SHARING THE EARLY COLLEGE PROMISE

The best way to prepare all young people to succeed in college is to provide them with substantial college experiences while still in high school. This idea is central to “early college designs,” which blend high school and college in a rigorous yet supportive program. In this issue of Newswire, you can read about how early college designs work in one community and about state policies that can bring this highly effective strategy to many more young people:

• College Success for All relates the successes of Hidalgo, Texas, where more than 95 percent of seniors graduating in 2010 earned free college credit. Nine out of ten students in the high school are considered economically disadvantaged and 99.5 percent are Hispanic.
• Policymaker’s Guide to Early College Designs helps states plan for and implement this effective approach to supporting all students in achieving college and career readiness.

Also featured in the November NEWSWIRE:

• Tackling the Time Dilemma looks at data confirming that if you want more students to finish, it’s critical to help them go faster.
• Online Tools for Reducing the Time to Degree can help institutions and policymakers think about ways to ensure that more students graduate faster.
• Growing Their Own tells how community health centers in the Jobs to Careers initiative have changed the way frontline employees are trained, rewarded, and advanced.
• Achieving Success, the policy newsletter of Achieving the Dream, features the Statway Project to redesign college math pathways.
• The Workforce Partnership Guidance Tool, developed by the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, provides guidance on helping low-wage workers succeed, while at the same time improving the competitiveness of employers.