Complete College Ohio Task Force : Working Group Preliminary Recommendations

Complete College Ohio Task Force: Working Group Preliminary Recommendations

Ready for College

No Time to Waste

Help Me Cross the Finish Line

READY FOR COLLEGE

Co-ChairsChad Brown, Zane State College

Jim Herrholtz, Ohio Department of Education

• Working Group will address strategies that secondary and postsecondary institutions need to deploy to ensure students have the academic foundations necessary to be successful in their certificate and degree programs.

Subgroups

•Prepared to Learn

•Remediation that Works

•What do I need to know?

READY FOR COLLEGE

• The Ready for College working group divided its membership and focused efforts across three major tracts:

1) Assessment

2) Remediation/developmental education strategies

3) General readiness for college.

Important Study:• Adelman (2006) released a transcript study of more than 12,000

students representative of more than 2.5 million high school graduates – following them from 8th grade through approximately age 27

READY FOR COLLEGE

Key factors for degree completion for traditional students include:

1.Completion of no less than 20 college-level credit hours by the end of the first academic year

2.Eliminating or reducing “no penalty” withdrawals and no-credit repeats common to students taking developmental education.

3.Continuous enrollment throughout the academic year – including summer

4.Recruitment and outreach strategies to secondary institutions that help graduates avoid delayed entry

5.The importance of reading at grade level upon entry into high school

READY FOR COLLEGE

Prepared to Learn

•Adoption of a multi-faceted college and career readiness definition

• Content Mastery Ohio’s participation in the PARCC initiative is a crucial

component of content mastery college readiness expectations

• Cognitive Learning Strategies MasteryMastery of cognitive learning strategies, responsibility for

their own learning, time management, study skills and habits, critical thinking abilities and other brain skills

required for postsecondary success

READY FOR COLLEGE

Prepared to Learn

•Establish funded mechanisms for higher education institutions and K-12 partners to work together on standards, assessments, and curricular alignment

• Articulated career pathways – 2018 job requirements

• Elevated student and parent awareness regarding college and career readiness - Alignment along the educational continuum

• Early Credit and Bridge Programs - The responsibility of preparing students for the expectations of college and career does not rest exclusively with K-12 partners.

• Align Teacher Preparation and Professional Development

READY FOR COLLEGE

Prepared to Learn

•Multiple valid measures to assess and place students for optimal success, as well as develop appropriate coursework to prepare students for college work

• College and Work Readiness Assessment - administer authentic assessments of college readiness

• Multiple-Measure Assessment - College and work readiness in math, reading, and writing should be determined through multiple-measure assessment approaches

• Placement Test Preparation - Colleges should consider the implementation of mandatory preparation experiences for placement testing

READY FOR COLLEGE

Remediation that Works

•Institutions must seek to deal with what Adelman (2006) calls the negative effect of “no penalty” withdrawals and repeats

• Repeating Remedial Coursework- Students who need to repeat developmental classes required to participate in intervention during or previous to the second and successive attempts.

• Limiting Course Repeats - create and implement a policy that limits the number of times a student can repeat a developmental class

READY FOR COLLEGE

Remediation that Works

•Establishing critical success markers (“Students don’t do optional” – Achieve the Dream mantra)

• Mandatory, Continuous Enrollment in Developmental Education Courses - begin taking developmental coursework immediately, then continuously enroll in such coursework without interruption until completion of credit bearing classes

• Compression and Multiple Pathways - restructure their placement processes and curricula so as to limit developmental education to no more than one semester.

READY FOR COLLEGE

What Do I Need to Know?

•Recommendations distilled from ten challenges facing new students today spanning the entire sector of Ohio Higher Education

•Singular approach will not adequately solve challenges or successfully engage students

•Institutions must seek to adopt comprehensive strategies that employ proven practices within a given institutional context

READY FOR COLLEGE


•Develop strategies to foster and enhance early parental and student engagement

• Low levels of at-risk student engagement with college / university resources and activities – application process, Welcome Week activities, targeted activities for affinity groups, First Year Orientation, communication

• Low levels of awareness among at-risk students of potential academic programs/career paths – curricular and co-curricular

READY FOR COLLEGE


•Colleges and universities must recognize the unique needs of the most at-risk students

• Low levels of parent awareness of institutional processes and expectations, especially parents of first generation students

• Low levels of student and family awareness of financial resources available for college

• Students with disabilities and their families are unaware of postsecondary processes

• Faculty under-preparedness to teach new students

READY FOR COLLEGE


•Colleges and Universities should develop comprehensive, mandatory first-year experiences

• Students struggling to persist, especially first generation and other at-risk students - First Year course provides students with information regarding the college’s resources, study skills, career exploration, writing skills, information about technology, and financial literacy

• Students attempting to self-advise - Intrusive Advising

READY FOR COLLEGE

NO TIME TO WASTE

Co-ChairsSteven Angle, Wright State University

Roy Church, Lorain County Community College

• Working Group will focus upon strategies that can reduce time to

degree as well as minimize students drifting through college

without earning a degree.

