Early college program catching on

Fifteen-year-olds Tamera Russell and Cecilia Armenta bent forward over their desks and discussed the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” with their classmate Quentin Anglero, 14, earlier this week in their English class.

The trio might be young, but they’re enrolled in college. Sort of.

They, and their classmates in Patrick Hales’ English I class, are enrolled in the Rockingham Early College High School, a unique school experience that partners Rockingham County Schools with Rockingham Community College. This early college high school, like its counterparts scattered throughout the state, aims to equip students with a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in the span of five years.

It’s a fairly new concept, but early college high schools are popping up across the nation, as schools everywhere seek to motivate students, boost graduation rates and get students thinking about life after high school. With 70 schools, North Carolina boasts, by far, the most of this particular brand of school of any state.

North Carolina has received national attention for its foray into these new educational realms. “The New York Times” recently focused on the success the state has seen with its early college high schools.

North Carolina’s strong role in developing and instituting the early college high school model is due in part to legislation passed in 2003. The state Innovative Education Act, authored by now-Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, was designed to better bridge the gap between high school and life afterward by partnering high schools with institutions of higher education.

The target audience of the early college high school is first-generation college hopefuls, socioeconomically disadvantaged, minorities and those for whom English is a second language.

On a national level, The Early College High School Initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is propelling the movement. In our state, the North Carolina New Schools Project is a non-profit organization aiding the momentum of this new venture. NCNSP oversees the opening of two types of innovative schools: the early college schools and another type called redesign schools, which are offshoots of traditional high schools which aim to provide smaller learning environments.

Todd Silberman, project director for research and communications with the NCNSP, said the organization helps districts launch the innovative school in their area and then provide support, by way of professional development, to teachers and principals along the way.

“In all of these cases, (the goal is) to create a smaller, more personalized school for students, so that there is closer contact between students and teachers, better support and better support for higher expectations,” Silberman said.

And it helps that this format is one with a great deal of support from state political movers and shakers. Dalton has continued to stress the importance of finding ways to make education meaningful to students and has been at the forefront of the early college high school push in this state.

Dalton believes students who might not be interested in four-year degrees need to be given opportunities for education and attainment of skills that will aid them once they are out of high school. Though some of the students in early college will go on to complete a four-year degree, he knows that’s not true for all.

Catering to students, who might feel disenfranchised otherwise, by aiding them in obtaining an associate’s degree – free of charge, thanks to state funding – helps students make the connection that their education is important, according to Dalton. The idea, he said, is to “up the rigor, accelerate learning.”

“It’s that real world relevancy that keeps their interest and keeps them in school,” Dalton said.

Though this school format is new, studies are already showing that dropout rates among students are much lower than their counterparts. And most students are passing their college courses.

“Policies Paved the Way: Early College Innovation in North Carolina” is a report, soon to be published by national education reform group Jobs For the Future. The findings of the study support continued policies and procedures to enhance the early college high school system in this state.