Problem

Students often face structural challenges that impede their progress at the start: Many colleges refuse to give students credit for prior learning, others offer developmental-education sequences that are poorly designed, and some colleges simply fail to tell students how many credit hours they need each term to graduate on time. In every case, student-centered institutions should do all they can to give students a solid start that dramatically increases their odds of success.

Source: Complete College America

Source: American Institutes for Research

Source: SHEEO and CCA

1

Strategies

Credit for Competency

Recognize the prior learning, skills, and knowledge that students possess and establish mechanisms to award appropriate credits.

Multiple Measures

Consider a variety of placement options that include high school grade point average to provide more ways for students to take a college-level class in their first semester.

Corequisite Support

Design structures and pedagogical approaches for students needing or requesting additional support to succeed in college-level foundational math and English courses that allow students to complete requirements in a single academic term.

Dual Enrollment

Provide high school students opportunities to take college classes while they are still in high school so they can get an early start on college.

15 to Finish/Stay on Track

Invest in coordinated communications efforts and structural solutions to match student credit loads with the credits needed for on-time graduation for both part-time and full-time students.

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