SUMMARY

A partnership with Sinclair Community College allows ISUS Trade and Technology Prep Community School (ISUS) students to acquire skills in a trade while pursuing their high school education. ISUS students are jointly enrolled in ISUS and the Sinclair Community College's Engineering and Technology Division. Sinclair faculty teaches technical course work, while ISUS staff provides academic instruction and hands-on training. .

Reasons for Practice

The primary goals of the ISUS Trade and Technology Prep Community School-Sinclair Community College partnership are to:

Length of Time in Effect

The ISUS-Sinclair Community College partnership was implemented in 1998..

ISUS TRADE AND Technology Prep Community School (ISUS) serves underachieving and dropout youth, ages 16 to 22. Through a partnership with Sinclair Community College (Sinclair), ISUS students learn skills related to a trade while pursuing their high school education. Currently, students may choose between training in construction, computer technology, or manufacturing technology.

Overview

All ISUS students are jointly enrolled in ISUS and the Sinclair Community College's Engineering and Technology Division. Their educational program combines high school academics, college-level technical coursework, and hands-on skills practice. ISUS instructors teach academic courses, while Sinclair Community College instructors provide the technical course work. For example, courses in construction are part of the community college's standard construction training curriculum.

Classes-both ISUS's and Sinclair's-take place at ISUS headquarters, where there are classrooms for academic and technical courses as well ample space for hands-on training activities. As part of the partnership arrangement, faculty members from Sinclair Community College are assigned to teach full-time at the ISUS facility. Thus, ISUS students take the same courses as the Sinclair students who are on the college's main campus and receive the same credits as the college students. Overall, ISUS students can earn up to 44.5 credit hours-30 credits from classroom-based activities and the remainder from their hands-on construction in the field. (ISUS construction instructors supervise the latter activity.)

ISUS's academic year is consistent with Sinclair's calendar year in that it is organized into four quarters of approximately 11½ half weeks each. A typical schedule is as follows:

Developing The Partnership: A Win-Win Scenario

ISUS sought a partner institution to support its students beyond their high school diploma. During the 1997-98 school year, Sinclair Community College launched a construction training program in conjunction with the Associated General Contractors (AGC) and Associated Building Contractors (ABC). These two trade groups were interested in having a program that would allow their younger employees to receive technical training skills in the classroom. When the trade groups were unable to recruit sufficient trainees to launch the initiative, ISUS became involved, enrolling students in the program and acting along with AGC and ABC as the "employer side" in the arrangement with Sinclair. During the pilot year, ISUS enrolled 18 students. The project was funded by an AmeriCorps operational grant.

Following this successful pilot project, the community college was interested in expanding and deepening the partnership with ISUS. The college wanted to increase student enrollment, which had reached a plateau in recent years. The college also wanted to engage out-of-school youth, especially at-risk African-American and Appalachian students. However, the college lacked outreach expertise and the capacity for ongoing student support. Since ISUS serves out-of-school youth, a partnership with them provided an opportunity for Sinclair to reach this population. ISUS, which already had a construction training program in place, also had a strong reputation for providing quality construction worksites and for having a real interest in helping its recent graduates continue with training and schooling. Still, the college conducted due diligence before entering into an agreement with ISUS.

In 1999, the partnership was given an additional boost when ISUS received approval from the state to start a charter school. (Until then, students were awarded diplomas through the Dayton Public Schools.) As its own school, ISUS now could negotiate to enroll all of its students in Sinclair's construction certificate program.

How the Partnership Works

ISUS and Sinclair have clearly delineated roles and responsibilities in the partnership. These are as follows:

Administrative responsibilities: The classroom-based, technical training program operates out of the Civil Engineering Department of Sinclair, and the department chair is the lead administrator. As such, he handles all administrative facets of the program, including overall management, course selection, and instructor selection, supervision, and evaluation. Since the program has grown, a full-time, on-site coordinator has since been added to provide day-to-day supervision and to handle such logistics as supplies and student scheduling.

Financial responsibilities: There are two areas of financial responsibility: costs for space and college. Under the partnership's basic agreement, Sinclair leases space at ISUS for its college classes. ISUS, in turn, pays Sinclair the cost of each credit-$32 per credit hour-for the students it enrolls in the college, using state education reimbursement funds as well as other grants. As part of the agreement, it guarantees the college that a set number of students will enroll. Sinclair, in turn, pays for faculty to teach the courses at ISUS. The college provides six instructors, including three tenure-track faculty and three "annually contracted" instructors. It also assigns a full-time lab technician and four adjunct instructors available on a quarter-by-quarter basis as needed. The college also provides significant equipment and supplies to the program.

