Joint Board of Ed/Higher Ed meeting: Opening and Early College

The agenda for all of today is here. The early college documents are here.
Welcome from Bridgewater State President Clark, who notes that Bridgewater State is the largest producer of teachers in the state.


I'm not even going to try on names here...
it's been one year since early college initiative was approved by both Boards
33 applications; 21 invited to apply for final designation; ultimately, 9 will receive grants of $100,000
...wait, now they say 5 grants of up to $140,000 (each?) in planning grants
(I'm confused on the grants; if I get clarification, I'll fix this) It's both: there are 9 $100,000 grants and 5 $140,000 grants
"healthy, high quality partnerships" among colleges and high schools

Two photos: list of early college applicants moving forward at this point #MAEdu pic.twitter.com/KN3UlGXfFp

— Tracy O'Connell Novick (@TracyNovick) January 23, 2018

 focus on equitable access, guided academic pathways, enhanced student support, connection to career, and effective partnerships
final phase looking for support that they will deliver
setting what expectations not only for now, but for the future: "balanced flexibility with a real rigor in the process...a delicate balance"
"clear and smooth transition from K-12 to higher ed
significant representation from community and state colleges and universities
many had existing programs they're building on
projected goal is serving 10,500 students
calls in January with those moving forward (as well as those not) to review and improve
five year performance reviews built into process

Q: how are we going to learn from these experiments and bring it to scale?
using competency based learning, project based learning, internships...going to college and finding a job?
A: some programs have been successfully operating at a small scale
talking to applicants, they can learn from each other
dozens of examples within these applicants that are really different, in different places
...another innovation pathway has more of a focus on career based education
see a very high improvement rate in students at risk of not attending college or not completing
"much of this data exists, we just have to look at it through this particular lens"
"Massachusetts was very late to this game, but has done some things that are very different and important" than elsewhere
community college in the driver's seat and reaching out to the high schools
Peyser: interagency work making our collective work better
process that is intended to produce really high quality programs
Morton: equitable access
A: section was incredibly important to us
expected programs to admit without regard to prior academic performance
embedded an expectation that recruitment and enrollment would be focused on those underrepresented in higher education