New Grant to Create 15 Early College High Schools on Calif. College Campuses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a $9 million commitment to the California Community Colleges (CCC) to create 15 early college high schools throughout the state. With a maximum of 400 students each, the new schools will target disadvantaged students who are not succeeding in large, impersonal high schools.  Students will be able to earn either college credits or an associate's degree and ultimately go on to earn a four-year degree. 

Through a formal application process, the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) will select 15 community colleges to sponsor these new schools. This network of early college high schools will leverage the strengths of the CCC system, including its 108 campuses around the state and its existing relationships with local school districts.  

California Community Colleges Chancellor Thomas J. Nussbaum said the grant will enable community colleges to increase access to education for those with limited options.

"The community colleges enroll tens of thousands of students each year who have, for a variety of reasons, failed to thrive in the standard K-12 system," he said.  "We know we can help reach them earlier through early college high schools."

A recent study by the Manhattan Institute shows that almost one-third of California's students do not graduate from high school. In some districts, less than half of African-American and Hispanic students graduate. This means about 165,000 of California's current 9th graders will not finish high school. At the same time, the U.S. economy increasingly demands higher levels of education; a 2001 study released by Northeastern University reports that high school dropouts are four times more likely to be unemployed than are college graduates.

This grant builds on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's effort to strengthen America's high schools and ultimately raise high school graduation rates, particularly among African-American and Hispanic students. Through grants totaling $53 million, the foundation aims to create more than 93 small early college high schools throughout the country in the next five years.  

"Oversized, outdated high schools send too many of our young people the message that they are not college material," said Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "It's no wonder students drop out: They are shuffled through the system with adults who hardly know them. Small focused schools engage and motivate students by giving them the personalized and rigorous courses they need to make a smooth transition to college or the workplace. Early college high school programs are an effective way to accomplish that."

Early college high schools share the traits of all good schools: personalized learning, academic rigor for all students, a common focus and close interpersonal relationships. Serving as an effective bridge between high school and college, these schools give students the personal attention and extra help they need to succeed in college-level courses.

"Many of the students we will reach in these schools might not have graduated from high school, let alone considered going to college," said FCCC President Larry Toy. "By linking high school and college, we will expose them to the excitement and promise of higher education."

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has committed more than $400 million to expand educational options for high school students across the country by creating new small schools and transforming existing large high schools into smaller learning communities. The effort is complemented by a rigorous evaluation designed to gauge the effectiveness of the grantmaking and adapt to the changing public education landscape. The early college high school is one of several models the foundation is replicating around the country.

The Foundation for California Community Colleges, a public benefit nonprofit organization, is the official auxiliary foundation for the system of 108 California Community Colleges.

On the Internet:
www.cccco.edu  
www.foundationccc.org
www.earlycolleges.org