College Credit Plus Expands to Benefit More Students, Plus State Report Card
- 7-12
College Credit Plus Expands to Benefit More Students, Plus State Report Card
An expansion of Lakota’s College Credit Plus (CCP) course options next school year means that a wider range of students will have the opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school, not to mention a residual impact on one component of the district’s state report card.
“Up until now, our CCP courses basically mirror our Advanced Placement (AP) course options, which limited the options for a broader range of students to take advantage of this really attractive program,” said Lakota’s director of 7-12 curriculum, Andrew Wheatley.
Besides the added rigor, Wheatley emphasizes the financial savings that CCP offers participating students and their families. The newest CCP courses that students will notice during registration season this year include psychology, sociology, government, financial literacy and two courses doubling as English 12 credit - interpersonal communication and an introduction to literature. Also notable is that these courses often meet general education course requirements for college majors.
Secondarily, the move to diversify Lakota’s CCP offerings will likely improve Lakota’s performance on the College, Career, Workforce & Military (CCWM) component of Ohio’s report card. According to the Ohio Department of Education, this component measures how prepared the graduating class from a district is as they transition to post-secondary education, enter the workforce, or join the armed forces.
The score is estimated by calculating the number of graduates who achieve at least one of the component’s measurement goals. Those goals include remediation-free SAT/ACT scores, an honors diploma, AP credits, industry credentials, college credits and military enlistment, among other experiences that demonstrate workforce readiness.
With Lakota’s AP and CCP courses historically so closely interlocked, the number of students gaining their CCWM “credit” from one of these measures was very limited.
“First and foremost, more CCP courses means more opportunities for more students and cost savings for families, but it’s an added benefit to improve our report card performance,” Wheatley said.
Changes to improve Lakota’s CCWM score has been a priority of the district’s curriculum team ever since it was announced that the measure would be included in the overall rating as early as the 2024-2025 report card. Last school year, for example, Lakota enrolled almost 350 more students in CCP courses, as compared to the prior year.
Sitting at 46 percent of all graduates who met the CCWM indicator for the 2022-2023 school year, the district has already seen about a 10 percent jump above this score in the current school year as a result of their efforts. The goal, Wheatley said, is to increase Lakota’s CCWM score by at least 10 percent each school year moving forward.
Students interested in learning more about CCP are encouraged to register for the student information sessions being offered at their high school during their Nexus period. The second and final Academic Advising & CCP Information Night for high school parents is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 6-8 p.m. at Lakota West (no registration required). An academic planning parent session for junior school parents is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 7 from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at Plains Junior School.
The program of studies for the 2024-2025 school year will be presented to the Lakota Board of Education for its approval at the Dec. 12 meeting.
- curriculum