The state teams were made up of representatives from the governor’s office and officials from K-12 and higher education systems. Having representatives across a wide span of education and government showed the support these programs have and the commitment to work together to make progress on implementing effective policy.
During the workshop, members of the CHSA steering committee, NGA personnel, and other partners provided facilitation support to participants during individual state team meetings, cross-state roundtable discussions, and close examination of the elements of the CHSA’s framework on state policy for college in high school programs.
Here’s a look at five key takeaways from the workshop that the NGA, the CHSA, and JFF identified.
1. Virtual Convenings Can Help State Teams Move Policy Forward
Participants appreciated the opportunity to connect virtually at a time when in-person interactions were impossible. They also expressed appreciation for the opportunity to collaborate with other state teams. Despite the need to shift to a fully virtual meeting in less than two weeks, our facilitators said they were able to successfully work with the teams to identify ways to move college in high school policy forward in participating states, including opportunities to improve student eligibility policies and develop cross-state dual enrollment task forces.
2. COVID-19 Will Impact Near- and Long-Term Plans
Every participating state team expressed concern about the impact the COVID-19 crisis would have on college in high school programs. Their concerns centered on prolonged closures of schools and colleges and declining state revenues. Many states have issued near-term guidance responding to the pandemic in the context of college in high school programs.
State leaders discussed how they might change their program eligibility criteria in the short term, particularly when eligibility typically is based on standardized tests and college entrance exams like the ACT that will not be taking place during the pandemic. Some states are interested in exploring the use of multiple measures for assessing college readiness, both as a way to address short-term needs and as a long-term equity strategy. Eligibility models that include multiple measures take a wide range of criteria into account when assessing student readiness, including grade level, attendance record, GPA, and teacher recommendations.
States also discussed longer-term implications and how projected budget shortfalls will affect their plans to expand equity and improve the quality of college in high school programs. As a result, there was significant discussion about ways in which states could advance their equity and quality agendas for these programs without significant budget increases.
3. Equity and Quality Are More Important Than Ever Before
In light of the pandemic, states agreed that efforts to expand equity and improve quality are more important now than ever before. As state teams considered their next steps, one constant theme was how to examine what data the state has access to and then determine how to use that data to inform policymaking for college in high school programs. State data systems may track which types of students are participating in college in high school programs (based on factors such as the student’s age, race or ethnicity, grade, and geographic location), where participants access the programs (i.e., at their own high schools, at another school, on a college campus, or online), and whether college in high school students are enrolling in, persisting in, and completing two- or four-year degree programs after completing high school.