The people working most closely with students need to be closely connected with their counterparts at other organizations to inform their own work and strengthen their practices. We have seen these collaborations be the most fruitful of bridges between K-12 districts and community colleges.
Characteristics of successful collaborations:
- A “core team” and/or point person is established at the CC, K12 and Mayor’s office to convene and plan regular leadership meetings
- K12 and CC Faculty is engaged in shared inter-organizational professional development activities
- K12 and CC Faculty meets at least twice a year to address curriculum gaps between systems
- Positive peer relationships exist between the counseling faculty at CC and at K12
- K12 counselors are trained and informed about community college admissions procedures, CTE certificates, and pathway program options
- CC Counselors are trained in the mandated and regulations of the K-12 system (eg. Common Core, A-G)
- Community College outreach counselors face minimal barriers when promoting the community college as a relevant post-secondary option in the K12 schools
- K12 faculty are informed of data loss points between the systems and understand the urgency of promoting the community college equal to the 4 year university
- After-school CBO partners are informed of data loss points and trained in community college admissions procedures and pathway programs of study
- Counselors and instructional faculty across systems utilize a common career exploration planning tool
Researching support the importance of collaboration
Teaching and Learning in the Dual Enrollment Classroom
Katherine L. Hughes & Linsey Edwards, CCRC, 2012
This article explores how teaching in a dual enrollment program can foster new approaches to classroom pedagogy. Researchers from the Community College Research Center use qualitative data from California’s Concurrent Courses Initiative to describe how program faculty implemented research-based pedagogical strategies in order to improve student persistence.
This article was published in New Directions for Higher Education, vol. 2012.
Developing Work-Based Learning Pedagogies
David Thornton Moore & Katherine L. Hughes
The School-to-Work movement came together as a major national force for educational reform in the late 1980s and reached its peak in 1994 with the passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Throughout the 1990s, the movement had a substantial record of creativity and accomplishment.
Among other things, the movement hastened the spread of career development activities for all students, strengthened ties between schools and local employers, and supported the creation of many innovative work-based education programs. By the end of the decade, however, the influence of the movement had begun to decline as other reform movements came to dominate the national educational landscape.
This chapter features a thorough discussion of work-based learning pedagogies.
This chapter was published in: Stull, W.J. & Sanders, N.M. (2003) The School-to-Work Movement: Origins and Destinations. Praeger Publishers.