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Early College High School News

Issue No. 5, March 2008



IN THIS ISSUE:

1) Creating and Sustaining Early College High Schools

2) The Policy Page

3) The Early College High School Frontlines

4) Resources from the Field

5) ECHS in the News: Recent Highlights

 

1) Creating and Sustaining Early College High Schools

This four-page summary provides current data on the growth and
impact of the Early College High School Initiative, including
promising student outcomes, descriptions of the various types of
early college schools, and much more.

Housed in the Georgia College & State University School of
Education, Georgia College Early College offers hope of a brighter
future to its students and their families in its rural community. This case
study examines how GCEC achieves its mission of college success for
all. The college-going culture, small class sizes, and extensive involvement
of college students and faculty enable these young people to believe in themselves as
learners, achieve academically and socially, and raise their aspirations.

The latest issue of Data & Dialogue, the Woodrow Wilson early
college newsletter, includes a promising practices brief on the
academic program developed by the Manhattan/Hunter Science
High School and its partner, Hunter College. The brief describes
the four components of Manhattan/Hunter’s program of study,
the curriculum redesign that blends high school and college
expectations, and the school’s emphasis on “habits of mind” to
succeed in college. Also in this newsletter,Woodrow Wilson
early colleges share what they’ve learned about the main differences
between high school and college learning.

In Fulfilling Promises, the newsletter of the Middle College
National Consortium, Principal Daphne Beasley of Hollis F.
Price Early Middle College at LeMoyne-Owen College in
Memphis describes the evolution of the first early college to open
its doors on an historically black campus. Since 2004, Hollis
Price students have learned what it takes to be college students,
and they have proven their capacity for higher learning to
college and high school faculty. Also in this issue of Fulfilling
Promises is a report on college course participation and results
across the MCNC Early College Network.

2) The Policy Page

In his State of the State Address, Governor Ted Strickland
announced a plan that would enable seniors at Ohio public
high schools to take classes at two- or four-year Ohio public
colleges instead of their high schools, picking up their high
school diplomas and a year of college credit at the same time.
Strickland said the goals are to challenge students who might
feel disengaged from their high school studies, help students
who want to accelerate their college education, and save
their families money. Students would have to meet the
academic requirements of the individual colleges, and tuition
would be paid by combining the student’s state subsidies from
public school funding and state subsidies for college. The
Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Department of
Education will begin requesting proposals from teams of
public high schools and colleges that are interested in
becoming “early adopters” of the Seniors to Sophomores
program.

In her State of the State Address, Michigan Governor
Jennifer Granholm announced a 21st Century Schools Fund
for replacing large impersonal high schools that fail with
smaller schools that help students reach high expectations.
She pointed to the launch of six early college high schools in
Michigan in the past year as an example of such innovative
schools. With the 21st Century Schools Fund, Michigan
could expand on that work, until every student in Michigan
leaves high school with the skills it takes to succeed in
college and the workplace.

Iowa, too, is thinking seriously about expanding collegecourse-
taking among high school students. Governor Chet
Culver has proposed a bill that would give more learners
access to dual enrollment courses. The $1.4 million bill,
slated for debate by Iowa House members, would allow high
schoolers to amass up to 30 hours of college-level credits—at
no cost to them.

In a March 2008 brief on dual enrollment policies, the
National Conference of State Legislatures highlights early
and middle college schools as key accelerated learning
options. The brief, Dual Enrollment: Opportunities and Risks,
describes a range of accelerated learning options, including
early college high school, and outlines policy considerations
for legislators. It cites Nancy Hoffman’s 2005 Add and
Subtract: Dual Enrollment as a State Strategy to Increase
Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students as a
resource. (Subscription required.)

3) The Early College High School Frontlines

Stan Silverman, dean at Summit College of the University of
Akron, was initially skeptical about bringing ninth-grade
students onto a college campus. But in his latest online digest,
“Perspectives from a Provost,” he notes that the members of the first
freshman class of Akron Early College High School has already impressed
him with their poise, maturity, and academic achievements.

Sakhalin Finnie, a science teacher at Harbor Teacher Preparation
Academy in Wilmington, California, received a surprise Milken Award for
excellence in teaching. She helped raise reading scores among a group of
struggling students by 10 percent and led her ninth-grade Integrated
Coordinated Science students to a first-place victory in the district’s
Earth Science Challenge. The award provides public recognition
and an unrestricted financial award of $25,000 to teachers, principals,
and specialists who are furthering excellence in education.
For another story about Ms. Finnie, go to:

http://www.mff.org/mea/mea.taf?page=recipient&meaID=20954

Listen to the NPR story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17359006

North Carolina’s innovative high schools, including its Learn &
Earn early college schools, are making a difference where it
counts first: keeping students in school so they can graduate
ready for college, careers, and citizenship. The North Carolina

Department of Public Instruction reported that the state’s annual
dropout rate climbed to 5.24 percent in 2006-07, but the 57
innovative high schools included in the data recorded an annual
dropout rate of only 2.8 percent. If North Carolina’s rate had
matched that of innovative high schools, 11,000 more young
people would have stayed in school last year. Sixty percent of
innovative high schools had at most one dropout last year.
 

