Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Robert J. Baird, Director, School/University
Partnerships Early College Initiative The
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship
Foundation March 23, 2004
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Major Goals for Woodrow Wilson

• Shared Responsibility for the Education of
  Underserved Students
• Enabling underserved students to be successful
  entering and completing a four-year baccalaureate
  degree
• Linking underserved students to the resources of
  higher education nationally large research
  universities (including some of nations most
  selective institutions) comprehensive four-year
  universities, teacher training and land-grant
  HBCUs, small liberal arts universities and
  community colleges
• Convergence between Gates Core Principles and
  Woodrow Wilson Mission
• Arts and sciences disciplines as the basis for a
  general education
• Equity and access first generation college
  students
• School-university partnerships 25 years
  experience in forging intensive professional
  development programs bringing high academic
  standards to teacher development

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
ECHS Challenges for Four-Year Higher Ed.
Institutions

• FOUR-YEAR UNIVERSITY
• President not the sole decision maker
  administration is layered
• Faculty Multiple prioritiesundergrad teaching
  just one more compartmentalized connected to
  academic fields powerful students are expected
  to take responsibility for success
• Partnership schools Exam schools, lab schools,
  teacher education/professional development
  schools
• Assessment Faculty monitor themselves and are
  infrequently evaluated, students are primarily
  responsible for their own performance
• Pedagogy Faculty receive no training in teaching

TWO-YEAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE Presidents
prerogative flat administrative
structure Faculty Responsibility is to help
students learn, faculty work together to end
remediation, community college and high school
faculty take it personally when students
fail Schools Middle colleges, two-year colleges
focused on social needs, have community
orientation Assessment High school and community
have regular assessments, regimented and aligned
to state and national standards peer
tutoring Pedagogy Faculty are trained to teach
differently to reach high-need students
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Woodrow Wilson Early College Design
We are committed to understanding the conditions
that are most favorable to a successful,
high-performing Early College. We have selected a
number of models, all with very strong curriculum
development efforts and are surveying the field
of potential action, evaluating each ECHS
individually, comparing and contrasting and
looking to tease out what works, what doesnt and
models for replication

• WW is seeking Early College elements that create
  consistency around program design but with needs
  for customization
• Key Steps
• Study who the students are
• Study the joint high school and
  college/university resourcesmobilized to serve
  the student population
• Map the resources around principles of Early
  College
• Create an academic plan with pathways for ECHS
  students to achieve two years (60) of college
  credit in a 9-13 or 6-13 model

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Woodrow Wilsons Early College High School Models
School District ?? Four-Year
College/University Hunter, Brooklyn, Dillard,
Eastern, Washington, UIC? School District (magnet
funding prog.) ?? Four-Year College/University Har
tford School District ?? Community College ??
Four-year College/University U Chicago,
Penn Charter Operator ?? Four-Year
College/University Cal State LA, George
Washington U, UDC/Friendship House Charter
Operator ?? Community College ?? Four-Year
College/University Berkeley, Stanford
Ray Bacchetti is conducting five case studies (at
least one site from each model) which will help
WW identify key features associated with
different ECHS models, institutional types both
in K-12 and higher education and to some degree
different policy settings
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Selection of the Institution of Higher Education
Critical Factors
Examples of Questions

• Does the IHE have a history of previous success
  with K-12 school districts and/or organizations?
  If so, how sustained?
• Does the IHE have a history of previous success
  with similar programs with the partnering K-12
  district or organization? If so, what are the
  measures of that success?

History andprevious success

• Does the university have commitment from the
  administrative level such as the chancellor,
  president, deans etc.? Are the administrators
  assigned to the task well respected and
  positioned to be effective?
• Is there a faculty committee assigned to this
  work? If so, is it university-wide or siloed in
  one or two areas such as the school of education
  or single department?

Depth and breadth of the universitys commitment
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Selection of the Institution of Higher Education
Critical Factors
Examples of Questions

• Does the university have or will it consider
  policies that support early college high school?
• Has the university committed time and energy to
  fundraising for the program?
• Has the university considered modifications to
  its tuition for ECHS students?
• Has the university committed to support
  transportation to facilitate access to on-campus
  courses?
• Has the university committed release time for
  faculty members to participate in the program
  through professional development, mentoring,
  research, etc?
• Has the university committed other in kind
  resources to support the effort?