Subgroups

•Shorten the Path

•Keep on Track

•Help Me Accelerate

NO TIME TO WASTE

Shorten the Path Subgroup

DUAL ENROLLMENT•Remove funding challenges and penalties.•Create a comprehensive tracking system.•Re-conceptualize Dual Enrollment for a broader range of students.•Establish an evaluation process to ensure quality.•Ensure course delivery is at the collegiate level.•Provide professional development to DE instructors.•Market a clear message to targeted populations.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT•Design a policy of direct financial incentives using private and public money as Texas does (See APIP program).•Advance Dual Enrollment, Advanced Placement, and the International Baccalaureate together.•Establish a comprehensive data base that follows students K-20, making research possible on the effects of new policies.•Promote AP to all students.

No Time To Waste

Shorten the Path Subgroup

PRIOR LEARNING• Require all state institutions of higher education to offer some form of

PLA, and establish a statewide PLA policy.• Include military credit transfer information in existing databases.• Align military experiences to academic coursework, industrial

licenses and other credentials.• Recognize military credit from the American Council on Ed.

Articulation and Credit Transfer• Provide legislative and institutional support to enhance existing

statewide articulation and credit transfer programs.• Develop a comprehensive communication plan.• Align career-technical and experiential learning for transfer into

certificates/degrees.• Develop services that specifically support transfer students.

No Time To Waste

Keep on Track Subgroup

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS• Require students to complete benchmarks, such as

developmental coursework, within a set timeframe.• Require 60 credit hours for associate degrees and 120 for

baccalaureate degrees with appeals possible for accreditation.• Ensure course load and registration policies support student

success.• Restrict the number of student-initiated course withdrawals.

INTRUSIVE ADVISING• Assign students to a specific advisor (single point of contact).• Acclimate students to their institution.• Institute an early academic alert system.• Offer mentoring and learning opportunities, i.e., learning

communities.

No Time To Waste

Keep on Track Subgroup

ACADEMIC PATHWAYS

Create and implement tools that clearly outline degree requirements, i.e., My Academic Plan (MAP) at Sinclair.

TRANSFER AND ADVISING TOOLS

Maintain transfer and admissions assurances between Ohio institutions.

No Time To Waste

Help Me Accelerate Subgroup

PROGRAMMATIC SCHEDULING• Increase the availability of one or two night per week

programs for technical associate degree students which can be completed in a two-year timeframe.

• Develop a system for year-long registration for students.• Reorganize the traditional college schedule into

programmatic course sequences including general education courses best suited to technical programs.

COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMS• Increase the availability of Technical Studies Baccalaureate

degrees to which students with applied or technical associate’s degrees can transfer all of their coursework.

No Time To Waste

Help Me Accelerate Subgroup

THREE-YEAR DEGREES• Three year degrees are common in Europe. Study European

models, and determine best practices for Ohio. • Require 120 credit hours for baccalaureate degrees with

appeals possible for accreditation.• Establish a policy for allowing qualified students to register for

more hours (more than a full load).• Establish clear guidelines for credit bearing internships,

whether paid or unpaid.

FINANCE PROGRAM FOR SUMMER TERM• Develop a state/institution finance program to provide

financial assistance to students in the summer.

No Time To Waste

HELP ME CROSS THE FINISH LINE

Co-ChairsMike Sherman, University of Akron

Pete Ross, Cuyahoga Community College

• Working Group will explore approaches that will reward student progress and identify incentives that can increase completion.

Subgroups

•Reward my Progress

•What is my Final Cost?

•Help Me Plan my Career

HELP ME CROSS THE FINISH LINE

Reward my Progress Subgroup

Student success roadmap•Grant associates degree or documented certificate of completion or meaningful “packages “ of successfully completed coursework

•Note the completion of the Transfer Module on both degree audit reports and transcripts of sending & receiving schools

•Provide completion grants tied to successful completion of interim credentials

•Assure a clear and concise degree pathway within the first semester of an academic program (with completion guarantees tied to students/colleges rights and responsibilities)


Reward my Progress Subgroup

•Reverse transfer degrees• Grant an associate’s degree utilizing combined credits from

community colleges and universities students have attended

•Project Win-Win• Expand to all USO member Institutions • Create a community college completion and transfer

scholarship


What is my Final Cost Subgroup

•Tuition-free and tuition-reduced degrees• Pay for the degree during employment• Inclusion and access strategy for disadvantaged or low-

income families

•Performance-based scholarships/aid• Link distribution or continued support to program-specific

milestones


What is my Final Cost Subgroup

•Financial literacy• Improve borrower behavior• Mitigate default• Plan to pay is as important as the plan to succeed• Mandatory for all first time students


Help Me Plan my Career Subgroup

•Link graduation and job placement• Change the advising emphasis from course planning to

degree completion and job placement

•Enhance co-op and internship opportunities• Incorporate in such a manner that if dime to degree is

extended, job placement is virtually guaranteed


Help Me Plan my Career Subgroup

•Embed experiential education into every program• Incorporate real-situation and job-like actions and thinking

early into each program

•Assure “career-ready” status prior early in the program• Clearly identified attributes of “career ready”


“It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it”

--- John Wooden


To facilitate the completion roadmap, the following are essential: •Make what it will cost clear and easy to understand

•Simplify the payment plan (financial literacy)

•Define clear pathways, with possible guarantees

•Provide and recognize interim steps (credentialing)

•Link funding to goals, including completion of interim steps

•Provide clear linkages to job opportunities

•Assure co-op and internship opportunities are meaningful and imbedded in the curriculum

•Create a state-wide student success/advising process/system


THANK YOU

Complete College Ohio Task Force : Working Group Preliminary Recommendations

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