Detailed Description of the Categories:
Middle Grades: Practices that create a strong college-going culture and focus on early academic preparation in grades 6 through 8. These practices may be those employed at one school or district-wide strategies.
High Schools: Practices that prepare high school students for college and careers. Examples include practices that promote a strong college-going culture on the high school campus; practices that focus on academic preparation for college and career; or practices that inform students and their families about college options, which may include career technical education, and financial aid.
College Completion: Practices that assist students in the successful completion of their higher education goals. Examples include programs with strong student services and defined pathways to the successful completion of transfer, associate degrees, and certificates at community colleges or bachelor degrees at 4-year universities.
Alignment & Articulation: Efforts in aligning curricula standards across systems. Examples include aligning and articulating high school, community college, and university curricula standards particularly in math, English, sciences, and career technical courses. Topics may include student preparation and learning outcomes, the use of student data-driven analyses, test scores, and relationships between courses.
Assessment & Placement: Strategies for successful student assessment and proper course placement, and effective matriculation practices.
Basic Skills: Programs that improve student progress in the mastery of basic skills. Examples include programs that improve basic skills in English and math, and assure the successful transition to college-level work. Of particular interest are programs that integrate the mastery of basic skills in math and English with relevance for career preparation.
Financial Aid: Practices that inform students and families about financial aid and assist them in applying for financial aid. Examples include financial aid counseling and workshops particularly for 12th grade students or for community college students.
Workforce Preparation: Programs that prepare students for careers and the workforce. Examples include programs that prepare students for the workforce in high demand sectors such as health care or prepare students for careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
Administrative Systems: Effective administrative practices that make use of institutional resources to promote college access and success. Examples include comprehensive efforts that integrate student services and instruction; strategies for using student outcome data to inform instruction; methods for performance measurement and evaluation; and strategies that manage the availability of courses for high demand majors and career technical courses.
Regional Intersegmental Collaboration: Collaborative efforts across systems that improve college access and success. Examples include collaborative efforts between K-12, community colleges, and universities to improve college preparation, college-going, the use of financial aid, and collaborative career technical programs.
