Bridging Multiple Worlds:

Aligning Science, Policy, and Practice across Regional P-20 Partnerships Builds Pathways to College and Careers

Catherine R. Cooper, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology and Education

University of California, Santa Cruz and

UC Office of the Presidentccooper@ucsc.edu

Presentation to Intersegmental Data Coordination Group

California Department of Education

Sacramento, California

May 20, 2005

www.bridgingworlds.org

Overview 1• The academic pipeline problem: Regional and international

Capital, alienation, and challenge models highlight different pathwaysCalifornia’s regional partnerships in state and national alliances

2• Partnerships map 5 dimensions over timeDemographics along the pipeline to college help monitor access

Aspirations for education and careers across generationsMath and language pathways diverge early, with more than one path to college

Students bridging resources and challenges across worldsP-20 partnerships use longitudinal data to improve

3• Surprising findings along the 5 dimensions

4• Implications for linking science, policy, and practice Rethinking capital, alienation, and challenge pathways as a set Linking generations, disciplines, and cultural communities

5• An invitation to a P-20 learning community

P-20 Regional Partnerships Work in Cycles of Science, Practice and Policy

(Cooper et al., 1998; 2005; Denner et al., 1999)

Science advances by

testing and refining theories

observation and description,

prediction,

explanation, and

application to levers of change

Regional partnerships map local variation

Applications to practice and policy

accountability

Preschool and Kindergarten

Elementary School

Middle

School

HighSchool

Colleges, Adult work and

family roles

P-20 Regional Partnerships and Alliances

KATU

Kids Around the University

GEAR UP

COSMOS

DEEP

ASSIST

EAOP MESA

Upward Bound AVID

CAL-SOAP

Puente

Center for Adaptive

Optics

Partnerships Connect Measurable Goals across Programs from Childhood to College and Careers

CRLP

Head Start

Regional Partnerships in State and National Alliances• Examples of Regional Partnerships

North State College OPTIONS

Central Valley Higher Education Consortium

Monterey Bay Educational Consortium (MBEC)

Santa Barbara and Santa Ana ENLACE

San Diego-Imperial County College Going Initiative

San Bernardino and Riverside K-16 Councils

Long Beach Educational Council

• Examples of State and National Alliances

ARCHES, ENLACE, Ed Trust, GEAR UP, Pathways to College Network, CCSESA, BMWA

• Superintendents’ key role linking best practices, research, and accountability: “we have a thirst for data”

P-20 Research Partnerships for Science, Policy, and Practice

1. Demographic portraits--national origin, ethnicity, languages, education---along pipelines to college and careers

2. College and career dreams link generations

3. Math and language pathways

4. Bridging challenges and resources across families, peers, schools, and communities

5. P-20 research partnerships bridge

generations, disciplines, and nations

to link science, policy, and practice

on behalf of children

Preschool and Kindergarten

Primary School

Middle School

Secondary School

College, Adult work and

family roles

5 Cultural Research Partnerships: P-20-from Childhood to College & Careers

2 Youth identity pathways

3 Math and language pathways

Families Peers Schools SportsCommunity Programs

Religious Activities

The Bridging Multiple Worlds Model (Cooper, 1999)<--------- 1 Demographics along the academic pipeline ---------->

4 Resources and challenges across worlds

Partnerships map 5 dimensions over time1: Demographics along the pipeline to college

• Family national origin, ethnicity, languages, education (Census)

• Student opportunities to learn: Who attends? is missing? persists? (CBEDS)

• Comparing schools, communities, states, nations (Census, OECD)

• Children’s meanings: who is in your family? where were your parents born? how far did they go in school? what languages does your family speak?

The Academic Pipeline Problem: Persistence through School within Five Ethnic-Racial Groups

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Source:

US Census

Asian American 100 80 65 44

European American 100 85 55 27

African American 100 72 43 14

Native American 100 71 42 11

Latino 100 52 30 10

KindergartenHigh School

GradSome

College BA or more

2: Parents and Students’ Aspirations for Education and Careers Build Identity Pathways and Link Generations (Mena, 2005)

Students: What are your goals for your education? What job do you want when you grow up?(Cooper et al., 2001)

Parents: What are your goals for your child’s education? career? (Azmitia et al, 2001)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Frequency

UnskilledEmployee

Skilled ManualEmployee

Administrator HighExecutive

Hollingshead Occupational Index

Mexican Immigrant Mothers' Occupations

02468

101214161820

Frequency

UnskilledEmployee

Skilled ManualEmployee

Administrator HighExecutive

Hollingshead Occupational Scale

Moving Up: The Same Mexican Immigrant Mothers' Career Aspirations for their 6th Grade Children

