Goal 1. Increase College Readiness of Incoming Freshman
How meeting this goal increases completion
Academically stronger students, particularly at the point of admission to the College, generally have higher completion rates because they can better navigate the rigors of college courses, repeat fewer courses, and successfully take a full load of classes, all of which decrease time to graduation. AMSC has employed two strategies to increase the number of college-ready students.
Strategy #1 - Ensuring Academically Stronger Students – Dual Enrollment:
AMSC has expanded its dual enrollment recruitment and outreach efforts to include five additional high schools to increase the number of dual enrollment students for the FY2015 school year, with the goal of doubling the headcount of dual enrollment students from the previous year, and increasing the number to a target of 300 by FY2016, a 20% increase over the previous year. These efforts include providing transportation for select dual enrollment students who would otherwise not be able to participate. In addition, an AMSC Dual Enrollment Coordinator has been hired to manage these efforts.
Strategy #2 – Expanding BRIDGE Programs – Pre-MAT:
The College has expanded its Pre-Matriculation (Pre-MAT) Bridge program, which provides academic reviews in math, reading, and English for potentially new freshman students who do not perform well on the COMPASS admissions exam. The goal of Pre-MAT courses is to increase the COMPASS performance of students to exempt learning support requirements, which will reduce course requirements and reduce time to completion. The Pre-MAT program is more effective when students enroll in the 11th grade of high school, which gives them the opportunity to receive intervention strategies to close any academic gaps that might exist, before high school graduation. The Pre-MAT success rates average between 60 -70% on the first attempt, depending on the academic preparedness of the student enrolling in the class. This strategy has broad impact because both traditional students and non-traditional adult learners benefit significantly from this program. The target for Pre-MAT is to extend it to all high schools with which AMSC has dual credit programs.
Strategy #3 - Increasing Support for Adult Learners:
Adult learners constitute 42% of the overall student population (approximately 3000 students) at AMSC. Thus, achieving this strategy will have a marked impact on the success of AMSC’s CCG initiative. The adult learner population is typically composed of students from varying backgrounds, including military, those requiring job retraining, or those pursuing new career options. Efforts associated with increasing adult learner graduation rates have proven very successful because of the high stakes associated with adult learners completing a degree/credential within a short amount of time. The following strategies to achieve this goal were implemented in FY2015. Strategies to support adult learners include: implementing adult learner “friendly” online courses designed to meet the needs of adult learners and to increase course delivery options, allowing them to consistently take more course credits that are compatible with their work schedule and family life, therefore graduating faster. Prior Learning Assessment, another strategy to assist adult learners, allows adult learners to submit portfolios outlining their prior learning experiences that may qualify for college credit(s), thus reducing the number of courses needed to complete the program of study/major, and reducing time to graduation.
Impact
600 -700, students annually
Needs/Challenges in Achieving this Goal
Although AMSC’s Dual Enrollment program is progressing, there are needs/challenges. Among the challenges are (a) students’ lack of funds to purchase text books, (b) insufficient preparation by many high school students to meet dual enrollment requirements, particularly meeting SAT and ACT minimum scores, and (c) students’ lack of transportation prohibiting their participation. The Pre-MAT course has a fee of $89.00. While nominal, this fee is a barrier for some students to take the course. The long-term goal is to increase the number of fee waivers beyond those the College is currently providing, and through external funding support, expand the Pre-MAT program to more students.
