Early College High School News

Welcome to the inaugural issue of EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL NEWS, a resource for practitioners and policymakers who plan, launch, operate, and wish to support and promote these pioneering new schools.

Early college high schools are small schools designed so that students can earn both a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree or up to two years of credit toward a Bachelor’s degree. Early college high schools have the potential to improve graduation rates and better prepare students for entry into high-skilled careers by engaging all students in a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum and compressing the number of years to a college degree.

Jobs for the Future publishes ECHS NEWS as part of its work as national organizer of the Early College High School Initiative. In four years, the initiative has started or redesigned over 125 schools that will serve, at capacity, 45,000 students in 23 states. Through the initiative’s continued efforts, the 13 partner organizations will ultimately open about 240 pioneering small high schools serving over 95,000 students.

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Sustaining the Network:
Initiative Partners Gather in San Francisco
The 13 partner organizations in the Early College High School Initiative gathered in San Francisco in October for their semiannual convening. The focus was on the sustainability of the early colleges and of the initiative as a whole.

The meeting began with visits to three early college high schools: the Alameda Science and Technology Institute, California College Preparatory Academy, and Middle College High School at Contra Costa College.

A joint session with David Conley and Linda Darling-Hammond helped frame conversations about putting into operation the initiative’s commitment to academic rigor and to sustaining schools through strong communities:

David Conley directs Standards for Success, a three-year project to improve the connection between the content of high school tests and the standards for university success.

Linda Darling-Hammond leads the School Redesign Network, which is responding to the need for new school models that are designed to teach all children to high levels. The SRN serves as a valuable resource for school communities working to improve their schools and build sustainable school communities.

The convening also provided opportunities for intermediaries to share their strategies for sustainability, using examples from the network. These examples are available on the Early College High School Web site, www.earlycolleges.org.

Financing Early Colleges for Native Youth, by Linda Campbell, Center for Native Education

The ECHS Secondary-Community College Institutional Culture Paradigm, by Jeff Thompson, Foundation for California Community Colleges

Supporting High School Students in the Transition to College, by Kate Spence and Elisabeth Barrett, prepared by the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching for the Middle College National Consortium

Helping High School Students Succeed in College Class, by Elisabeth Barrett, prepared by the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching for the Middle College National Consortium

Postcards from the Margin:
A National Dialogue on Accelerating Learning
The emergence of accelerated learning as a strategy to simultaneously motivate and challenge secondary students offers a prime example of reform driven by the need to better align schools and colleges with economic and social realities. Accelerated learning is a cluster of programs, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual/concurrent enrollment, Early College High Schools, and Tech-Prep, unified by an overarching objective of making the “border” between high school and college or the workforce more navigable.

In June 2006, approximately 250 stakeholders—elected leaders, educators, researchers, and foundation officials—assembled in Atlanta for a first-of-its-kind gathering on accelerated learning. Accelerated Learning: Shaping Public Policy to Serve Underrepresented Youth, sponsored by Jobs for the Future and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, marked an important evolutionary step for this adaptive innovation, connecting often disconnected conversations and providing a venue to identify and debate key issues and catalyze further research.

Travis Reindl has prepared Postcards from the Margin, a summary and analysis of the forum. In 2006, Mr. Reindl joined the staff of JFF, where he leads a major national initiative focused on improving college access and affordability. Prior to joining JFF, he served as director of state policy analysis and assistant to the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Download Postcards from the Margin from either the JFF or the WICHE Web sites.

Also available from WICHE are two related reports: Accelerated Learning Options: A Promising Strategy for States and Accelerated Learning Options: Moving the Needle on Access and Success.

Accelerated Learning for All
“Accelerated learning options,” including early college high schools, push students to go further and faster. This brief by JFF’s Nancy Hoffman and Katie Bayerl introduces the rationale for accelerated learning and its potential for helping young people make a smooth transition into college.

The Early College High School Initiative: At-a-Glance
This two-page fact sheet provides an up-to-date profile of the initiative, with a map of schools, data on the number of schools and students, and other key information.

The Early College High School Initiative: By the Numbers
This report provides key data on the Early College High School Initiative as a whole, along with information on all schools currently open and opening by 2006.

Early College and Dual Enrollment:
Recommended in Report on the Future of Higher Education
The Commission on the Future of Higher Education, appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, released its report in September 2006. Among its recommendations: early college and dual enrollment initiatives are encouraged as ways to expand college participation and persistence. JFF Senior Vice President Richard Kazis provided written and oral testimony with these same recommendations to the commission in April.

