Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools and Teacher Preparation from an Early College Evaluat

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• John Fischetti, Sally MacKain and Robert Smith
• UNCW
• October 2009

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• In 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the
  telephone, he summoned his assistant, Watson.
• Mr. Watson, Come Here...
• Bell did not realize that Watson heard him
  talking through the phone.
• He did not yet know what his invention worked.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• As early colleges move their first classes
  forward toward graduation, our preliminary data
  show that there may be enough promise in the
  innovation to revision not only the high school
  curriculum as we know it, but middle school and
  university curricula as well.
• Bell changed communication forever. Can the early
  college be the spearhead for an overhaul of the
  P-16 continuum?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Although there are currently 200 early colleges
  in existence, the research on the outcomes of
  early colleges is limited and mostly anecdotal
  (Born, 2006 Glick, 2006). The study
  investigated
• How do students in this Early College perform
  academically compared to traditionally-aged
  freshmen?
• How do students in this Early College perceive
  their academic, social and emotional readiness
  for university work?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Isaac Bear Early College (IBEC) is one of 61
  early colleges in North Carolina created through
  funding provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates
  Foundation through the New Schools Project.
• The main goal of early colleges is to ensure that
  students graduate from high school with the
  knowledge and skills they need to be ready for
  college, careers and life (New Schools Project,
  2008).
• A core principle of these colleges is a
  commitment to serving students underrepresented
  in higher education, particularly low-income
  youth, first-generation college goers, English
  language learners and students of color.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The main concept of an early college is that high
  school and college are blended in a rigorous, yet
  supportive program, compressing the time it takes
  to complete a high school diploma and the first
  two years of college (Early College High School
  Initiative, 2009a).
• Some programs enable students to start college
  classes as freshman in high school while others
  phase-in the college courses in the sophomore or
  junior year.
• Nationwide, 72 of the partnerships are with
  community colleges, and 28 with four year
  universities (Early College High School
  Initiative, 2009b).

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Unlike traditional high schools, most early
  colleges do not offer typical high school
  electives, extracurricular activities, or sports.
  
• The curriculum at Isaac Bear focuses intensively
  on academics, with students completing in two
  years the high school-level math, English,
  science and social studies requirements normally
  taken over four years.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Now in its fourth year, the school has
• 69 seniors
• 70 juniors
• 48 sophomores
• 62 freshmen
• Participants include 63 from underrepresented
  groups including 45 who are first generation to
  attend college
• 35 students of color
• 24 who are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• To see how participants of the Isaac Bear Early
  College High School compare to typical freshmen
  nationally in terms of self-reported academic
  readiness and college adjustment, 70 students in
  their third year of the early college high school
  completed two surveys during a Freshman Seminar
  course in the first semester of their college
  experience.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• 39 of the participants were female,
• 31 male
• 33 percent were minority
• 39 percent first generation college
• 58 were minority or first generation or both

