College Now

Along with our sponsors at the College Board, we have launched the College Now program to bring access to college level courses to students in juvenile justice agencies across the country. College Now is designed for juvenile justice agencies interested in helping their students earn college credits during their term of confinement with the agency, and in providing support and planning to help students continue and persist at college once they are released.

The goal of College Now is for participating students to pass CLEP tests in order to earn transferrable college credit, to increase their Accuplacer or SAT scores, to complete all required admission and financial aid preparation while they are incarcerated, and to successfully transition to college (full or part-time) upon release.

Live, Onsite and Free College 101:

For this program, CEEAS will partner with each selected site to hire a part-time College Now Teacher/Coordinator. The Coordinator will help students select one or more CLEP test course(s), convene the classes regularly, and facilitate student learning—in essence create a course and serve as a teacher/tutor for the class. Much of the course content will come from online and supplemental materials through low cost or free online content providers including Freshman Year Free and Study.com.

The courses will be run as intensive, compressed courses, with the goal of getting students CLEP-test ready within 3 months for each course. The Coordinator will also work with the cohort of students to assist them in other aspects of College Now: (a) preparing for and taking the Accuplacer or SAT/ACT, as appropriate, (b) developing a set of college exposure activities (including college visits, guest speakers), (c) applying for admission at nearby colleges (community or four-year) where the student would be eligible to attend upon release, and (d) working with the students and parents on financial aid.

This program is tailored for sites that: (a) historically have an average of five or more students at a time who have their high school diploma or equivalent, (b) convey their willingness and commitment to get all of their postsecondary eligible students together, as a group, with appropriate security/supervision five days a week for the course(s), (c) ensure that this ‘class’ of students will have access to the Internet both during class time and in the evenings and weekends when they will need to study, and (d) commit to becoming official CLEP test sites.

Virtual and Free College 101:

For this program, Students from around the country will take the CLEP course(s) connected with a teacher and each other via an online, live virtual classroom. Homework and supplemental assignments will all be delivered online and the teacher will support students online, offering live chat as well as asynchronous support. Much of the course content will come from online and supplemental materials through low cost or free online content providers including Freshman Year Free and Study.com.

These ‘courses’ will be run as intensive, compressed courses, with the goal of getting students CLEP-test eligible within 3 months for each course. CEEAS will ‘host’ the daily class—meaning we will have a dedicated staff who will teach the CLEP test course—and this staff member will teach live online. For the sites selected to participate in this program, CEEAS will support site-based personnel who will be responsible for engaging students on site with other aspects of College Now: (a) preparing for and taking the Accuplacer or SAT/ACT, (b) developing a set of college exposure activities (including college visits, guest speakers), (c) applying for admission at nearby colleges (community or four-year) where the student would be eligible to attend upon release, and (d) working with the student and parents on financial aid.

This program is tailored for sites that: (a) are interested in and willing to support students in taking a course with students from other facilities across the country, using video-conferencing and other digital tools, and (b) ensure that those students will have access to the Internet both during class time and in the evenings and weekends when they will need to study and likely communicate with their peers and teacher.

CEEAS will support agencies as they enhance their technology infrastructure and tools to enable students to have direct access to Internet supported educational resources (CEEAS will provide monitoring software licenses and other support, if necessary). It is critical that agencies who apply to be a part of College Now are committed to having Internet access open and available to students while working with CEEAS, and to put in place smart policies that include filtering and monitoring tools and responsible use agreements with students.

There is no fee to participate in College Now. However, agencies and their education partners must commit to fully participate in College Now. CEEAS will provide funding for part-time, site-based instructors/coordinators, fees for any on-line course access or course-specific software licenses, CLEP-testing fees, and chromebooks for participating students. CEEAS may be able to provide modest support of some site-level technology infrastructure.

Applications to participate in College Now are due June 30, 2017. Applications include a series of narrative questions, technical questions, and agency certifications. Juvenile justice agencies (and their education partners) who (a) house students for six months or longer and (b) traditionally have a small number of students who have obtained their high school diploma or credential are eligible to apply, whether they are detention or post-adjudication facilities.

If you are interested in applying, please click the buttons below to fill out the College Now Application and College Now Technology Survey.

Both forms must be submitted to complete your application.

*please note, there are several pages to the application. You will have the option of exiting and saving, so that you can complete the application in more than one sitting*

Have questions? Contact Christina, at ccampbell@ceeas.org.

Visit our Website to learn more about CEEAS.

We help alternative schools—in community settings and in locked facilities—implement transformational, student-focused practices, designed to significantly improve the life chances of the students they serve.

Email: ccampbell@ceeas.org
Website: ceeas.org
Location: Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (949) 285-4337
Twitter: @SecondChanceEDU