The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced $29.6 million in grants to eight organizations to expand the early college high school network to more than 25 states. Early college high schools provide traditionally underserved students with a rigorous, college-level curriculum and the opportunity to earn two years of college credit or an Associate’s degree.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced $29.6 million in grants to eight organizations to expand the early college high school network to more than 25 states. Early college high schools provide traditionally underserved students with a rigorous, college-level curriculum and the opportunity to earn two years of college credit or an Associate’s degree. Since 2001, the early college high school network has received more than $124 million in support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, WK Kellogg Foundation, Woodruff Foundation and Ford Foundation.

More than $22 million will support the creation of 42 new schools throughout the country through investments in Antioch University Seattle, the Middle College National Consortium, Portland Community College’s Gateway to College, Rochester Area Community Foundation, Georgia Department of Education and the University System of Georgia, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and the National Council of La Raza. A $7 million investment in Jobs for the Future (JFF), which leads the implementation of the network, will expand the technical assistance available for the network and help establish a system to monitor the progress of young people enrolled in these schools.

Early college high schools are designed to increase high school graduation rates, as well as the number of underserved youth who achieve a post-secondary education. According to a 2003 study by the Manhattan Institute, one-third of all ninth graders will fail to graduate from high school and two-thirds of those who do graduate will leave unprepared for college success. Just half of African-American and Latino youth earn their diploma in four years and fewer than 20 percent of those who graduate are ready for college. That number is even lower for Native American youth, who have the lowest college completion rates in the country; only three in five Native students graduate from high school and fewer than 3 percent of these graduates complete a four-year degree program.

“If we fail to prepare all of our young people for the 21st century economy, the economic and civic health of our nation will continue to be at risk,” said Tom Vander Ark, executive director of education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “By investing in new early college high schools, we hope to prepare more of the students for college, work and citizenship—especially underserved youth.”

A recent report by the American Diploma Project shows there is an increasing convergence between the skills needed to earn a family wage and those required to attend college, including algebra, statistics, strong oral and written communication skills, and research skills. Early college high schools are designed to equip students with these skills needed to successfully complete college-level work and meet the needs of today’s work world.

“This network is about school change,” said JFF CEO Marlene Seltzer. “It’s time to re-engineer our secondary schools. Millions of our teenage youth are being left behind every day, unprepared to study further or secure good jobs in our sink or swim economy. The good news is that we have school change strategies, including early college, that show real promise. Early college high schools respond to the needs of youth who would otherwise be left behind, engaging and motivating them with a strong college-preparatory curriculum that allows them to earn credits in college-level courses and prepares them for higher education.”

Early college high schools share the traits of all good schools: personalized learning, academic rigor for all students, a common focus and close interpersonal relationships. Serving as an effective bridge between high school and college, these schools give students the personal attention and extra help they need to succeed in college-level courses.

In order to track the progress and impact of early college high schools locally and nation-wide, JFF will implement a new Student Information System (SIS). Through this system, JFF will share data and best practices to track progress, and support the continuous improvement of early college high schools, with network grantees and other educational institutions through 2008. The SIS will generate public reports on the impact of early college on student achievement. In addition, JFF will provide on-going support to early college high school network through workshops and on-line tools, including a grantee extranet and a Web site where education leaders and policymakers can find the latest research, analysis and resources on early college high school designs.

As of this fall, nearly 50 early college high schools have opened, educating more than 8,000 students in 19 states. By fall 2008, more than 170 early college high schools will exist throughout the country, ultimately serving more than 65,000 students.

These new investments in early college high schools build on the foundation’s existing efforts to improve the graduation and college-going rates, particularly among low-income and minority youth, by strengthening America’s high schools. This fall, nearly 250 new small high schools opened across the country. To date, the foundation has invested $806 million to support the creation of more than 2,000 high-quality schools in 41 states and the District of Columbia.

For more information on the early college high school network, see www.earlycolleges.org.