NASSP Webinar: Early College Programs, A Win-Win for Everyone

The National Association for Secondary Schools Principals (NASSP) hosted a Webinar, “Early College Programs, A Win-Win for Everyone,” on September 26, 2012 on models for preparing high school students for higher education. Janice Bell Ollarvia, NASSP Professional Development Specialist and a former school principal, compared features of high school initiatives that link secondary education with two and four year institutions of higher education and allow high school students to participate in college-level courses. These models include Dual Enrollment, Dual Credit, Middle College High Schools, Credit-by-Exam (e.g., Advanced Placement courses), and Credit in Escrow (also known as Tech Prep).

While all models may promote students’ academic aspirations, preparedness for college, and successful access and completion of college without remediation, they vary in their implementation features. Ms. Ollarvia emphasized the importance of partnerships with institutions of higher education and communities to enable cost-effective implementation that is accessible to all students. She also noted that college course instructors should be supported by professional development providers. Professional development for college instructors teaching in high schools may include topics such as adolescent development and cognitive scaffolding during instruction. Such professional development can help college instructors “understand that they are speaking to sixteen years old and not nineteen years old students,” said Ms. Ollarvia.

The Webinar materials are available on NASSP’s Web site.

Note: This blog post was originally authored under the auspices of the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The National High School Center’s blog, High School Matters, which ran until March 2013, provided an objective perspective on the latest research, issues, and events that affected high school improvement. The CCRS Center plans to continue relevant work originally developed under the National High School Center grant. National High School Center blog posts that pertain to CCRS Center issues are included on this website as a resource to our stakeholders.

Guest Author: Dr. Yael Kidron is the Research Team Leader for the National High School Center and a Senior Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).