Addressing
College Readiness in High Schools
Richard M. Rhodes, Ph.D. President El Paso Community College
Preparing to Dream Spring Workshop Houston, Texas May 6, 2009
El Paso, Texas 80% Hispanic Median Household Income El Paso County = $32,111 State of Texas = $44,922 United States = $48,451 • Educational Attainment/Persons 25 Years and Older: 32% 23%
21% 12% 6%
6%
No Diploma
High School Some Graduate College - No Degree
Associate Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Graduate or Prof. Degree
El Paso Community College
Five Campuses located throughout El Paso County
Enrollment by Ethnicity – Fall 2008
85.7%
8.1%
2.2%
0.8%
0.3%
3.1%
Achieving the Dream A Lumina Foundation funded initiative designed to increase the percentage of students who accomplish the following: Successfully complete the courses they take; Advance from remedial to credit-bearing courses; * Enroll in and successfully complete gatekeeper courses; Enroll from one semester to the next; Earn degrees and/or certificates; Especially for low income students and students of color.
FTIC Course Placements Math Fall 2003
No Remediation Developmental Required Math HS < 1 Yr HS > 1 Yr
2% 1%
98% 99%
GED
<1%
>99%
No HS or GED
0%
100%
FTIC Course Placements Reading Fall 2003
No Remediation Required
Developmental Reading
HS < 1 Yr HS > 1 Yr
32% 40%
68% 60%
GED
38%
62%
No HS or GED
26%
74%
FTIC Course Placements Writing Fall 2003 No Remediation Required
Developmental Writing
HS < 1 Yr
35%
65%
HS > 1 Yr
42%
58%
GED
36%
64%
No HS or GED
15%
85%
AtD Priority Areas at EPCC
AtD
Reduce the time required to complete DE course work.
EPCC
Reduce the time required to complete ESL course work.
EPCC
Increase the number of students who are college-ready.
EPCC
Increase the number of recent high school graduates who are college-ready.
El Paso Area College Readiness Consortium
Socorro ISD
El Paso ISD
San Elizario ISD Dr. Diana Natalicio President University of Texas at El Paso
Clint ISD
Ysleta ISD Tornillo ISD Canutillo ISD
Relationships Need Great Partners!
El Paso Area College Readiness Consortium
A partnership with UTEP and all area school districts to accomplish the following: Test high school juniors and seniors High schools become Accuplacer test sites Compilation of test preparation and intervention strategies Share experiences across districts
El Paso Area College Readiness Consortium Charge
Design strategies that will ensure that the initial enrollment of college bound high school graduates is in entry-level college courses.
AtD Community Advisory Committee • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Representative from the EPCC Board of Trustees President of EPCC Foundation President & Provost of the University of Texas at El Paso Dean of the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Superintendents & Administrators from all school districts Executive Director of Region 19 Educational Services Center Representative from Congressman Reyes’ office Mayor of El Paso Representatives from local chambers of commerce Representatives from local business and industry Representatives from local non-profit agencies Publishers of local newspapers
Mission Early College High School Opened July 2006
Third year of operation 360 Students Received Exemplary Status from TEA each year 23 Juniors will graduate with Associate Degree and attend UTEP
Valle Verde Early College High School Opened July 2007
Second year of operation 215 Students Received Exemplary Status from TEA
Northwest Early College High School Opened Summer 2008
First year of operation 103 Students TSTEM
Greater Texas Foundation
Transmountain Early College High School Opened Summer 2008
First year of operation 125 Students TSTEM
Cotton Valley Early College High School Opening Summer 2009
Fabens ISD Fort Hancock ISD San Elizario ISD Tornillo ISD
Advantages of Early College High Schools
High School Diploma Associate Degree (first two years of college) Incentive to attend college Decreases time to degree completion Reduces college costs Upper Division Courses
Dual Credit Enrollments
2,605%
Through the College Readiness Initiative we have increased the percentage of entering students who are college-ready.
Through interventions to elevate placement we have reduced the time required to complete developmental education course work. Math Placement Levels
Reading Placement Levels
2003
2008
Writing Placement Levels
We have reduced the number of developmental education areas that students are placing into.
Spring 2006 to Spring 2008 Math Reading Writing
No Change - 24 % - 37 %
College Readiness Consortium & College Readiness Initiative Restructured Developmental Education. Established Developmental Education & ESL Councils. Implemented Summer Bridge Program & Prep Program. Requiring all students to take a college success course. Hired Directors of Student Success & College Readiness. Held workshops and funded site visits for faculty development. Conducted mini-workshops for student development. Revised cut-scores for placement exam. Aligned outcomes and expectations within DE levels. Reducing levels of DE Math from 4 to 3. Piloted the use of non-course-based instructional materials. Piloted modified version of Math Emporium. Completed Foundations of Excellence study.
Graduates â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Degrees & Certificates
Fall Credit Enrollment
2,432
24,999 23,015
1,443
2003
2008
69%
2003
2008
8.6%
Given focus to EPCC. Helped build closer relationship with partners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; K-12, university, and foundations. Provided better information â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to be shared with Board/faculty/staff/community. Helped in creating state policy. Provided foundation for creating a new college-going culture in the community.
El Paso Community College Tops the Charts in All Three Lists Number 1 in awarding the most Associate Degrees to Hispanics Number 1 in percentage of Hispanic student enrollment Number 1 in number of Hispanic faculty
Source: Hispanic Outlook Magazine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 10 , 2008 Issue
Thank You!
El Paso Community College The Best Place to Start www.epcc.edu