College, COMPASS, Careers (C 3 ) A partnership between Sealth High School and South Seattle Community College

Background 90% of recent high school graduates entering SSCC scored below college level math on the COMPASS assessment test Like all high schools in WA State, Chief Sealth is focused on improving WASL scores and math readiness

Four Main Project Goals Provide Diagnostic COMPASS Testing to Junior Class Cohort ~Completed Provide Additional Math Remediation Resources ~95% Complete Capacity Building ~20% Complete, Additional progress anticipated in upcoming months Increase Student Motivation by Connecting Math Success and Career Success ~Projected completion by June of 2007

COMPASS TESTING Entire Junior Class was tested Students received their scores immediately Teachers, counselors, and administration were given comprehensive data set on outcomes Bonus…Survey results w/ relevant info. about each student were given to teachers

Students were Surveyed about Math Perceptions and Demographic Info. Students career goals and their expectation of the corresponding math requirements How much time spent on math homework outside of class? Students’ expectation on what grade they will earn in math class Need for additional help outside of class Current use of, and scheduling availability for tutoring after school and/or weekends

Additional Resources for Math Remediation PLATO tutorial software Purchased seats in SSCC Teen MAST ~A Math/Science tutoring center for college students made available to teens

Capacity Building SSCC staff attend Sealth math department meetings SSCC math teachers meeting with Sealth math teachers to discuss additional resources for students Curricular alignment discussions Macro level discussions

Student Motivation / Connecting Math with Chosen Careers Communicate Math Pay Off Discuss the math requirement in most careers Illustrate the message with real students Do it now or pay later… Example: A True (mostly) Story

A Story Bart Simpson Jessa Buenavista ? Once upon a time, two Sealth students registered for classes at South Seattle Community College.

During his senior year Bart took classes, but pretty much did the minimum in: Language Arts 12 Senior Project He neglected to take: Any Math (He stopped at Math 3 after his junior year because he didn’t like the teacher) Science

Both took the College Assessment exam which measures: Math Writing Skills Reading Comprehension The exam is used to place them in Math and English classes They received different scores

MATH Courses Chief Sealth Equivalent MAT 083Arithmetic Math.5 MAT 084ArithmeticMath.5 MAT 085Elementary AlgebraMath I MAT 086Elementary AlgebraMath I MAT 087Elementary GeometryMath II MAT 097Intermediate Algebra Math II MAT 098Intermediate GeometryMath III MAT 102College AlgebraMath III MAT 117Elements of Calculus MAT 122Pre-Calculus MAT 124Calculus with Analytic Geometry

What happened? Bart was recommended to be placed into Pre-College Classes: English 094 (Writing Skills II) Math 087 (Algebra 1) Jessa was recommended to be placed into College-Level Courses: English 101 (Composition) Math 111 (Applied Math 1)

2 years $17,860 Note: Financial Aid only covers first two years of Community College English and Math Do Matter! Do it now or pay for it later! Moral of the Story 3 years $26,790

Summary Project is very successful, but needs to be taken to a larger scale Sealth wants to expand and COMPASS test the 9 th and 10 th grades as well, in order to affect change in their behaviors at an earlier age We want to post test the students in order to have a stronger evaluation of our outcomes Other schools in our neighborhood also want to partner with us and participate in this project next year