COLORADO GEAR UP SUCCESS 1

High School Graduation Rates On-Time graduation rates for students graduating after the school year. Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 2

College Matriculation Rates Entering college in the fall term immediately following graduation for students graduating after the school year. Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 3

College Persistence Rates Entering college in the fall term immediately following graduation and persisting through spring of year 1 for students graduating after the school year. This is compared to the statewide retention rates, student returning in fall of year 2. Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 4

Ethnicity Demographics Comparison of the two largest ethnicity groups for 2011 graduates. Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 5

Income Demographics Comparison of income related demographics for 2011 graduates. Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 6

A BIG part of this success The average GEAR UP student graduated high school having already earned 17 college credits CLEP testing - 60% of students who took the CLEP earned between 9 and 15 college credits, depending on the receiving institution 7

So far, so good. But wait … There’s a problem 8

Challenge: Remedial Rates Colorado GEAR UP 2011 graduates assessed as needing remediation compared with statewide remedial rate from 2011 report (2010 graduates) Colorado GEAR UP vs. Statewide 9

Challenge for Remedial Students Graduation rates for remedial and non- remedial students from the 2011 remedial report (table 9). Statewide 10

2016 Goal: 0% Remedial Rate Using early remediation in middle and high school and getting those course completions on high school transcripts, Colorado GEAR UP seeks to reduce its cohort remedial rate to zero. Colorado GEAR UP 11

EARLY REMEDIATION Colorado GEAR UP 12

Thinking outside the box Finding a partner in Adams State University, Alamosa Adams State and ALEKS create online remedial classes Adams State provides transcripts for class completion Finding a district willing to give it a try – Adams 14 Commerce City Launching a pilot in fall 2011 in two middle schools 13

The importance of the transcript Proof that GEAR UP students have mastered the classes Other programs provide double shots of math, for example, but they don’t provide transcripts Students will be able to go right into 100-level courses with transcripts assuring schools they’ve mastered remedial work GEAR UP pays for students as early as grade 10 to take college courses 14

Early Remediation - Math Pilot group consisted of 8 th graders from two middle schools remedial group currently has 8 th and 9 th graders from more than a dozen schools across the state. Data as of Dec Colorado GEAR UP 15

Subject Mastery Progress (Aug – Dec) Pre-Algebra course progress through mid- year The graph shows 8 th and 9 th grade students Colorado GEAR UP 16

Progress Report 50%+ Mastery Pre-Algebra course progress through December The graph shows 8 th and 9 th grade students. Colorado GEAR UP 17

Keep in mind Students who don’t finish a course by the end of the school year pick up where they left off in the fall Students only complete the course when they establish mastery of the material Students complete early remediation classes and continue into credit-bearing college courses while still in high school 18

What’s next? Added reading and writing remedial classes in January 2013 at three schools Working on expansion of early math remediation to all GEAR UP schools; continuing to expand reading and writing remedial classes Working with Adams State and the Colorado Community College System to make sure early remediation fits in with state remedial policy changes 19

Taking this work to scale Data consortium with Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt and the universities of Colorado, Michigan, Northern Colorado and Southern California to provide solid research foundation Schools don’t have to be part of GEAR UP to do this work 20

REMEMBER WHY THIS MATTERS: IMPACTS OF REMEDIATION 21

What remediation means for students 40% of Colorado’s high school class of 2011 were assessed as needing remediation or enrolled in remedial classes in state colleges and universities, DHE reportDHE report “The developmental (remedial) programs within the Colorado Community College system show the same success rates as colleges in many other states: less than 5% of students who start in developmental courses will ever complete a college degree,” CCCS report, ed/DETF%20process%20narrative.pdf ed/DETF%20process%20narrative.pdf 22

There’s got to be a better way Millions of dollars spent on remediation by Colorado students and by the state - $58 million in , with students paying $39 million and the state paying $19 million. Yet many of these students won’t graduate. (Data from DHE report)Data from DHE report Recent studies show as many as 1 in 4 students are misidentified as needing remediation in states such as Colorado, which typically rely on a single placement test Recent studies About half of the students whose test scores land them in remediation could have earned a C or better if they had enrolled directly in first-year courses, according to a study by the Community College Research Center at Teachers CollegeCommunity College Research Center at Teachers College 23

Questions? Scott Mendelsberg, executive director, Colorado GEAR UP, Nancy Mitchell, communications director, Colorado GEAR UP, 24