02/10/10

Charlotte Observer

North Carolina's early college program got well-deserved national attention this week in a story in The New York Times. The Times profiled a senior from SandHoke Early College High School, a Hoke County program at Sandhills Community College, and praised the program for impressive results in two areas: Few students in early college programs drop out, and those in the programs get better grades on college courses than their other college classmates. If you think those results come just because the students are middle-income overachievers bored with high school, think again. The SandHoke school is for at-risk students whose parents don't have college degrees. Yet more than 80 percent of the students scored at or above grade level last school year. Such high performance is typical. The college course passing rates for N.C. early college high school students ranged from 76 to 100 percent. Most schools report passing rates of 90 percent or better, say officials at the New Schools Project, which oversees the state's Learn and Earn reform initiatives. The New Schools Project, which includes redesigned small high schools, was launched by former Gov. Mike Easley to encourage more students to complete high school and get the skills needed in the 21st century. It has gotten substantial funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and was named one of the top 50 programs in the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards at Harvard University. About now, Easley might be wishing this initiative is what he'll be remembered for as governor. Ongoing investigations questioning his ethical and legal conduct in office have overshadowed his role in creating this project. Early college programs that let students get a high school diploma and college credit at the same time are getting exactly the results the public has been clamoring for from students who struggle in school and are in danger of dropping out. A nationwide study showed that in 2008, early college schools had a graduation rate of 92 percent. Last year officials in Guilford County (Greensboro) credited high school reforms, including early college programs, for its 3.31 percent dropout rate, the lowest of the state's large school systems. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' rate was nearly double that, at 5.9 percent. The statewide rate was 4.9 percent. Guilford also had a much narrower gap between the number of black dropouts and white dropouts - 430 to 235. In CMS, there were 1,404 black dropouts to 445 white dropouts. Guilford has five early college programs. CMS has one, though it does have several redesigned, smaller high schools. But because such smaller schools haven't been as successful nationally or statewide, CMS should consider adding more early college programs here, too. At least 24 states now have early college high schools. But North Carolina, which now has about 70 such programs, led the way. The public recognition the state is receiving has been well-earned.