.\] Southern California Middle College High School is located on
the campus of its postsecondary partner, California Community College,
which is situated off a major street in a residential and commercial
area of Los Angeles.

The California Community College campus consists of four modern
buildings. \[footnote 4: This descriptive information is provided so the
reader has a better understanding of the program environment.\] In the
fall of 2003, the college had an enrollment of 7,000 students. Of these,
68 percent were African-American and 28 percent were Hispanic. The
college is currently suffering from a lack of space. As of our fall 2004
visit, it was unclear as to whether or not there would continue to be
room on campus for the MCHS after the 2004-05 school year.

The MCHS has been in existence since 1989. In the 2003-04 school year,
enrollment totaled approximately 330 students, with 45 percent African
American and 55 percent Hispanic students. The MCHS is housed on a
separate section of the campus and the facilities consist of 12 small
modular buildings. There is no indoor area where the student body and
staff can meet; instead a courtyard nearby serves as the central meeting
location. One building is designated as the main office and also houses
the principal's office.

Classes run from 8 a.m. until 3:10 p.m. and the school operates on a
modified block schedule. There are six alternating 70-minute periods
taught Monday through Thursday, with all classes meeting on Fridays for
shorter periods that range from 50 to 60 minutes. On Monday and
Wednesday the schedule consists of periods 1, 3, and 5, with 2, 4, and 6
scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday. There are 13 teachers, a program
coordinator who is a teacher on special assignment, a counselor, and a
principal on staff. During the 2003-04 school year, there was also an
assistant principal for counseling; however, this individual resigned
and as of our fall 2004 site visit the position was unfilled. The
administrative team consists of the principal, the program coordinator,
and (when the position is occupied) the assistant principal for
counseling.

Student Outreach

The outreach process employed by the MCHS is multifaceted. The first
step is mailing the application to all the public middle schools in the
district. Applications also are sent to the private and parochial
schools in the surrounding community, along with a letter providing
information on the school. In addition, during the 2003-04 school year
the principal presented the program at the district's principals'
meeting and shared the application with those in attendance. The MCHS
also has a good reputation with parents of its alumni, and many people
within the community inquire about attending the school based on word of
mouth recommendations.

In the past, the MCHS counseling staff have visited local feeder schools
and met with the counselors at those sites to identify students that
would benefit from the MCHS experience.

Middle College High School Application Process

Student applicants to the MCHS are screened and then selected based upon
a process that examines four components: letters of recommendation,
writing samples, grade-point-average (GPA), and scores on the California
Achievement Test, Sixth Edition (CAT/6). The students complete the first
two components and the school requests student records to examine CAT
scores and past academic performance.

A weighted rubric is used to score each component of the application,
and scores for all components are totaled and grouped into ranges (e.g.,
applications with scores in the 600s are put together, and those in the
500s are put together); a perfect score is 700. Each student's
application package is carefully screened to ensure that students
selected can develop the social and academic skills needed to attend
college by 11th grade. Due to the open campus environment and the
scholastic freedom that students experience by being able to take
courses at the community college, only students that can exhibit the
maturity to manage their actions are accepted into the school.

The principal selects the final 100 students to enter the ninth grade
from the applications received.

School Orientation Process

In August, ninth graders and other new students participate in an
orientation held at the community college's theater and coordinated by
the high school staff and administration. Parents are invited, and often
attend the orientation. The purpose of the orientation is to provide
students and parents with information about the MCHS and highlight
information contained within the student handbook, including
expectations, dress code, and conduct. General information regarding
dual enrollment and college matriculation opportunities and procedures
at MCHS also are discussed during the half-day orientation.

PreCollege Curriculum and Program

The ninth and 10th grades provide an opportunity for students to prepare
academically to start college courses in 11th grade. To prepare
students, teachers at the MCHS use standards-based instruction to
establish an academically rigorous environment. While incorporating both
content and performance standards into the curriculum, teachers also
differentiate instruction, so that weaknesses are being addressed and
strengthened.

Exhibit A-1 below outlines the district's requirements for graduation.
Students in the ninth and 10th grades take academic courses that meet
these requirements and prepare them for college-level work. In addition
to mathematics, English, world history, science, technology and the
arts, ninth grade students take a Life Skills course that provides them
with academic and career guidance. Also, in order to facilitate the many
steps to college enrollment, all ninth graders take the college
placement exams at the college's assessment center.

Exhibit A-1: Southern California Middle College High School District
Graduation Requirements

+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Subject                | Credits     | > Requirements                |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| English \[exhibit      | 40 credits  | > \* English 9                |
| footnote: Each high    |             | >                             |
| school course is worth |             | > \* English 10               |
| 10 credits, 5 per      |             | >                             |
| semester\]             |             | > \* American Literature or   |
|                        |             | > Contemporary Compositions   |
|                        |             | >                             |
|                        |             | > \* 12th- grade composition  |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| #### Social Science    | 30 credits  | > \* World History            |
|                        |             | >                             |
|                        |             | > \* U.S. History             |
|                        |             | >                             |
|                        |             | > \* Principles of American   |
|                        |             | > Democracy and Economics     |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Mathematics            | 20 credits  | > \* College preparatory math |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Lab Science            | 20 credits  | > \* 10 credits, biological   |
|                        |             | > science                     |
|                        |             | >                             |
|                        |             | > \* 10 credits, physical     |
|                        |             | > science                     |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Visual and Performance | 10 credits  | > \* Two semesters of arts    |
| Arts                   |             | > classes                     |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Applied Technology     | 10 credits  | > \* Two semesters of         |
|                        |             | > technology classes          |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Health                 | 5 credits   |                               |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Life Skills            | 5 credits   |                               |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Physical Education     | 20 credits  | > \* Four semesters of PE,    |
| (PE)                   |             | > team sports, or dance       |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Electives              | 70 credits  |                               |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+
| Total                  | 230 credits |                               |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------------------------+

MCHS freshmen and sophomores begin to experience a college environment
by attending career fairs and college fairs, among other activities, at
the community college. The MCHS curriculum also provides students with
opportunities to familiarize themselves with college facilities. For
example, the 10th- grade English teacher takes students to the college's
library and, while exposing them to the college setting, also works with
them on research and writing skills. The research and writing components
are an essential piece of the 10th- grade English curriculum, because if
students are going to be successful at the college they need to be able
to complete the many writing assignments encountered in college courses.

College Course Selection and Enrollment Process

Through an agreement between the school district and the college
district, students at the MCHS can take courses at the community college
to satisfy either high school electives or requirements. The school
district has identified college courses that may be used towards high
school graduation. For example, the College's American history course
fulfills the high school graduation requirement in U.S. history.

To choose and prepare for enrollment in college courses, students meet
one-on-one with the counselor at the MCHS and frequently with college
counselors as well. Usually starting in the 11th grade, the counselors
help to map out a schedule that allows students to take college courses
to meet some of their requirements. While most students at MCHS begin
taking college-level courses in the 11th grade, exceptions are made for
ninth and 10th grade students that exhibit the maturity and academic
ability to enter the college environment.

The California Community College district has established procedures for
all public school students who wish to enroll in college courses. In
addition to completing the regular college application, students submit
an additional application form that is signed by their parents and their
principal, for each course they wish to take. California Community
College reviews this form along with any previous course work completed
at the college. While non-MCHS students must be interviewed by college
officials in order to be approved for admission, the college omits this
step for MCHS students, trusting that the high school has sufficiently
screened them. In addition to completing the application forms, students
must pass the college placement exams in mathematics and language arts
prior to enrolling in credit-bearing courses. These procedures have been
established to ensure that students are successful in their college
course work.

College Course Curriculum and Credit-Earning Process

All dual credit courses are regular college courses taught at the
community college by college professors. The MCHS students usually
comprise a small number of the students in these courses; therefore no
adjustments are made to the curriculum or the textbooks. The example
below (exhibit A-2) illustrates how the courses offered at the high
school and at the college are integrated to develop individualized
student schedules.

Exhibit A-2: Southern California Middle College High School--- Sample
Schedule for11th- Grade Students

+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| Time   | Monday    | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday       |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| 8:00   | History   | Algebra | History   | Algebra  | 8:00 -- 8:50 |
| --     | 11        |         | 11        |          | a.m.         |
|        | \[exhibit |         | --        |          |              |
| 9:25   | footnote  |         | Political |          | ##           |
| a.m.   | a\] --    |         | and       |          | ### Period 1 |
|        | Political |         | Social    |          |              |
|        | and       |         | History   |          | Power        |
|        | Social    |         | of the    |          | Reading      |
|        | History   |         | United    |          |              |
|        | of the    |         | States    |          | 8:55 -- 9:45 |
|        | United    |         |           |          | a.m.         |
|        | States    |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | ##           |
|        |           |         |           |          | ### Period 2 |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | Algebra      |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| 9:55   | Homeroom  |         |           |          | 9:50 --      |
| --     |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | 10:15 a.m.   |
| 10:15  |           |         |           |          |              |
| a.m.   |           |         |           |          |              |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| 10:40  | Con       | Ch      | Con       | C        | 10:35 --     |
| --     | temporary | emistry | temporary | hemistry | 11:25 a.m.   |
| 12:30  |           |         |           |          |              |
| p.m.   | Co        |         | Co        |          | ##           |
|        | mposition |         | mposition |          | ### Period 3 |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | Composition  |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | 11:30 --     |
|        |           |         |           |          | 12:30 p.m.   |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | ##           |
|        |           |         |           |          | ### Period 4 |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | Chemistry    |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| 12:30  | Lunch     |         |           |          |              |
| --     |           |         |           |          |              |
| 1:10   |           |         |           |          |              |
| p.m.   |           |         |           |          |              |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+
| 1:15   | Spanish 2 | Theater | Spanish 2 | Theater  | 1:15 -- 2:10 |
| --     |           | 100     |           | 100 --   | p.m.         |
|        |           | \[      |           | Intr     |              |
| 3:10   |           | exhibit |           | oduction | ##           |
| p.m.   |           | f       |           | to       | ### Period 5 |
|        |           | ootnote |           | Theater  |              |
|        |           | b\] --  |           |          | Spanish 2    |
|        |           | Intro   |           |          |              |
|        |           | duction |           |          | 2:15 -- 3:10 |
|        |           | to      |           |          | p.m.         |
|        |           | Theater |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | ##           |
|        |           |         |           |          | ### Period 6 |
|        |           |         |           |          |              |
|        |           |         |           |          | Power        |
|        |           |         |           |          | Reading      |
+--------+-----------+---------+-----------+----------+--------------+

a)  History 11 is a college course taught at the community college.

b)  Theater 100 is a college course taught at the community college.

Award of Credit for Courses

Units earned at the community college are doubled when applied towards
meeting high school requirements. Therefore, a one-semester three-unit
community college course is valued at six high school credits.

At the college. Students are awarded credit upon completion of a course,
and credits are reflected on their college transcript.

At the high school. After completing college courses, the students take
their college transcripts to their high school counselor, who enters the
courses on the high school transcript. Only college classes that count
towards high school requirements are factored as part of the student's
GPA.