3: A Math Ladder through School to Careers

Education Level

Counting Kindergarten

Preschool

Elementary

Math Skill

Middle School

High School

Add, Subtract

Multiply fractionsDecimals

Algebra 2 Geometry

Algebra 1

Calculus

Career Level

Physical labor

Professional,Executive, Proprietor

Skilled and Semi-skilled

Clerical, Sales, Technician

Graduate, professional school

4-year college2-year college

3. Five Typical Pathways of Math or Language Grades:High, Decreasing, Increasing, Back on Track, and Persisting

Each line shows one student’s pathway

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

9F 9S 10F 10S 11F 11S 12F 12S

Year and semester

Persister

Decliner

Back On Track

Increaser

High

3. Pathways to Algebra 1 and Beyond: More than One Path

Based on longitudinal case studies of program “regulars” from age 11 to 18

Year Passed Algebra 1 Age 18 Age 21

Luis 9th high pathway directly to university graduationNora 9th high pathway community college/ plans for universitySoledad 10th increasing community college universityJana 10th back on track community college universityRaul 9th declining high school graduationCamilo ? persisting high school graduation

Note: Of 980 9th grades in the school that most of these students attended in 1999-2000, 30.4% passed Algebra 1. Algebra 1 is required for A.A. degree at Community College and many technical careers

4: 4: Bridging Resources and Challenges across Worlds:Who helps you? Who causes difficulties? (Holt, 2002; Mena et al., 2001)

Who helps you think about going to college?My mom loved to go to school, but had to quit school to start working at the age of 12. Her mom didn’t let her do her homework and she really liked to do homework.….She tells me that I need to seize the time that I have to go to college and not drop out of school.

My parents told me to go to college because if I wanted to get a house I had to get a good job. Going to college helps you get a career instead of being a gangster, drug dealer or other things that cause you to get in trouble with the cops even though you get good money in a dangerous way.

In one program, students’ naming their mothers and peers as helping them with schoolwork and going to college increased over time while fathers’, siblings’ and families’ help was stable

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

1998 1999

Year

Mother

Father

Sibling

Ext Family

Peer

5: Changing Senior Plans: One UC-Community College Partnership

(Dominguez et al., 2005)

1991-1995 (N=197)

H.S. Only46%

Military1%

Cabrillo College47%

Other CC1%

4-yr University5%

1996-1997 (N=64)

H.S. Only44%

Tech School /Military

6%

Cabrillo College28%

4-yr University22%

Note: Longitudinal follow-up with these students is tracing who moved from high school to community college, and from community college to four-year universities..

UCSC -- Partnership High Schools (combined total)

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02**

61

149

8796

75

47

109

63 6757

28

60

35 3133

0

60

120

Number

Year

Enrollment Admits Applications

UC Santa Cruz -- Partnership High Schools (6 schools combined)* Underrepresented students -- UC Applic, Admits and Enroll.

* Includes Aptos, N. Monterey, Overfelt, Seaside, Watsonville and Willow Glen high schools.** 2001-02 Enrollment data is based on students' "Statement of Intent to Register" (SIR). Source: University of California Office of the President, Research and Evaluation Unit.

5.Trends in University Applications, Admission, and

Enrollment in a P-20 Regional Partnership (Moran et al., 2005)

What is Success?Students attaining their own, families’, and communities’ dreams compare to adult and school demographics and attainment Census, CBEDSSchools and Programs sustaining program activities improving with program analysis healthy size? investment per student? program evaluation? Regional Partnerships and Alliances-sustainability, leveraging, scaling up

Take home message:

Aligning science, policy, and practice across regional P-20 partnerships

builds pathways to college and careers

• Intergenerational: Children as science apprentices

• Interdisciplinary: Map conditions for success by

aligning capital, alienation, and challenge theories

• International: Linking local and systemic practice

An Invitation to a P-20 Learning Community

Toolkit for Science, Policy, and Practice www.bridgingworlds.org• Guiding questions link multi-level theories and local views over time:

Children, worlds, institutions, and communities

• Mixed methods build regional partnerships Linking longitudinal case studies to variable-based analyses Interpretive cycles for science, policy, and practice Cases: children, families, schools, programs, districts, states,

nations

• Activities, measures, and database help all partners ask questions at no costCodebook and analysis, graphing, and communication templates

Children, families, schools, and programs track pathways to college

My Math Pathway

Middle School High School6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

Long-TermGoal

College PrepMath Classes PreAlgebra Algebra Geometry Algebra II

Trig/Calculus

My MathClasses

My FutureAgenda

Example:A XB X XC XD X XF X

MyGrades

6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th

AA-B+BB-C+CC-D+D

D-/F

MyGrades

6 F 6 S 7 F 7 S 8 F 8 S 9 F 9 S 10 F 10 S 11 F 11 S 12 F 12 S

Mapping Pathways to College and Career with One Child