Subscribe
The annual weeklong celebration promotes high school designs that give students an early start on the path to college
Contact: Binoli Dua, bdua@anthologycommunications.net, 202.630.4043
BOSTON, MA (March 19, 2015) — Early college high schools are succeeding in facing one of our nation’s biggest educational challenges—propelling students from underserved backgrounds to graduate from high school and earn postsecondary degrees.
Early College High School Week, taking place from Monday, March 23 through Friday, March 27, is an annual celebration of the outstanding achievements and progress made by early college schools. During this week, Jobs for the Future (JFF) along with early college high schools and their nationwide partners will bring together students, teachers, administrators, parents, local community leaders, and legislators to collaborate and highlight early college schools in their communities. A total of 13 educational partners and schools in 32 states will showcase how Early College Designs help low-income youth, students of color, and first-generation college attendees beat the odds, resulting in above average retention and graduation rates.
Far too many young people graduate from high school unprepared to succeed in college and today’s global economy. Early college high schools tackle the issue of college readiness directly, by offering the opportunity for students to experience college coursework while still in high school. These schools embrace acceleration over remediation, providing a rigorous college-prep curriculum, engaging instruction, student support programs, and a “college for all” culture. College classes often take place on a nearby college campus, with traditional college students, and are taught by college faculty.
The vast majority of early college students graduate high school with college credit, which helps them to save time and money toward a postsecondary credential. Approximately 30 percent earn an Associate’s degree or other credential along with their diploma.
“Our hope is that this week will serve as a platform to continue to spread the successful implementation of early college schools, in order to improve outcomes for even more students in the future,” says JFF Vice President Joel Vargas, who leads the national nonprofit organization’s School and Learning Designs team. “We applaud the school districts and colleges that have adopted these strategies and have become a major proponent as to how so many high school students have gone on to attain postsecondary degrees and pursue thriving labor-market driven careers.”
Over the past decade, JFF and our partners have created or redesigned 280 early college schools serving more than 80,000 students.
During March 23-27, JFF, schools, and partners from the network will join forces to tell their stories via #ECweek15.
For more information about the week’s events, go to www.jff.org.
About Jobs for the Future
Jobs for the Future works to ensure that all underprepared young people and workers have the skills and credentials needed to succeed in our economy by creating solutions that catalyze change in our education and workforce delivery systems. Working with our partners, JFF designs and drives the adoption of innovative and scalable education and career training models and systems that lead from college readiness to career advancement. We also develop and advocate for the federal and state policies needed to support these solutions.
Twitter: @JFFtweets
# # #