Support Services

Numerous supports are provided to students either through the MCHS staff
or through the three main counseling centers at the California Community
College. These three centers, each of which has its own facilities and
staff, focus on the areas of assessment, careers, and transfer. MCHS
students enrolled in college courses have access to the college services
because of their official status as college students; however, even MCHS
students not enrolled in college courses are welcomed by the centers'
staffs.

Academic Counseling. The MCHS counselor meets with all students to
ensure that they have the classes they need to graduate from high
school. The counselor usually does six graduation checks, meeting
one-on-one with students to review courses taken and courses needed for
graduation. A critical check occurs in the junior year, when letters are
sent at the end of semester listing the classes students still need to
take to meet their high school graduation requirements.

To ensure that students enrolled in college courses are provided the
academic supports they need to succeed, the high school conducts a
10-week or mid semester review. Students enrolled in college courses
must provide a progress report from the college to the high school. The
counselor reviews this report to determine if there is a problem and
what supports are needed in order for the student to successfully
complete the course.

Academic Tutoring. Since most college courses do not meet on Friday, the
school provides extra support during that time period to those students
taking college courses. While the title of the course, Power Reading,
does not always reflect the activities taking place, it provides
students an opportunity to complete their college assignments in an
environment supervised by a MCHS teacher. The teacher monitors students'
progress and determines if any interventions are necessary. High school
students enrolled in college courses also have access to college
tutoring services.

Career Awareness. Students are exposed to different career options
through both the high school and college counselors. The MCHS counseling
office is in the process of implementing a computer-based software
program, a career assessment tool. At the college's Career Center, MCHS
students can speak to counselors and attend workshops on resume writing,
or participate in special industry-themed seminars, such as a
semester-long seminar presented in the spring of 2004 by real estate
professionals.

To ensure that MCHS students are aware of the Career Center and its
services, all ninth graders, some time during their freshman year, are
provided with a tour of the center.

College Awareness. Because MCHS students enroll in California Community
College courses and have full access to the college campus and college
services, college awareness is a daily activity. To further promote a
college-going culture, the high school sponsors or collaborates with the
community college on field trips to other college campuses and college
fairs. The high school counselor also coordinates in-class presentations
by college speakers. In addition, counselors from the different college
counseling centers make presentations to MCHS classes to encourage
students in their college aspirations.

The required ninth grade life skills class focuses on steps that
students must take to prepare for and enter college. Themes explored
include the high school courses needed to enter college, the range of
college options available to students, the college application process,
and the federal, state, and private financial aid application processes.

College Transition. Since the MCHS is a small school, with 64 seniors in
the 2003-04 school year, the counselor works with each one to ensure
that all students continue in college after high school graduation.

The college's transfer center holds presentations, open to MCHS
students, for students at California Community College who wish to
transfer to a baccalaureate- granting institution. The Transfer Center
also works with students individually to help them transfer any credits
earned at California Community College to other colleges.

The MCHS provides individual counseling for financial aid, as well as
workshops on applying for state and federal aid. The counselor uses
homeroom time to speak with the students about upcoming application
deadlines and to encourage them to apply for both college and financial
aid. College counseling staff also assist in these efforts.

Professional Development

While regular professional development is provided through the school
district, most teachers also participate in targeted professional
development that is encouraged by the principal. For example, the school
started implementing the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID)
program in the fall of 2004. In preparation, several staff members
attended an AVID summer training institute. AVID promotes the
college-going theme across the curriculum by incorporating specific
techniques such as writing, critical reading, and inquiry through group
or research projects. As another example, a new science teacher attended
a conference on watershed education and subsequently participated in a
collaborative program between the school district and city environmental
officials.

Funding

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) and Average Daily Attendance (ADA).
California state policy stipulates that public school students enrolled
in college courses are counted in the same way as matriculated college
students for funding purposes. As such, the community college receives
FTE funding for all MCHS students enrolled in college credit courses.
However, the state limits students to taking no more than 11 units per
semester. The school district also receives funding provided the
students are enrolled in high school for a minimum of four hours per
day.

Fees and Textbooks. The California Community College district waives
tuition for public school students enrolled in college courses, provided
they enroll for no more than 11 units per semester. The school district,
on the other hand, pays the cost of college textbooks. In order to
decrease program costs, an agreement among the MCHS, the community
college and the school district allows the district to receive credits
for returned books. During the buy-back period, students return books to
the MCHS, it returns the books to the community college, and the college
issues a credit to the district.

Exhibit A-3: Southern California Middle College High School Outcomes,
2003-04

Student Outcomes \[Exhibit footnote a: All data come from school staff
and were not externally validated.\]

\* The total enrollment at the middle college was 304 students, with 72
percent eligible for the National School Lunch Program's free or reduced
price lunches.

\* The senior class included 64 students. Sixty-three (98 percent)
graduated from the school.

\* During the fall of 2003, 150 students were enrolled in college
courses at the community college. Of those, 142 completed their courses
with a grade of C or better.

\* During the spring of 2004, 175 students were enrolled in college
courses at the community college. Of those, 162 completed their courses
with a grade of C or better.

\* The total number of credits earned by California MCHS students was
545 in the fall of 2003 and 735 in the spring of 2004.

\* Students enrolled in college courses in the fall of 2003 earned, on
average, 3.6 credits. Those enrolled in the spring of 2004 earned, on
average, 4.2 credits.

\* Fifty-six of the 63 seniors that graduated during the 2003-04 school
years plan to attend college. Twelve of the graduates plan to attend
California Community College, the postsecondary partner of Southern
California Middle College High School.

Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment Program Profile

As previously described in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs October 2004 site profiles, \[footnote
1: Please see the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transition Programs study's Web page on the

U.S. Department of Education's Web site to download and view two-page
profiles of each of the study's five case sites at:
[www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html](http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html).\]
the CBTP in Iowa is composed of a partnership between Rural High School,
Iowa Community College, and a local health care center, Regional Medical
Center. Because Rural High School is small, the program includes
students from multiple high schools in the area. The dual enrollment
\[footnote 2: Please also see on the study Web page, listed above, the
program description for more information on dual enrollment.\] program
in Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, is focused on health careers and allows
students to earn both college and high school credits simultaneously and
prepare for a career in the health field.

Iowa Community College serves seven counties surrounding a metropolitan
area. \[footnote 3: This descriptive information is provided so the
reader has a better understanding of the program environment.\] In
addition to the main campus, located in a major city in the center of
its service area, Iowa Community College has five satellite campuses.
These are part of the college's efforts to be accessible to all students
in the area; without them, students in the far reaches of the seven
counties would be an hour's drive from the college. The main campus is
large, with manicured lawns and 26 academic buildings. It also has a
number of agricultural fields, new sports facilities, an equestrian
center, and student apartments. In the fall of 2002, Iowa Community
College enrolled 14,000 students. The student population was
approximately 80 percent white.

Rural High School is located 45 minutes from the main campus of Iowa
Community College. The high school enrolls approximately 400 students in
grades 9 through 12 and it is the only secondary school in its town. It
is a single story building with two wings leading out from a central
gathering area. Three percent of its students are African-American or
Hispanic, and the rest are white. Eighteen percent of students are
eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The dual enrollment program runs from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. each afternoon.
Students leave high school in order to attend the program. During the
second semester of the program, students complete clinical rotations in
addition to their classroom studies, in order to practice their nursing
skills.

In past years, the dual enrollment program has met at the Regional
Medical Center, which is a small health care center only a few minutes
drive from Rural High School. The Regional Medical Center has 25 beds,
an emergency room, and outpatient services for the surrounding
community. Classes were held at the medical center's cafeteria, which is
a large, bright room on the first floor suitable for such activity. For
the 2004-05 school year, a space shortage at the medical center resulted
in the program changing its location. Classes now meet at a satellite
campus of Iowa Community College, a 20- minute drive from Rural High
School.

The Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program is one of
nearly 200 dual enrollment programs overseen by Iowa Community College.
Therefore, the college has an extensive administrative organization
devoted to overseeing and coordinating dual enrollment opportunities in
its service area. This includes four college-based administrators who
serve as liaisons among the high schools, college academic departments,
and employer partners. There is also an advisory board, through which
industry professionals provide guidance to program administrators and
staff.

There are two dual enrollment instructors teaching in the Metropolitan
Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program. The course instructor, who is
also a registered nurse on staff at a local hospital, is responsible for
day-to-day instruction and student evaluation. The clinical instructor
is also a registered nurse, and is responsible for overseeing small
groups of students as they practice their skills in workplace settings.
Both instructors are considered employees of the college. At Rural High
School, one of the two guidance counselors oversees the coordination of
the dual enrollment program.

Student Outreach

Metropolitan Counties Dual Enrollment staff use multiple methods to
inform potential students about the program. Typically, Iowa Community
College provides information to Rural High School, and Rural High School
staff members use this information to encourage students to enroll.

Iowa Community College has created and produced a number of outreach
materials, including glossy brochures and posters in order to attract
students to the program. These materials highlight the benefits of
program participation, explain the program, and provide information
about enrollment. They are provided to the high school for display in
the guidance office, classrooms and hallways. This information is also
available to students through a Web site maintained by Iowa Community
College. In addition, Iowa Community College provides high schools with
information about the dual enrollment program that may be included in
the high school's course of study guide.

Finally, Iowa Community College holds an annual recruitment day on the
college campus to provide interested students with more information
about the program. Prospective students can learn about the curriculum,
watch a demonstration in which current students demonstrate their
nursing skills, and have the opportunity to ask program administrators
and instructors questions.

Although potential students receive information about the program from a
variety of formal information sources, most recruitment efforts are
informal. The program relies heavily on guidance counselors seeking out
students who may benefit from the program and encouraging them to
enroll. Similarly, high school teachers (such as science teachers or the
school nurse) often direct students with an interest in health careers
to the program. Finally, Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
has a strong reputation in the Rural High School community. Many
students are recruited into the program by the positive word of mouth
that the program receives. Iowa Community College and Rural High School
staff rely heavily on these informal recruitment mechanisms.

Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment Program Application Process

Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment is an open-access program
that seeks to include all juniors and seniors interested in health
careers. The college-based administrators of the program have made a
deliberate choice not to require a minimum grade point average or
standardized test score.

However, because the program is academically demanding and requires a
high level of maturity from the students (particularly when interacting
with patients), Iowa Community College asks that the staff members at
Rural High School undertake an informal screening process. They expect
that the guidance counselors will discourage students with poor
attendance records or past disciplinary actions on record from
participating in the program.

Additionally, in order to ensure that dual enrollment students are able
to succeed in their college courses, Iowa Community College and Rural
High School require that all dual enrollment students successfully
complete a biology course and a wellness course prior to enrolling in
the program. These courses provide students with the content knowledge
necessary to succeed in college-level health courses. They are not,
however, explicitly linked to the college curriculum used in the dual
enrollment program.

Students who wish to participate in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa,
Dual Enrollment program must complete an application form. This form is
essentially a registration form, on which students are asked to indicate
their name, contact information, and the semester during which they
would like to begin participation. This information is submitted to Iowa
Community College. At the same time, students must register through
Rural High School for the program, as they would for any other high
school course.

