ACC Connect: Community Outreach to Title I Area High Schools

Overview

ACC Connect is intended to help high school seniors at Connect (Title I) schools make a confident and informed decision about higher education, with a particular focus on ACC direct-to-college enrollment.

ACC Connect launched in seven area high schools within six independent school districts to provide one-on-one support for each part of the ACC admissions process through to registration.

Accomplishments

• In the first year of implementation, ACC Connect assisted hundreds of high school seniors in the ACC admissions application.
• ACC Connect schools hosted ACC area of study information sessions through classroom visits and connections with campus teachers and staff to provide consistent support for seniors in their higher education plans.
• ACC Connect hosted 99 students at the Highland Campus Open House hosted by Enrollment Management, representing 38% of all student attendees.

Impact

ACC Connect provides direct-to-college recruitment to Connect high schools that includes dedicated ACC staff support for the admission application steps, financial awareness and assistance, and engagement activities to help high school seniors make an informed decision about higher education with a focus on ACC enrollment.

In the first year of implementation, ACC Connect supported more than 1,100 students in their ACC admissions application with 315 students complete and registration-ready. ACC Connect schools are:

• Connally HS (Pflugerville ISD)
• Del Valle HS (Del Valle ISD)
• Elgin HS (Elgin ISD)
• LBJ ECHS and Northeast ECHS (Austin ISD)
• Manor Senior HS (Manor ISD)
• San Marcos HS (San Marcos CISD)

Next Steps

The focus will turn to higher engagement from the beginning of the school year and throughout to increase student applications and interest by 10% in Year Two. This will be achieved by increasing ACC information session opportunities through classroom presentations in small groups, ACC campus tours to include visits to the Make It Center, and departmental tours.

ACC Connect will also be working with workforce departments to provide information sessions at the Connect schools at times that work best for students and their local communities, including evenings and/or Saturdays. ACC Connect will be meeting with leaders at each campus and with the district leadership to assess and reflect on Year One to ensure our goals of direct-to-college enrollment are being met.