Program opens college doors

For some high school students in North Carolina, graduation will come not only with a diploma but with an added bonus: a two-year college degree.

College-experience schools offering that type of benefit are a part of Gov. Mike Easley’s Learn and Earn program, which began last year.

Those schools, located on college campuses across the state, allow students in grades 9 through 12 to take high school and college classes that will equal an associate’s degree or two years of college credit at the end of the five-year program.

“These schools blend the high school and the college experience so students have A, an expectation to achieve high levels, and B, the support they need to achieve high levels,” said Tony Habit, director of the New Schools Project.

Fifteen of the schools exist statewide, but if Easley has his way, that number will increase to 35 by the end of this year and then to 55 the following year.

“The governor has set a goal that every student should be in reach of an early-college high school,” said Habit, who said the program is a part of the overall plan to improve high school education in this state.

“Only 63 percent of our ninth graders will go on to graduate (from high school) in four years,” Habit said. “Only 58 percent will achieve a bachelor’s degree within six years of entering (a college) class.”

The program already has supporters throughout the education system, including J. Lynn Cale, associate vice president for instruction and curriculum at Edgecombe Community College.

“What this is going to do is really save a lot of students,” he said. “Schools are way too large, and students are falling through the cracks.”

ECC is one of the 15 locations that will be converted into a college-experience high school next fall with the addition of freshman students; it currently is a middle-college program.

Marcia Edge, administrator of Edgecombe Middle College High School, said students choose to come to these schools for myriad reasons.

“Some just want to get ahead in school. … Some just needed more individualized attention,” she said.

With 50 students, total individual attention is one of the major features of the school, which ideally will grow to 100 to 125 students, Cale said.

“The kids are more of a family,” Edge said. “They help each other stay on track.”

Along with interacting with their peers, students also must be a part of the larger college community, a task they meet with ease, Cale said.

“They are among our best students, and we just don’t differentiate,” he said.

The students can complete two-year degrees in a variety of areas such as nursing, radiology and industrial technology. They might also decide to take two years of transfer credit.

The program opens doors for many students, Edge said.

“Now, college is an option for them,” she said. “I think it’s the best thing happening in high school.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.