Recommendations

The state of South Carolina is ranked 48th nationally in the department of education. Results on the ACT college entrance exam show recent South Carolina high school graduates are woefully unprepared for college, despite their ambitions for postsecondary education. Only 14 percent of 51,000 students tested statewide who graduated in 2017 met the ACT’s “college readiness” benchmarks in all four of the exam’s subject areas that include english, math, science and reading yet 83 percent of test-takers indicated they wanted to go on to college. Even more staggering, only 2 percent of black students met the ACT’s benchmarks in all four sub-tests, compared with 9 percent of Latinos, 21 percent of whites and 33 percent of Asians (Pan, Deanna). The majority of these minority populations are inhabitants of underprivileged communities that lack college readiness resources such as advanced placement and dual enrollment. To close the growing gap between underprivileged communities and college readiness they must be made aware of what resources are at their disposal. It will take effective communication with these communities to overcome this challenge. Communication must be tailored towards its prospective population in order to achieve an intended goal (Key Insight 3).  

It is without a doubt that we are currently living in the age of technology. The internet affords users the ability to contact anyone anywhere at any time. By utilizing the internet, webinars can be hosted online to connect faculty and staff in high schools of underprivileged communities with the resources that they need to improve student's college readiness. These webinars will serve as the meeting grounds at which disciplines in education, administrative or faculty, and staff, can engage in intensive discussion regarding awareness of the use of AP classes and dual enrollment. The webinars will serve to identify which resources these communities lack, highlighting the benefits and consequences of starting a college career without them. 

Implementation 

1. Research 

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The alarming statistics reflecting South Carolina's failure to prepare high school graduates for college make it the most appropriate state to begin the initial webinars. If proven successful, the webinars can expand nationwide. 

Before beginning the webinars, research will need to be done to identify high schools in the state of South Carolina that do not have AP classes and that do not participate in dual enrollment. High schools will need to lack both resources to qualify to participate in the webinars. In my previous school district, there is one high school that comes to mind that fits this description, Andrews High School located in Andrews, SC. A list of these high schools along with their principals, guidance counselors, and contact information will be compiled to facilitate easier communication.  

Representatives from the AP program will be contacted. Advanced Placement (AP) is created by the College Board, hence representatives from the College Board will need to be on board to participate in the webinars and serve to provide guidance about the AP program. K-12 educators in need of more information pertaining to advance placement can contact college board representatives at 877-274-6474. There is also a link to their email contact form that can be found at https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/ap-services-inquiry-form. 

Additionally, a list of colleges that participate in dual enrollment will need to be compiled. This list will include the associated faculty members of the college’s contact information in each of the participating high school’s area. 

2. Organize 

When reaching out to participating high schools, representatives of the College Board and college faculty with dual enrollment, the overall goal of the webinars to close the gap between underprivileged communities and college readiness must remain at the forefront.  

While interacting with administrators and faculty and staff of high schools and colleges and communication barriers arise they will not come as a surprise but will be overcome with patience and consideration. Special attention will need to be considered when communicating with middle-aged adults who make up the majority of the workforce in education. Anyone can communicate, but in order for it to be effective and solve problems, communication must be tailored towards its prospective population (Key Insight #3). Concepts introduced in PSYC 420: Survey of Developmental Psychological address barriers of communication across the lifespan ranging from infancy to old age. Learning about the stages of development in such depth in PSYC 420 gave me a better understanding of how to tailor my communication with those not only on my level of development as early adults but those in contrasting populations such as middle and late adulthood alike. Doing so not only makes communication more effective but increases the rate of solving conflict. 

After assembling information about these high schools, College Board representatives, and participating colleges, scheduling will need to be coordinated. Dates and times of when all three entities are available to participate will need to be aligned.  

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3. Implement 

An official Google account will be created specifically for hosting the webinars and the webinars will be facilitated via Google Hangouts. Once all parties are online and connected, the sessions will begin. The agenda of each session will go as follow: 

• Introductions  

• Overall Purpose/Goal of the Webinar 

• Importance of College Readiness Including Supporting Statistics 

• College Board Representative- Advanced Placement (AP) and College Readiness 

• Dual Enrollment Representative- Dual Enrollment and College Readiness 

• Questions/Concerns From The Participating High School 

• Instructions On Completing The Evaluation Survey  

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