MEDIA ADVISORY – A partnership between College of Western Idaho (CWI) and Canyon Springs High School (CSHS), a local alternative school, has successfully helped increase the number of CSHS students earning college credit from zero to 92 in less than two years. The success has been made possible through a joint effort between the two schools and support from the Continuous Enrollment Project created by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.
CSHS serves approximately 250 students, grades 10-12, in Caldwell. Of its student population, 75 percent come from low-income families while 80 percent say they would be the first in their family ever to attend college. Despite these difficult odds the school has flourished, taking advantage of CWI Dual Credit opportunities. As a result of the project, nearly everyone in the Canyon Springs 2013 senior class applied for and was accepted to college, attended a campus tour or orientation, and completed a college entrance exam.
CSHS is one of six alternative schools in southwest Idaho participating in CWI’s College Readiness Project, which is part of the Albertson Foundation’s Continuous Enrollment Project. The College Readiness Project is designed to partner college readiness activities and students support with curricular alignment to help increase the number of underserved students taking college credit while in high school and enrolling in college upon high school graduation. To date, CWI has provided college credit courses to 245 students attending CSHS, Central Academy (Meridian), Meridian Academy, Initial Point High School (Kuna), Frank Church High School (Boise), and Eagle Academy.
A video documenting the success, featuring interviews with students and school administrators, can be viewed online.
Contact:
Jennifer Couch
(208) 562-3508
jennifercouch@cwi.edu
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About the College of Western Idaho:
The College of Western Idaho is a public, open-access, and comprehensive community college committed to providing affordable access to quality teaching and learning opportunities to the residents of its service area in western Idaho. CWI has seven campus locations throughout Southwest Idaho providing higher education and 21st Century technical skills acquisition. The college is dedicated to improving the community’s economic well-being by responding with highly-educated and productive graduates. The foundation for the area’s only community college was created by a supermajority of voters in Ada and Canyon counties on May 22, 2007. For more information about the college, visit cwi.edu or call (208) 562-3000.
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