Program Orientation Process

Each fall, the course instructor of the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa,
Dual Enrollment program conducts an orientation for the students
enrolled in the program during the first week of classes. The instructor
gives the students explicit instructions regarding program expectations,
including the strict attendance policy, grading policies, and
immunization requirements. During this time, the instructor also
describes the curriculum and gives an overview of program activities.

College Course Registration Process

Once students elect to enroll in the program, they commit to taking
seven college courses. These courses fulfill the prerequisites for most
health careers programs at Iowa Community College.

As noted earlier, high school registration for the program is the same
as registration for any other high school course. With regard to college
registration, over the summer, Iowa Community College sends students
enrolled in the program through the high school an information packet
and registration forms. The students must return the registration forms
to the program instructor during the first week of the classes. The
instructor, in turn, submits the completed forms to Iowa Community
College.

College Credit Curriculum and Program

Students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program
earn 10.5 college credits by taking seven college courses: Professionals
in Health, Health Skills 1, Health Skills 2, Basic Medical Terminology,
First Aid Concepts, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for the Health
Care Provider, and Nurse Aid. Students who successfully complete the
Nurse Aid course are eligible to sit for the national licensing
examination to become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Upon passing
the exam (which they must sign up for independently of the dual
enrollment program), students may become employed as nursing assistants.

As a group, these courses provide students with a basic background for a
variety of health professions, including nursing, dental hygiene, and
physical therapy. The curriculum exposes them to the types of health
professions they may enter, as well as the knowledge they need to
succeed in these fields. Students learn basic anatomy and medical
terminology, as well as many skills required of health professionals,
including basic patient care. Students also learn immediately practical
skills, including CPR and first aid.

The courses taught through the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual
Enrollment program, particularly the Nurse Aid course, require students
to participate in clinical practice. This includes working, under
supervision, at Regional Medical Center and at a local nursing home.
During their clinical practice, students practice waking patients,
bathing them and bringing them breakfast, as well as taking their vital
signs. For this clinical experience, Metropolitan Counties Dual
Enrollment students are expected to arrive at the hospital at 6:30 a.m.
in order to complete their duties prior to school. The students also
spend three eight-hour shifts at the nursing home as part of their
clinical training, which allows them to experience the hours and demands
placed on CNAs working in long-term care. On days that they conduct
their clinical rotations, students are excused from their afternoon
class session. During both clinical experiences, students are expected
to perform specific competencies, or skills, under the eye of an
instructor. They are graded on their performance of these competencies,
and must perform them successfully in order to be eligible to take the
CNA examination.

Metropolitan Counties Dual Enrollment program instructors use the same
textbooks and cover the same topics that instructors do at Iowa
Community College. Students also are held to the same standards as their
college-aged counterparts.

Exhibit A-4: Sample Course Sequence -- Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual
Enrollment Program---Health Careers Academy Sample Course Sequence

+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sem   | Courses                                                      |
| ester |                                                              |
+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1     | Professionals in Health (2 college credits)                  |
|       |                                                              |
|       | Health Skills I (1 college credit)                           |
|       |                                                              |
|       | First Aid Concepts (.5 college credit)                       |
|       |                                                              |
|       | Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for the Health Care      |
|       | Provider (.5 college credit)                                 |
|       |                                                              |
|       | Basic Medical Terminology, part I (credit earned after       |
|       | completion of part II)                                       |
+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2     | Health Skills II (1 college credit)                          |
|       |                                                              |
|       | Certified Nurse Aid (3 college credits) \--includes 40 hours |
|       | of clinical practice                                         |
|       |                                                              |
|       | Basic Medical Terminology, part II (2.5 college credits for  |
|       | both semesters)                                              |
+-------+--------------------------------------------------------------+

However, the structure of the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual
Enrollment program results in a different organization of instruction
than typically occurs at the college. Rather than offering the students
seven discrete courses, Iowa Community College nursing faculty have
worked carefully to combine them into a seamless curriculum covering
multiple courses simultaneously. Students in the program attend class
every day (in contrast to a college student who might only have class
three days a week). Therefore, on any given day, students in the
Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program may spend 15
minutes studying medical terminology, 45 minutes learning about
professionals in health, and another 30 minutes practicing first aid
skills. The following day, students may spend 60 minutes on medical
terminology and 30 minutes covering the Health Skills I curriculum. This
structure allows the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
instructor and students to make connections across the subjects, to
spend more time on subjects that are difficult, and to eliminate
redundancies among the courses.

It is important to note that, while the seven courses in the
Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program are not taught
according to the same structure or schedule as they would be at Iowa
Community College, the content and course expectations are identical to
those at the college. Iowa Community College has created in-depth course
syllabi and instructor's guides for each course. These guides include
PowerPoint presentations that instructors may use during class and
provide detailed information regarding the knowledge and skills that
students should have at the end of each course. Each instructor is
provided with, and expected to closely follow, these curriculum guides.
Additionally, Iowa Community College has created companion student
guides, which provide outlines of each lesson and highlight the expected
learning outcomes.

Award of Credit for Courses

Although the courses at the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
program are taught together, dually enrolled students receive discrete
grades on their college transcripts for each of the seven courses.
Students may fail one course (Basic Medical

Terminology, for example) but pass the others; this is reflected on
their college

transcript. At the high school level, however, students receive only one
grade---an aggregate of their college course grades---each semester.

At the high school. The dual enrollment instructor submits an
end-of-semester grade to the high school counselor. The counselor enters
this grade onto students' transcripts. Students receive only one high
school grade per semester, an indicator of their overall performance in
the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program, which is
counted as elective credit. Students receive one high school credit per
quarter (four credits total).

At the college. Students are awarded credit for each course they
successfully complete. The instructor enters students' grades into Iowa
Community Colleges' grading system, which is accessible online. Once the
grades have been entered by the instructor, they appear on students'
college transcripts.

Support Services

Students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program
have access to a variety of support services. These activities are
facilitated by the program's location at the Regional Medical Center and
the satellite campus, as well as by the employment of a practicing nurse
as its instructor.

Academic Support

Students who encounter academic difficulties with their college-level
course work have a number of ways to get assistance. First, the high
school is responsible for providing tutoring and supplementary academic
assistance. Students, particularly those with learning disabilities and
Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), receive assistance from the high
school resource center. These students also receive the same academic
accommodations (for example, additional test time) for their dual
enrollment course as they do for their high school courses. At the high
school, the guidance counselor and the school nurse also provide
academic assistance to those students who need it.

Because the college-level classes offered through the Metropolitan
Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program are small in size (usually
around 20 students) and meet daily, the students develop a strong
rapport with their instructor. Frequently, the instructor offers
academic assistance to students who need additional help; this is
typically provided on an as-needed basis.

Finally, students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
program have access to all academic support services available at Iowa
Community College. These resources include tutors and academic advisors.
Because the college is approximately 45 minutes away from Rural High
School, however, it is not always convenient for students to access
these services. Instead, they rely heavily on high school-based academic
support.

Career Awareness

Because the focus of the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
program is on preparing students for a wide range of health careers, the
program explicitly addresses career awareness, exposure, and
preparation.

The curriculum covered by the program's college courses helps students
explore a variety of health-related occupations. In particular, the
Professionals in Health course provides an overview of the professional
opportunities in health "from physicians to occupational therapy."
Additionally, students learn about career opportunities during their
clinical rotations at the Regional Medical Center and the local nursing
home.

All students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program
participate in at least one job shadow and have the opportunity to
participate in up to four additional job shadows. These day-long events
give students an opportunity to explore one or two health occupations
in-depth. They are coordinated through Iowa Community College's
Workforce Learning Center (WLC), a nonprofit organization housed at and
supported by the college. The WLC coordinates work-based learning
opportunities for all high school students throughout the seven-county
region. Occasionally, the course instructor uses her professional
connections to provide interested students with additional job shadowing
opportunities at the Rural Medical Center.

Career Preparation

Career preparation is explicitly addressed in a variety of ways. As with
career exploration, the program's curriculum provides instruction in
career skills. The Professionals in Health course includes lessons on
the job skills and professional habits for success in the health
careers. These include emphasizing the importance of personal
responsibility, conscientious performing of job tasks, and ensuring
patient confidentiality. Students also learn how to fill out a job
application for health-related occupations and have the opportunity to
engage in mock job interviews.

Students also develop career skills through their clinical rotations.
During these experiences, they are expected to behave as a practicing
nurse's aide would, including treating patients with a high level of
respect, watching for patients' safety, and performing their duties in a
responsible, caring manner. Throughout both the class curriculum and the
clinical experiences, the instructor provides instruction regarding job
skills and expectations, job hunting strategies, and professional
behaviors.

Students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program
also have access to a variety of career preparation services. The
guidance counselors at Rural High School work with the students to
develop a career plan, which includes identifying career goals and the
educational experiences needed to achieve those goals. Students in the
program also may use all of the career-related services at Iowa
Community College, including job placement centers.

College Transition

Students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program are
given multiple resources to prepare them for the transition to college.
First, Iowa Community College offers a number of on-campus events that
expose students to the college campus. These events include the program
orientation, as well as Transition Night during which students may visit
the college and attend a "program fair" in order to learn about the
academic opportunities available at the college and interact with
college faculty and staff. Finally, students attend an end-of-year
celebration at Iowa Community College.

Iowa Community College considers all students in the Metropolitan
Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program to be regularly matriculated
Iowa Community College students. As such, students in the program may
receive a college ID, which gives them access to the college's library,
sports facilities and special events. However, students must visit the
main college campus in order to get this ID; as noted earlier, the
distance between the college and Rural High School makes it difficult
for many students to take advantage of this program feature.

As Iowa Community College students, dual enrollment students also have
access to all of the college services related to admissions and
matriculation. They may meet with college enrollment counselors in order
to receive assistance in registering for additional college classes.
Students in the program also are considered returning students, rather
than new students, the fall after program completion. This enables them
to register early for their classes. Because many prerequisites for
majors in the health careers have long waiting lists, early registration
is helpful in ensuring that those who wish to continue in the health
care field are able to take the courses that they need.

Finally, students in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment
program are given information about and encouraged to apply for
scholarships for students in health-related programs by their program
instructor.

Professional Development

State policy requires that all community college adjunct instructors
engage in college-sponsored professional development. Health academy
instructors participate in these activities, which include workshops on
curriculum writing and lesson planning.

In addition, the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program
asks instructors to engage in course-specific professional development
activities. All new instructors attend a program orientation, during
which program coordinators and curricular specialists provide
information about the curriculum and instructional expectations. All
instructors also attend three meetings a year. These meetings focus on
curriculum, instruction, and any other issues that have arisen, such as
developing discipline or addressing diversity in the classroom. These
meetings are run by staff members in Iowa Community College's Health
Careers Department and may also include guest speakers.

Finally, program staff based at the college visit each dual enrollment
class at least once during the year. These visits are used to provide
feedback to the instructors and to help them improve their teaching.
They serve as informal professional development opportunities.

