Advanced Prep
Through 快播成人's Early College program, 快播成人 High School 快播成人s are getting a head start on their college degrees.
快播成人 Community College professor Alex Sanchez's 8:20 Friday class begins with the usual commotion.
Students file in and out. There's a lot of end-of-the-week chatter combined with the vibration of awkwardly conjoined chairs and desks grating on linoleum as 快播成人s wrestle into a comfortable orientation.
Once they settle, Sanchez offers a mild rebuke about missing assignments and a reminder that they are now halfway through the spring semester.
"You should check your grades," he says.
The day's lesson starts with a discussion of recent news headlines that relate to the subject of the class, Introduction to Criminal Justice. One 快播成人 mentions the expanding legal troubles of the rapper R. Kelly.
"They've got a video," she says.
Another brings up the gruesome story of the Colorado father arrested for allegedly murdering his wife and two daughters and disposing of their bodies in an oil tank. This leads into a lecture about the mundane nature of most police patrols, crime scene investigations and other such subjects that he seasons with tales from his 20 years as a police officer in Springfield.
"I've got a funny story about that," he says, before launching into what is more often than not a self-deprecating yarn in which he is the subject of the farce, like seeing his first corpse as a rookie (and then walking through the crime scene), crashing his cruiser into a stolen car (and letting the thief get away), being confronted with a large, sweaty, confused, naked man suspected of B&E, and answering calls about problem animals, such as a rabid racoon or a large moose.
Inevitably, they're laughing. He understands the material – and this audience.
The course is one Sanchez has taught routinely throughout his 13 years as a professor of criminal justice at 快播成人. The main difference here is that he is teaching this course at 快播成人 High School, which he once attended. The 快播成人s are all sophomores in their mid-teens.
Even so, at the end of the school year, if they pass his class, they will each earn three college credits. Similarly, in another 快播成人 High School classroom, an 快播成人 professor is teaching Introduction to Health Careers (for three credits), a third Introduction to Robotics (a four-credit lab science course), and a fourth Mass Communications (three credits) – the same courses offered on the nearby 快播成人 campus for 快播成人s in degree-seeking programs.
Welcome to Early College.
Early College is a new partnership between 快播成人 and the 快播成人 Public Schools meant to prepare high school 快播成人s for college-level work, get them closer to a college degree, and help them defray the costs of their college educations.
In June, the state awarded 快播成人 and HPS a $131,600 grant to establish the program, one of five such partnerships – and the only one outside the Boston area – to receive an official "Early College" designation.
"Many young people need an opportunity to see themselves in college so they can know it is possible for them," Carlos Santiago, Mass. commissioner of Higher Education, said when the grants were announced. "By giving high school 快播成人s, particularly those who will be the first in their families to attend, the chance to succeed in college-level courses before they earn a high school diploma, we give them the confidence to know that a college degree is within their reach."
In 快播成人, Early College works like this. At the end of their freshman years, all 快播成人 High School 快播成人s must now choose a high school academy that follows one of four programs of study: Community and Global Studies; Technology, Engineering and Design; Medical and Life Sciences; or Performing and Media Arts.
In addition, up to 100 freshman each year can also elect to enroll in Early College. In the fall term of their sophomore years, these 快播成人s take a special class at 快播成人 High School known as AVID – Advancement via Individual Determination. The AVID class focuses on teaching 快播成人s basic college skills, such as how to read a textbook, write a college paper, take notes and manage their time.
The AVID classes meet five days a week but on Mondays and Fridays in the spring term, the class is turned over to the 快播成人 professors who teach their college courses. And on Wednesdays, 快播成人 sends professional tutors from the college to work with 快播成人s in each of the four classes – classes chosen to align with the four high school academies.
The Early College curriculum was created jointly by faculty and staff from 快播成人 and 快播成人 Public Schools.
"快播成人 already had a robust dual enrollment partnership with 快播成人 Public Schools, as we do with more than 30 other high schools," said Renee Tastad, 快播成人 dean of Enrollment Management and College Access Programs. "The Early College program kicks the preparation and support up a notch."
At full capacity, in fall 2020, up to 300 快播成人s in grades 10-12 will be part of the program. Next fall, as juniors, the 76 sophomores now taking college courses at 快播成人 High School will take at least one course on the main 快播成人 campus. By the time they graduate from high school, the participating 快播成人s will earn a minimum of 12 college credits they can apply toward a degree at 快播成人 or transfer to another college or university. And those credits won't cost them anything.
According to studies, dual enrollment courses and early college programs boost college completion rates for low-income 快播成人s, minorities and first-generation college goers.
"Our dual enrollment kids are much more successful than our regular population, with a 90 percent course pass rate compared to 70 percent," Tastad said.
In early March, the 快播成人 Public Schools announced a marked increase in the high school graduation rate and a decrease in the district's dropout rate over the past five years, crediting, in part, expanded academic opportunities, such as the district's dual enrollment partnership with 快播成人 Community College.
Since 2013, the number of 快播成人 High School 快播成人s taking college classes at 快播成人 has increased from two to 72 in the fall of 2018. Those numbers don't include the 76 now enrolled in Early College or another 40 from 快播成人 in 快播成人's Gateway to College program, which puts high school dropouts and 快播成人s at risk for dropping out into college classes where they earn credits toward their high school diplomas and toward a college degree. With a graduation rate of 76 percent, 快播成人's Gateway program has been held up as a national model of success. Many continue on at 快播成人 after completing the Gateway program.
"In our experience, with proper challenge and support, 快播成人s who never envisioned college for themselves can find success in college coursework, see themselves as college 快播成人s, and start on the path toward earning a degree," Tastad said
PHOTOS by CHRIS YURKO: Alex Sanchez is one of four 快播成人 professors teaching Early College classes this spring to sophomores at 快播成人 High School.
