The early college concept took off in 2002 when the foundation, philanthropic leaders, and state and local agencies supported a group of pioneering educators to do what may have seemed counterintuitive at the time. Instead of putting low-income youth, first-generation college goers, and students of color in watered down high school classes to catch them up, why not challenge them to exceed expectations?
Exposing groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education to college classes in high school was seen as a way to help them succeed at college before they even graduated. Early colleges are high schools that offer students the opportunity to simultaneously pursue a high school diploma and earn up to two years of college credits.
Over the past eight years, more than 200 early college high schools in 24 states have opened across the country. So far, there are encouraging signs from the first set of students, according to a recent analysis by Jobs for the Future, the national group coordinating the early college high school initiative.
First, the schools are enrolling students underserved by the education system. Nationally, 74 percent of early-college high school students are minorities and 56 percent of students receive free and reduced-price lunch.
Of the 2,258 graduates of early colleges open for four or more years, 40 percent graduated with more than a year of college credit, and 11 percent graduated with a high school diploma and an associate degree, according to the JFF study. Eighty-one percent of the graduating cohort enrolled immediately in two-year and four-year colleges.
Early colleges unite the foundation’s college-ready and postsecondary strategies by catching up high school students who are academically behind, graduating them college-ready, and accelerating them toward a college degree or certificate. Efforts currently focus on building the case for broader adoption and sustainability of this promising innovation.