The College Ladder and Dual Enrollment:
Discussion at American Youth Policy Forum
In October, the American Youth Policy Forum hosted a small group of national and federal policy organizations to discuss The College Ladder, a compendium describing schools, programs, and policies that link secondary and postsecondary education to help students earn college credit or take college-level courses while in high school. The report includes a section on middle and early colleges, as well as references to two Early College High School Initiative partners, Gateway to College and the Middle College National Consortium. Nancy Hoffman and Joel Vargas spoke about JFF’s recent research and lessons learned from working with states on the design of dual enrollment policies and programs.

Michigan Funds Early College High Schools
Under Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s plan to double the number of college graduates, as recommended by the state’s Cherry Commission, the Department of Education will implement six early college high schools through the Middle College High School Health Partnership Grant. Representatives of the national Early College High School Initiative were instrumental in advising the state subcommittee charged with developing the program, as were local education and community leaders interested in supporting partnerships. Chery Wagonlander, principal of Flint, Michigan’s Mott Middle College High School, provided expertise and leadership, with the support of Cecilia Cunningham, executive director of the Middle College National Consortium, and JFF’s Joel Vargas and Michael Webb.

Dual Enrollment in Perkins Reauthorization
The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, enacted this summer, maintains much of the structure of the existing Perkins Act, which provides funding to states to improve career and technical education through subgrants to local education agencies or postsecondary institutions. New provisions in the reauthorization seek to tighten the link of career and technical education programs to broader high school reform. A small but significant point: Perkins now explicitly lists dual and concurrent enrollment programs as permissible activities for states and local programs. The Alliance for Excellent Education offers an overview of Perkins Reauthorization.

What Works?
North Carolina Project to Conduct Research
The SERVE Center at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, has received a federal grant to conduct research on the Learn and Earn schools, the state’s name for early college high schools. The research methodology will allow for drawing rigorous conclusions about the causative effects of the schools on student outcomes. SERVE is collaborating with the North Carolina New Schools Project (a partner in the Early College High School Initiative), as well as the state Department of Public Instruction, the Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy, Abt Associates, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Department of Education Research and Methodology. For more information, contact Joel Vargas jvargas@jff.org at JFF.2006.

Learning by Degree:
Real-life Stories from Three Early College High Schools
What's it like to enter high school with nearly 2,000 classmates and, two years later, be a student leader in a brand new school of just 400? Or to sit in a college classroom at age 15, still in high school and already the first person in your family to go to college? This new publication from KnowledgeWorks Foundation tells these stories and dozens more—real-life stories of the people behind one of the country's most ambitious efforts to reinvent failing urban high schools.

The Early College Initiative at the City University of New York
A new brochure describes the collaboration of CUNY and the New York Department of Education to create 10 early college high schools that begin in the sixth grade. Each serves about 575 students and blends a rigorous college prep curriculum with the opportunity to earn up to two years of college credit while in high school.

CUNY is one of four Early College High School Initiative partners creating schools in New York City. The others are the Middle College National Consortium, the National Council of La Raza, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Together, these four organizations will create a total of 16 early college high schools in the city.

Measures of Academic Progress—MAP
Many early college high schools struggle to find useful sources of student data that can inform their instruction. The Kellogg/ECHS Literacy Network has selected the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress as a diagnostic assessment to guide instruction in network schools. MAP assessments in literacy and math can be administered up to four times per year. Computer-based, the MAP assessments adjust to individual skill levels and provide immediate data on the skills that students have and have not yet mastered. Twelve of the thirteen schools in the Kellogg/ECHS Literacy Network will pilot MAP assessments this year. Eleven of those schools will upload MAP data onto the ECHS Student Information System to track student learning over time.

New Approaches, New Successes:
Early College High Schools Offer Solutions
This inspiring story in Agenda, published by the National Conference of La Raza, focuses on the George I. Sanchez Charter High School. Operated by the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, the school is one of nearly 100 Latino-serving charter and alternative schools throughout the country in the NCLR Affiliate Network. The story is one of perseverance, goals, and the support needed to accomplish those.

Oregon Fair Targets Out-of-School Youth:
Showcases Alternative Educational Programs
In August, Portland-area young people who had left school and were interested in earning a high school credential—either a GED or high school diploma—were invited to the inaugural Come Back Fair. The fair showcased various alternative educational options available to youth. The Coalition of Metro Area Community Schools, comprising numerous alternative educational programs that serve students from middle school to age 25, hosted the fair, which was sponsored by Portland Public Schools and the Portland Schools Foundation.

