As states have implemented college and career readiness standards, it has sometimes been assumed that most of the work and attention has occurred at the elementary grades. In truth, many states have been working for some time to ensure that grade twelve prepares all students for post-secondary success. Programs like AP, IB, and dual enrollment are the most touted offerings for well-prepared students. But there has also been a great effort to create courses for students who are not yet college-ready and who can use senior year to close academic gaps and avoid the remedial instruction that so often acts as a drain on the time, finances, and morale of ascending college students. Just last month, the Fordham Institute held an event called “Pre-medial Education” that discussed ways to bring high school-based college readiness programs to scale.
For colleges and universities, “fixing” remediation is a major priority. According to Complete College America, three out of five students entering community colleges and one out of five students entering four-year institutions require remediation. The vast majority of these students (78 percent at community colleges and 63 percent at four-year institutions) do not go on to successfully complete gateway credit-bearing courses. Colleges are doing a lot of work to reduce these figures and to make remedial classes more successful, but the best option for students is clearly to arrive at college ready to proceed directly into entry-level courses.
The California State University (CSU) Expository Reading and Writing (ERWC) course was the pioneer in this area. It has now been joined by programs based in community college and university systems around the country. Within the Smarter Balanced consortium, seven states now have courses co-designed by higher education faculty and K–12 teachers to address essential skills that students need to succeed in entry-level college courses. Students who do well in these courses can bypass further placement testing and proceed directly into credit-bearing courses. Representatives from several Smarter Balanced states describe their courses below.
California: Expository Reading and Writing
The CSU Expository Reading and Writing Course has been collaboratively designed and developed by university and high school faculty and administrators to facilitate the transition from high school to college. Students identified by the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment in grade eleven as “conditionally ready” (or level three) who earn a C grade or above in selected courses, including the ERWC, are considered college-ready and eligible to enroll in credit-bearing English courses at all participating California higher education institutions. The twelfth-grade English course consists of twelve modules, 8–10 of which must be taught to constitute a full year. At grades 7–11, four modules per grade are available to be integrated into existing English curricula. Aligned with the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy, the ERWC thoroughly integrates rhetorical reading and writing to build the complex literate abilities and habits of mind that fluent academic readers, writers, and thinkers will need to be successful in college, career and community. All ERWC curriculum units—or modules—foster students’ interest through close engagement with and analysis of high-interest texts across a variety of genres. Since 2004, more than twelve-thousand educators have participated in professional learning workshops co-facilitated by experienced high school teachers or county specialists and college faculty; the full twelfth-grade course has been adopted in over eight hundred high schools throughout California. In 2011, the Fresno County Office of Education, in collaboration with the CSU and WestEd, received an i3 (Investing in Innovation) Development grant from the U.S. Department of Education to further develop the curriculum and study its impact. Results of the quasi-experimental study demonstrated positive results.
Delaware: Foundations of College Math
The Foundations of College Math (FCM) transition course is being collaboratively designed by high school teachers, mathematics educators, and mathematicians from five high schools and five institutions of higher education across Delaware. The course experiences build upon previous mathematics courses to support students in developing a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. Students will study linear, quadratic, and exponential functions with emphasis placed on numerical and graphical representations and modeling. Students will then be able to use function representations and function behaviors to enhance their understanding of polynomial, rational, and radical relationships and to solve and interpret linear equations and inequalities, as well as systems of linear equations and inequalities. FCM is offered to students who intend to go to college but have an SAT score below 450 and a score at level three on Smarter Balanced. Passing the FCM course with a 77 percent or better will allow students to enter a non-remedial math course in any of the five colleges/universities across the state.
Hawai’i: Introduction to College Mathematics
Developed collaboratively by Hawai’i teachers and University of Hawai’i faculty, Introduction to College Mathematics focuses on topics from the algebra, functions, geometry, and statistics domains of the Common Core State Standards (with an emphasis on mathematical modeling and quantitative reasoning). Students extend their understanding of high school mathematics concepts, then apply that understanding in real-world problem-solving situations and in purely mathematical contexts. Students who score at level two on the Smarter Balanced assessment are encouraged to take this course. Those who earn a B or better in this course may proceed directly into entry-level, credit-bearing math courses at University of Hawai’i campuses.
Washington: Bridge to College English and Bridge to College Math
The Washington Bridge to College transition courses have been collaboratively designed and developed by higher education faculty, high school teachers, and curriculum specialists from colleges and school districts. Bridge to College transition courses provide high school seniors who scored at level two on the high school Smarter Balanced assessment a clear path to readiness for college-level work in math and English language arts before they graduate. Students who earn a B grade or above in Bridge to College courses will be considered college-ready and eligible to enroll in college -evel math and English at all participating Washington higher education institutions. Funded by a grant from College Spark Washington, the courses were piloted in 2014–15 and are currently being taught in seventy-five districts, comprising 125 high schools, across the state. And the recruiting of a new cohort of schools for 2016–17 is set to start in December 2015.
West Virginia: Transition Math and Transition English for Seniors
West Virginia developed Transition Math for Seniors in 2009 and Transition English for Seniors in 2010, both of which were co-designed by K–12 teachers and higher education faculty. In 2013, the state enacted legislation requiring all public high schools to offer transitional courses for students who do not meet college-readiness benchmarks; 2015–16 is the first year of statewide course implementation. Using multiple measures, guidance counselors place students into the transition courses. The students are assessed again at the end of the course, and those students meeting the agreed-upon performance benchmarks are deemed to be college-ready.
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These courses are great examples of how K–12 and higher education collaboration can benefit students and states. Although states began creating these courses prior to the advent of the Common Core and Smarter Balanced, common standards and assessments have helped these courses proliferate as interested states are able to easily share curricular materials and rely on common K–12 assessments that measure college readiness. California, for example, has seen positive results from early assessment and grade-twelve academic support, increasing the proportion of first-year students meeting CSU placement standards in English and math from 44 percent in 2007 to 57 percent in 2013.
As students across the country move through these courses and into higher education, states will learn more about best practices and continue to improve these courses.
Nancy Brynelson is the co-director of the California State University, Center for the Advancement of Reading; Corley Dennison is the vice chancellor for academic affairs at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; Daniel Doerger is the Core to College Alignment director at Hawaii P-20 Council; Jacqueline E. King is the director of higher education collaboration at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium; William Moore is the director of K12 partnerships for the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges; and Faith Muirhead is the associate director of professional development partners at the University of Delaware.