Date:

To:
From:
Subject:
Start

March 6, 2016
Jessica Easthope
Counseling Center
Mount Si High School
Chris Gregg
Mount Si Graduate and Former Running Start Student
Washington State University
Recommendation Memo Informing Students of Running

Purpose
The purpose of this memo is to summarize the research that I
have conducted regarding various inadequacies within the current
process of educating students about the Running Start program and to
provide a recommended course of action.
Summary
The current process for educating students about the Running
Start program places a lot of burden on the student, and is primarily
provided on an opt in basis rather than as a mandatory consideration
for all students. Mount Si does offer a presentation on the program, but
it requires students to sacrifice their already minimal free time. Even
with materials provided at the presentation, students have to be very
proactive in researching the program, applying in a timely manner, and
getting themselves to the Bellevue College Campus to test in to the
program. Young high school students often lack the ability, or desire to
look at their long-term goals and assess what actions will set them on
the most efficient and desirable course.
Within the sections below I outline my efforts to understand the
various factors creating this problem. I then provide further
assessment in the form of conclusions drawn from the research and a
suggestions course of action to correct the issues. I assess the various
paths within which a student would be informed of the existence and
benefits of the Running Start program, as well as the level of
assistance a student is likely to receive throughout the application and
planning processes. This independent evaluation includes both primary
and secondary research. I conducted interviews of current Running
Start students, parents of current running start students, counselors at
Mount Si High School, and researched the Running Start program
online to understand what materials a student can find on their own.

Introduction
As a former Running Start student and 2013 graduate of Mount
Si High School I have recognized multiple flaws within the presentation,
education, and continued assistance regarding the Running Start
program and the benefits that it offers high school juniors and seniors.
Having gone through the process as a student I can personally
attest that Running Start is an incredible program that offers a great
deal of benefit to high school juniors and seniors. As a result of
participating in the program I will graduate with a bachelors degree
over a year quicker than students that did not take advantage of the
Running Start program. In addition to graduating early I will have saved
thousands of dollars in tuition and living expenses while at school.
Taking classes at Bellevue College introduced me to a much more
diverse group of both people and thinking. I was challenged mentally in
a way that is simply not possible in the typical high school setting.
Participating in the program also taught me a great deal about
responsibility managing my own time. A simple skill that many people
seem to lack. However, the sad truth is that the potential benefits that
this program offers students are not matched with equal efforts to
educate students of these benefits, and assist them in enrolling in the
program.
The current process for educating students about the Running
Start program places a lot of burden on the student, and is primarily
provided on an opt in basis rather than as a mandatory consideration
for all students. Mount Si offers a presentation on the program, but it
requires the student to sacrifice their already minimal free time. Even
with materials provided at the presentation, students have to be very
proactive in researching the program, applying in a timely manner, and
getting themselves to the Bellevue College Campus to test in to the
program. Running Start is a very well established program that offers
participating students a great deal of benefit when it comes to their
education, college preparation, and financial position, among other
things. While high school students need to be responsible for
themselves, the current format is less than ideal. Young high school
students often lack the ability or desire to look at their long-term goals
and assess what actions will set them on the most efficient and
desirable course.

In order to fully better understand the processes surrounding

Mount Si High Schools involvement with the Running Start program,
and what responsibilities fall on various parties regarding the education
and enrollment process, I have completed the following tasks.

Task 1: Understand the currently delivery methods of Running

Start information to students
Task 2: Assess the timeframe in which that information is
delivered
Task 3: Research what steps need to occur after the initial
program information is provided to the student in order to enroll
in Running Start
Task 4: Evaluate the levels of responsibility placed on the
student, parent, and high school counseling center in terms of
what is required to enroll a single student in the Running Start
program
Research Methods

Task 1: Understand the currently delivery methods of Running Start

information to students
The first, and possibly the most important step in this process,
was understanding the various ways that a student could potentially be
introduced to the Running Start program. It was important to
understand what efforts were being made, what groups were making
those efforts, and how effective those efforts are at actually
communicating information to the student population. To collect this
information I searched the Mount Si High School website, spoke with
Running Start students and parents, and searched the web for different
Running Start marketing programs.
Task 2: Assess the timeframe in which that information is delivered
My next step was to evaluate the timeframe in which students
were given specific information. I needed to understand when students
were first being introduced to the Running Start program, if and when
additional information was being provided, and what level of follow-up
information was provided to students that expressed interest. Again,
my primary source of information was speaking with students that had
recently gone through the process of beginning Running Start.

Task 3: Research what steps need to occur after the initial program
information is provided to the student in order to enroll in Running
Start
After researching how and when students were introduced to the
program I began researching what was required to actually enroll in the
program. I spoke with counselors at both Mount Si High School and
Bellevue College (the local Running Start campus) to understand this
process.
Task 4: Evaluate the levels of responsibility placed on the student,
parent, and high school counseling center in terms of what is required
to enroll a single student in the Running Start program
Armed with a timeline of what needed to be done to enroll in the
Running Start program I turned my attention to assessing how much
responsibility was placed on each of the parties involved. I began this
process speaking with the counselors again regarding what forms
needed to be filled out, who needed to fill them out, and what
minimum level of involvement was required from various parties. I
them moved on speaking with the high school counselors, parents, and
students to get a better idea of who was actually doing the work. I
wanted to know if parents were holding their childrens hand through
the process, or if students were taking charge of the process.
Results
In this section I will present the information collected throughout
my research. Only the relevant information from each task will be
presented.
Task 1: Understand the currently delivery methods of Running Start
information to students
Researching the various delivery methods of Running Start
information to students I was able to find a great deal of information
online. Both the Mount Si High School and Bellevue College websites
had pages dedicated to the program. The pages had important dates
and documents along with various descriptions of the program. Also,
speaking with students I found that most had heard about the program
from another student. Many of them either had an older sibling that
had participated in the program, or were friends with someone that
had an older sibling that participated in the program. Speaking with
parents, it was clear that their main source of introduction to the
program was other parents that had children participate in the

