MONMOUTH – Western Oregon University has partnered with the Beaverton School District (BSD) to ensure that the students are prepared for a successful transition to higher education. The agreement, which goes into effect fall 2007, will be signed at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31 at Sunset High School Large Community Room.

The schools are developing ways to provide students with a successful transition into WOU’s liberal arts core curriculum. There will also be effort to align outcomes of senior year writing at BSD high schools with freshman year writing expectations at WOU.

“This agreement allows WOU to work with the Beaverton School District to best coordinate our services to the benefit of students so they are able to get the most out of their high school and college years, as well as making the college transition as smooth as possible,” said Dave Mc Donald, interim dean of admissions, retention and enrollment management.

The school district will send their high school counselors to WOU for a day-long training on college admission and success at WOU. There will also be collaboration on the possible development of summer academic camps at WOU for grades six through 12 to support Beaverton School District’s science academy.

The organizations are working to find ways to use proficiency as qualifications for admissions and scholarships rather than grade point average and SAT or ACT scores. They are also working together to provide incentives and support for increased student performance in high school. The fall 2007 scholarship guidelines will be modified to accept student proficiency levels for BSD students. WOU will also develop admissions guidelines that will enable students to substitute proficiency for GPA or college preparatory courses.

The two schools are also working on a computer-based instruction program in Mandarin Chinese. WOU will provide the software and technical support while BSD will provide the necessary hardware.

In addition to benefiting Beaverton high school students, slots in WOU’s part-time Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T) program will be reserved for persons designated by BSD who hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. The school district will also provide those students with internships.

Jerry Colonna, Beaverton School District Superintendent, believes that “the partnership is an important achievement that will better illuminate the pathway to college success for all students as well as reduce the learning gap between high school and college thus minimizing the need for costly remediation at the university level and increasing student success.

Interview contacts:

WOU: Dave McDonald, interim dean of admissions, retention and enrollment management; 503-838-8919

Beaverton: Sarah Boly, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning; 503-591-4404