Middlesex CC, Lowell High, JFYNetWorks Collaborate for College Success

BOSTON - Aug. 4, 2013 - PRLog -- A group of Lowell High School graduating seniors took their first big step to college last week by passing the ACCUPLACER test in a summer boot camp. 15  graduating seniors scored high enough on the test to bypass a total of 18 non-credit developmental courses, saving themselves and their parents $9504 in tuition and fees and accelerating their progress toward a college degree.

The ACCUPLACER is the test battery used by MA public colleges to assess  skills and place entering students in courses. A low score means assignment to non-credit “developmental” courses that drain college funds and delay graduation. Over 60% of community college freshmen statewide get assigned to these remedial classes. Students can be required to take as many as four.  Lowell High and Middlesex Community College decided to change that practice and teamed up with JFYNetWorks to  do something about it.  

“We want students coming to us ready for college level work,” said MCC Provost Philip Sisson. “We don’t want to be in the developmental education business, and we don’t want our incoming students to be at the developmental level. So we are reaching out to high schools to do everything we can to ensure that our future students have the skills to pass ACCUPLACER and succeed in college.  JFYNetWorks has a proven preparation program and Lowell High is our biggest feeder. It makes sense for us to start right here.”  

It’s a little-known problem, but it adds up to a big disadvantage for students.  Developmental courses don’t give degree credit. They cost the same tuition and fees as credit courses, and they take the same amount of time, but they don’t help toward a degree. These courses are a major contributor to the low graduation rates of community colleges.  

Students get into developmental courses by scoring too low on the placement tests that colleges use to measure reading and math  skills. The tests are called the ACCUPLACER and they are issued by the College Board, the publisher of the SAT, PSAT, GRE and many other standard tests. The ACCUPLACER has been used by Massachusetts colleges for decades, but until recently little attention was paid to it. Middlesex, Lowell High and JFY  decided to change that.

A pioneering group of Lowell High students have been working on JFYNet’s ACCUPLACER Prep program since late June. They first took the ACCUPLACER to identify their problem areas. Then their teachers placed them in JFY’s online curriculum according to the test results.  They worked  through their individualized learning plans from late June until July 24, when they took the final  ACCUPLACER tests at MCC’s Lowell campus.  The results showed that developmental courses can be overcome.  

“Lowell High School depends on the long term and collaborative partnership and support of Middlesex Community College.  This project is another artifact of how MCC and the Lowell Public Schools work together to improve academic opportunities for students,” said  Lowell Superintendent Jean Franco.

JFYNetWorks is a Boston-based non-profit organization that helps schools set up blended learning programs combining  online and classroom instruction for high school standards from MCAS to Common Core to ACCUPLACER. JFY’s ACCUPLACER programs in high schools and community colleges have helped students test out of 950 developmental courses and save $521,000 in tuition and fees. Executive Director Gary Kaplan said, “If we had more collaborations like this between community colleges and high schools, we could save students a lot more money and a lot of time. Middlesex and Lowell High are showing that college readiness is not a vague aspiration—it’s a measurable skill level. They’re getting the job done.”  

The JFYNet ACCUPLACER Prep program is slated to continue at Lowell High this fall for juniors and seniors. The program is being supported by the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, the Lowell Public Schools and  Middlesex Community College.