Early College

Early College High Schools allow students to get their high school degree and their two-year Associates degree in five years. High schools partner with local community colleges to create these five year programs which are offered to students at no cost. In the past, students who took community college courses while they were in high school wanted either the extra edge in the college application process or a few extra credits before attending a four-year institution. However, Early Colleges target students who would traditionally not go on to college or even complete high school.

Early Colleges The NYTimes has recently published an article about Early Colleges. The article says that Early Colleges may be a good way to help at risk students. While the schools have not been open long enough to effectively analyze the benefits of the extra costs, there are some positive highlights which include a high graduation rate. The article states:

"A recent report from Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit group that is coordinating the Gates initiative, found that in 2008, the early-college schools that had been open for more than four years had a high school graduation rate of 92 percent — and 4 out of 10 graduates had earned at least a year of college credit.
With a careful sequence of courses, including ninth-grade algebra, and attention to skills like note-taking, the early-college high schools accelerate students so that they arrive in college needing less of the remedial work that stalls so many low-income and first-generation students."

While these results are impressive, the article does not address how students are applying to these Early Colleges and the demographics of the districts and schools. I am curious to see if the demographics of the schools reflect the target population or if Early Colleges are just "creaming" from the districts top performers. Are students who are graduating with at least a year of college credit the same students that would have done so without the assistance of the Early College? If this is the case, what are districts gaining from the extra costs to the schools? 

Early College