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Bridging the transition from high school to college

Community colleges in 20 states are working with high schools to try to ensure that students – especially minority students – aspire to go to college and are ready for college-level curriculum when they get there.

The Bridge Partnership, a program of the League for Innovation in the Community College, seeks to identify 10th grade students who need developmental courses in reading, writing and math to reach the competency level necessary for postsecondary education.

“This program strives to look at the transition from high school to college as a bridge that includes all of the high school years instead of a single event that occurs when students graduate,” says Bob McCabe, director of the Bridge Partnership and senior fellow at the League. Twenty community colleges and 25 high schools tested the program last year in a pilot study funded by Lumina Foundation for Education.

During the 2004-05 academic year, the program is expanding to work with 65 community colleges and more than 90 high schools. The colleges can customize the program to meet specific needs, McCabe says. For example, during the pilot one college chose to focus solely on math competencies; another tested only a segment of the student population instead of the entire 10th grade.

Participating community colleges agree to administer either The College Board’s ACCUPLACER test or ACT’s COMPASS test at the high school(s) with which they have a cooperative agreement. Colleges also must agree to work with the high schools after receiving test results and to create outcome standards for the colleges’ developmental curriculum.

If students pass all three tests – reading, math and writing – they receive a Certificate of College Competencies for the college that administered the test, and they are advised to enroll in Advanced Placement courses or to take some college-level courses while still in high school. If students do not pass the tests, the college and high school work together on development programs.

Half of all students now entering community colleges need developmental courses, McCabe says.

During the pilot, McCabe says, some schools initiated the following programs to help students improve their reading skills:

• One high school revised its social sciences and English courses to add more reading requirements.
• A participating college offered its developmental reading courses in the high school.
• Another college opened its reading lab to high school students.

Students can retake the test after completing developmental programs and curriculum offerings. McCabe says he is working with three states – Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky – to make the Certificate of College Competencies good for the entire state’s community college network.

In addition to testing and developing courses to help students achieve their competency certificates, the high schools and colleges work together to meet with parents and students to explain the importance of postsecondary education. McCabe cites national figures showing that 70 percent of new jobs will require some form of postsecondary education. Only 65 percent of students nationwide graduate with a standard high school diploma, McCabe says, and only two-thirds of those graduates go on to college.

“If you’re a low-income 15-year-old kid, there may be nothing in your head about going to college,” McCabe says. Through these parent and student meetings and early contact with college representatives, students raise their aspirations and begin to consider postsecondary education, he says.

McCabe says the program’s simple concept addresses many higher education issues, including development of standards, alignment of high school and college curricula, improving students’ preparation and increasing the number of minorities who enroll and succeed in postsecondary education.

“People think that, if you graduate from high school, you’re prepared to go to college, and that’s just not the case,” he says. The Bridge Partnership will work toward closing the gap between high school graduation standards and college preparation standards.

Learn more about the Bridge Partnership.

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Multiple goals

The Bridge Partnership works solely with community colleges, encouraging them to form alliances and agreements with area high schools. Director Bob McCabe says the local connections are important because they help ensure that each partnership achieves the program’s overall goals. The goals include:

Increase the number of high school students who aspire to go on to postsecondary education.

Increase the percentage of high school students who are fully prepared for a college-level curriculum.

Decrease the percentage of high school students who are seriously underprepared for college courses.

Increase the number of students who take Advanced Placement courses or earn college credits while in high school.

Implement outcome standards for developmental programs at community colleges so the expectations are clear, and so students who meet the standards are prepared for college.

Help align high school and community college curricula.

Improve the effectiveness
of community college developmental education.