Collaborative Programs
Research Report
College Now Courses in a High School Setting
Stuart Cochran
Director of Research & Evaluation
for Collaborative Programs
&
April Burns
Collaborative Programs
Research Fellow
June 5, 2008
College Now Courses in a High School Setting
i
Executive Summary
In the fall 2005 we undertook a study of College Now courses in a high school setting
with the cooperation of Kingsborough Community College, which has the longest-
running College Now program, and the principals of two high schools we gave the
pseudonyms Banner (School #1) and National (School #2). The Kingsborough model
of high school-based courses is also relied upon by LaGuardia Community College,
Queensborough Community College, and York College and together these colleges
enroll large numbers of students each year. We set out to identify the specific effects of
the high school location, teacher and cohort and to better understand the impact of
College Now coursetaking on students’ learning, attitudes and expectations. We also
sought to identify practices that were conducive to the achievement of College Now
goals.
The College Now High School Environment
Finding #1.1: College Now courses at their high school (as opposed to a
college campus) were the only practical opportunities many students had to do
college-level work, given the complexities of commuting and daily schedules.
Finding #1.2: The scheduling of College Now courses, beginning as early
as 7 a.m. before regular high school classes, had an impact on recruitment,
attendance, and lateness.
Finding #1.3: Heightened security restrictions (such as metal detectors at
entrances) contributed to College Now student lateness and therefore impacted
essential aspects of effective programming.
Recommendations: It is likely that zero and first-period classes (the
earliest slots in school scheduling) are discouraging so