APSRC Awarded Grant to Enroll High School Students in Swift Coding Program
The Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education has provided the Arkansas Public School Resource Center (APSRC) with a grant to enroll up to 250 high school students in UPSKILL at A-State’s Computer Science programs for the 2021 fall semester at no cost to the student or the school. UPSKILL at A-State has been expanded to now offer three high-quality computer science and computing concurrent credit courses for student to choose from:
- Certificate in Swift Coding (Apple)
- Certificate in Android Development, or
- Certificate in Game Production and Development
“We are proud to partner with Arkansas State University, the Arkansas Department of Education and the Governor Asa Hutchinson’s office to provide this groundbreaking opportunity for students to earn K-12 credits and 9 hours of concurrent college credit, while at the same time working toward industry certification,” APSRC Executive Director Scott Smith said. “Through this grant, we are able to provide Arkansas schools with a valuable resource to enhance their curriculum and improve career-readiness for participating students.”
Each program will be taught online in seven-week increments. Students will receive nine college credit hours upon successful completion of any of the three programs.
What Does It Take to Enroll?
For step-by-step directions, please download and review this PowerPoint.
Public schools interested in enrolling students for this one-of-a-kind program are asked to contact the APSRC office to complete a three-way Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between A-State, APSRC and the school. This allows APSRC to be billed by A-State for each student and remit the tuition due.
Once the MOU is completed, a representative from Arkansas State University will contact your school counselor or other designee to help the student complete A-State’s application for admission and the parental consent form. Once the student’s admission has been accepted, the student will need to activate their A-State digital ID before they are able to enroll in the course.
Even if you do not have students currently interested in participating, we encourage you to go ahead and complete an MOU as soon as possible in order to ensure any students wishing to participate in the fall are able to complete the admissions process by the first day of class.
Students must have a minimum ACT composite score of 19 and an ACT reading score of 19, and a 2.75 high school grade point average. An ASPIRE reading score of 428 (10th grade benchmark) may be used as an equivalent for admission. An Accuplacer Reading Score of 253 may be used as an equivalent for admission. Students must have completed eighth grade. Home-schooled students and/or private-school students who meet the criteria are also eligible to participate by enrolling through their local school district.
To request an MOU, call Joie Ketcham, APSRC administrative assistant, at (501) 492-4300 or email jketcham@apsrc.net. For more information about UPSKILL at A-State, visit www.astate.edu/a/global-initiatives/outreach/upskill/index.dot.