Among the highlighted partnerships was Gateway to College, an early college high school program on Portland Community College campuses that allows young people to get college experience while completing high school. Nationwide, PCC is creating 17 Gateway to College schools located on community college campuses. These schools provide youth who have dropped out of school with the opportunity to earn a high school diploma while achieving college success.

More information is available in the September issue of Gateway to College Network News.

“Hidden Challenge” Costs North Carolina Millions:
White Paper from North Carolina New Schools Project
While North Carolina’s high schools arguably are performing better than ever before, they still leave far too many students unprepared for the demands of college, good jobs and citizenship. This deficit between better results and real world demands creates a “hidden challenge” that costs the state $100 million or more each year, a white paper by the North Carolina New Schools Project shows.

North Carolina’s community colleges and citizens pay $27.6 million a year to provide remedial courses, and students who take those courses lose an estimated $69.8 million in potential wages, according to research cited in the white paper.

Gates Learns to Think Big
This EdWeek article looks how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is seeking to broaden and deepen its reach after a massive investment in small high schools, including early college high schools.

Reclaiming the American Dream
What kinds of supports make the greatest difference in helping low-income youth prepare for and complete a college degree? To find answers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation engaged the Bridgespan Group to analyze data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study. The Bridgespan report is accompanied by six commentaries from leaders in the field.

Highlights of High School Reform Initiatives
This Education Commission of the States database highlights promising state- and district-level high school reform initiatives. ECS launched the database in September 2006 and will continue to add to it as new initiatives are identified.

Listed here are recent highlights from among the many articles about early college high schools appearing in the media in the past three months.

Early College High School: Challenging Young Minds
The [NC] Sun News, October 27, 2006
“Brunswick County Early College High School freshman Jerrad Gross seemed to bristle with anticipation Thursday morning as his first college instructor talked about atoms, electrons and the power of forces.”

Prep Academy Lets High Schoolers Earn Credits
The Stockton [CA] Record, October 20, 2006
“Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy junior Andrew Ibarra knew going into high school that he would be headed for college some day. He just didn't know he would begin before graduating high school.”

Bryan Gets Grant for Charter School
The [TX] Eagle, October 10, 2006
“The creation of a new charter school could allow as many as 100 Bryan eighth-graders to transition next fall from middle school to college, trustees learned Monday during their monthly meeting.”

SUNY Brockport Opens College Door
Rochester [NY] Democrat and Chronicle, October 8, 2006
“Since Manuel Rivera became superintendent of the City School District, he has called on the greater Rochester community to invest in helping Rochester's children become successful learners and productive adults.”

Four County High Schools Meet State Expectations
Hickory [TX] Record, Saturday, October 7, 2006
“Six of the 16 high schools in the Catawba Valley region measured by state ABC standards met expectations. . . . Challenger Early College High School was the only school in the region to receive the Honor School of Excellence status.”

Selma Early College High School Faring Well on WCCS Campus
The Selma [AL] Times-Journal, October 1, 2006
“It's 9:30 a.m. on a Wednesday. Ninth-graders India Gray, Derrick Platt, and a handful of other Selma Early College High School (SECHS) students have just come out of Ms. Ross' English classroom at Wallace Community College Selma.”

Students Get a Taste of New School
Newport Beach and Costa Mesa [CA] Daily Pilot, August 21, 2006
“Freshmen in Candace Leuthold's Early College High School lab use the scientific method to distinguish between flavors of a popular candy.”

Lawrence Early College High School Gives Two Diplomas
WISH TV, [Indianapolis, IN] August 16, 2006
“A new charter school in Lawrence Township gives high school students the chance to graduate with a high school diploma and college degree. The college courses won't cost parents a penny and the school is the first of it's kind in Indiana.”

O.C.'s 1st Early-College High Opens
The Orange County [CA] Register, August 15, 2006
“The first early-college high school in Orange County opens its doors today, giving struggling and underprivileged students a leg up on a college education.

Jobs for the Future, the national organizer for the Early College High School Initiative, prepares ECHS NEWS to link you to useful resources as you plan, launch, and operate early college high schools.

To add your name to the distribution list, simply send a note to Eliot Yaffa, eyaffa@jff.org.

Everyone receiving ECHS NEWS also receives NEWSWIRE, JFF’s electronic newsletter about our efforts to create successful transitions for youth and build economic opportunity for adults. If you don’t currently receive NEWSWIRE, please email info@jff.org. Put “subscribe to NEWSWIRE” in the subject line.