Action Pillars: Pillar 1 | New Jersey Council of County Colleges

Pillar 1: Helping All High School Students Access Pathways to Postsecondary and Career Success

In order to ensure that more New Jerseyans are on a path to family-sustaining careers, that we have an educated, skilled workforce to support economic growth, and that we close equity gaps, New Jersey must implement innovative efforts to help all high school students get on a path to earning a postsecondary credential or degree. NJ’ Community Colleges have deep local roots and strong existing collaborations with both comprehensive and county vocational-technical high schools. With support from the state and together with local school districts, Community Colleges have multiple opportunities to establish closer partnerships with high schools, ensuring all students are aware of the wide range of postsecondary opportunities and resources that are available to them.

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Strategy 1: Ensure all high school students have the opportunity to earn at least six college credits while in high school

Solution: New Jersey should rapidly move to support a consistent statewide dual enrollment program built around Community Colleges, enabling all high school students an opportunity to achieve a minimum of six college credits, entirely free of charge for low-income and underrepresented populations.

Strategy 2: Ensure all high school students have a plan for further education and a career and that they know their options

Strategy 2: Ensure all high school students have a plan for further education and a career and that they know their options

Solution: New Jersey should make a sustained investment in creative partnerships between high schools and Community Colleges to fund navigators, guidance, and college readiness.

New Jersey Dual Enrollment and Equity

Dual enrollment can help high school students have enhanced awareness of college and career pathways and increase their belief that they belong on a college campus. There are also financial benefits for students who achieve multiple credits they can put toward their postsecondary degree or credential, reducing their time to completion. Barriers to participating in dual enrollment include tuition costs, transportation, inadequate staffing, a misperception that dual enrollment is only for high-achieving students, a lack of guidance, and limited awareness of the opportunities that exist. NJ is one of 22 states that does not operate a state-level dual enrollment program and does not provide state-level funds to cover dual enrollment costs. Read more in this NJ’s Dual Enrollment Study Commission report.

College Examples

Atlantic Cape Community College Dual Enrollment Career Cluster Pathways

Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) has launched an initiative to put Atlantic and Cape May County high school students on a path to postsecondary education and career goal attainment. Through this project, ACCC is building the curricular framework to allow for equitable access to dual enrollment courses across districts, provide academic counseling and career guidance in high schools to increase student awareness of the existing postsecondary educational pathways available, and utilize innovative ways to fund dual enrollment tuition to remove barriers and increase participation in dual enrollment. The project will focus on career cluster pathways that align with the local economy in Health Science, Computer Science/Information Technology, Business, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics/Environmental Science. Outcomes will be measured by: tracking the number of high school students who successfully create individualized postsecondary educational/career plans and earn college credits before high school graduation, forging partnerships with local employers to increase work-based learning opportunities, enhancing curricula to allow for industry-valued credential attainment, and growing overall participation in dual enrollment by providing tuition subsidies.

Essex County College Pre-College Readiness Model

Pre-college readiness programs offered at Essex County College (ECC) are directly addressing NJCCC’s priority of putting high school students on a path to postsecondary success. New Jersey’s Dual Enrollment Study Commission determined that Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students are vastly underrepresented among high school students currently benefitting from dual enrollment programs in the state. ECC is leading the charge in providing equitable dual enrollment opportunities to close equity gaps for underrepresented groups. A large majority (89%) of students benefitting from ECC’s programs are either Black (55%) or Hispanic (34%).

In addition, ECC’s innovative model is designed to benefit students regardless of their parents’ financial resources, with student participation funded by school districts as opposed to parents who may, or may not, be able to afford the additional expense. This past year, ECC’s dual enrollment and pre-college programs served over 1,000 students across 18 participating high schools, more than doubling the number of students served by the program over the past five years. At ECC’s 2023 commencement, 107 graduating high school students from Essex County were awarded associate degrees along with their high school diplomas, putting them on an accelerated path to postsecondary success.

Ocean County College College Readiness Now

As part of its College Readiness Now collaboration with Ocean County high school districts, Ocean County College (OCC) introduces first-generation, low-income, at-risk high school students to the college experience via introductory meta-major survey courses. Participating students who successfully complete their college readiness portions of the program are able to enroll in introductory survey meta-major courses, including introductory courses in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; Health Professions; and Energy. OCC provides students access to a meta-major survey course from one of the following OCC degree/certificate programs: American Sign Language, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, Environmental Sustainability, Hospitality and Tourism, and Industrial Hygiene. Through College Readiness Now, OCC also offers traditional college-ready programs, including summer bridge, boot camps, and semester-long programs for students who are not yet college ready, and accelerated learning programs, which enable students who are not yet college ready to enroll in a college credit-bearing course while also being provided with additional supports. While accelerated learning programs primarily serve students who are not yet college ready, OCC has found that in some cases, it may be advantageous to also include college-ready students in the course, and college-ready students can earn college credits if taking a course with other students who are not yet college ready.

Passaic County Community College Biotech Innovation Center High School

Passaic County Community College (PCCC) and the Passaic County Vocational School District will use $25 million in Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act grant funding to construct a new 68,000 square-feet facility that will connect 800 students in grades 9 to 12 to high-skill, high-wage career opportunities in the region’s biotechnology industry. This facility, known as the Biotech Innovation Center High School (Biotech Center), will strategically align the Passaic County Vocational School District with PCCC’s Public Safety Academy, forming the region’s first high school to college dual credit degree program and resulting in a debt-free college education.

The Biotech Center will support a new career and technical education program in Biotechnology. Students will have the opportunity to earn an associate degree in Biotechnology and will earn industry-valued credentials. The project’s significant features will include the following:

Dual credit: Students will earn 60 college credits through dual enrollment coursework leading to an associate degree.
Employer engagement and work-based learning: Employer partners will sponsor work-based learning experiences, ensuring that students learn in-demand skills.
DNA Learning Center New Jersey (DNALC NJ): Operated by DNALC of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and InnovATEBIO—the National Science Foundation’s National Biotechnology Education Center—DNALC NJ will become part of the Biotech Center.
Hands-on learning opportunities: Through hands-on learning, students will benefit from a continuum of research, career, workforce readiness, and civic engagement skills.

The first 150 ninth-grade students enrolled in September 2023 with building completion scheduled for 2024.

Sussex County Community College Early College Advancement

Located in a small county with only nine high schools, Sussex County Community College is at an advantage in creating a very close partnership with all schools throughout the region. Creative initiatives to help all high school students get on a path to postsecondary success include helping math-avoiding students by working to align mathematics curricula between the college and high school, creating on-campus early college programs with county technical school partners to advance students and share facilities usage, and providing an opportunity for industry-valued credentials like electrical line worker to high school students with a pathway to degree completion at the college. Sussex County Community College’s Early College Advancement offers high school students two paths: Concurrent Enrollment programs that take place at the high school, and Jump Start, which allows high school students to study on the college’s campus. Both offer students the chance to complete many college general education courses at a fraction of the usual cost. Sussex County Community College is now in the final phases for National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships accreditation for dual enrollment in the high schools, which will ensure that local high school students experience a seamless transition to college and teachers benefit from meaningful, ongoing professional development.