Funding

Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and Average Daily Attendance (ADA)

By law, all high schools in Iowa must pay for students to take dual
enrollment courses if an equivalent course is not available at the high
school. However, in order to support interinstitutional collaboration
and encourage technical education, Iowa has developed a special funding
formula for technically-oriented dual enrollment programs. The state
reimburses Rural High School at 1.48 times the average daily attendance
rate for each student enrolled in the Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual
Enrollment program. \[footnote 4: Iowa Code 2003: Section 257.11\] The
high school uses this additional funding to pay Iowa Community College
for the costs it incurs in running the program, including the
instructor's salary, books, supplies, and staff time for program
administration. The 1.48 funding Rural High School receives from the
state does not cover the entire cost of the program, and so it must find
additional money for the program elsewhere in its budget.

The college does not receive FTE funding for students in the
Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment Program.

Fees and Textbooks

The Metropolitan Counties, Iowa, Dual Enrollment program is extremely
low cost for students. Tuition, books, and fees are paid for by Rural
High School, as per its agreement with Iowa Community College. Students
are expected to return their textbooks; if they would like to keep them,
they must pay for the books themselves. Students also must buy their own
hospital scrubs to wear during their clinical rotations. The college
provides the scrubs to students at a reduced price.

State policy stipulates that, if students fail their dual enrollment
courses, they must reimburse Rural High School the cost of their
participation in the program.

Exhibit A-5: Metropolitan Counties, Iowa Dual Enrollment Outcomes,
2003-04

Student Outcomes

\* The total enrollment at Rural High School was 392 students, with 75
(19 percent) eligible for the National School Lunch Program's free or
reduced price lunches.

\* The senior class included 82 students, and the junior class included
97 students.

All 82 seniors graduated from Rural High School in the 2003-04 school
year. The four-year graduation rate for this class was 95.7 percent.

\* During the 2003-04 school year, three students (all 12th- graders)
from Rural High School, were enrolled in the Health Careers Academy. One
student was eligible for the National School Lunch Program's free or
reduced price lunches.

\* All three Rural High School students enrolled in the 2003-04 Health
Careers Academy completed their fall 2003 and spring 2004 courses with
either an A or a P (pass).

\* Each student enrolled in the Health Careers Academy earned 10.5
credits during the 2003-04 school year. The total number of credits
earned by Rural High School students for the 2003-04 school year was
31.5 credits.

\* One hundred percent of the students from Rural High School enrolled
in the Health Careers Academy in 2003-04 planned to attend college after
graduation in order to pursue a nursing degree.

\* Two of the three students enrolled in the Health Careers Academy
enrolled at Iowa Community College's associate degree in nursing program
in fall 2004. The third enrolled in a local four-year college.

Minnesota IB Program

Program Profile

As previously described in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs September 2004 site profiles,
\[footnote1: Please see the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs study's Web page on the U.S. Department
of Education's Web site to download and view two-page profiles of each
of the study's five case sites at:
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\] the
Minnesota site is an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In
general, the IB program offers college-level classes to 11th- and 12th-
graders, with the possibility of earning college credit upon successful
completion of examinations. \[footnote 2: Please also see on the study
Web page, listed above, the program description for more information on
the IB program model.\] Courses taken before the eleventh and twelfth
grade years are classified as Pre-IB classes.

The Minnesota International Baccalaureate program, located in a high
school, has been in existence since the early 1990s. During the 2003-04
school year, the high school's total enrollment was 1,415 students, with
692 students enrolled in the IB program. The school's student body is
diverse; approximately 30 percent of the students are African-American
or Hispanic, 20 percent are Asian, and 50 percent are white.
Approximately 45 percent of the school's students are eligible for free
or reduced lunch, and 10 percent are classified as ELLs. Of those in the
IB program, 10 percent are African-American or Hispanic, 15 percent are
Asian, and 75 percent are white.

The district in which Minnesota International Baccalaureate High School
is located has a school choice program that allows students to select
their high school based on interest rather than neighborhood. Students
rank high schools in order of preference, and the district uses a
lottery system to place students in the schools. This system ensures
that each high school has students with a range of academic abilities
and that high schools in the district draw their students from the
entire city, rather than only the surrounding neighborhood.

Minnesota International Baccalaureate High School is located in a
middle-class, affluent neighborhood with the typical wide, quiet streets
and large lawns, and consists of one main building with several floors.
\[footnote 3: This descriptive information is provided so the reader has
a better understanding of the program environment.\] The school has been
undergoing significant organizational changes during the last four
years, due to its implementation of a smaller learning communities
\[footnote 4: Smaller learning communities are defined by the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation as small high schools or schools-within-schools
(ideally 400 students or fewer) that provide a personalized learning
environment where every student has an adult advocate, students feel
less alienated, and students are actively engaged in school activities.
For more information on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Smaller
Learning Communities program, please visit:

www.gatesfoundation.org/education/transformingHighschools/default.htm.
Last accessed on Sept. 2, 2005.\] grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation. The four

smaller learning communities are organized around the broad themes
called:

Technology and Science, Global Vision, Health and Human Services, and
Liberal

Arts. All students in the IB program also belong to a smaller learning
community.

As part of the smaller learning communities reorganization, the school
implemented advisory periods, during which groups of approximately 20
students meet with a teacher so that they develop a close relationship
with at least one adult. Students remain with the same advisory teacher
for their entire high school experience. (The exception to this is that
students in the most intense IB pathways are placed in their own
advisories for their junior and senior years). During advisories, which
meet three times per week, students engage in informal activities to get
to know one another and spend time developing a six-year plan
encompassing high school course work and post-high school education and
employment goals.

Although the IB program is the largest CBTP in the school, there are
other opportunities for students to earn college credit. The school
offers a number of Tech-Prep courses as well as Advanced Placement (AP)
English. Students also may take a limited number of courses through
College in the High Schools or the Postsecondary Enrollment Options
program, which are state dual enrollment programs offering students the
opportunity to take college classes, either in high school or on a
college campus.

Classes run from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The school is on a block
schedule, with classes meeting 90 minutes a day for 1 semester. The
school administration is composed of a principal, three assistant
principals, and three counselors. IB administrative staff includes an IB
program coordinator and the IB calculus teacher who coordinates IB
classes and testing schedules. Additional service providers include a
parent coordinator, a career and college center staff person, and the
coordinator of the school's Multicultural Excellence Program (MEP), a
program encouraging minority students to plan for and attend college.

All students in the high school have the opportunity to participate in
the IB program. In the ninth and 10th grades, students can begin taking
pre-IB classes. During their 10th grade year, students meet with IB
staff to discuss the three alternate pathways for continuing in the
program. One pathway is to pursue a full IB diploma, which comprises the
majority of a student's class schedule. Students who pursue the full IB
Diploma must take exams in all six IB subject areas, as well as
additional requirements detailed below. The second pathway is the IB
honors program, which includes most of the components of the IB diploma
pathway. Finally, there is the certificate option, which allows students
to choose to take an IB course or exam in their junior or senior year in
at least one subject area. Students select from these options based on
their interests and academic goals.

Student Outreach

Outreach and recruitment for the Minnesota International Baccalaureate
program has historically focused on two moments in students' educational
careers: when they select their high school as eighth graders, and when
they choose their IB pathway in 11th grade.

The Minnesota IB program serves to attract students to the high school
itself, as the program gives parents a reason to select the high school
over others in the district. Each November, prospective parents are
invited to attend an open house at the high school. An additional event
is held each January, when the school participates in a citywide
recruitment fair as part of the district's school choice initiative.
Finally, prospective parents can visit the school during the month of
February, to observe IB and non-IB classes.

The IB coordinator attends all of these events, and an IB parent
volunteer, IB teachers, and current IB students often attend, as well.
Parents are encouraged to select the high school for their children and
enroll them in pre-IB courses beginning in the ninth grade. At these
recruiting sessions, the IB coordinator communicates to prospective
students and parents that the IB program will give all students the
opportunity to enjoy learning, work hard, and be challenged by the
program's project-based work and assessments. The coordinator also
answers parents' questions and concerns. Brochures and information
packets are available to provide program details.

The IB program coordinator and IB instructors encourage students to stay
enrolled during the ninth and 10th grades. Usually, this includes
identifying those students at risk of leaving the IB program and
speaking with them one-on-one about the benefits of participating. In
addition, IB instructors work to recruit additional ninth and 10th
graders into the program. Because all IB instructors teach non-IB
classes as well, they are able to identify potential candidates and
encourage them to consider one of the three IB pathways.

At the beginning of 11th grade, students must decide whether to pursue
the diploma, honors or certificate pathway. This process is more
informal than the recruitment into the pre-IB program. Students meet
with the IB coordinator (and, frequently, their IB teachers) to discuss
the each pathway. The coordinator works with students to ensure that
they enroll in a pathway that is both rigorous and aligned with their
goals.

Despite the program's open-access status, and the goal of including a
range of students in IB courses, IB students are not as diverse as the
school as a whole. Therefore, in 2004-05, the staff instituted new
recruiting mechanisms targeted at underrepresented groups. In the fall
of 2004, the IB coordinator held an IB recruitment session for parents
of current high school students as part of a larger school-wide parent
event. This session, which was held in the evening to accommodate
parents' schedules, included a presentation demonstrating that the
program is appropriate for all students in the school.

The principal and the IB coordinator are also working with middle school
counselors, who are responsible for registering students for their ninth
grade classes, to ensure that they understand that IB is not a program
only for elite students. The high school administration hopes that this
will increase the number of students enrolled in pre-IB courses and that
this will eventually broaden diploma, honors and certificate
participation.

In addition, the IB coordinator is working with the coordinator of the
school's MEP to develop support systems for students of color in IB
courses. The MEP coordinator is encouraging minority students to enroll
(or remain enrolled) in IB courses as part of their MEP participation.
The MEP and IB coordinators also are working together to help students
of color in the IB program connect with one another in order to develop
a network of supportive peers. Finally, the IB coordinator also has
established relationships with community groups, such as the United
States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hmong American Alliance (a
local Minnesota organization that provides support services to the
growing Hmong refugee population (from Laos) in Minnesota), in an effort
to provide mentors for IB students of color.

International Baccalaureate Application Process

The Minnesota IB Program is committed to enrolling students with a range
of academic backgrounds. Therefore, it has no official application
process or prerequisites. Students need only to register for pre-IB
courses during the regular high school registration period.

There are two exceptions to this open-access policy. Students who have
not passed the eighth grade reading exam are discouraged (though not
forbidden) from enrolling in pre-IB courses. The reasons for this are
two-fold: first, passing the exam is required for high school
graduation, and students who have not passed it are enrolled in a
special language arts class. The curriculum of this class focuses on
preparation for the exam and does not align with the IB language arts
curriculum. Secondly, students who cannot pass the eighth grade exam are
unlikely to have the reading and analytic skills needed for IB course
work.

Students in their junior and senior years may encounter difficulties
enrolling in IB Diploma courses, even with the open enrollment policy,
if they did not take the pre-IB course of study. Although in theory
students may switch from non-IB into the IB program at any point in
their academic careers, those students who did not take pre-IB courses
frequently find that they do not have the academic background and
knowledge to pursue diploma-level study in their junior and senior
years. For this reason, the school tries to encourage all students to
take pre-IB courses, even if they do not think they will eventually
pursue the diploma program.

