College, COMPASS, Careers (C3)

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

JessaBuenavista

?

Once upon a time, two Sealth students registeredfor 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 083 Arithmetic Math .5

MAT 084 Arithmetic Math .5

MAT 085 Elementary AlgebraMath I

MAT 086 Elementary AlgebraMath I

MAT 087 Elementary Geometry Math II

MAT 097 Intermediate Algebra Math II

MAT 098 Intermediate Geometry Math III

MAT 102 College Algebra Math III

MAT 117 Elements of Calculus

MAT 122 Pre-Calculus

MAT 124 Calculus with Analytic Geometry

What happened?

Bart was recommended

to be placed intoPre-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$17,86

0

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$26,79

0

Summary

Project is very successful, but needs to be taken to a larger scale

Sealth wants to expand and COMPASS test the 9th and 10th 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