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 President Presentation to Intersegmental Data Coordination Group California Department of Education Sacramento, California May 20,

Overview 1 The academic pipeline problem: Regional and international Capital, alienation, and challenge models highlight different pathways California’s regional partnerships in state and national alliances 2 Partnerships map 5 dimensions over time Demographics along the pipeline to college help monitor access Aspirations for education and careers across generations Math and language pathways diverge early, with more than one path to college Students bridging resources and challenges across worlds P-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 High School 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 FamiliesPeers Schools Sports Community Programs Religious Activities The Bridging Multiple Worlds Model (Cooper, 1999) 4 Resources and challenges across worlds

Partnerships map 5 dimensions over time 1: 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?

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)

3: A Math Ladder through School to Careers Education Level Counting Kindergarten Preschool Elementary Math Skill Middle School High School Add, Subtract Multiply fractions Decimals 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 college 2-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

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 graduation Nora 9th high pathway community college/ plans for university Soledad 10th increasing community college university Jana 10th back on track community college university Raul 9th declining high school graduation Camilo ? persisting high school graduation Note: Of 980 9th grades in the school that most of these students attended in , 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

5: Changing Senior Plans: One UC-Community College Partnership (Dominguez et al., 2005) 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..

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, CBEDS Schools 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 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 cost Codebook and analysis, graphing, and communication templates Children, families, schools, and programs track pathways to college

Mapping Pathways to College and Career with One Child