Pre-IB Curriculum and Program

The ninth and 10th grade pre-IB program is designed to provide broad
preparation for the

11th- and 12th-grade IB classes. Pre-IB classes help to develop and
refine higher level

thinking skills, writing techniques, and oral communications so that
students are prepared

for the IB classes they will take in their junior and senior years. All
pre-IB classes are taught by IB-trained teachers and are closely aligned
with the IB diploma curriculum. The pre-IB program offers classes in all
six standard IB subject areas, as described below.

IB Curriculum and Program

The IB program has six core academic subject areas: English, second
languages, experimental sciences, arts, mathematics, and individuals and
societies. The curriculum of each subject area is developed by the
International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) and updated every seven
years. Teachers work to ensure that the IB curriculum is closely aligned
with Minnesota state standards in each academic area.

The IBO offers its curriculum at two levels, the Standard Level and the
Higher Level. Although both levels are academically rigorous, the
Standard Level course work and examinations require less content
knowledge and mastery than those in the Higher Level. Schools may choose
which courses to offer at each level based on the expertise and interest
of their faculty. The Minnesota International Baccalaureate High School
offers nine subjects at the Higher Level and ten at the Standard Level.
In order to be eligible for an IB Diploma, students must take at least
three Higher Level courses. Students select which courses they want to
take at each level based on those offered by their school.

IB students take examinations developed by the IBO in May of their
junior and senior years. IB examinations are graded by examiners from
around the world, and they measure students' progress against
consistent, well-defined, international standards of achievement.
Examinations are scored on a scale of one to seven, and those that
receive a score of four or higher generally lead to college credit,
although each postsecondary institution's policies on credit acceptance
and credit award vary.

IB Diploma

Students in the IB diploma pathway take classes and exams in all six IB
academic subject areas, and therefore this pathway is the most
academically challenging IB option. In addition to course work and
examinations in all six subject areas, the IB diploma pathway also
requires students to fulfill additional components. First, students must
complete what is known as the Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) project,
through which they become involved in their community by completing and
reflecting upon at least 150 hours of community service activities,
sports, and theater or musical productions.

Students enrolled in the IB diploma pathway also are expected to take a
semester-long interdisciplinary course, Theory of Knowledge (TOK),
during their senior year. In this class, students look at moral,
political and aesthetic judgments that individuals make in their daily
lives. The TOK course was designed to stimulate students' critical
reflection on the concept of knowledge. It challenges them to question
how knowledge is formed, to be aware of biases (subjective and
ideological), and to encourage them to appreciate other cultural and
social perspectives.

IB Diploma students must also write a 4,000 word essay about a topic of
special interest to them. This essay is based on independent research
and is expected to convey the higher-level writing skills expected at
the postsecondary level. Finally, Diploma students are enrolled in a
special IB advisory section in order to provide them with additional
program information and a network of peer support.

IB Honors

The second IB pathway, IB honors, includes most of the components of the
IB Diploma pathway. This pathway was designed to recognize that many
students want to pursue a rigorous IB course of study but may not wish
to commit to pursuing the full Diploma. IB honors requires students to
take IB exams in four subject areas, instead of six. Students are still
expected to complete the CAS project, take the TOK course, and
participate in an IB advisory. Students in the IB honors pathway,
however, are not expected to write the 4,000- word essay.

Certificate Option

The third pathway that students in the Minnesota IB program can select
is the certificate option. In this pathway, students can choose to
complete the course work and exams in one or more IB courses during
their junior or senior years, yet they do not have to complete either
the 4,000-word essay or the CAS project, take the TOK class, or leave
their smaller learning community advisory. The certificate option
enables students who may be wary of the rigorous diploma or honors
pathways to still participate in the program.

Although it is not considered a pathway, the Minnesota IB program does
allow students who are not enrolled in the IB program to take one or
more classes without taking an IB examination. This option gives all
students the opportunity to take the rigorous classes.

The components of the three pathways at Minnesota IB program are further
detailed in the chart below.

Exhibit A-6: Minnesota IB Program Pathways, Options and Requirements

+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| #### Re    | Full IB       | IB Honors    | IB Exam       | Enr     |
| quirements | Diploma       | Program      | Certificate   | ollment |
|            |               |              |               | in IB   |
|            |               |              |               | Classes |
|            |               |              |               | \[f     |
|            |               |              |               | ootnote |
|            |               |              |               | a:      |
|            |               |              |               | A       |
|            |               |              |               | lthough |
|            |               |              |               | enr     |
|            |               |              |               | ollment |
|            |               |              |               | in an   |
|            |               |              |               | IB      |
|            |               |              |               | class   |
|            |               |              |               | is not  |
|            |               |              |               | con     |
|            |               |              |               | sidered |
|            |               |              |               | a       |
|            |               |              |               | p       |
|            |               |              |               | athway, |
|            |               |              |               | it is   |
|            |               |              |               | an      |
|            |               |              |               | option  |
|            |               |              |               | av      |
|            |               |              |               | ailable |
|            |               |              |               | to      |
|            |               |              |               | stud    |
|            |               |              |               | ents.\] |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| ####       | Must take     | Must take    | Must take     | Not     |
| # IB Exams | exams in all  | exams in     | exam in one   | r       |
|            | six subject   | four subject | or more       | equired |
|            | areas         | areas        | subject areas |         |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| Extended   | Required      | Not required | Not required  | Not     |
| Essay      |               |              |               | r       |
|            |               |              |               | equired |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| Community  | Required      | Required     | Not required  | Not     |
| Action     |               |              |               | r       |
| Service    |               |              |               | equired |
| (CAS) (at  |               |              |               |         |
| least 150  |               |              |               |         |
| hours)     |               |              |               |         |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| Theory of  | Required      | Required     | Not required  | Not     |
| Knowledge  |               |              |               | r       |
| Course     |               |              |               | equired |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+
| IB         | Required      | Required     | Not required  | Not     |
| Advisory   |               |              |               | r       |
|            |               |              |               | equired |
+------------+---------------+--------------+---------------+---------+

IB Course Selection Process

Students must individually decide to which pathway they can devote their
time and energy, and inform the IB coordinator before registering for
classes. The IB coordinator is available to discuss the academic and
nonacademic expectations for all three pathways. Students also may
discuss their options with IB teachers and their guidance counselor and
can consult the school's course catalogue for additional information.
After conferring with adults (including their parents), students select
their courses and register for them as they would for any high school
courses.

Because successful completion of the IB Diploma requires much advance
planning, Diploma students work closely with the IB coordinator as soon
as they declare their intention to pursue the pathway. The structure of
the school's schedule presents some challenges. The four-period block
schedule (in which classes last for only one semester) sometimes means
that students are unable to take the courses they need in the proper
sequence. The IB calculus teacher works with the IB coordinator to
schedule pre-IB and IB classes so that such conflicts are minimized.
However, if there are scheduling issues or there are not enough students
to schedule a specific class, the Minnesota IB program allows students
to engage in independent study so that they can complete their
requirements for the Diploma pathway.

Award of Credit for Courses

Students receive college credit for IB classes depending upon their IB
examination scores, and the postsecondary institution's policies on the
award and acceptance of college credit. Typically, students earn credit
if they receive a four or better on their IB exams. Students receive
credit for each course individually, and so they do not need to earn an
IB Diploma in order to be eligible for IB credit at the postsecondary
level.

Support Services

The purpose of the IB program is to prepare students for a postsecondary
liberal arts education. Therefore, support services focus on academics
and college preparation. Career awareness is not part of the IB
program's focus.

Academic Counseling

All students receive academic counseling and support (though not
specific to the IB program) in their advisories and are assigned a
guidance counselor who helps them with course selection. In addition,
ninth and 10th graders in the pre-IB program receive group counseling,
in which the IB coordinator makes sure that they have all the
information they need about the IB program for their junior and senior
years. Juniors and seniors meet with the IB coordinator individually, to
talk about their questions, concerns, support needs, and which exams and
IB pathway they are going to pursue. Most IB students also receive
informal academic counseling from IB teachers.

The IB program coordinator sends out four mailings a year to the family
of each student enrolled in one of the pre-IB or IB classes. The
mailings focus on specific topics, such as registration or preparing for
the IB examinations. In addition, throughout the year, the IB program
coordinator holds evening information sessions to talk to IB parents
about the program. Finally, the coordinator and IB teachers meet to
discuss the needs of individual students, if necessary.

Academic Tutoring

Most IB teachers offer tutoring after school, but there is no formal
tutoring program. Because the high school's schedule consists of
semester-long classes, many IB teachers offer review sessions after
school for students who are preparing for May examinations, yet took the
course during their fall semester. Students also act as teaching
assistants for IB classes that they took the previous semester and can
review the materials and content during school hours.

The IB program encourages students who are ELLs to sign up for a writing
and reading class during the summer at a local community college. The
program specifically focuses on students who need extra help and
instruction and ensures that they build critical analysis skills.

College Awareness

College awareness is infused throughout the Minnesota IB program because
the program focuses heavily on liberal arts preparation. Students are
encouraged to apply to and enroll in four-year postsecondary
institutions. The IB program often brings in alumni to talk to current
students about their college experiences.

At the high school, a number of college awareness activities exist, and
IB students are able to take advantage of these opportunities. The
school works with Admission Possible, a Minnesota organization that
helps students apply to college. The group works with students after
school, encouraging them to take the PSAT, ACT and SAT, and assisting
them with their applications and resumes. Similarly, the MEP is a
statewide program that helps first-generation college-goers prepare for
and apply to college. The high school's MEP coordinator arranges tours
of college campuses and discusses with students the need to pursue
advanced classes.

The high school's career and college center provides scholarship
information, organizes visits and interviews, and manages college
admission fairs and recruiting events. The center's staff person also
works with the counseling department to provide additional college
awareness information to students. The career and college center brings
in college admissions people to help interested students apply for
financial aid. Finally, all students are encouraged to consider
postsecondary options as they develop their six-year plan.

College Transition

The rigorous curriculum of the IB program helps prepare students for the
academic demands of college by developing their critical thinking skills
and helping them to become independent learners. Ninety-five percent of
students in the Minnesota IB program go on to a four-year postsecondary
institution. Approximately 55 percent of students at the high school go
on to pursue further education and training at postsecondary
institutions.

The high school makes many efforts towards a "culture of high
expectations." The district and the high school are in the process of
aligning their courses with new state standards and course requirements
currently being established by the state legislature. The school's
course registration book, given to all students, contains a section that
focuses on planning for postsecondary education, including the
requirements for admission to the University of Minnesota and other
four-year institutions. The high school also holds financial planning
seminars for parents. Parent breakfasts are held by the counseling
department to provide 10th- and 11th- grade parents with information and
resources about college preparation and success. The high school also
offers preparatory classes for the PSAT.

Funding

Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and Average Daily Attendance (ADA)

The Minnesota IB program receives state-, district-, and school-level
funding. The school district, through its regular operating budget,
provides the school with funds for IB equipment, instructor salaries,
and textbooks. The state provides some additional funding for IB-related
operating costs and professional development. In recent years, however,
state funding has been drastically reduced.

