{"id":13399,"date":"2016-04-05T14:29:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T19:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=13399"},"modified":"2017-06-27T09:44:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T14:44:01","slug":"ccp-jump-starts-young-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2016\/04\/05\/ccp-jump-starts-young-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"CCP jump-starts young minds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0007\"<\/a>College Credit Plus has been a component of public high schools and junior high schools for a little over a year now. The program was unveiled February 2015 as a way to give every public school student in Ohio equal opportunity to earn college credit at a public college or university in the state. <\/span><\/p>\n

Programs of this nature have been around for quite some time but none with as many rules and guidelines as CCP. These rules are in place to ensure every student has the same opportunity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really geared from the state to provide equal access and consistency so Sinclair\u2019s not doing something differently from Wright State or Clark State,\u201d College Credit Plus Coordinator at Sinclair Melissa Tolle said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Students in the program are expected to be college ready upon registering for classes. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Students] have to be independent workers and I don\u2019t know that all high school students are prepared for that,\u201d Mass Communication adjunct professor Traci Hale Brown said. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to teaching Mass Communication at Sinclair, Hale Brown teaches it at Vandalia Butler high school. Mass Communication is the only College Credit Plus course taught at Vandalia Butler. For other classes students must commute to a Sinclair campus. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the high school, Hale Brown has students ranging from freshmen to seniors. Some of those students also take classes at Sinclair campuses. <\/span><\/p>\n

Junior Isabella Anene is taking courses to get her electives and more general classes out of the way before she goes away to college. In addition to Mass Communication, Anene is also taking English Composition and Psychology. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI actually like English there a lot better, it is more useful,\u201d Anene said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"DSC_0009\"<\/a>Anene believes the work she does at Sinclair in English is more applicable than the work her peers are doing in the honor\u2019s course at Vandalia Butler. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also in the class is freshman Zheying Wui. Wui started both high school and college this fall taking a course in Englewood. Wui says the transition to one was easier to take than the other, remembering the fear she had starting college. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wui is a part of the minority of CCP students under grade 11 at Sinclair. 57 percent of students are seniors, 30 percent juniors, 9 percent sophomores, 2 percent freshmen, 1 percent eighth graders and .2 percent are seventh graders.<\/span><\/p>\n

While getting a jump start on college is a definite plus for many students there are areas of concern for young high school students taking college courses. There is a certain maturity expected and required at the college level. This jump can be intimidating for some. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHigh school is okay but college was kind of terrifying at first,\u201d Wui said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Associate professor of Psychology Brandon Jablonski said there may be a problem with students this young being ready to not only take on the workload, but also the emotional development required to succeed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCollege classes seem to consider multiple perspectives and seem to integrate information, think dialectically, bring in multiple bits of information and I feel like if anything high school students may not have those qualities,\u201d said Jablonski. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, a student entering the program will be considered a college student by professors and other students. This means they will be expected to be able to do all assignments as other college students would. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the College Credit Plus parent information night at Vandalia Butler, Principal Chad Hill warned students and parents that if a young student is expected to write a research paper in his or her college class, but has not learned the process at high school, it is the student\u2019s responsibility to figure out the process. Hill said students are welcome to ask his or her teacher but Hill has told the teachers, they are not to change their curriculum for one student. Teachers may help the student on the side away from class. <\/span><\/p>\n

With this warning, he notes there are still many opportunities to be had in this program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents get a jump start while still in a comfortable educational environment,\u201d Hill said. <\/span><\/p>\n

And while many acknowledge this a great opportunity for these students there are some areas that are not fair to everyone Hill says. <\/span><\/p>\n

Students in the College Credit Plus program take courses on a weighted grade scale like students taking AP classes. However, it is debatable as to whether AP classes and CCP classes have the same workload and require the same rigor. This advantage CCP students may have would come in the form of GPA and class ranking. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Hill\u2019s personal experience he believes there is an advantage for the students enrolled in CCP. The amount of time a CCP student spends in the classroom is not nearly as much as an AP student. AP students are in the classroom every day while CCP students, like college students, usually meet for a class two or three times a week. And with that, the AP students may have harder content and maybe even more work than the CCP student. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCCP students are leap frogging students at the Vandalia campus,\u201d Hill said referring to grade point averages. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to Tolle, deciding what classes to take and whether the program will be a good fit is a three part process that includes more than just the student. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs parents you need to know your kids, from a secondary school\u2019s perspective you need to advise that student and ask if this is a right fit for you and when we come into play is to make sure they\u2019re not hurting themselves by making crazy amounts of classes,\u201d Tolle said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Advisers at Sinclair look at what the student would like to study and then decide what classes would be most beneficial for that student. When doing this they also consider the workload the student carries at his or her high school. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always make sure the student checks with the guidance counselor to see what they’re currently taking at their high school and how many more credits make sense for them to take here,\u201d Academic Adviser Dodie Munn said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Really deciding what works for a student depends on many different influences and components. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a dance in that you have to look at a lot of factors,\u201d Munn said. <\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes time to schedule courses at Sinclair advisers work with the student to ensure they will have the time they need to be successful in their classes. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to see if they know what their [high school] schedule is so we\u2019re not competing with time and that they have adequate time to do the course work because it is more demanding than what they’re used to in high school,\u201d Munn said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another component to CCP is tuition and textbook costs. The current program in place requires school districts to pick up the tab. For many districts this is financially burdensome. While Sinclair does work with districts, giving them some financial breaks where possible, there is still money expected to come from them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOut of about $6,000 we get right around $1,000 from the state. So anything that is paid to the institutes comes out of our $1,000 from all our students and if we exceed the money coming in, then our taxpayers are paying for it,\u201d Hill said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Vandalia-Butler taxpayers pay about 75 percent of money owed to tuition, according to Hill. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sinclair has deals with districts to lessen to the costs as do some other colleges. However, if a student chooses to take classes at a college that does not have a deal with their district, the district may have to pay all tuition and fees. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hill spoke of an example at the district\u2019s CCP information night when a student chose to attend classes at a college Vandalia Butler did not have an agreement with. Vandalia Butler had to pay all the costs at the regular rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

College Credit Plus is still a new program from the state and has the opportunity to evolve. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Celia Lavoie<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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