Taking Advantage of Transitional Classes for Over-age Undercredited Youth

Regardless of whether districts are busy implementing Common Core State Standards, competency education, blended learning or some mix of the reforms, they get to a point where they have to clarify what college- and career-readiness means exactly. Once they begin that conversation, they will eventually face up to the fact that some students need extra help. According to Education Week, more high schools are assessing whether students are prepared for college and offering transitional coursework, designed in collaboration with colleges, to those who are not. 

We can take advantage of this opportunity to push our agenda for over-age and undercredited youth by directing more resources to students entering ninth grade with elementary level skills, as well as those who have disengaged and want to re-enroll.
From what I can tell, transitional coursework programs are designed to help those students in the middle – students who are connected to school but have been moving forward with Cs and, therefore, with large gaps in their knowledge. We have substantial knowledge in our alternative schools about what it takes to accelerate learning for students with elementary school level gaps, including use of blended learning, project-based learning, and reinforcing habits of learning. We need to make sure that transitional coursework and preparatory programs also take into consideration that many students don’t have a strong belief that they can get a job or go to college. Therefore, work-based learning is imperative.

If you know of any transitional programming that is being designed for all students who aren’t prepared for college, using best practices, please let us know. We’d love to highlight them.