Fees and Textbooks

Each IB exam costs \$180, in addition to a \$50 registration fee per
student. In the past, state funds allocated by the school district
covered these costs, making the exams free to students. Recent budgetary
problems have reduced the funds available for these purposes, so that
students in the Minnesota IB program now must pay the \$50 registration
fee themselves and possibly in the future some or all of the exam costs
as well. School-level fundraising, conducted primarily by IB parents,
provides additional resources that are used for field trips, materials,
and textbooks not covered by the school budget.

Exhibit A-7: Minnesota International Baccalaureate Outcomes, 2003-04

Student Outcomes \[exhibit footnote a: All data come from school staff
and were not externally validated\]

\* The total enrollment at the high school where Minnesota IB is located
was 1,415 students; 130 students are classified as English Language
Learners (ELLs); and 216 students are classified as special education
students.

\* During the 2003-04 school year, a total of 692 students (49 percent)
were enrolled in either pre-IB or IB classes; 19 IB students are
classified as special education students.

\* During the 2003-04 school year, 420 of the 629 Pre-IB and IB students
were enrolled in the pre-IB program (ninth or 10th grade), and 272
students were enrolled in the IB program (11th or 12th grade).

\* A total of 129 Minnesota IB students took 276 IB exams in the spring
of 2004.

\* Eight of the nine IB Diploma candidates at Minnesota IB program
during the 2003-04 school year successfully earned the IB Diploma.

\* The average number of exam points obtained by Minnesota IB candidates
who passed the diploma was 31. (The maximum is 45 points-seven points
for each of six exams, plus one point each for completing the Theory of
Knowledge course, Community Action Service project, and the extended
essay.) The average IB examination grade received by Minnesota IB
students was 4.91.

\* Of the 276 IB exams taken in spring 2004 at Minnesota International
Baccalaureate High School, 75 percent were given a score of 4 or better,
which is generally the score needed for students to receive college
credit.

\* The highest diploma points awarded to an IB candidate at Minnesota IB
was 36 credits.

\* According to student survey data, 148 of the 158 IB graduates (94
percent) planned to attend college.

New York City's College Now Program Profile

As previously described in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs October 2004 site profiles, \[footnote
1: Please see the Accelerating Student Success Through Credit-Based
Transition Programs study's Web page on the U.S. Department of
Education's Web site to download and view two-page profiles of each of
the study's five case sites at:

www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\] the
CBTP in New York City is operated through a partnership between New York
City Community College and New York City High School. This partnership
is one within the larger College Now program, which in its entirety is
composed of all the City University of New York (CUNY) colleges and
approximately 200 secondary schools. The goals of College Now include
improving the academic skills and achievement of high school students
and ensuring that graduating students are prepared to do college-level
work. \[footnote 2: Please also see on the study Web page, listed above,
the program description for more information on dual enrollment.\] The
colleges offer a tailored program of academic and preparatory courses
and workshops to their partnering high schools.

New York City Community College offers 43 programs that can lead to one
of three degrees: the Associate in Arts (AA), Associate in Science (AS),
and the Associate in Applied Science (AAS). The college also offers two
certificate programs. Other offerings include continuing education;
cooperative and distance education; and a variety of student services,
student life activities, and campus programs.

New York City Community College enrolls students originally from over
120 countries. In 2003, the college enrolled 12,768 students, 7,366 of
whom were full-time. Full-time faculty members comprise approximately 37
percent of the college's employee roster. Among the current faculty and
executive staff, about half have been at the college for more than 15
years.

New York City High School first opened its doors in the 1930s and many
members of the faculty and staff have taught at the school for 20 years
or more. \[footnote 3: This descriptive information is provided so the
reader has a better understanding of the program environment.\] The
school's four-story Gregorian architecture style building is set within
a residential neighborhood containing both apartment buildings and older
single- and multifamily homes.

The high school's enrollment has steadily increased in recent years, so
that the school has become severely overcrowded. During the 2003-04
school year, enrollment was 3,255, with an average class size of 33
students. In order to accommodate these numbers, the school operated on
a double session schedule for the 2003-04 school year, with 11th- and
12th- graders attending classes from approximately 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and
ninth and 10th- graders attending classes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the
fall of 2004, the school day was extended to a three-session day, with
classes meeting from 7:20 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

New York City High School's student population displays great language,
ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. Twenty-three percent of the
students were eligible for free lunch in 2003. Approximately 45 percent
of the students are white, which includes many immigrants from former
Soviet states, 11 percent are African-American, 21 percent are Hispanic,
and 22 percent are Asian. About 13 percent immigrated to the United
States within the last three years, and 14 percent are ELLs.

A large proportion of New York City High School graduates attend CUNY
and State University of New York (SUNY) institutions, for a variety of
academic, cultural, and economic reasons.

Curriculum and Program

In general, College Now strives to create an educational experience for
middle-range students that complements and extends what they are already
receiving. College Now offers a sequence of courses that upgrades
students' critical thinking and writing skills, helping them be
successful on their high school exit exams (Regents exams) and earn
college credit. Among the many College Now partnerships between
individual high schools and New York City Community College, the
particular courses and enrichment activities offered to students are
determined at the school level. The college-based coordinator shares the
college course catalogue with the high school and makes recommendations
on which courses to offer, based on the needs of the students at that
particular high school, and also on which courses tend to transfer
easily. The interests and qualifications of the high school faculty also
are considered. Courses cannot be offered at high schools that do not
have the faculty to teach them. High school faculty must meet the
requirements for adjunct faculty, which generally means having a
master's degree in the subject area.

New York City High School's College Now program offers the full range of
remediation, college preparatory, college credit and enrichment
activities, and while students may choose from among these offerings,
they are encouraged to take a developmental sequence of courses. While
the recommended sequence typically yields a combination of high school
and college credits, the New York City High School College Now program
does not offer dual credit. Students receive high school or college
credit for any particular course, but not both.

A possible sequence of courses could be as follows: a course for Regents
exam prep, a course that counts towards fulfilling the college
developmental English requirement (college prep), a course that yields
college credit at the participating college, and courses that likely
yield transferable college credit (such as Introduction to Sociology).

The courses tend to meet two or three times weekly, for an hour and a
half at a time. Most of the course work occurs at the high school, but
some courses alternate between the high school and college locations.
Those students whose courses are at the high school may visit the
college campus at least once, to tour the facilities. College Now
teachers encourage the use of the college's library for research and
term assignments. College Now students have access to these facilities
and others on the New York City Community College campus through a
student identification (ID), which they are able to receive once they
begin participation in the College Now program.

Pre College Curriculum and Program

As noted above, each College Now partnership works collaboratively to
develop a program to meet the needs of the particular high school
student. To help address the needs of the ELL population at New York
City High School, College Now faculty at the high school and the college
created the Learner's Academy. The Learner's Academy offers a yearlong
10th- grade English and a yearlong 11th- grade social studies courses
especially for ELL students. Both courses are for high school credit
only. The classes meet twice a week during school hours, once at the
high school and once at the college, and are team-taught by high school
and college instructors. The goal of the courses is to increase the
Regents exam pass rate of the school's ELL students, as well as prepare
participants for college classes. Course content and pedagogy focus on
the analysis of literature as well as the development of writing skills.
Current events and world issues such as human rights are used as
curriculum organizing themes.

Another entry point into the program is English 99 (also called Basic
Writing). This course meets after school at the high school and is open
to any student at the high school. It offers one high school credit and
its purpose is to strengthen students' writing skills so that they not
only pass their Regents' exam, but can place out of any college
remediation courses.

The chart below summarizes the prerequisites for the programs'
pre-college credit offerings.

Exhibit A-8: Prerequisites for College Now Noncollege Credit Courses

+--------------------------+------------+------------------------------+
| Prerequisites            | Placement  | Precollege Offerings         |
+--------------------------+------------+------------------------------+
| \* Student is identified | Learner's  | College Now Enrichment       |
| as an English Language   | Academy    | Program                      |
| Learner                  |            |                              |
|                          |            |                              |
| \* Teacher               |            |                              |
| Recommendation           |            |                              |
+--------------------------+------------+------------------------------+
| \* Scoring range of      | Basic      | Courses that do not qualify  |
| 55-74 on the English     | Writing    | for college credit           |
| Regents exam             |            |                              |
|                          | (English   |                              |
| OR                       | 99)        |                              |
|                          |            |                              |
| \_\_\_\_\_               |            |                              |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ |            |                              |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ |            |                              |
|                          |            |                              |
| \* GPA of 65-75 in       |            |                              |
| English and social       |            |                              |
| studies courses          |            |                              |
|                          |            |                              |
| \* Good attendance       |            |                              |
|                          |            |                              |
| \* Teacher               |            |                              |
| recommendation           |            |                              |
+--------------------------+------------+------------------------------+

College Credit Curriculum and Program

Five courses are offered after the school day that students can take for
college credit. These are: Literacy and Propaganda, Critical Thinking,
Sociology, English, and Oral Communication (a public speaking class).
These courses have the same content as their counterparts at the
college. The first two courses yield credit at New York City Community
College but may not transfer to other colleges while Sociology, English
and Public Speaking tend to be generally transferable.

Exhibit A-9: Prerequisites for College Now Credit-Bearing Courses

+--------------+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| P            | #                   | Transferability                |
| rerequisites | ## College Offering |                                |
+--------------+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| \* Scoring   | #                   | Courses that may transfer as   |
| range of     | ## Literacy and Pro | elective credit                |
| 65-74 on     | paganda: 3 credits  |                                |
| English      |                     |                                |
| Regents exam | Critical Thinking:  |                                |
|              | 3 credits           |                                |
| OR           |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \_\_         |                     |                                |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_ |                     |                                |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_ |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \* 70+       |                     |                                |
| En           |                     |                                |
| glish/Social |                     |                                |
| Studies GPA, |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \_\_         |                     |                                |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_ |                     |                                |
| \_\_\_\_\_\_ |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \*Good       |                     |                                |
| attendance   |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| OR           |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \*480        |                     |                                |
| Scholastic   |                     |                                |
| Assessment   |                     |                                |
| Test (SAT)   |                     |                                |
| Verbal or 48 |                     |                                |
| Preliminary  |                     |                                |
| Scholastic   |                     |                                |
| Assessment   |                     |                                |
| Test (PSAT)  |                     |                                |
| Verbal       |                     |                                |
+--------------+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| \* 75+       | ### Compo           | Courses that transfer as       |
| English      | sition I: 3 credits | general education credit       |
| Language     |                     |                                |
| Arts (ELA)   | ### Oral Commu      |                                |
| Regents      | nication: 3 credits |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \*480        | Introduction to     |                                |
| Scholastic   | Sociology: 3        |                                |
| Assessment   | credits             |                                |
| Test (SAT)   |                     |                                |
| Verbal or 48 |                     |                                |
| Preliminary  |                     |                                |
| Scholastic   |                     |                                |
| Assessment   |                     |                                |
| Test (PSAT)  |                     |                                |
| Verbal       |                     |                                |
|              |                     |                                |
| \* Good      |                     |                                |
| attendance   |                     |                                |
+--------------+---------------------+--------------------------------+

All of the courses emphasize thoughtful discussion and writing.
Instruction time often includes a lecture portion as well as small group
discussions. In particular, courses include a portion of time dedicated
to the development, critique and revision of written work. In the
College Now sociology course, this portion is organized around
open-ended discussion questions pertaining to the lesson presented. In
other courses, classroom discussion centers around discussion questions
and course writing assignments that are or will be submitted as part of
the students' course grade.