Sinclair also receives county and state money based on the number of "full-time equivalents" (fte) that result from the partnership. According to the state formula, 15 student credit hours equal one fte, whether it is one student taking 15 credit hours or 15 students taking one credit hour. Thus, there is financial pressure to maximize enrollment. ISUS students make up a large percentage of those enrolled in Sinclair's construction training program. The ISUS partnership is the only one from which the department receives revenue.

The Ongoing Challenge: Strengthening the Delivery of Education

Both ISUS and Sinclair are focusing on strengthening their joint educational program. They have identified several large areas of concern:

Strengthening the relationship between ISUS and Sinclair facutly: Productive working relations between ISUS and Sinclair faculties are essential to continued success of the program. Yet, ongoing faculty exchange on a staff level remains a challenge. This is because the faculties have not had the time to do joint curriculum planning. As a result, both groups have been searching for other opportunities to bring the two instructional programs closer together. Recently, programmatic adjustments led staff to design and co-teach an 11-week, 4-hour-per-day "practical academics" program derived from Sinclair's developmental education curriculum. The new schedule pushed the two sets of instructors to plan and teach together. The partnership is now working on ways to institutionalize this initiative.

Developing comprehensive and creative approaches to student learning: Both faculties talk about their need to use a broader array of teaching approaches. For example, some staff members desire to become more adept at reinforcing technical skill development during the experiential or hands-on portion of the program. In addition, other staff members note the need for training on positive youth development principles and practices.

Strengthening the transition to Sinclair's associate's degree program: Both partners recognize the need to improve graduates' transition from the ISUS program to Sinclair's associate of arts program. Not only must ISUS graduates be able to handle the academic workload, but they also must acclimate to a large college campus. Currently, many ISUS graduates feel overwhelmed in an environment of 22,000 students, despite the presence of college support services.

The partnership is attempting several different approaches to easing this transition:

Keys To A Successful Partnership

The current success and further potential of this partnership can be attributed to many factors, not the least of which is visionary leadership committed to creating challenging, supportive, long-term learning opportunities for vulnerable youth. There is no such thing as a crash course in the details of partnership building. However, several key principles were, and continue to be, important in the ISUS-Sinclair partnership:

1. Create a partnership that is homegrown and nurtured on a local level. When this is the case, everyone is more invested. The ISUS-Sinclair partnership grew out of local interest and need, not a request from an outside organization. Both parties had a vested interest from the outset. This interest did not have to be engineered.
2. Partner with one department, but get buy-in from the senior executive. Forming the partnership directly with the engineering and technology department was a deliberate strategy on the part of ISUS because it allowed them to focus their time and attention. Day-to-day planning and negotiations were with the department, not the college. Had the partnership been attempted on an institutional level, the project stood a much larger risk of becoming lost in administrative hierarchy. As the construction training program became more established, ISUS added a second, smaller program in computer technology (hardware-focused). In order to provide more options for ISUS students, a third program, manufacturing technology, is slated to get underway this year.
3. Create a partnership that allows for negotiation and compromise, and one that can be sustained despite single-issue disagreements. Like all relationships, the ISUS-Sinclair partnership requires constant, good faith negotiating. This was evident during the six-month planning process at the outset and in more recent negotiations over the design and funding of renovated space for technical training classes at ISUS. Less formalized disagreements also arise over issues such as scheduling and teaching methodology. It is necessary to look beyond these issues to the greater partnership agreement. Remaining clear about commitment to the organization's mission helps keep single issues in perspective and, thus, aids in negotiating past those issues so they do not damage the partnership.
4. Make your partner look good. Help your partner succeed. The original relationship with Sinclair was launched when the college needed a partner who could deliver students for a training program that had struggled to get off the ground. ISUS was able to provide the students and achieve high completion rates-laying the perfect foundation for a fuller partnership.
   

WEB SITE LINKS

The ISUS Web site is under construction.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Ann Higdon
President & Superintendent
ISUS Trade and Technology Prep Community School
140 North Keowee Street
Dayton, OH 45402

Telephone: 937-223-2323 x 200
E-mail: ahigdon@isusinc.com