What Are Early College High Schools?
The early college high school initiative, www.earlycollege.org, states that early college high schools are small schools which allow students to graduate with Associate of Arts degrees or with enough college credits to allow them to enter four-year, baccalaureate programs as college juniors. These high schools have formed partnerships with local colleges and they look for students who have not been served well by public education - such students include minority children, inner-city children, sons and daughters of immigrants or students not satisfied with traditional high schools. Early college high schools provide the following:
1) Less than four hundred classmates in the whole school
2) Ability to take college courses
3) Instruction on a college campus
What Can They Do For Me?
Early college high schools have more benefits than a traditional high school can offer. The Early College High School Initiative sums up the benefits and golas as follows:
- To make higher education more affordable, accessible, and attractive by bridging the gap between high school and college.
- To eliminate wasted time during junior and senior high school years, facilitating the transition to higher education.
- To provide needed adult guidance and support during the first years of college.
- To provide the challenge of college-level work in high school.
- To inspire high school students to work hard and to challenge themselves intellectually.
- To eliminate the need for students to go through the college application process during the senior year of high school.
- To save time and money by integrating college and high school coursework.
Disadvantages
All of the above may pique your interest in your attending an early college high school, but before you do, consider there are less than 200 in the country right now. In fact, the early college high school's goal is to have only 170 schools established by 2008. Thus, it may not be likely that an early college high school is serving your area any time soon.
Locations
Several early college locations exist around the country: from California to New York. Consult the Middle College National Consortium website, www.lagcc.cuny.edu/mcnc/, for location and contact information to most of the early college high schools.
