Partnering for College and Career Readiness

Audience -- Admin, possibly some faculty, looking for ideas about how to partner with secondary schools.

Purpose -- Relay SWIC's experience and initiatives to improve communication and collaboration with local high schools.

What We Did --

1st Meeting -- meet and greet; discussed possible course of action. We tried to make this process as collaborative as possible, seeking input at every available turn. We emphasized that we (SWIC) were not there to tell HS teachers what to do, or to criticize them for that they are doing wrong, etc.

2nd Meeting -- Norming. We looked at SWIC's writing rubric, discussed our developmental portfolio process, and evaluated sample essays, discussed our evaluations and use of the rubric.

3rd Meeting -- HS teachers brought 5 essays from their students, made multiple copies, evaluated them, and compared the results. We discovered that there is not a statistical difference between how we graded and how HS teachers graded. College evaluations were shared with high school students.

This tells us that our standards are not that different; so, in looking for answers, we have to look elsewhere. The problem, 2/3 of our students enter requiring some remedial education, is not a matter of weak standards, but deeper than that. We cannot simply blame the teachers for not doing their jobs, they are doing their jobs, but are sidetracked by outside influences and barriers to effective teaching of writing.

4th Meeting -- Discussed what we learned, things we might change, and additional initiatives we might take.

Project Goals:

1. Align high school and college writing expectations;
2. Assist high school students in understanding skills necessary to be successful in college-level writing.