  • Klamath River Early College: Making Quiet But Profound Change

Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods in Klamath,
California, part of the Early College for Native Youth Initiative,
was featured in two places recently. In an online audio slideshow,
Northcoast Journal chronicles how Klamath River students and staff are
changing the face of native education, quietly but profoundly.

To view the slideshow, go to: http://www.northcoastjournal.com/092007/NEWSKlamath_slideshow/

The Daily Triplicate describes how Klamath students began their
first fellowships this winter, pairing up with local organizations
and businesses to get a glimpse of the future.

To read the story, go to: http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm? story_no=7624
 

On February 25, theWal-Mart Foundation announced a $2.5
million grant to the Gateway to College National Network.
This grant will fund the replication of the Gateway to College
program at four community colleges around the country.
Gateway to College, which grew out of Portland Community
College, recently became an independent nonprofit. The
Gateway to College National Network board held its first
meeting in Portland in January, naming Laurel Dukehart as
executive director.

4) Resources from the Field

One of the most persistent inequities in U.S. education is
the gap in math achievement along income and race lines.
Yet some secondary schools “beat the odds,” producing
consistently strong math performance with students
who likely would fail in traditional settings. This paper,
prepared by Jobs for the Future for the Carnegie-IAS Commission on
Mathematics and Science Education, highlights obstacles
to raising math achievement and describes the key characteristics
of model schools that are rising to the challenge.
 

State leaders are grappling with one of the most difficult
and important challenges of K-12 reform: how to substantially
increase the percentage of young people graduating from high school,
while also continuing to align academic standards with the
skills and knowledge required for success in higher education
and employment. According to this JFF report, addressing
that challenge requires policymakers to directly target
closing the achievement and graduation gaps between
low-income and struggling students and their peers.
 

For years, the United States has led the world in the
percentage of adults possessing a college degree, but that
competitive advantage is slipping away. According to this
report prepared by Jobs for the Future for the Making
Opportunity Affordable Initiative, the United States will
have to ramp up just to keep up when it comes to degree
production. Moreover, because demographic trends point
toward substantial growth in populations historically
underserved in higher education—particularly African
Americans and Latinos—looming degree gaps cannot be
filled without a strong commitment to erasing racial and
ethnic disparities in educational attainment.
 

This report from the College Board’s National
Commission on Community Colleges notes that community
colleges enroll nearly 47 percent of individuals who
attend higher education. The report recommends a
national commitment to universal access to two years of
education beyond high school and highlights the vital
role community colleges play in ensuring America’s
economic competitiveness, building opportunity, and
strengthening our middle class.
 

Few states have completed the job of adjusting their standards
and expectations to ensure that all high school
students graduate ready for college, careers, and citizenship,
according to this latest report issued by Achieve.
Closing the Expectations Gap 2008 assesses all 50 states and
the District of Columbia on their progress in laying a
common foundation considered critical for improving
student preparedness. That foundation consists of five key
factors: standards, graduation requirements, assessments,
P-20 data systems, and accountability.
 

5) ECHS in the News: Recent Highlights

Chronicle of Higher Education, February 26, 2008
“The Early College efforts of the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, at best, does require that third
culture, in which universities actually co-lead schools
with district officials.”
 

Recruitment and Retention, February 2008
Recruitment and Retention magazine interviewed JFF Associate
Vice President Michael B.Webb, Ed.D., who discusses the
academic structure, social supports, and other factors that
prepare early college high school students for success in college.
(Subscription required.)
 

Red Orbit, January 29, 2008
“Students inWestern Mass. have a brand-new opportunity for
success open to them. Holyoke Community College (HCC) has
launched a nationally recognized initiative aimed at curbing
high school dropout rates called Gateway to College.”

Deseret [UT] News, January 27, 2008
“The administration at the Academy for Math, Engineering &
Science, a charter school housed at Cottonwood High School,
hosted an ‘Omelets and Admissions’ event Saturday morning.
Principal Al Church spread a table with breakfast food and had
some professional aid on hand to help students get their precollege
paperwork going.”

  • TEA Gives $4.2 Million to Create New Schools

KCEN-TV, [Temple,TX], January 18, 2008
http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=2&nid=3005
KLTV, [Tyler,TX],December 22, 2007
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7513358&nav=menu117_3
KVUE-TV, [Austin,TX] December 22, 2007
http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stories/121807kvuenewschools-cb.2acef07c.html
“The state’s awarded $4.2 million to Texas school districts to
create three specialized academies and seven Early College High
Schools.”

Charlotte [NC] Observer, January 14, 2008
“Anecdotally, Gov. Mike Easley’s New Schools project which has
redesigned nearly three dozen N.C. high schools and launched
42 early college programs has already earned kudos from parents,
teachers and students. It’s gotten national attention plus substantial
funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”
(Registration required.)
 

The Sacramento [CA] Bee,December 9, 2007
“Frustrated with students who come to college ill-prepared and
an applicant pool that lacks the diversity of the nation’s high
schools, universities around the country are creating their own K-
12 schools.”



 


 



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