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COLORADO GEAR UPSUCCESS

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High School Graduation Rates

Series10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

87%

72%

GEAR UP Statewide

On-Time graduation rates for students graduating after the 2010-2011 school year.

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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College Matriculation Rates

Series10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

84%

57%

GEAR UP Statewide

Entering college in the fall term immediately following graduation for students graduating after the 2010-2011 school year.

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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College Persistence Rates

Series10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

81%

70%

GEAR UP Statewide

Entering college in the fall term immediately following graduation and persisting through spring of year 1 for students graduating after the 2010-2011 school year. This is compared to the 2010-11 statewide retention rates, student returning in fall of year 2.

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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EthnicityDemographics

White

Hispanic

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

56.1%

31.9%

18.8%

72.0%

GEAR UP Statewide

Comparison of the two largest ethnicity groups for 2011 graduates.

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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Income Demographics

Full-Pell Eligible

Low Income

0.0% 50.0% 100.0% 150.0%

25.0%

40.0%

62.0%

100.0%

GEAR UP Statewide

Comparison of income related demographics for 2011 graduates.

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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A BIG part of this success

• The average GEAR UP student graduated high school having already earned 17 college credits

• CLEP testing - 60% of students who took the CLEP earned between 9 and 15 college credits, depending on the receiving institution

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So far, so good. But wait …

There’s a problem

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Challenge:Remedial Rates

Series10%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

60%

32%

GEAR UP Statewide

Colorado GEAR UP 2011 graduates assessed as needing remediation compared with statewide remedial rate from 2011 report (2010 graduates)

Colorado GEAR UP

vs.

Statewide

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Challenge for Remedial Students

in 4 years in 5 years in 6 years0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

9%

23%

30%30%

51%

57%

Earning Bachelor Degrees

Remedial Students Non-Remedial

Graduation rates for remedial and non-remedial students from the 2011 remedial report (table 9).

Statewide

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2016 Goal:

0% Remedial Rate

2011 20160%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

60%

0%

Using early remediation in middle and high school and getting those course completions on high school transcripts, Colorado GEAR UP seeks to reduce its cohort remedial rate to zero.

Colorado GEAR UP

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EARLY REMEDIATIONColorado GEAR UP

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Thinking outside the box

• Finding a partner in Adams State University, Alamosa

• Adams State and ALEKS create online remedial classes

• Adams State provides transcripts for class completion

• Finding a district willing to give it a try – Adams 14 Commerce City

• Launching a pilot in fall 2011 in two middle schools

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The importance of the transcript

• Proof that GEAR UP students have mastered the classes

• Other programs provide double shots of math, for example, but they don’t provide transcripts

• Students will be able to go right into 100-level courses with transcripts assuring schools they’ve mastered remedial work

• GEAR UP pays for students as early as grade 10 to take college courses

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Early Remediation - Math

2011-12 (Pilot) 2012-130

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

112

605

# Students Taking Remediation

Pilot group consisted of 8th graders from two middle schools.

2012-13 remedial group currently has 8th and 9th graders from more than a dozen schools across the state.

Data as of Dec. 2012

Colorado GEAR UP

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Subject Mastery Progress(Aug – Dec)

0-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%64%

33%

3%0%

10%

37% 35%

19%

Pre-Algebra, Mastery %Aug 2012 Dec 2012

Pre-Algebra course progress through mid-year 2012-13. The graph shows 8th and 9th grade students

Colorado GEAR UP

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Progress Report50%+ Mastery

Kearney  MSCentauri MS

Fort Morgan MSAdams City MS

Henry  MSOrtega  MS

South (Aurora)  MSBruce Randolph  MS

Fort Morgan HSSouth (Denver) HS

Adams City HSAurora Central HS

Bruce Randolph HS

0% 20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

100%93%

68%57%55%

51%31%

25%83%

63%60%

51%16%

% of Students above 50% Mas-tery for Pre-Algebra, as of Dec

2012

Pre-Algebra course progress through December 2012. The graph shows 8th and 9th grade students.

Colorado GEAR UP

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Keep in mind

• Students who don’t finish a course by the end of the school year pick up where they left off in the fall

• Students only complete the course when they establish mastery of the material

• Students complete early remediation classes and continue into credit-bearing college courses while still in high school

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What’s next?

• Added reading and writing remedial classes in January 2013 at three schools

• Working on expansion of early math remediation to all GEAR UP schools; continuing to expand reading and writing remedial classes

• Working with Adams State and the Colorado Community College System to make sure early remediation fits in with state remedial policy changes

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Taking this work to scale

• Data consortium with Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt and the universities of Colorado, Michigan, Northern Colorado and Southern California to provide solid research foundation

• Schools don’t have to be part of GEAR UP to do this work

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REMEMBER WHY THIS MATTERS: IMPACTS OF REMEDIATION

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What remediation means for students

• 40% of Colorado’s high school class of 2011 were assessed as needing remediation or enrolled in remedial classes in state colleges and universities, DHE report

• “The developmental (remedial) programs within the Colorado Community College system show the same success rates as colleges in many other states: less than 5% of students who start in developmental courses will ever complete a college degree,” CCCS report, http://www.cccs.edu/Docs/dev-ed/DETF%20process%20narrative.pdf

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There’s got to be a better way• Millions of dollars spent on remediation by Colorado students

and by the state - $58 million in 2011-12, with students paying $39 million and the state paying $19 million. Yet many of these students won’t graduate. (Data from DHE report)

• Recent studies show as many as 1 in 4 students are misidentified as needing remediation in states such as Colorado, which typically rely on a single placement test

• About half of the students whose test scores land them in remediation could have earned a C or better if they had enrolled directly in first-year courses, according to a study by the Community College Research Center at Teachers College

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Questions?

• Scott Mendelsberg, executive director, Colorado GEAR UP, scott.mendelsberg@dhe.state.co.us

• Nancy Mitchell, communications director, Colorado GEAR UP, nancy.mitchell@dhe.state.co.us

• www.ColoradoGEARUP.org