TransformSC creates Higher Education Action Team

TransformSC convened a Higher Education Action Team on December 15, 2015, to address the impact transformation in K-12 education is having on the higher education system.  

The higher education group is the sixth Action Team TransformSC created in the past three years.  TransformSC’s other Action Teams are addressing transformative practices in K-12 education: project-based learning, competency based-progression, blended learning, continuous assessment, and culture of innovation.

Peggy Torrey, director of TransformSC, said that the creation of the new Action Team was a necessity, “We know that students in our schools are experiencing a different type of learning and they are going to expect that same learning in their college or university. We also understand that when students advance based on mastery in K-12, that complicates the current higher education admissions requirements. We wanted to get a group together to discuss these implications and see if we can help smooth the transition to higher education for students that have been educated in a non-traditional model.”

TransformSC’s Higher Education Action Team consists of representatives from several colleges and universities,  including Francis Marion University, Converse College, Erskine College, Clemson University, Southern Wesleyan University, Columbia College, Winthrop University, Benedict College, and the University of South Carolina. The team also includes representatives from other affiliated groups including the Commission on Higher Education, SC Technical College System, SC Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Education Oversight Committee.

During the first convening, the group received an overview of TransformSC and the need for alignment within K-12 and higher education, and heard presentations from a TransformSC district, Lexington County School District One. The group developed priorities for their work, including: strengthening the relationship between K-12 and higher education; addressing some of the barriers with dual enrollment courses; focusing on stronger career pathways counseling; ensuring institutions are aware of transformative practices in K-12; and developing a profile of a successful student that is ready for college-level coursework using data.

The group will continue to add representatives from other colleges and universities and will meet every two months.

About TransformSC

TransformSC, an education initiative of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, is a collaboration of business leaders, educators, students, parents and policy makers transforming the public education system so that every student graduates prepared for careers, college and citizenship. TransformSC schools and districts are designing, launching, promoting and proving transformative practices in the classroom.  Currently there are 38 schools from 19 districts, as well as 3 entire districts in the TransformSC network.  For more information, visit www.sccompetes.org/transformsc.