• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Alternative High School in the Works Students Could Earn College Degree Without Tuition Costs

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 18:00 CST

By Sue Doyle\ Staff Writer

VALENCIA - A new type of school designed to graduate students in four to five years with high school diplomas and associate's degrees has been proposed for Santa Clarita.

About 70 early college high schools exist nationwide and start with a ninth-grade class that can take calculus, physics and other college courses at school while earning high school and college credits at the same time.

The intent is to increase graduation rates and bring college to students who otherwise might not have had a shot at earning diplomas past high school. But the schools are not exclusive to under-served teens.

College of the Canyons last month received a $10,000 grant for preliminary planning of the school with the William S. Hart Union High School District. Ideally the two districts would work together on curriculum for the early college high school.

"This is a planning year, and we'll see what comes," said Dianne Van Hook, College of the Canyons president. "I think it would be good for students."

District officials will learn this spring if plans for the new school are approved when they meet with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which provided the planning grant and approves funding for early college high schools.

If approved by the nonprofit, the next decision lies with the Hart district, which will determine whether they can take on an additional high school. There are about 20 early college high schools in California.

The idea for early college high school comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has allocated more than $30 million toward them. Other well-known foundations also contribute.

The schools were designed to remove obstacles that prevent some students from attending college. Because it's part of public high school, students don't pay college tuition for class and often don't have to leave their schools to take them.

Early college high schools are different from the crop of middle colleges, such as Academy of the Canyons, that began appearing on community college campuses across the country in the '70s. Students at those schools take a mix of high school and college courses; however, they're only available to juniors and seniors.

In addition, about 60 percent of early college high schools have themes. Some focus on math, science or liberal arts. Others target a particular student population.

Nova Academy in Santa Ana, for example, was planned for foster youth who typically find themselves on their own at 18. The charter school opened in 2005 and has 16 students who take classes at Santa Ana Community College. They plan on growing to about 100.

"To see them in class with their heads held high - it's awesome," said Donald Verleur, chief executive officer of Olive Crest, a nonprofit organization that assists foster youth and oversees Nova Academy.

Verleur said there are universities that provide full scholarships for foster youth, but first teens need the grades to get them, an impossibility for many who have lived tumultuous childhoods where food and shelter, not education, were priorities.

Officials from local colleges and universities told Verleur that these students could still qualify for scholarships if they do well in their community college courses.

Verleur hopes Nova Academy will bridge the education gap for foster youth and launch them into more secure lives.

More than 1,500 students from South Los Angeles put their names in a lottery last year for the chance to attend an early college high school that sits on the corner of Main Street and Martin Luther King Drive.

Wallis Annenburg Charter High School, a charter in Los Angeles Unified School District, first opened its doors in 2003, and serves about 205 freshman, sophomores and juniors. Next year, it'll grow to include a senior class but overall anticipates no more 400 students when it hits capacity.

About 70 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch at the school that's still developing its college curriculum and so far offers calculus, biology and English composition.

Schools aren't expected to have entire curriculums together when doors first open and are considered part of the development process, but progress has to be shown, said Jeff Thompson, director of the early college high school initiative for the Foundation for California Community Colleges.

Principal Manuel Arellano said the small school brings an education to an area where students likely wouldn't have access to it.

"It's an opportunity that's unimaginable in your regular mainstream comprehensive high school that has a student population in the thousands," he said.

Sue Doyle, (661) 257-5254

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.

More News in this Category