program. There were also communications sent out from the high
school. These were usually in the form of newsletters, or bulletin
boards within the school.
Task 2: Assess the timeframe in which that information is delivered
Assessing the timeframe in which information was delivered led
me to rather scattered results. Mainly, students that had older siblings
had known about the program since their sibling enrolled in it.
Students that did not have older siblings in the program were likely to
not be introduced to Running Start until the middle of their sophomore
year in high school. While there was a dramatic spread in those that
heard about the program via word of mouth, those that receive more
formal communications from the school were always much later in
receiving information.
Task 3: Research what steps need to occur after the initial program
information is provided to the student in order to enroll in Running
Start
Within my research of what was necessary after the initial
introduction to the program in order to officially enroll, I found that
there were two paths. There was the path of pure requirements that
needed to be fulfilled, then there was the path students and their
parents were actually following. The main difference between the two
was the amount of additional program research and phone
calls/meetings with counselors was typically more than the bare
minimum required. To enroll in the program students are required to go
to the Bellevue College campus on their own time and take an
entrance exam. If the student passes the exam they then have to set
an appointment with their high school counselor to plan out their
courses and fill out the necessary paperwork. This paperwork is then
taken home and signed by the parents of the participating student.
After the student turns the signed paperwork in they have to enroll
themselves as a student at Bellevue College. This then allows the
student to use their student ID number to enroll themselves in classes.
Task 4: Evaluate the levels of responsibility placed on the student,
parent, and high school counseling center in terms of what is required
to enroll a single student in the Running Start program
Speaking with the various parties involved in enrolling students
in the Running Start program, it became very clear to me that there
was a difference between who the responsibility was intended to be
placed on compared to who the responsibility of a lot of the work was
actually placed on. On paper, the student is responsible for the

majority of the work. Parents are only required to sign off on the
students participation in the program, and counselors are responsible
for the administrative work behind enrolling students in one school or
the other to redirect state funding. What I quickly found out was that
there was typically a lot more parent involvement than was required.
Many of the steps mentioned in Task 3 ended up being shared
responsibility by both the student and parent. Parents often sat in on
meetings with the counselor to discuss what classes the student should
be taking, and many parents mentioned that they kept their student
aware of deadlines for various checkpoints in the process.
Conclusion
Looking at all of this information together I draw the conclusion
that those properly informed of the Running Start program are often
able to take full advantage of the programs offerings. However, the
major shortfall that I recognize is that the most effective source of
introduction to the program is currently former or existing participants,
not the schools themselves. Mount Si High School does have
presentations and information that are shared with students, however
my research shows that the communication attempts made by Mount
Si staff are seldom received by the intended student population. There
process by which Mount Si High School informs students of the Running
Start program has had little to no change at all over the past five
years. This suggests a distinct lack of awareness and motivation to
correct the current problem. Students dont know all of their options.
As educators of todays youth the staff of Mount Si High School have a
moral and ethical obligation to provide students with as much relevant
information and guidance as possible. My research has uncovered a
true problem, and it needs to be corrected.

Recommendation
It is my recommendation that the staff of Mount Si High School
dramatically increase their efforts to inform students of the Running
Start program and support those that choose to participate. The main
area that needs improvement is the scope of communication regarding
the program. The current optional presentation that is given to
sophomores needs to be expanded and provided to all high school
grade levels. The first step is to adapt the presentation into two
separate presentations. One presentation will be provided to freshman
and sophomore students that can still receive full benefit of the
program. The second presentation will be given to junior and senior

level students that still have an opportunity to receive partial benefit

from participating in the program. It is important the separate these
into two different presentations due to the varying levels of
participation and benefit students are eligible for at different points in
their high school careers. The next step is to ensure that every student
is given the appropriate presentation at least once per academic
school year. This could easily be accomplished by identifying various
classes that are required by all students in a given grade level and
presenting to every period of that class on a given day. For example, all
freshman are required to take a freshman level English course. Taking
the first fifteen minutes of each freshman level English class on a
specific day to present the Running Start presentation and pass out
necessary information would ensure that all freshman level students
were exposed to the existence and benefits of the programs. This same
scenario would then be repeated for each grade level, thus solving the
lack of communication on the topic.
References
Running Start. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2016, from
http://www.k12.wa.us/SecondaryEducation/CareerCollegeReadiness/Ru
nningStart.aspx
Running Start - Mount Si High School. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26,
2016, from http://mshscollegeandcareercenter.weebly.com/runningstart.html
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. (2006).
Running Start: 2005-06 Annual Progress Report (Rep.). WA. Retrieved
February 21, 2016, from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=running start annual
progress report &id=ED496209 (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED496209)