Amendment #998 to H4700

College in high school

Representatives Roy of Franklin, Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose, Peisch of Wellesley and Rogers of Cambridge moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

"SECTION XXXX. SECTION 1. Chapter 69 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 36 the following section:-

Section 37. (a) Within the department of elementary and secondary education there shall be an office of college in high school, herein the office. The office shall be overseen by the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education in consultation with the commissioner of the department of higher education (The "boards"). The office, after consultation with the department of higher education, shall establish standards for approving and designating college in high school programs. The office shall be empowered, in coordination with the boards, to approve and administer innovative high school programs that expand student access to college and postsecondary opportunities through high-quality instructional programming, hereinafter referred to as college in high school, in order to increase the rates of student success in postsecondary attainment and in the workforce. All programs established under this section shall:

(1) Offer a coherent sequence of courses that allows a student to earn a high school diploma and achieve at least one of the following:

(i) the accumulation of transferable college credits; provided that, academic courses that count for college credit shall be those agreed to by the institutions of higher education participating in the partnership with the high school,

(ii) an industry-recognized credential or certificate, including those determined to be necessary for occupations with high employment value, which shall be determined by considering factors including but not limited to a given occupation’s entry wage, growth rate in employment, and average annual openings; or

(iii) participation in a registered apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, or apprentice readiness program.

(2) Prepare students adequately for future success in the workforce or in an institution of higher education;

(3) Encourage the cooperative or shared use of resources, personnel and facilities between public high schools, public and independent colleges or universities and employers;

(4) Emphasize parental involvement and provide consistent counseling, advising and parent conferencing so that parents and students can make responsible decisions regarding course selection and can track the student's academic progress and success;

(5) Develop methods for early identification of potential participating students in the middle grades and through high school and provide outreach to those students to promote academic preparation and awareness of college in high school programs; and

(6) Develop strategies to identify and engage underserved populations including by income, race, ethnicity, sex, English language learner status and students with disabilities.

(b) The office shall oversee all necessary college in high school programs, including but not limited to programs that incorporate one or more of the following: (1) early college; (2) dual enrollment; (3) industry-recognized credentialing in high school, including those for credentials determined to be necessary for occupations with high employment value as defined in section 38 of this chapter; (4) advanced placement; (5) international baccalaureate programs; or (6) innovation pathways. The office may designate public high school schools to operate college in high school programs. The office shall develop and, as needed, refine all college in high school program designations offered in the Commonwealth and shall have the authority to set and raise credit attainment targets, recommend any designations to be awarded to applicants, administer all aspects of state support for the programs, track and report on the performance of participants in the aggregate and identify and pursue further innovative approaches. Academic courses that count for college credit shall be those agreed to by the institutions of higher education participating in the partnership with the high school.

Annually, by December 31, the office shall file a report with the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education and the commissioner of higher education, on performance measures, including, but not limited to the following categories:

(i) high school graduation rates of participating students;

(ii) disaggregated data showing (a) the percentage of participating students who complete the program; (b) the percentage of participating students who gain any postsecondary credits; (c) credits earned by participating students in college in high school programs, including percentage of each program incorporating early college to gain at least 12 credits; and (d) percentage of participating students in a 6-year cohort who attain postsecondary degrees;

(iii) college and career outcomes of participating students; and (iv) budget recommendations for the next fiscal year.

The commissioners shall prepare an aggregate report for the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on higher education, and the joint committee on education.

(c) The office shall, subject to approval by the boards of elementary and secondary education and higher education, set multi-year goals for the commonwealth for the attainment of college degrees and qualifying, industry-recognized certificates for students participating in college in high school programs. Such goals shall include overall goals as well as goals for historically underserved populations including by income, race, ethnicity, sex, English language learner status and students with disabilities. Goals should include statewide-, district-, and school-level goals. Progress towards the goals at the statewide-, district-, and school-levels shall annually be reported publicly.

(d) The office shall establish a publicly accessible online dashboard using data from the reports filed pursuant to subsections (g) and (h) of the section to generate information on each college in high school program. The purpose of the dashboard shall be to create user friendly displays of the overall success of the individual programs in achieving the goals and shall be written in terms understandable to the general public and to help students and their families identify available college in high school opportunities.

(e) Where required, each designated college in high school program shall enter into an agreement with at least one postsecondary institution that provides students with opportunities to receive postsecondary credits during the student's participation in the program.  Partner high schools and colleges shall work together together to ensure that college credits automatically to Massachusetts public postsecondary institutions upon completion of the program and admittance to one of those public institutions.  In addition, partnering high schools and colleges should reduce barriers to college and consider automatic admission to the participating college upon successful completion of the Early College program.  The agreement shall establish how the program will be sustainable on current funding plus any anticipated annual state supplement for designated college in high school programs as well as the designated duties for the high school, in the areas of program coordination, student support, faculty support, career partnership coordination and performance monitoring.

(f) Designation as a college in high school program shall be for an initial period of five years, subject to review after the first three years, and renewable subject to performance. The department of elementary and secondary education shall, subject to appropriation, provide additional funding to designated programs for each participating student.

(g) The board of elementary and secondary education may promulgate regulations as needed to carry out the provisions of this act.

Subject to appropriation, all high schools shall offer an affordable college in high school program to students before the completion of their 12th grade year that incorporates one or more of the following: (1) early college; (2) dual enrollment; (3) industry-recognized credentialing in high school; (4) advanced placement; (5) international baccalaureate programs; or (6) innovation pathways.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #998 to H4700

College in high school