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How ACE Works

A Cohort Model

In the Academy for College Excellence (ACE), students take all of their ACE classes together as a cohort of roughly 29 students. Having a cohort of students attend up to six courses together builds a sense of community and a network of support that helps each of them stay in school.

The Foundation Course

The ACE experience begins with the Foundation Course, which meets for six to eight hours each day for two weeks. During this intensive course, the focus is on students’ personal development and reigniting an excitement for learning. Here students learn new communication skills, while discovering their personal strengths and working styles. During these two weeks, they participate in exercises that help them reevaluate their past learning experiences, setting the stage for an entirely different learning experience. Through fun and at experiential exercises, they learn a lot about one another and bond as a cohort.

The Bridge Semester

Following the Foundation Course, ACE students begin the full-time Bridge Semester. The classes that students take during the Bridge Semester depend entirely on the type of cohort they are enrolled in. The one element common to every cohort is the Team Self-Management course, which builds on the self-awareness, self-esteem, and communication lessons of the Foundation Course, and helps students manage the challenges that accompany their lives as college students and future knowledge workers.

At the core of most cohort’s Bridge Semester is the project-based primary research course in which student teams conduct research and report on local social justice issues. The project-based course sets the pace for feeder courses in English, Mathematics, Computer Science, Career Planning, and Movement (physical education, also coordinated). In the feeder courses students learn academic and technical skills “just-in-time” to apply them to their projects.

The 16 associate degree credits students can earn during the Foundation Course and Bridge Semester add momentum to their degree aspirations. Researchers consider acquisition of 20 credits during the freshman year critical to degree completion; most ACE students make it more than three-quarters of the way toward this crucial benchmark in just one ACE semester.

For a more in-depth description of how ACE works, see our Program Overview (pdf).