CUNY Receives $6.75 Million to Create 10 Early College High Schools

NEW YORK -- City University of New York (CUNY) today announced a $6.75 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to collaborate with the New York City Department of Education to create 10 early college high schools—a model in which students can earn college credit while attending high school. The schools will be part of a larger citywide effort to dramatically increase high school graduation and college attendance rates.

"We must give all students in our city access to the quality education necessary for success in today's unforgiving economy," said CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. "We therefore welcome this unique opportunity to establish a comprehensive network of early college high schools that will help realize the ambitions and dreams of the students of our city."

A recent study from the Manhattan Institute found that only 70 percent of public high school students graduate, and just 32 percent leave high school prepared to do college-level work. The statistics for minority students are bleaker. Just half of African-American and Hispanic students graduate, and fewer than 20 percent are college ready.

Early college high schools give traditionally underserved and at-risk students who might not have made it to graduation day, let alone college, the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree, or two years of college credit, simultaneously. By compressing the number of years needed to receive a high school degree and earn college credit, and by helping students address barriers to college such as tuition challenges, these schools have the potential to improve high school and college graduation rates, and better prepare students for entry into high-skill careers.

"Early college high schools are a key part of our long-term education reform strategy in New York City," said Joel I. Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.  "By offering more young people challenging academic courses and the support they need to learn, we can raise student achievement and increase graduation and college attendance rates." 

Eight of the CUNY schools will be new, and two will be created by transforming existing high schools. Each school will enroll no more than 500 students. One new and one redesigned school will open in fall 2004. Three more new schools and one redesigned school will open in 2005. An additional four new schools will open in 2006. Beginning in 2005, schools and sites will be selected through a formal RFP process.

More than 100 early college high schools are expected to open in the next five years in communities around the country. These schools are often located on college campuses, share facilities and instructors with the colleges, and provide promising examples of how to align high school standards with college-level skills and expectations.

"We can no longer accept the fact that less than 20 percent of low-income students will go to college. We must help these students envision themselves as college graduates and provide them with the means to get there," said Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Early college high 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."                             

There are currently three early college high schools affiliated with CUNY campuses, including the Middle College/Early College at LaGuardia Community College. At LaGuardia, students are outperforming their counterparts in college course-pass rates.  In the fall of 2003, early college high schools opened in collaboration with Brooklyn College and Hunter College.

This new investment builds on an initiative announced earlier by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the New York City Department of Education to establish 67 new small high schools throughout the city. These efforts are part of the foundation’s overall strategy to help create a diverse portfolio of small school options and multiple pathways to meet students’ needs as they move through high school and higher education. To date, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $590 million to support 1,600 schools, the majority of which are high schools.

###
The City University of New York, the nation’s leading urban public university, is comprised of 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, a graduate school, a law school and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. Nearly 214,000 degree-credit students and more than 208,000 continuing and professional education students are enrolled throughout the five boroughs of the City of New York.