RSS Updates
Twitter
Facebook
|
|||||||||||
<< Back to Ask the Expert Home
High School Innovation and Early College High Schools
Work toward raising student achievement and improving the educational experience for high school students has led to the development and implementation of a variety of reform strategies and innovations across the nation. Although these innovations, by their nature, are diverse, they share the goals of improving and personalizing high school instruction, supporting a rigorous high school program of study, and increasing student achievement.
In the past, the opportunity to take college courses while still in high school was mainly offered to those students who already excelled beyond their grade level. However, education reform leaders are now looking at ways to reach out to a wider pool of students who can benefit from college coursework and, in the process, to decrease the amount of remediation that needs to be offered at the college level (Karp, Bailey, Hughes, & Fermin, 2004).
Dual high school and college enrollment programs are being adopted as a way to redefine and increase rigorous coursework in high schools, as well as to keep students engaged, on track to graduate, and better positioned to succeed in college. Recent improvement efforts have also included reforms or innovations in Early College High Schools and Redesigned High Schools.
Students in early college high schools graduate with both a high school diploma and two years of transferable college credit or an associate's degree. In most cases, early college students stay in high school five years to complete those college courses. Located on the campuses of two- and four-year colleges and universities, early college high schools are intended to attract students who often are under-represented in college: minorities, students from low-income families and those whose parents never attended college (New Schools Project).
Tony Habit, President of the New Schools Project, was the featured expert for the month of March. He engaged in an online discussion about High School Innovation and Early College High Schools until March 31, 2010. See below the questions he received and his expert responses.
View the Questions to Date on High School Innovation and Early College High Schools:
- Question 1: If there is evidence of post secondary success, what characteristic of the Early College High School experience attributes to that success?
- Question 2: How effective have Early College High Schools been in raising achievement levels and graduation rates for English Language Learners and/or students with disabilities?
- Question 3: How can schools on a restricted budget maximize the implementation of an Early College High School? Is it possible to implement specific components of it or is that ill-advised?
- Question 4: How did you develop the Five Design Principles of a highly effective school (how did this come about), on your Web site (http://newschoolsproject.org/page.php?p=3.1) Do you think these would change at all as a result of Race to the Top and other ARRA opportunities?
