With assistance from the educators from Hartford Public High School, Eastern and its community college partner, Quinebaug Valley Community College, developed the Dual Enrollment transfer initiative to recruit, retain, and graduate underrepresented students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hartford’s inner-city, especially Latinos/Hispanics.
Institution:
Eastern Connecticut State University
Academic Level:
Baccalaureate
Issue Area:
Transfer
Year:
2009
Designation:
SEMILLAS
Key Personnel:
Petoskey, Indira
Address:
83 Windham Street
City:
Willimantic
State:
CT
Zip:
06226 Goal/Mission:
- Increase the number of Latino high school students enrolled and retained in dual enrollment program in collaboration with local community college.
- Increase the academic success of dual enrollment students.
- Eliminate housing barriers for ten students.
Outcome:
One year implementation of the dual enrollment initiative with Hartford High School and Quinebaug Valley Community College showed effectiveness of this model to provide effective transition for students who had not thought of going to college. Of the ten students selected to enroll in the Dual Enrollment Initiative in fall 2009, nine (90%) returned to Eastern as second year students. This 90 percent first to second year retention rate is higher than the 78 percent for other incoming full time freshmen. Moreover, six students successfully matriculated full-time to Eastern in spring 2010 after just one semester of developmental work; while the other three spent one full year enrolled at the community college. The key to helping these students succeed is “to take them out of the environment,” thus having them live in university housing is an essential component of the dual enrollment program. Eastern encouraged students to stay during the summer and take courses to increase amount of credits earned.
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