Teleconference: Successful Transitions from High School to College and Careers

Posted by on September 9, 2005

Teleconference on Best Practices for Helping Students Make Successful Transitions from High School to College and Careers

The Southern Regional Education Board, in cooperation with the League for Innovation in the Community College and the United States Department of Education, will present a teleconference entitled “Best Practices for Helping Students Make Successful Transitions from High School to College and Careers” on September 29, 2005, 1:30 to 3:30 PM (EDT). This interactive event can be viewed by linking to mms://mediam1.gpb.org/GPB-Education-Live or by linking to the SREB Web site at http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/hstwindex.asp. The link will not be active until 30 minutes prior to the start of the teleconference.

This teleconference, facilitated by Joan I. Athen, Special Assistant for Community Colleges, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education, will feature successful strategies that have been used to improve the opportunities for students to make the transition from high school to college and careers. Particular attention will be placed on the use of career pathways as a means of helping students set their sights on goals beyond high school, then reach their goals with reduced numbers needing remedial college courses and more students completing a postsecondary program of studies.

Joan Athen serves as the principal advisor on issues related to community colleges at the U.S. Department of Education. She also provides guidance to program directors of the USDE departments that manage functions and activities affecting community colleges. Her office serves as an advocate and resource for community colleges and works toward improving coordination of outreach programs in other federal agencies involving community colleges.

Joining Joan Athen will be Larry Warford, Project Director of the College and Career Transitions Initiative, administered through the League for Innovation in the Community College; Marsha Pfeiffer, President of the Florissant Valley Campus of the St. Louis Community College; Rodney Kelly, Director of Career and Technical Education in the Kentucky Department of Education; and, Jim Skidmore, Chancellor of the West Virginia Community and Technical College System.

Larry Warford has directed the national CCTI project since its inception in 2002. Working with 15 exemplary sites in 13 states, the use of career pathways in five career cluster areas is showing that students can increase their opportunities for success by taking a deliberate set of academic and career courses that articulate directly to the postsecondary level. Warford will show how the career pathway model can be used as a tool for helping students reach higher levels of postsecondary success.

Marsha Pfeiffer will discuss how her institution has been successful in working with 17 high schools to help students be more successful in making the transition to postsecondary education. She will describe the use of developmental exams to ascertain steps that need to be taken with high school seniors to increase their success, and how career pathways are helping students with career decisions.

Jim Skidmore has led the West Virginia effort to identify course standards on what colleges expect students to know and be able to do in order to be successful in college. He has worked closely with high schools and the WV State Department of Education to ensure consistency of course standards with guidelines for high school students’ attainment of dual enrollment credit.

A long time leader of the nationally acclaimed High Schools That Work initiative, Rodney Kelly was responsible for pulling together a group of state and local policy and educational leaders in a statewide forum. He will discuss the results of this forum and the recommendations that relate to helping students be more successful at the postsecondary level.

Viewers of the teleconference may ask questions of the presenters (at no charge) by calling 1-888-685-2815 any time during the presentation. This is also the number to call during the broadcast for technical difficulties. The e-mail address for e-mail questions during the teleconference will be sreb@gpb.org. For detailed information concerning receiving the broadcast via satellite, contact Ann Benson – any questions regarding this teleconference should be directed to Ann Benson, Consultant, High Schools That Work, at (405) 743-2919 or gben@brightok.net.