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The college version of the Learning and Study
  Strategies Inventory (LASSI Weinstein, Palmer,
  Schulte 2002) was administered during the second
  week of classes
• The Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire
  (SACQ Baker Siryk, 1986) was completed during
  the last week of classes in the same
  first-semester course.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The similarities between the IBEC and normative
  samples indicate that the early college students
  perceive themselves to have about the same
  academic readiness of traditional freshmen.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation
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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• In terms of adjustment to college, mean scores on
  the SACQ subscales for IBEC students were similar
  or higher than the other college populations,
  with the possible exception of attachment to the
  institution.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The similarities between the IBEC and normative
  samples indicate that the early college students
  perceive themselves to have about the same
  academic readiness of traditional freshmen.
• In terms of adjustment to college, mean scores
  on the SACQ subscales for IBEC students were
  similar or higher than the other college
  populations, with the possible exception of
  attachment to the institution.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• An alternative method of examining the SACQ data
  may be to examine the number of IBEC students
  receiving T-scores below 40, cited as the
  threshold for clinical significance by the SACQ
  authors.
• Using this criterion, few students appear to
  require help with academic needs, but nine
  students, or nearly 13 might benefit from
  counseling or other intervention to help address
  emotional distress.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation
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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The higher levels of psychological or emotional
  distress among women as compared to men in their
  first year of college (girls and boys, in this
  sample), appears not to be unique.
• IBEC female students scored lower on the Anxiety
  subscale of the LASSI (M 23.17, SD 7.6) than
  did males (M 28.38, SD 6.32) t (68) 3.11, p
  .003 (two-tailed).
• While the national norms indicate a gender
  advantage for females on the social adjustment
  variable, no differences emerged in the IBEC
  sample.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation
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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The mean GPA for IBEC students in the fall
  semester was 3.123 compared to UNCW freshmen GPA
  of 2.93.
• In the spring semester the mean GPA for IBEC
  students dropped to 2.54 and was lower than the
  mean GPA for UNCW freshman (2.81) in their second
  semester. The average college freshman has a GPA
  of 2.3 in the U.S. as a whole.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation
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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Based on available norms, IBEC students
  self-reported preparation for college (LASSI
  scores) and early adjustment to college (SACQ
  scores) appear to be consistent with those of the
  typical freshmen.
• The greater personal distress and anxiety
  expressed among female students on the Anxiety
  and Personal-Emotional attachment subscales of
  the LASSI and SACQ, respectively, is consistent
  with the national norms.
• However, it appears to signal a need for
  interventions such as stress management,
  cognitive-behavioral interventions and other
  supportive counseling services.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The drop in IBEC students mean GPA from 3.16
  in the fall to 2.55 in the spring may be
  explained
• High grades in separate Isaac Bear sections of
  the freshman seminar fall semester that virtually
  all students earned grades of A or B. The grades
  in this single course may have inflated mean
  GPAs for IBEC students who were taking a reduced
  number of credit hours.
• IBEC students solid performance in the fall
  encouraged nearly all students to take more
  college classes in the spring, with the average
  number of credit hours increasing from 9 to 11.6.
• The freshman seminar curriculum provided specific
  support and feedback to guide their transition to
  college, which were missing in the second
  semester.
• It is also possible that students high GPA in
  the fall made some students overconfident in what
  they could accomplish.
• Are IBEC students fully prepared for large,
  lecture classes?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• First, the study shows that it is possible for
  the core high school curriculum to be
  successfully completed in two years.
• This may be the light at the end of the tunnel
  that Skerrett Hargreaves (2008) refer to as an
  age of inflexibility and nonresponsiveness in
  North American secondary schooling that may
  finally be running its course (p. 945).

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Sixteen-year-old students successfully completing
  their first year of university coursework
  challenges the roles of high schools and higher
  education.
• The study not only questions the use of age as a
  basis of distinction between high school and
  higher education, but also the appropriate
  curriculum for these levels.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Further, while the study supports the urgency of
  the P-16 education movement it also suggests that
  a more radical rethinking of P-16 education may
  be required.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• What kind of middle grades curriculum is needed
  to prepare people for early college?
• Do we need the early high school, at least in
  foundational mathematics, science and writing?
• What should change about university basic
  studies or the core curriculum, which is a
  repeat of the high school curriculum in many
  respects?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• The power of tradition also represents a
  significant barrier to change.
• The rituals of high school, whatever their
  shortcomings, appeal to many people who suspect
  that substantial reform would undo the essence of
  teenhood (NAASP, 1996, p. 4).
• Many parents and students support the tradition
  of four years of high school, the broad range of
  courses, electives, extracurricular activities,
  clubs and sports

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• In addition, some parents will oppose their child
  attending college at an early age.
• Consequently even with additional positive
  results from early colleges, such programs may
  not pose a serious challenge to the existence of
  the traditional comprehensive high school.
• Is the early college just an anomaly, a
  boundary-crossing institution that leaves both
  systems of education untouched?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• A key question is whether the early college and
  other P-16 reform efforts will simply be
  appendages to existing systems (Hess, 2008)? As
  the Gates Foundation funding is moved to other
  reforms, is there sufficient success to sustain
  the efforts long enough to study the model? Will
  those in leadership positions in schools and
  universities make decisions without good data to
  inform the future of the model?

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• If the early college fulfills the promise of
  students completing high school and as much as
  two years of university requirements in four
  yearsby age 18, while offering college credits
  free of chargeit is a model that could change
  the high school curriculum and the design of the
  first two years of college.
• In doing so, the early college could profoundly
  change P-16 American education the way the
  telephone changed communication.

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• We are analyzing survey data from parents,
  students, teachers and UNCW faculty who had IBEC
  students in their classes to complement this
  research.
• Thus far, those data tell us

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• There is a connection between size,
  personalization, teacher quality and student
  achievement
• A high level of parent support for innovation is
  possible for secondary schools
• The alignment of the high school and college
  curriculum is possible in smaller units
• Maintaining small learning communities involves a
  commitment to the teachers and administrators who
  are leading these efforts. It is exhausting and
  intense work
• Students and their families are motivated by the
  perks of technology and college credit more than
  by innovative curricular approaches

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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• Plus One
• Early college high school juniors perform
  academically about as well as any other freshmen
  in terms of GPA during their first year of college

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Mr. Watson, Come Here...
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Five Plus One Early Learnings for High Schools
and Teacher Preparation from an Early College
Evaluation

• John Fischetti, Sally MacKain and Robert Smith
• UNCW
• October 2009