Presenters: Girija Nagaswami, Kristi Bergman, Talar Kaloustian, Sotiria Koui, Donna Sharer, Christine Corrigan, Leslie Kirshner-Morris

Audience: Faculty, Administrators 

Registration link: https://ccp.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsdOurqj4jHNFAjLMgcnpwdaVgfb176bVu 

Learning Goals 

The learning goals for this presentation are as follows: 

• - how to establish an online collaboration with the high school teachers from the School District of Philadelphia 
• - work collaboratively to align curricular standards for high school students' smooth transition to the College 
• - equip both high school teachers and faculty at the College with tools, templates, and strategies to enable students' smooth transition to the College 

Program Description 

Community College of Philadelphia often becomes the logistical choice for many English Learners to pursue post-secondary education. However, the majority of these students place quite low when taking placement tests. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that 1) students feel demoralized at the prospect of having to start anew in an ESL program; 2) high school teachers feel frustrated at the seeming futility of their own roles in student academic trajectories; 3) community college professors feel frustrated with their students’ lack of preparation. To address misalignments between high school and college curriculum goals, educators from both sides of the aisle decided to work collaboratively so students can transition smoothly and achieve success. The BESST (Building an Electronic Partnership for Student Success and Transition) project was born out of such a desire among faculty at CCP and high school teachers from the School District of Philadelphia. Instead of organizing face-to-face sessions that often pose logistical challenges, an online partnership was developed using the college’s learning management system. This presentation will discuss the impetus for an online partnership, its evolution, the e-content, professional learning communities, the challenges that were overcome, and the present outcomes of such a partnership.