Students prepare for college by going to college

By Amanda Junk

In May, Amber Wright graduated from Charles A. Tindley High School with 35 college credits and Abby Lynn graduated from Fall Creek Academy with 33. The two were among nearly 100 other charter high school students who have earned college credits. The group was recognized at the Indiana Public Charter School Conference on April 29.

These students earned college credits at a time when the high school dropout rate in Indianapolis is nearly 50 percent, while the college bound rate is worse. Charter high schools across the state are combating these statistics by creating dual enrollment programs in which students can take free college courses for real college credit.

Amber Wright graduated from Charles A. Tindley High School with 35 college credits

The concept is simple: high schools and an area college or university collaborate to allow high school students who qualify to enroll in and take college courses for credit. Students take a combination of core high school courses and college courses to receive their diploma. Oftentimes teachers employed by the high school teach core classes, while college courses are taken alongside college students at the college.
At Fall Creek, a K-12 charter school near Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis, 12 out of the 18 seniors graduated this year with advanced standing at colleges through dual enrollment programs, said school principal Anita Silverman. The school works with Ivy Tech as part of the high school’s Middle College program as early as a student’s second semester as a high school freshman.

As opposed to Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, which grant university credits to students who perform well on one exam at the end of the school year, she said taking a college course in high school is more likely to transfer as post-secondary credit.

“You must be a strong student whether you’re an AP student or whether you do Middle College,” Silverman said. “But the problem with AP is you may have all this pride and integrity with your education and work really hard and it comes down to one test and if you don’t get the four or five on the test you don’t get the credit.”

Qualified high school students can study areas not offered at their present school, complete required high school courses that may not fit their schedule, and get degree work completed early, said Cyndi Stout, fast track to college coordinator at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis.

At Ivy Tech, special admission students must apply for admission, meet academic skill pre-requisites through SAT, ACT or COMPASS college placement assessment scores, and enroll for the desired courses, Stout said.

While programs vary from school to school, most schools pay for tuition, textbooks and the transportation for their students to earn college credits, Stout said. In doing so they are providing students — some of whom may not have otherwise been able to afford to take college credits while in high school — with as much as one full year of college experience.

“Some take courses as appetizers; they test out academic areas to find out if a particular major or area of study is right for them,” Stout said. “Students can apply their efforts with water wings, then go back to their home high school to finish out the day.”

Stout said she is working through 18 formal agreements with high schools in Indianapolis, including Fall Creek Academy, Lawrence Early College High School and Decatur Discovery Academy. At the Indianapolis campus, 735 high school students are in Ivy Tech classrooms taking courses with professors as specially admitted students; around 2,300 participate in the Double Up for College dual enrollment program.

Stout said the college environment does not change to accommodate high school students, and they receive no special treatment from professors in the college classroom.

“It’s an opportunity to practice living with a syllabus. Very few students without the dual credit have seen one prior to college during their freshman year,” Stout said. “The expectation is if they’re in a college classroom, all policies are still in place. The only difference is being younger.”

Scott Syverson, executive director of Lawrence Early College High School for Science and Technologies, said his Ivy Tech partnership is positive and one he’d like to see grow even more. Ivy Tech helps with scheduling 60 LEC students, tracking how they’re doing and shuttling them to and from the campus.

“Right now we’re brainstorming ways to make it as successful as we can for the students,” he said.

Syverson also is working with Purdue University for dual-enrollment credits and the Civil Air Patrol and the Hoosier Agricultural Science Academy to develop four-year programs for students.

Because this year marked LEC’s first graduation, Syverson said he can’t compare successes in the program from previous years, but hopes most of his students proceed to two- or four-year colleges after graduation.

Indianapolis Metropolitan High School also works with Ivy Tech as part of its college prep program, said Tieree Smith, director of college transition services. In addition to offering dual credit options, the high school is wrapping up the pilot year for its I Aspire program to further prepare seniors for postsecondary life.

Ten students were admitted into the program this year, and Smith said around 23 have already been accepted into next year’s program.

“The first semester was very successful,” Smith said. “GPAs and SAT scores of students who were in the program went up in comparison to previous years, and many are above the national state average.”

Smith said the school’s College Strategies for Success program is also different from the traditional high school model. As part of its curriculum, students take a course on how to take notes and study for exams and are required to meet once a week with certified advisers as check-in points to ensure they are on the right academic track for success after high school.

As an adviser, Smith stays in touch with alumni to make sure their financial packages are together so they can get into college. Of last year’s 57 graduates attending college, 11 are at Ivy Tech Community College, seven each at Indiana State University and Indiana University, five at IUPUI and most of the rest at other Indiana colleges.

No matter what their relationships with universities, Stout said the charter high schools she works with are headed in the right direction in terms of college preparation.

“It’s a unique opportunity that adds to things [these schools] do during the day,” she said. “They don’t have to rework their fall schedule but they do. They make changes for students. They have flexibility to think and work creatively and out of box with students and see that a child’s education can happen anywhere.”

Other Programs
While some charter schools have yet to develop a partnership with a university for a dual credit program, some have tentative plans to do so and others assist with four-year plans in different ways.

For example, Hoosier Academy in Indianapolis does not have a senior class — as part of its charter it adds one grade level per year so students will grow with the program — but counselor Elizabeth Tinder has already begun to prepare 8th grader, plus freshmen and sophomores for the college admissions process.

Tinder works with students to plan college tours, develop four-year plans and prepare for the SATs and ACTs. The school has an incentive program where students can earn points based on grades and attendance, including tying in college experience with cultural opportunities.

Tinder said as part of its K12 curriculum, Hoosier Academy has started conversations with area colleges in starting a dual credit program once students enter their junior year, but nothing formal has been finalized at this time.

Amanda is a senior at Ball State University majoring in magazine journalism. She can be reached at junkama@gmail.com.