Project Advance

Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful completion of the course(s) they can request to transfer the credits they earn into the colleges/universities they attend after high school. This is an example of a Concurrent Enrollment Program or Partnership (CEP).

Project Advance (PA) was formed in 1972 to provide more challenging options to college-bound junior and senior level students in local Syracuse high schools. By the time students reached their senior year, many had completed almost all of their requirements for graduation and needed a challenge to keep them motivated. This phenomenon was termed senioritis or senior slump and led to a culture that focused on admission to college instead of high school as preparation for completing college.

The need for such challenges continues today. Currently, Project Advance serves more than 165 high schools in New York, New Jersey, Maine, and Michigan, with the largest concentration in New York State. Approximately 8,000 students enroll annually in SU courses taught by more than 700 high school adjunct faculty members. The program offers 31 SU courses from 19 academic disciplines. These courses are the same courses offered to matriculated SU students on the main campus and use the same syllabi (where appropriate), materials, textbooks, assignments, and examinations.

Student participants can take SU college courses at a reduced tuition rate at their own high schools and the courses are taught by high school teachers who are trained and supervised by SU faculty. The high school teachers who serve as instructors must meet certain standards in order to qualify for and continue teaching these classes for the university. They can earn graduate credit for the initial training as well as towards continuing education and professional development requirements.

University faculty read papers, review tests, and visit each class during the semester to ensure that the grading standards applied are consistent with those applied in the same courses on campus. These features plus the research that is done on the program each year, mean that PA meets the standards developed by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP), an organization designed by and for CEP personnel to (through accreditation) reassure accepting institutions that credits earned through the CEP meet specific quality standards.