College Course Selection Process

Students are eligible to apply for enrollment in a College Now course if
they meet the prerequisites shown in the above table. For College Now
credit-bearing courses, students who do not possess the required scores
or who have not had the opportunity to take the specified examinations
may be granted permission to enroll in the courses through alternative
pathways. For example, a student who has successfully completed Basic
Writing, yet does not possess the required prerequisite scores, may
still enroll in Literacy and Propaganda or Critical Thinking if they
receive a recommendation from their Basic Writing teacher. In order to
enroll in Composition I, Oral Communication, or Introduction to
Sociology, students who do not possess the required prerequisite scores
but have gone through a developmental sequence of non-credit and
credit-bearing courses must receive a recommendation from one of their
teachers.

Recruitment and Target Population

The program coordinator and program instructors take responsibility for
student recruitment, which is primarily accomplished through classroom
visits and word of mouth. For the noncollege credit courses, the high
school's academic counseling staff assists the coordinator in
identifying students who would benefit from participating. In general,
students in the middle range of academic achievement are primarily
targeted, although, because most of the courses take place after the
school day, students must be particularly motivated to enroll.

Approximately 300 students out of the school population take College Now
classes

each semester. Some courses have more interested students than for whom
they have

space, which is one of the reasons that students in the program are
limited by New

York City Community College to one class per semester.

Once students apply and are enrolled, a letter is sent to their parents
inviting them to an information evening at the high school. Parents of
the Learner's Academy students are invited to an additional evening for
a dinner during which they are able to meet Learner's Academy staff and
have their questions about the program answered.

Supporting Student Transition

Counseling

While there are no counseling services specific to the College Now
program, participating students do take advantage of the school's
general counseling services. Academic counseling and college counseling
are available. Students begin to receive advising from the New York City
High School's college counselor in the spring of their 11th- grade year
and continue throughout their 12th- grade year. The college counselor
assists students in obtaining materials from state and city colleges and
universities and making decisions about which institutions are most
appropriate for them. The counselor writes letters of recommendation for
every student who requests one, coordinates college fairs and financial
aid nights each year, and arranges appointments with parents to talk
about the college choice and admissions process.

College Awareness and Preparation

Students have a number of opportunities to visit the college. Activities
that take place at the college often include tours of key college
facilities such as the library and computer labs. College Now students
are issued a New York City Community College ID and are able to use
facilities such as libraries and computer labs just as regularly
matriculating New York City Community College students.

In addition to becoming comfortable on a college campus, students begin
to understand the nature of college courses. The pedagogy of many of the
College Now teachers differs from the classroom management and teaching
style they employ in their regular high school classes. The more relaxed
classroom environment and workshop-style discussion and lessons allow
students and teachers to develop relationships. The teaching styles as
described by the teachers also help students engage in the kinds of
student-teacher interactions (e.g., office hours, student-initiated
academic conversation, and student-initiated conversation surrounding
career and college advancement) that have been shown to be imperative to
postsecondary success.

Many College Now courses also are designed to provide scaffolding to
students as they encounter the increased expectations of self-management
associated with postsecondary education. College Now teachers give their
students course syllabi at the beginning of the semester, and they
expect students to use online technologies to manage class assignments
and course-related communication. Additionally, the decisions that
students must make related to course selection and continuing with
after-school classes for which they are receiving only college
credit---as opposed to dual high school and college credit ---in the
face of other academic and social commitments is a self-management skill
that College Now instructors feel is invaluable.

Other Enrichment Activities

Students have a number of opportunities to experience curriculum
extending and enrichment activities on the New York City Community
College campus and through field trips. The college-based and high
school-based College Now program coordinators work collaboratively with
New York Community College professors and New York City High School
College Now teachers to plan, organize, and supervise regular events
that occur outside of the high school setting both during the week and
on some weekends.

The English department at New York City Community College and the New
York City High School College Now teachers work closely together to
provide experiences such as writer's workshops that bring the students
to the New York City Community College campus. For the workshops,
authors and researchers are invited to speak about their written work
(which the students have usually read in their classes) and the writing
process and to participate in a cooperative activity that includes
sharing student work and ideas.

Other academic departments of the college also provide opportunities for
College Now students to extend their learning outside of New York City
High School. Weekend programming may include trips to plays or community
or government agencies to bring students closer to the issues or
literature they are studying in their College Now courses. Many of the
courses offer special events at the college and off-site, such as human
rights discussion forums hosted by the United Nations and Amnesty
International.

Professional Development and Collaboration

The high school teachers are selected for the program by the high
school-based program coordinator. The coordinator has more teachers
interested than can be involved, and it is generally seen as an honor to
be selected. Once chosen and approved by the college, the teachers
become adjunct faculty of the college. There is a great deal of
collaboration among the high school teachers participating in the
program; between the high school teachers and the college faculty; and
among all the high school teachers, college faculty, and College Now
central faculty and staff. The high school-based coordinator meets with
the college coordinator at least once a month, and the entire team meets
at least once a semester.

While the high-school based College Now teachers do follow a
college-approved curriculum, and are observed once a semester by someone
from the college, they also speak of the tremendous amount of academic
freedom and creativity they can use in planning and teaching their
College Now courses. Many of the College Now teachers described their
teaching style in program courses as more relaxed and emphasizing the
development of skills that students show a need for, such as critical
thinking and writing.

Funding

A portion of CUNY's operating budget is devoted to the College Now
program, which is free to students. CUNY pays for students' tuition and
provides them with free textbooks that must be returned at the end of
the semester.

Because College Now is an after-school program, the high school does not
lose any of its average daily attendance (ADA) funding.

Exhibit A-10: New York City Community College, College Now Outcomes,
2003-04

Student Outcomes \[exhibit footnote 1: All data come from school staff
and were not validated externally.\]

\* The total enrollment at New York City High School was 3,255 students.
23.1 percent of the students were eligible for the National School Lunch
Program's free or reduced price lunches.

\* Fourteen percent of New York City High School entering ninth and 10th
graders were ELLs (450 students).

\* New York City High School graduated 715 students in 2003--04. The
four-year graduation rate for this cohort was 75 percent.

\* During the 2003-04 school year, 511 students from New York City High
School were enrolled in the College Now program. One hundred sixty-nine
were enrolled in college credit courses.

\* Seventy-nine percent of the students enrolled in credit-bearing
College Now courses from New York City Community College during summer
2003, fall 2003, and spring 2004 completed courses with either an A, B,
or C. Each of these students received three credits per course.

\* During the summer 2003, fall 2003 and spring 2004 academic year
students from New York City High School who participated in College Now
earned 423 credits.

\[

Dallas Tech-Prep Program Profile

As previously described in the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs September 2004 site profiles,
\[footnote 1: Please see the Accelerating Student Success Through
Credit-Based Transition Programs study's Web page on the U.S. Department
of Education's Web site to download and view two-page profiles of each
of the study's five case sites

at: www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/cbtrans/index.html.\] the
Dallas Tech-Prep CBTP consists of a partnership between Texas Community
College, Dallas Tech-Prep High School, and The Global EDGE Tech Prep
Consortium. Tech-Prep, which is federally supported, \[footnote 2:
Tech-Prep programs are supported at the federal level by the Carl D.
Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998. For more
information on the legislation, please go to:
[www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTE/legis.html](http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTE/legis.html).
Additional information about Tech-Prep can be found at:
[www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cte/tpreptopic2.html](http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cte/tpreptopic2.html)\]
is designed to link two years of high school and two years of community
college course work through a sequenced program of study in a career or
technical field. Tech-Prep students may earn college credit for their
secondary course work.

The Global Edge Tech Prep Consortium, with an office on the campus of
the community college, facilitates the Tech-Prep program. The consortium
is one of 26 Tech-Prep consortia in the state of Texas and is a
partnership among the local community college district, 30 local high
schools, and local businesses. The partnership has existed for more than
10 years. \[footnote 3: Please also see on the study Web page, listed
above, the program description for more information on Tech-Prep.\]

The Texas Community College District has four main campus locations
throughout the metropolitan area. \[footnote 4: This descriptive
information is provided so the reader has a better understanding of the
program environment.\] Each campus has one large building with several
wings organized by academic and administrative departments. The
facilities at the four campuses are spacious, have multiple entrances,
sizeable parking areas, and large open areas for students to meet. Texas
Community College also has two satellite locations on high school
campuses in surrounding counties that provide classes and training
services to far-reaching exurbs and rural areas surrounding the Dallas
metropolitan area. Accounting for all of its locations, Texas Community
College enrolls more than 20,000 students in AA and/or AAS degree
programs in over 60 areas of study.

Dallas Tech-Prep High School is the only high school in its school
district. There are 119 teachers, five counselors, four vice principals
and a principal on staff at Dallas Tech-Prep High School. Until the late
1990s, the town in which the school is located was a rural farming town;
the extension of a major highway linking the area to downtown Dallas has
resulted in rapid growth and suburbanization. During the 2002-03 school
year the school enrolled 1,340 students, which increased to 1,640
students the following year; the growth in the student population is
expected to continue. Eighty-two percent of the students are white, 12
percent are Hispanic and 5 percent are African-American.

The school building is eight years old and is currently being expanded.
The entire school is networked and each classroom contains a monitor
through which school and district announcements and information are
broadcast. In addition to the main building, there is a separate
structure that houses workshop areas for a wide variety of career and
technical programs, including autobody repair, welding, and computer
aided design. All of these are furnished with up-to-date equipment. The
consistent integration of technology and current industrial machinery
throughout the curriculum and instruction at Dallas Tech-Prep High
School is an indicator of the school's commitment to career and
technical education (CTE). In addition, students attending the high
school can participate in any of 13 competitive sports teams and more
than 24 clubs and organizations.

Classes at Dallas Tech-Prep High School begin at 8:45 a.m. and conclude
at 3:41 p.m. The school operates on a 90-minute alternating A and B
block schedule. The schedule also includes a "zero hour" that starts at
7:30 a.m.; this hour allows school staff to provide tutoring or
instruction for students with schedule conflicts. For example, a student
taking courses in the information technology strand of the Tech-Prep
program also may want to participate in one of the school's band
programs. If the band period conflicts with the period that the largely
self-directed information technology course is offered, the student can
elect to complete his or her course work during the zero hour period
each day.

Dallas Tech-Prep High School currently offers five of the nine Tech-Prep
concentrations that The Global Edge Tech Prep Consortium sponsors; these
are: Hotel/Restaurant Management, Early Childhood Education, CISCO
Networking Systems, Office Systems Technology, and Criminal Justice.
These articulated career and technology sequences vary in length. Dallas
Tech-Prep High School students enrolled in a particular concentration
may complete the sequence of courses within an academic year, or over
the course of two or three years including prerequisite courses. Though
they are encouraged to select a concentration and take the entire
curricular sequence, students may choose to take just one course in a
given concentration.

