College Rocks

Jennifer Kirk, Coordinator

(978) 762-4000 x4333

jkirk@northshore.edu

Program Overview:

            Lynn Public Schools, in conjunction with North Shore Community College and the Public Policy Institute piloted a program in the fall semester of 2006, in which middle school students attend classes on the Lynn North Shore Community College campus. Breed, Ford, Marshall, and Pickering schools participated. The students’ courses are taught by Lynn Public School teachers who design their own curriculum. Examples of curriculum taught in the College Rocks classes are computers, science, civics, arts, and gym. 45-55 students participate in this program and are chosen based on application, academic achievement, and teacher recommendation. The program runs Monday through Thursday following the hours of a Lynn middle school day. Each class rotates throughout the college campus, utilizing classrooms as availability allows. College Rocks strives to involve parents, hosting a parent day to showcase the program.*

Best Practices:

-College Rocks students have had a chance to see North Shore Community College classes in action, exposing them to college academic life.

-Participants eat in the cafeteria with college students and get a real sense of what it is like at North Shore Community College.

Areas of college access it addresses:

Social Readiness—The participants interaction with college students helps promote the college thinking and exposes the students to opportunities available to them in the future.

College Information Awareness—By having the classes take place on a college campus, in college classrooms, participants of College Rocks are introduced to a higher education institution and become familiar with the environment.

*Language taken from written interview with Jennifer Kirk