When Gerald Zahorchak became Allentown schools superintendent in July 2010, his plan to improve Allen and Dieruff high schools was to get more students to enroll in college and Advanced Placement courses.
The number of Allen and Dieruff high students taking dual enrollment classes through Lehigh Carbon Community College is still higher than when Zahorchak arrived. But it's going down nearly as fast as Zahorchak's tenure, which ended with his abrupt resignation in August 2011.
The number of high schoolers taking LCCC courses has plunged nearly 40 percent this school year over 2011-12 , district records show.
The decline of 148 dual-enrollment students is much greater than the additional 24 students who have signed up to take AP courses, which give students college credits if they score high enough on the final exam.
The decline led Director Julie Ambrose to ask what the administration was doing for students. They have fewer course options since electives were cut at the same time more dual enrollment and AP courses were added, she said
"We had the impression, 'If you offer it, they will come,' " Ambrose said at Thursday's Education Committee meeting. "In year two we are seeing a huge drop in that, and they don't have the options in the building. What will we do?"
Director Ellen Bishop asked if there was overlap between students taking LCCC and AP courses.
Sometimes, but often it is one or the other, said Keith Falko, the district's director of strategic initiatives who runs the dual enrollment program. He said more students are opting to take Advanced Placement courses as opposed to dual enrollment.
One of the biggest reasons, Falko said, appear to be students' fear of failing LCCC's placement test known as COMPASS, which measures reading, writing and math skills. The other reason is students did not want to have to take a study hall as part of the LCCC course, he said.
"We had a number of kids not pass the COMPASS," Falko said.
Before he resigned, Zahorchak claimed his plan to increase college access was working. He said 570 juniors and seniors ? a 996 percent jump over 2010-11 ? had signed up for the LCCC courses, taught by college professors in the high schools, in the fall 2011-12 semester.
But the number he cited was before students took COMPASS. District records show 371 or 65 percent of students passed the entrance tests to qualify for one or more dual enrollment courses last fall.
This fall, that number dropped to 223.
Falko said the district is working with LCCC to develop a pre-COMPASS test to ease students' anxiety and give them the skills to pass.
"We are hoping the prep class will get more kids comfortable," he said.
Ambrose, however, said creating a practice test wasn't enough. She said the number of failures and the participation drop shows the ninth and 10th-grade math and English courses may not be rigorous enough to prepare students to take college-level courses. There is no reason Allentown students should not be able to pass an entrance exam like students in other districts, she said.
"We cannot continue to think it's about test-taking skills," Ambrose said. "That COMPASS exams should not be a barrier, and the fact that it is, is disconcerting."
steve.esack@mcall.com
610-820-6506
Source: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-asd-dual-enrollment-20121207,0,5382143.story?track=rss
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