Tangible measures of commitment
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Selection of the K-12 District/Organization
Critical Factors
Examples of Questions
History of innovation

• Does the K-12 district/organization have a
  history of innovation with students through
  grades 7-12 or 9-12? What evidence of success is
  there?
• Does the institution have previous experience
  working with the proposed IHE or other IHEs? What
  evidence supports successful efforts in this area?

District-wide commitment

• Have the Governing Board and Chief Executive
  Officer of the K-12 organization demonstrated
  support of this project? If so, how?

Tangible measures of commitment

• Does the organization have a policy that will
  give the school autonomy regarding budget,
  staffing, calendar, curriculum and instruction?
• Is the K-12 district/organization willing to
  adapt its policies to meet the needs of the ECHS
  program?
• Does the organization have a history of
  developing MOUs with bargaining units and
  employee groups related to flexibility for
  innovative programs?
• Has the organization committed resources in areas
  such as transportation, facilities,
  modifications and released time to support
  professional development?

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Selection of the K-12 District/Organization
Critical Factors
Examples of Questions
Business community support

• Does the K-12 organization have strong commitment
  from the business community and local
  governmental leaders?
• Does the K-12 district/organization have a
  previous history of support from the community in
  areas such as financial, availability of
  internships, mentoring activities, local
  government policies and support related to areas
  such as reduction in transportation costs for
  students from low income families?

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Analysis of Design Factors for the Early College
High School
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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Analysis of Design Factors for the Early College
High School
Planned feasibility of access to 60 credits

• Does the school have a rational and coherent plan
  for students to acquire 30 (or more) units of
  college credit before high school graduation? Do
  the credits meet transfer or general education
  requirements? Is the plan doable? What is the
  plan for 60 credits by end of grade 13?
• Is there a road map describing a relevant
  coherent plan between the 9-13 grade program, the
  community college and the university? Is there a
  road map for 6-13 grades?
• Does the program have personalized plans (IEPs)
  for students that play to both the rigor of
  college and the relevance of course work students
  have interest in?
• Is there a financial design that demonstrates the
  feasibility of such a plan? For example, have
  revenue lines been identified for long-term
  funding?

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Analysis of Design Factors for the Early College
High School
Preparation or scaffolding

• Does the plan have a clearly delineated set of
  support structures that will enable students to
  be successful taking independent course work on a
  college campus and/or before grade 12?
• Is the program starting in grades 6/7 rather than
  grade 9?
• Is there an advisory program with a curriculum
  that addresses the development of college-ready
  skills and habits of mind?
• Are there adult or close-age mentors for
  students?
• Do students have opportunities to take summer
  seminars and workshops prior to on-campus
  coursework?
• Is there a scaffold-led plan so that students
  take community college or college course work as
  a group firstthen as a group or individually at
  the college and/or in the high school?
• Is there a plan for supporting students in their
  first fully enrolled year of college (grade 13)?

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Analysis of Design Factors for the Early College
High School
Curriculum and instruction

• Is there a plan to articulate the acquisition of
  dual credit?
• Is there a plan to map and articulate the
  curriculum content standards so they match high
  school, community college and college credit
  opportunities?
• Are there formal structures in place to ensure
  content conversations between middle school, high
  school, community college and university staff
  all teaching the same subject?

Budget

• Does the program have an annual as well as a
  five-year projection?
• Does the budget projection address the critical
  support factors necessary, e.g. higher education
  tuition, transportation, collaborative
  activities, staff and allocation support?
• Does the plan require philanthropy or state/local
  government funding?
• Is there a one year/five year philanthropic and
  action plan to deliver on that?

MIS system

• Does the program call for the active use of
  student information system that provides for
  personalized learning plans including formative
  and summative achievement data, dashboards, etc.?

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Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Early College High School Initiative
Analysis of Design Factors for the Early College
High School
Accountability

• Does the plan have clearly defined measures of
  accountability with regards to student
  performance, teacher and principal performance,
  and student and parent staff satisfaction?
• Can we learn about the students post-B.A., etc?

Professional development

• Is there a clearly articulated plan for
  professional development that addresses the areas
  of greatest need by faculty in order to support
  the unique needs by students?
• Does this plan include the ECHS staff as well as
  community college and university faculty and
  administrators?
• Does PD address the content and pedagogy teachers
  need to teach college level courses in high
  school? Are college faculty knowledgeable enough
  about the K-12 world of curriculum , assessment
  and PD to be effective mentors/teachers to ECHS
  staff?

Advance planning

• Is the project using management tools that
  address a successful implementation? Examples
  include Schedules/timelines, critical path maps,
  project manager responsibilities, etc.?

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