Early and Middle College High Schools:
Connecting High School and College for At-Risk Youth

A Forum — May 7, 2004

Background

Middle college high schools are schools that collaborate with postsecondary institutions to offer students who have traditionally been underrepresented in postsecondary education the opportunity to earn college credit at the same time as they earn a high school diploma. Middle College High School at LaGuardia Community College opened in 1973 and was a joint initiative of the college and the New York City Board of Education. The school’s success has encouraged other middle college high schools throughout the U.S. In 1993 the Middle College National Consortium (MCNC) was formed to provide technical assistance and support to these schools.

Building on the success of middle college high schools, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation are investing more than $40 million to support the development of early college high schools that help students earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in five years. At this American Youth Policy Forum, panelists associated with middle and early college high school programs spoke about the need for these schools, the grant initiative, and changes in education policy that would provide better support for this promising approach.

Forum Summary

According to Nancy Hoffman, Director of the Early College Initiative at Jobs for the Future, “the education pipeline is broken,” and few Americans realize the nature and extent of the problem: for every ten students who start high school, five will enroll in a postsecondary institution and fewer than three will complete a bachelor’s degree. And, “though we think we have a meritocratic system, we don’t,” she said. There is an enormous disparity in high school graduation, postsecondary enrollment, and degree completion rates between youth from low income ($25,000 or less per year) compared to high income (more than $75,000/year) families. For instance, 60% of low income youth complete high school or GED requirements compared to 99% for high income youth; and 19% of low income youth complete an associate’s or bachelor’s degree program compared to 76% of high income youth. There is great deal of variation in these rates across states, Hoffman continued. Some states, for example, have very good high school graduation rates relative to others. However, there are breaks in the pipeline in all states and consequently all have room for improvement. And, though “there has been some progress, we have a long way to go to get all students in and through college,” said Hoffman.

The Early College High School Initiative is a structural response to breaks in the pipeline, said Hoffman. The mission of these schools is to increase the number of first generation, low-income, English language learners, and students of color who attain two years of college credit and who have the opportunity to earn a baccalaureate degree. Currently, there are 22 schools open in 13 states with 4,040 students. Hoffman said there is enormous interest in this grant initiative and by 2007, they expect to have over 150 schools with 50,000 students.

There are some policy changes that would better support the development and success of these schools, said Hoffman. At the state level, many existing funding streams have regulations that deny these schools eligibility, and early college high schools would benefit from the freedom to combine existing funding streams. Students from these schools would benefit if more flexible eligibility requirements for college courses were put in place. It would also be beneficial if it were possible to use college courses to satisfy high school course requirements, to use postsecondary credit hours to fulfill state requirements for time-in-school, and if college course credits acquired in early college high schools could be used to satisfy associate’s and bachelor’s degree requirements.

At the federal level, policy changes that allow university faculty to teach high school students and make early college high school students eligible for federal student aid while concurrently enrolled in high school and college would be advantageous.

According to Cecilia Cunningham, Director of the Middle College National Consortium at LaGuardia Community College, students served by early and middle college high schools are those typically labeled “at-risk” (though the students themselves prefer the term “underserved”). But when these students are measured by the standard indicators of success such as school attendance, course pass rates, and number of remedial college courses taken, they do quite well.

These schools work, Cunningham said, because they are embedded in a college that helps to insulate them from the turbulence of educational fads, gives them legitimacy, and allows them freedom to do what is best for students. Location on a college campus gives students physical contact and builds familiarity and comfort with that environment. The faculty in the schools use multiple forms of student assessment, the teachers and counselors have close and caring relationships with students to help them succeed academically and socially, and students have real opportunities to try on and carry out adult roles and responsibilities. Lastly, the consortium provides a network of critical friends across the country, allowing faculty and counselors to share professional knowledge and experience.

Aaron Listhaus, Principal of the Middle College High School at LaGuardia Community College, presented some video clips of his students speaking about their positive experiences at the school. Listhaus said that many of the students he works with “don’t believe that they are college material” and “this is reflected in their behaviors.” Helping these students come to see themselves as responsible individuals who have potential is the main challenge that middle college high school addresses. Listhaus has learned through his experience that if these students are to succeed, a web of supports needs to be made available, keeping in mind that while all students need this web, not all students need the exact same supports. It is critical that students be placed in an environment in which they can form relationships with adults who will stick by them through any mistakes they might make and who truly believe that the student can be successful.

Listhaus challenged several beliefs prevalent in education and argued that these beliefs undermine the success of at-risk students. Many believe that students who have not yet mastered basic skills are not able to master sophisticated concepts, but these students can master these concepts, and they should be given the opportunity to do so. There is also the belief that there is a natural divide between secondary and higher education, but this divide is largely artificial and should not be perpetuated in our practices, Listhaus said. Early and middle college high schools challenge all of these beliefs.

Listhaus also presented some recommendations for how policy might better support students of early/middle college high schools. These included the need to: 1) support concurrent enrollment so there is a bridge between high school and college; 2) allow students enrolled in early/middle college to be eligible for the student financial aid they would be eligible for anyway if they were taking the same courses after high school graduation; and 3) adapt the No Child Left Behind Act so that early/middle college high schools and students are not penalized for the unique nature of their program based on assumptions established for more traditional high schools, such as the four-year graduation requirement.

Discussion

During discussion with forum attendees, Cunningham emphasized that early/middle college high schools are not simply “trying to push students to move more quickly through their schooling.” Rather, these schools are about finding “new ways of reaching and teaching youth who might otherwise disengage at this age level.”

While there is a great deal of interest in the approach taken in the early/middle college high schools, panelists said that issues surrounding funding remain serious. The model is more expensive than the traditional approach to high school. However, it is cost-effective considering the costs to society if these youth drop out or if they take remedial courses in college, Listhaus said. Panelists also expressed concern about increasing the number of these schools: there is a danger, for instance, that people will adopt the model “without providing students with the necessary supports because of the expense and then, when students fail, the model itself will be discredited,” said Hoffman.

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