High school students in Santa Cruz County are using online courses developed by UC College Prep to become eligible for UCSC and other colleges and universities.  Under a special partnership between UC College Prep and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, online college prep courses are being offered to clusters of local students across the county.

“Our new mission involves putting these high quality courses and materials in the hands of students and educators,” said Rafael Granados, executive director of UC College Prep.  “Our partnership with Santa Cruz allows us to bring that resource to our own community and work closely with our colleagues to find the most effective ways to help these students, especially underserved students who might struggle to find college prep courses.”

Michael Watkins, Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools, responded to a demand for expanded access and opportunity for college eligibility by establishing a priority to deliver A-G courses online. UCCP has worked closely with Santa Cruz COE’s Theresa Rouse, Director of Educational Services, to help build an online environment using UCCP courses as the core college prep curriculum. To help support the program, UC College Prep is hosting Santa Cruz’s courses on its servers and advising Santa Cruz COE on implementation of the courses.

“Santa Cruz COE’s Online Teaching and Learning Community, eClassroom, provides a web-based classroom environment to support delivery of UCCP A-G courses customized to meet district needs,” says Rouse. Kelly Wade, Santa Cruz COE’s eLearning Coordinator, facilitates the implementation of this environment by assisting districts with policy and sites with strategies for student success. “We are able, through this partnership, to provide a flexible solution to the challenges districts face,” says Wade.

UC College Prep was founded in 1999 and licenses its courses at no charge to California schools, school districts and county offices of education.