Students Look to Gain a Level with CCC Program
Africa Page knew she wasnt the best math or English student during her days at Dunbar high school.
But the incoming Malcolm X College freshman was stunned to find out that she would need remedial classes before she could set out on her academic journey to study mortuary science. A placement test revealed that she would not be able to start in a math 101 class and that she missed entry into a college-level English class by one point. The remedial courses would not count towards her degree and, in some cases, financial aid would not cover the cost for them.
Page, 18, likely didnt know it, but her situation was hardly unique.
About 97 percent of students (coming in) need developmental pre-college credit classes. Most of those are math classes, said Jewel Younge, who teaches at Olive-Harvey College. She added that some 65 percent of students may also need reading and writing remediation.
Either way, Page said she was going to start college this fall. Her high school counselor turned her on to the City College of Chicagos new Level Up program which Younge heads. The free, four- to six-week summer enrichment program, now in its second year of existence, offers students like Page the chance to make academic strides and possibly avoid having to take remedial classes.
Last year, CCC started Level Up at only a few of its seven campuses with a relatively small number of students. Program officials rave about the program and say it complements the CCC Reinvention initiative.
It was not without its hiccups, according to Younge, who pointed out logistical issues and just the newness of the program as being some of the challenges she and her staff faced last year. Recruitment was also an issue too. She said it takes a special student to dedicate the summer after high school graduation to taking enrichment courses.
This year Level Up was offered at all seven of the campuses that make up CCC and some 300 students were enrolled, according to CCC. The program wrapped up earlier this month.
Page said that while enrolled in the program, she was forced to concentrate and focus on educational elements that she was lackadaisical about in high school.
By me being in Level Up, I actually have to study and be determined. You have to want to do it within yourself, said the class of 2012 high school grad who added that she usually got As, Bs and Cs at Dunbar. The Chicago Public Schools is one of the major CCC feeders for first-time, degree-seeking students.
U.S. Department of Education data indicates that nearly half of students enrolled in public education are community college students. But CCC was hit with a sobering fact that, historically, it lost more than half of its degree-seeking students before the students could complete at least 15 credit hours --- usually about five classes. Remediation was cited as one of the causes.
After Malcolm X, Page is looking forward to going on to Southern Illinois University Carbondale to complete her bachelors degree and she estimates that going through the Level Up program saved her about three semesters of CCC coursework and over $3,000. For four days each week, up to six hours each day, Page got instruction from a CCC teacher and worked also with online-based educational tools.
In English enrichment she learned how to start a paper, how to write a paper, how to write a sentence correctly and how to put punctuation in your sentence correctly, she said. Without Level Up she estimates it would have took me a while to actually boost up to Math 118.
Level Up really corresponds to a number of the goals of Reinvention. The primary one is helping students improve their outcomes in remediation. We definitely want to help students who have to go to that developmental education track be successful and feel like theyre making progress toward their degree,said Younge.
By Rhonda Gillespie
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