Student Outreach

Dallas Tech-Prep High School is a neighborhood comprehensive high
school. Once at the school, students can learn about the Tech-Prep
programs in several ways. Teachers do much of their own publicity and
recruitment, reaching out to students themselves. The Tech-Prep courses
and concentrations also are described and listed in the school's program
and course catalogue, which informs students about their options and
aids in course selection and scheduling. The catalogue describes in
detail which courses fit into the various career and technology
concentrations offered by the high school.

The Global EDGE Tech Prep Consortium develops and disseminates
brochures, flyers, and other promotional materials. These materials are
mailed out to students who reside in the local community college
district. Promotional materials also are provided to all of the high
schools that partner with The Global EDGE Tech Prep Consortium to hang
in classrooms, offices, and hallways, as well as to distribute to
students during school orientations and in counseling offices.

Tech-Prep Admissions Process

Student Selection Process

Students interested in the Tech-Prep courses and concentrations complete
an application in order to demonstrate motivation and inform the
instructors of their interests and any special accommodations they may
need. This application varies by concentration and asks for basic
information such as grade point average and grade level, along with
information regarding previously taken prerequisites or similar courses
and any special scheduling situations (e.g., band or sports team
participation).

The high school's counselors and Tech-Prep teachers screen students to
determine if they have completed recommended prerequisites as well as
for past disciplinary action. Courses within several of the
concentrations require maturity and responsibility, according to Dallas
Tech-Prep High School teachers and administrators. For example, the
Early Childhood Education concentration includes a laboratory component
that requires students to observe and assist in kindergarten classes at
local elementary schools. Students must provide their own
transportation, which means carpooling or driving their own vehicles to
the participating schools. The information technology concentration
includes a great deal of independent and self-directed work, in addition
to highly sensitive technical security issues (i.e., working with a
number of the school and district's servers). The Hotel/Restaurant
Management concentration requires students to work with outside
organizations to cater and plan events.

Tech-Prep Course Enrollment

Students can enroll in a Tech-Prep course and choose to receive only
high school credit. Those who plan to petition Texas Community College
for the dual credit must register with The Global EDGE Tech Prep
Consortium. The online registration process must be completed within a
designated time period each semester.

Tech-Prep Curriculum and Program

Curriculum and Instruction

The Tech-Prep courses are taught at the high school by high school
teachers who are certified to teach secondary education as well as
approved by Texas Community College as being at the same level as an
adjunct professor at the college. Tech-Prep teachers at Dallas Tech-Prep
High School base their Tech-Prep course curriculum and content upon that
used in the analogous courses at Texas Community College. The textbooks
used are either the same textbooks used in the analogous course at Texas
Community College or ones that are approved by the college. Students in
the five Tech-Prep concentrations at Dallas Tech-Prep High School have
both traditional classroom and work-based learning experiences.

Pre-Tech-Prep Curriculum

There is no official pre-Tech-Prep curriculum. However, enrollment in
some concentrations hinges on students taking appropriate prerequisites.
For example, students are encouraged to have taken Algebra I and an
introductory personal computer (PC) maintenance class before entering
the information technology concentration. The Hotel/Restaurant
Management and Early Childhood Education programs both require year-long
prerequisite courses. Taking into account the various prerequisites,
many of the students at Dallas Tech-Prep High School begin taking
courses within the Tech-Prep concentrations during either their
sophomore or junior year.

Tech-Prep Curriculum

Among the five Tech-Prep concentrations offered, course duration varies
so that a course may take place either over an entire academic year or
over a semester. The following table lists the courses of the five
concentrations that potentially yield credit at Texas Community College.
It is important to note, however, that the career and technology
department at Dallas Tech-Prep High School offers course work in the
Tech-Prep concentrations in addition to the articulated courses.
Students thus may continue in sequenced course work and related
work-based learning opportunities through their senior year.

Exhibit A-11: Dallas, Tech-Prep Curriculum and Program

+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| Program Area  | Secondary Course | Credits (awarded | Postsecondary  |
| Concentration | Name             | in escrow)       | Course Name    |
|               |                  | \[exhibit        |                |
|               |                  | footnote a\]     |                |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| CISCO         | Internetworking  | 3                | Local Area     |
| Networking    | Technology I     |                  | Networking     |
| Systems       |                  | and              | Design: CISCO  |
|               |                  |                  | 1              |
|               |                  | 3                |                |
|               |                  |                  | and            |
|               |                  |                  |                |
|               |                  |                  | Basic Router   |
|               |                  |                  | Configuration: |
|               |                  |                  | CISCO 2        |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Internetworking  | 3                | Local Area     |
|               | Technology II    |                  | Management:    |
|               |                  | and              | CISCO 3        |
|               |                  |                  |                |
|               |                  | 3                | and            |
|               |                  |                  |                |
|               |                  |                  | Wide Area      |
|               |                  |                  | Management:    |
|               |                  |                  | CISCO 4        |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Computer         | 4                | Introduction   |
|               | Maintenance      |                  | to Computer    |
|               |                  |                  | Maintenance    |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| Criminal      | Introduction to  | 3                | Introduction   |
| Justice       | Criminal Justice |                  | to Criminal    |
|               |                  |                  | Justice        |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Crime in America | 3                | Crime in       |
|               |                  |                  | America        |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| Early         | Preparations for | 3                | Child Growth   |
| Childhood     | Parenting &      |                  | and            |
| Education     | Child            |                  | D              |
|               | Development      |                  | evelopment^\*^ |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| Hot           | Food Sanitation  | 2                | Sanitation and |
| el/Restaurant | and Safety       |                  | Safety         |
| Management    |                  |                  |                |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Introduction to  | 3                | Introduction   |
|               | Hospitality      |                  | to Hospitality |
|               | Industry         |                  | Industry       |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
| Office        | Business         | 3                | Computer       |
| Systems       | Computer         |                  | Applications I |
| Technology    | Information      |                  |                |
|               | Systems I        |                  |                |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Business         | 3                | Integrated     |
|               | Computer         |                  | Software       |
|               | Information      |                  | Applications   |
|               | Systems II       |                  |                |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+
|               | Accounting I     | 3                | Introduction   |
|               |                  |                  | to Accounting  |
+---------------+------------------+------------------+----------------+

Exhibit Footnote a: Credit-in-escrow refers to an arrangement whereby
students receive college credit for high school work only if they
subsequently enroll in and complete additional courses of the
postsecondary level.

Awarding of Credit for Courses

Upon completion of Tech-Prep courses, students are awarded elective
credit toward high school graduation. The courses are not weighted for
the purpose of computing a student's grade point average. Tech-Prep
teachers indicate to The Global EDGE Tech Prep Consortium and to Texas
Community College, via the consortium Web site, whether a student is
eligible to receive college credit. Depending upon the concentration,
students may have to earn a grade of 80 or 85 in the course or pass an
end-of-course examination for college credit eligibility. College
credits are not awarded immediately but are considered "in escrow,"
meaning that students must complete courses at the college in order to
receive the credit.

In their senior year, students who have successfully completed Tech-Prep
courses are sent an ID card and information about how to receive the
college credits. After graduation from Dallas Tech-Prep High School,
students must enroll at Texas Community College in the Tech-Prep major
that matches their high school Tech-Prep concentration. Students can
then submit a petition for their credit to the registrar's office. Upon
completion of six credit hours in the selected major at Texas Community
College, which must occur within 24 months of high school graduation,
college credits for the Tech-Prep courses completed in high school will
appear on their Texas Community College transcript. Transcripted credit
is generally accepted by institutions nationwide, at the discretion of
the receiving institution.

Support Services

Careers

Information on skills and jobs that are in demand within the field are
provided by the Dallas Tech-Prep High School career and technology
department instructors, many of whom come from those industries. The
instructors' industry connections contribute significantly to their
ability to provide accurate and valuable information about career
options to their students, both in the classroom and by providing
students with formal and informal mentoring and counseling
relationships. The Career and Technology department at Dallas Tech-Prep
High School, which includes the five Tech-Prep concentrations, benefits
from a local trust that not only provides funds to program instructors
for curriculum materials and equipment, but also allows the program to
bring in outside guests throughout the year to speak on various topics
in career and technology education and training.

Several of the Tech-Prep concentrations have work-based learning
opportunities. Students in these concentrations benefit from
opportunities to apply learned skills and to explore the demands of
particular career fields in a supportive environment. For example,
students enrolled in the Early Childhood Education concentration
complete a field placement in an early childhood classroom, where they
not only assist a teacher in a classroom but are also asked to reflect
through journal writing. Throughout the duration of the placement,
usually a semester, the writing assignments are used to help the
students process their experiences and explore issues of child advocacy
and development.

College Transition

Dallas Tech-Prep offers all of its students general information on
colleges and the admissions and financial aid processes; therefore these
types of services are not targeted directly to students in the Tech-Prep
program. The high school's local trust provides scholarships to
graduating seniors who have participated and thrived in various areas of
CTE during their high school career. Additionally, The Global EDGE Tech
Prep Consortium has scholarships that are open to Tech-Prep students at
all of the high schools with which it partners.

Professional Development

The Global Edge Tech Prep Consortium sponsors a variety of professional
development activities. High school-based Tech-Prep teachers and their
college counterparts in the different concentrations are encouraged to
attend annual meetings to discuss curriculum and textbooks. The
consortium also organizes an annual Technology in Education conference.
In addition, the consortium director is developing externship
opportunities for Tech-Prep teachers. Finally, teachers and coordinators
may attend the annual state-wide Tech-Prep conference.

Funding

As noted, the Dallas Tech-Prep program is supported entirely by a
federal grant. This grant covers the consortium staff, stipends for
college and high school Tech-Prep coordinators, and professional
development activities. Texas Community College receives 3 percent of
the grant for administrative expenses. The college does not receive
full-time-equivalent funding for high school students enrolled in
Tech-Prep courses, nor does it receive tuition.

Exhibit A-12: Dallas, Texas Tech-Prep Outcomes, 2003-04

Student Outcomes \[exhibit footnote a: All data come from school staff
and were not externally validated\]

\* The total enrollment at Dallas Tech-Prep High School was 1,671
students. Approximately 15 percent of the student population was
eligible for the National School Lunch Program free and reduced price
lunch program.

\* Twenty-nine students were classified as English Language Learners,
and 200 students were classified as special education students.

\* Three hundred forty-two seniors graduated from Dallas Tech-Prep High
School in the 2003-04 school year. The four-year graduation rate for
this class was 97.8 percent.

\* The daily attendance rate for the entire school is 96 percent.

\* Five hundred sixty-seven students were enrolled in a Tech-Prep
course. This included 83 ninth graders, 151 10th- graders, 184
11th-graders, and 149 12th- graders.

\* 255 Tech-Prep students (45%) were eligible for the Free and Reduced
Lunch Program.

\* 15 Tech-Prep students (3%) are classified as English Language
Learners.

\* Eighty-three percent of Tech-Prep students are white, 14 percent
Hispanic, 3 percent Asian, 1 percent as Native American, and 0.06
percent African American.