Project Advance
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Northeast United States | |
Official language | English |
---|---|
Parent organization | Syracuse University |
Affiliations | National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) |
Website | supa |
Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful completion of the course(s) they can request to transfer the credits they earn into the colleges/universities they attend after high school.[2] This is an example of a Concurrent Enrollment Program or Partnership (CEP).[3]
Project Advance (PA) was formed in 1972 to provide more challenging options to college-bound junior and senior level students in local Syracuse high schools. By the time students reached their senior year, many had completed almost all of their requirements for graduation and needed a challenge to keep them motivated.[2] This phenomenon was termed senioritis or senior slump and led to a culture that focused on admission to college instead of high school as preparation for completing college.[4][5]
Today, SUPA serves more than 200 high schools in New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Rhode Island, with the largest concentration in New York State. Approximately 9,000 students enroll annually in SU courses through Project Advance, taught by more than 878 high school faculty members with SU adjunct instructor appointments. Teachers continue to attend professional development training sessions at the annual SUPA Summer Institute as more and more high schools expand their academic offerings. The course selection has also grown to include more than 30 courses from 24 academic disciplines.[4] Project Advance, however, is not a profit center or a recruiting tool for SU.
Student participants can take SU university courses at a reduced tuition rate at their own high schools with the courses taught by high school teachers who are trained and supervised by SU
Students enroll in the courses through their local school system. Those interested in receiving Syracuse University credit complete an online application/registration form and pay per credit ($115.00 as of the 2020/21 academic year).[7] The courses are listed on the student's Syracuse University transcript by the title of the class and are not identified as SUPA classes. However, they also appear on the student's high school transcript where they are identified as SUPA courses. The extent to which colleges accept the credits varies by college. Many competitive colleges will not award credit if courses appear on the high school transcript and particularly if the courses either earned high school credit or were used to fulfill high school requirements. This contrasts to credit that is usually awarded for top scores on Advanced Placement Tests administered by the College Boards.[8]
University faculty read papers, review tests, and visit each class during the semester to ensure that the grading standards applied are consistent with those applied in the same courses on campus. These features plus the research that is done on the program each year, mean that PA meets the standards developed by the
History
In 1972 six Central New York high school administrators approached Syracuse University about establishing a college readiness program to challenge high school seniors.
The administrators hoped to address growing concerns about “senioritis”—the tendency of college-bound seniors to not take their final year seriously because of a lack of incentive. Having completed their graduation requirements early, these students would use their senior year to relax and socialize rather than readying themselves for the transition from high school to college-level work.
A working model
To solve the problem presented by the school superintendents, SU administrators explored ways in which carefully designed and controlled “
The model was designed to best utilize existing resources—the college courses would be taught by trained high school teachers as part of their regular teaching load. This would ensure that the courses could be taught during the regular school day, so as to not negatively impact students’ schedules.[9]
New standards
Early in the design process three major factors became apparent:
- First, that while an effort would be made to utilize individual high school resources, individual concurrent enrollment courses would—based on their content and structure—involve different formats and require new relationships between SU faculty, high school faculty, and students;
- Second, the success of the project would depend on the quality of the concurrent enrollment courses themselves;
- Third, the courses taught in the high schools would not only have the same instructional goals as their counterparts on campus but they would have identical criteria for awarding grades.[9]
Teaching the teachers
The high school-university
In preparation for the initial introduction of
Taking it to the schools
Field-tested in the 1973-74 academic year in nine schools, the project expanded in 1974-75 to more than 40 schools and 180 teachers from Long Island to Buffalo, with an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. As more educators, students, and parents realized the value of college readiness and of taking actual college courses before leaving high school, the program grew.
Today, SUPA serves more than 200 high schools in New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Rhode Island, with the largest concentration in New York State. Approximately 9,000 students enroll annually in SU courses, taught by more than 878 high school faculty members with SU adjunct instructor appointments. Teachers continue to attend professional development training sessions at the annual SUPA Summer Institute[permanent dead link] as more and more high schools expand their academic offerings. The course selection has also grown to include more than 30 courses from 24 academic disciplines.
Modeling success
SUPA is the only program affiliated with a private research university in the
Timeline
- 1972: Six local high schools approach Syracuse University about devising a program to offer college courses to qualified high school seniors.
- 1973: SU Project Advance is field-tested in nine schools.
- 1974: SU Project Advance officially launches, offering SU courses in more than 40 high schools.
- 1984: The American Association of Higher Education recognizes SU Project Advance for notable achievements in education.
- 2002: State of New York."
- 2003: SU Project Advance becomes one of a select few private four-year universities accredited by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP).
- 2010: A 35-year retrospective of SUPA’s research, Our Courses Your Classroom: Research on Syracuse University Courses Taught in High School is published.
Courses
Courses offered:
- Accounting
- American History
- Biology
- Calculus
- Chemistry
- College Learning Strategies
- Computer Engineering
- Cybersecurity
- Earth System Science
- Economics
- English/Writing
- Forensic Science
- French
- Information Technology
- Italian
- Latin
- Personal Finance
- Physics
- Presentational Speaking
- Psychology
- Public Affairs
- Spanish
- Sociology
- Statistics
- Website Design
References
- Syracuse University News. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b Kravitz, R. (1994, November/December). A step in the right direction. College Bound Magazine, 36.
- ^ a b Dutkowsky, D.H., Evensky, J.M., and Edmonds, G. (2006). Teaching college economics in the high schools: The role of concurrent enrollment programs. Journal of Economic Education, Fall, 37(4), 477-482.
- ^ a b SUPA: About Us
- ^ Kirst, M.W. (2001). Overcoming high school senior slump.Perspectives in public policy: Connecting higher education and the public schools.[permanent dead link] (Report No. K-16-R-01-01). Washington, DC: The national Center for Public Policy and Higher Education & the Institute for Educational Leadership. ERIC Search. Retrieved on May 14, 2009
- ^ Bonesteel, M.D., & Sperry, S.L. (2002). Building a better bridge. Principal Leadership, 2(9), 39-43.
- ^ "2020-2021 Academic Year Calendar and Course Registration Guide" (PDF). Syracuse University Project Advance. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ SUPA Registration Guide 2012-2013"
- ^ a b Edmonds, G. S., & Signorelli, S. Z. (2010). Our courses your classroom: Research on syracuse university courses taught in high school. (1st ed.). Syracuse: Project Advance Press.
- ^ "SUPA: Our History". Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
- ^ "SUPA: Highlights". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
External links
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