The University Park Campus School (UPCS) and
Clark University have received $300,000 from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation to provide technical assistance to small schools
across the nation. UPCS will work in tandem with Jobs for the
Future (JFF), the Boston-based organization that leads the nationwide
Early College High School Initiative, to host Summer Institutes
for school leaders, teachers, and principals. For the next three
years, through 2007, the institutes will provide hands-on training
and technical assistance that helps early college high schools
prepare underperforming students for success in high school and
college.
Each early college high school works closely
with a college or university, and over half of these innovative
new schools (54%) are located directly on a postsecondary campus,
just as in the relationship between UPCS and Clark. Like UPCS,
early college high schools are based on personalized learning,
academic rigor for all students, and close interpersonal relationships.
At both UPCS and early college high schools, traditionally underserved
students respond to the challenge of doing college-level work
in a real college environment. To serve as an effective bridge
between high schools and colleges, the schools give students the
personal attention and extra help they need to succeed in college
courses.
There is one major difference between the two
models: most UPCS juniors and seniors take Clark University courses,
but early college high schools go further. ECHS students earn
a full two years of college credit at the same time as the earn
their high school diploma, saving time and two years of tuition
costs on their way to a college degree.
“We are thrilled to partner with UPCS
and Clark on future Summer Institutes,” said Nancy Hoffman,
director of Early College High School Initiative at JFF. “UPCS
and Clark have proven that they know the secret to small school
success. JFF will bring in leaders from early college high schools
around the country to learn from UPCS’ success. I’m
sure everyone who attends the training sessions will benefit from
their expertise.”
One expert extending the ties joining JFF, UPCS,
and early college high school is Donna Rodrigues, who founded
UPCS and served as principal for the school’s first six
years. Ms. Rodrigues is now a program director at JFF, working
with the Summer Institutes to train ECHS staff and bring the lessons
of UPCS to other school reform efforts around the country.
Students at UPCS, a neighborhood secondary school
formed in partnership with Clark University and the Worcester
Public Schools, have managed to beat the academic odds since the
school opened in 1997. With long hours and demanding curricula,
UPCS has been lauded as a model for collaboration between a university
and an urban district. Students can attend Clark University free
of charge upon graduation, provided they meet certain residency
and admissions requirements.
Staff from 14 schools, including schools in
New York, Arizona, California, and Utah, have visited UPCS recently
to seek advice on setting up similar partnerships . Last spring,
50 representatives from the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s
largest Hispanic civil rights organization and a partner in the
Early College High School Initiative, came to Clark for a conference
on replicating the success of UPCS.
“Clark is proud to assist with this important
nationwide effort to improve the high school experience and boost
college readiness rates for all at-risk students,” said
Clark University President John Bassett. “We’re encouraged
by attention UPCS has received and are glad we are glad to share
our blueprint for success with other schools.”
To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has invested $806 million to support the creation of more than
2,000 high-quality schools in 41 states and the District of Columbia.
For more information about the Early College High School Initiative,
visit www.earlycolleges.org.
Clark University is a private, co-educational
liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and
600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first
all-graduate school in the United States, Clark has challenged
convention with innovative programs such as the International
Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies and the accelerated BA/MA programs with the fifth
year tuition-free for eligible students.
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