se ma college readiness collaborations launched
Five southeastern Massachusetts colleges and universities have won grants to support outreach to the region’s high schools to promote college readiness. The first K-12/higher education meetings took place March 8 and 9, 2012, at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Cape Cod Community College. The college readiness initiative rose out of the April 2011 conference organized by CONNECT, a consortium of the six public institutions of higher education in southeastern Massachusetts.
Cape Cod Community College is partnering with regional school districts Dennis-Yarmouth, Barnstable, Cape Cod Tech, and Upper Cape Tech. The remaining college/university and school district teams are: Bridgewater State University partnering with Taunton, Bridgewater-Raynham, Whitman-Hanson, and Plymouth; Bristol Community College working with Fall River and New Bedford; Massasoit Community College joining with Brockton and Randolph; and UMass Dartmouth in collaboration with Dartmouth, Wareham, and New Bedford.
The teams will meet throughout the year to discuss high school and college expectations around writing and math; the differences between secondary and post-secondary curriculum; national and state efforts to bring the two levels of education into better alignment; and the skills high school graduates need to do well in college.
Support for the project is coming through the SE MA Readiness Center from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education and federal Race to the Top funds. The SE MA Readiness Center is overseeing the initiative in collaboration with CONNECT, a partnership of the six public institutions of higher education in Southeastern Massachusetts: Bristol, Cape Cod, and Massasoit Community Colleges; Bridgewater State University; Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
NEW: In the photo above, Aundrea Kelley, deputy commissioner, P-16 Policy and Collaborative Initiatives, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, discusses college readiness with CCCC professors - Math Chair Ted Panits, English Chair Sally Polito, and Dean of Math and Science Bob Cody. Click here to view Aundrea's presentation on PARCC - Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career, at CCCC.
college readiness conference
Pathways to College Readiness and College Success was the theme of the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional College Readiness Conference held Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at the Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston. This conference brought together more than 300 secondary and post-secondary faculty, administrators, and policy makers to talk about the transition from high school to college, the changing environment in which Massachusetts public education operates, and how to set more students on the path to success in college. Presented in partnership with the Southeastern Massachusetts Readiness Center, this conference was sponsored by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, College Board, the Department of Higher Education and ACT.
The final program, including the schedule of presentations and biographies of the speakers, is available here.
Read the Readiness Conference press release here.
conference highlights & speaker presentations
VIEW CONFERENCE VIDEOS HERE
The powerpoint presentations of many of the plenary session speakers are available for download:
KEYNOTE: Allison Jones, The High School to Higher Education Transition - National Trends
PANEL: Public Higher Education in Massachusetts: Where We Are, Where We Are Going
Richard Freeland, The Vision Project
Susan Wheltle, Transitioning to the New Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, Incorporating the Common Core Standards
Heather Woodcock Ayres, Regional Collaboration and Assessment to Leverage Next-Level Change
NEW APPROACHES TO STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Sharyn Sweeney, Introduction to the Common Core and College Readiness - Math
Susan Wheltle, Introduction to the Common Core and College Readiness - English
Kate Harrington, Assessing Student Learning in Public Higher Education
BEST PRACTICES: Ambitious Innovations and Experiments in Reform
Denise Richardello, Berkshire County Goes to College
Glenn Gabbard, Four Approaches to Retaining Underserved Students - Project Compass
recommendations for conference follow-up
The following reports offer recommendations for conference follow-up and further discussion along with reports from Collegial Conversations sessions in Advising, English, and Math.
- Readiness Conference Recommendations for Follow-Up
- Collegial Conversations Report--Advising
- Collegial Conversations Report--English
- Collegial Conversations Report--Math
recommended conference readings & resources
The following link connects you with selected readings which have been compiled to maximize the benefit of attending the conference Pathways to College Readiness and College Success: Conference Readings & Resources
