Postsecondary Bridging
Postsecondary Bridging builds college-ready skills and provides informed transition counseling.
Supported Dual Enrollment
- Students enroll in credit-bearing courses to gain exposure to college experiences and expectations. First courses can be those that teach essential skills within a career context (e.g., medical terminology taught in an English course) or, where possible, enriched math and English gatekeeper courses.
- Where appropriate, program takes advantage of developmental education courses to build student skills and reduce time to completion.
- First college courses explicitly model college instruction through the use of syllabi, online message boards, and college-style pedagogy and assessments (e.g., papers, research projects, presentations).
- Opportunities to take college courses are accompanied by formal, intense academic support and scaffolding to ensure early college success.
A Focus on College Knowledge
- Program coaches students to develop college-ready academic behaviors, including study skills, time and stress management, persistence, and awareness of performance.
- Students gain college navigation skills, learning about admissions requirements, financial aid, college culture, campus resources, and relations with professors.
- Program continues to use college-ready instruction and curriculum to develop the key cognitive strategies and content knowledge required for college success.
- Students receive college IDs providing access to college facilities (e.g., skills centers, library, gym, cafeteria).
Personalized Guidance and Connection to Best Bets
- Counselors use data such as attendance and assessment to monitor student progress toward the goal of entry into credit-bearing courses.
- Program utilizes cohort-based approach to leverage peer connections, expand students’ social network, and build additional postsecondary support.
- Program integrates intentional career exploration and planning that takes into account students’ career aspirations and labor market demand to help drive toward “best bet” postsecondary programs.
- Program graduates currently enrolled in college mentor students in the bridge phase to guide their key decisions as they transition to postsecondary.
