Communications » The CVSD LINK - Newsletter 2024

The CVSD LINK - Newsletter 2024

Associate of Arts (AA) Degree Offered in High School

CVSD partnered with local higher education to offer an AA degree at University High School (UHS) this fall with Central Valley (CVHS) and Ridgeline (RHS) to follow. 
 
Together, Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS), Eastern Washington University (EWU), and CVSD paved the way for students to achieve a no-cost AA degree while attending their neighborhood high school. The CVSD School Board approved this program at its May 7, 2024 special board meeting.

Thanks to this new partnership, incoming freshmen at UHS will have a new college pathway option available this fall. CVSD will expand to CVHS and RHS for the 2025-2026 school year with similar programs.

This collaboration weaves together educational offerings that provide high school students the opportunity to earn an Associate of Arts Direct Transfer Agreement (AA-DTA) degree at their high school campus. Previously, high school students could earn EWU credits through College in the High School (CIHS), or attend courses on Spokane Community College (SCC) or Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) campuses to earn an associate degree in conjunction with their high school diploma. 


This new opportunity will provide students flexibility to remain on their high school campus and participate in the daily activities of their high school community, while pursuing a college-level degree.

“I’m thrilled our ideas merged into this partnership, providing an option for CVSD students who want to earn their two-year college degree yet stay at their own high school. Providing a variety of college pathways better serves all of our students' needs—regardless of socioeconomic status or readiness and ability to traverse to a college campus.” said Superintendent John Parker. “This is also a big win for our community in helping get young adults into the workforce sooner than usual.”

CCS Chancellor Kevin Brockbank agreed, “This partnership benefits everyone because it gives students choices and removes 
barriers for high school students who may not be able to navigate transportation challenges to easily attend community college classes at our campuses. Some students are eager to go off-site, but others want to stay at their high schools.”

EWU already offers CIHS with credentialed high school instructors at all three CVSD comprehensive high schools. These courses would comprise two-thirds of the required courses in the AA-DTA degree. The remaining one-third of courses would be taught online by SCC faculty to students gathered at the high school. Students who complete the program would graduate with both their high school degree and an AA-DTA degree from SCC, in this instance. 


An AA-DTA degree guarantees a student will enter a Washington state public university as a junior, with their general education credits complete.

“Eastern is proud to continue our longstanding community partnerships with CVSD and CCS,” EWU President Shari McMahan shared. “As a regional public university, expanding access to higher education is a cornerstone of our mission, and we’re thrilled to be a part of this innovative opportunity for high school students to get a head start toward completing a four-year degree program.”

The AA-DTA that will be offered onsite at UHS will be a good fit for students who plan to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, rather than a Bachelor of Science. It will focus on social science classes instead of lab science or advanced math courses. Students seeking a four-year degree in science, mathematics, allied health or technology will either want to wait until graduation or attend Running Start classes during their junior and senior year at SCC or SFCC. There is potential that yet-to-be-developed programs at CVHS or RHS could contain a STEM focus. Plans will need to be individually tailored at each school, based on the teacher’s unique qualifications.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal noted, “This program will tear down barriers for each student within CVSD who wants to engage in advanced coursework and graduate from high school with an associate degree. This initiative is a testament to the courageous leadership of CVSD, CCS and EWU, and I hope we will soon see similar opportunities for students across our state.” 

Learn more at CVSD.org/AAinHS

Save the dates!

Hear about the “State of the District” and discover what students are learning in each of our three CVSD Learning Communities (Western, Central & Eastern).
Community Link Events
In order to save printing and mailing costs, we are not sending a print version to those on our parent and staff email lists. Should you want a printed copy, you may pick one up at our CVSD office at 2218 N. Molter Rd. in Liberty Lake or see the PDF below.