Building a Bridge to Improve Student Success
Western Connecticut State University's innovative collaboration between university faculty and teachers at Danbury and Bethel High Schools to improve core subject college readiness, Building a Bridge to Improve Student Success, has produced dramatic reductions in the number of students needing remediation in mathematics and writing. It has also improved retention levels from freshman to sophomore year among students who participated in Bridges while in high school.
After the first year of collaboration and revisions to senior-level classes, students' placements dramatically improved. Whereas 61 percent of juniors had previously placed into remedial English classes, only 37 percent of seniors entering Western from the two high schools did. (By the third year, that number dropped to 15.5 percent.) Additionally, while 62 percent of juniors had placed into remedial mathematics, Bridges reduced the level to 40 percent.
"The project helped us realize necessary changes had to be made within the school district on a systemic level. The results indicate substantially more of our students are finding success at the university level."Reducing the number of remedial classes necessary for incoming freshmen saves students time and money, and makes higher education more accessible. Working closely with the high schools has also produced a continuing benefit for the students in higher education - increases of between 8 and 13 percent in first- and second-year retention.
William Glass
Associate Superintendent
Danbury school district
Simply put, high school students are more likely to continue on to higher education, less likely to need remedial classes when they get there, and more likely to stay in school after their freshmen year. Another important benefit has been the establishment of a collaborative working relationship between the university and high school faculties, and the impact it has had on both curriculum and student achievement.
The success of the initiative at Western led the state legislature to provide funding to the Connecticut State University System (CSUS), through the Department of Higher Education (DHE), in FY2009 to extend the college readiness program.
"The real key is that it was a completely collaborative project. When our faculty and their faculty got together and talked about what the standards are there, what the expectations are here, and how do we get there, how do we maximize the opportunity for students - it ended up just being a really good project."Western is working to expand Bridges to include Science, in addition to English and Math, and is establishing connections with local middle schools.
Dr. Linda Vaden-Goad
dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
Western Connecticut State University
CSUS is also moving forward to implement the Bridges model at Southern, Central and Eastern Connecticut State Universities in collaboration with additional pilot communities in the coming years. Southern is currently developing plans with the Meriden, Hamden and New Haven school districts; Central is establishing working relationships with the New Britain and Bristol school districts; and Eastern is working with the Windham and Norwich school districts. At Southern, the program is called "Galileo."
The Bridges initiative began following action by the Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees aimed at improving academic performance, promoting access and reducing costs at the post-secondary level. In July 2003, the Board approved a policy requiring all full-time, first-time-in-college freshmen to successfully complete any necessary remedial courses within their first 24 academic credits. Any student failing to complete remediation prior to the sophomore year would not be allowed to register for credit courses in any of the four system universities until the remedial courses were completed successfully.