Students getting the chance to get early degrees
By Jennifer Burk
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER Posted July 22, 2006
MILLEDGEVILLE - A new opportunity may allow some Georgia students to graduate from high school with not only a diploma but also an associate degree.
Starting this fall, 55 seventh-graders from Baldwin and Putnam counties will enter Early College, an alternative school that allows students who are not currently on track to pursue higher education to study on Georgia College & State University's campus.
The students, who applied and then were chosen through a lottery, will study a high school curriculum in accordance with state standards in grades seven through 10, said Camille Tyson, director of Early College. In 11th and 12th grades, they'll work on core college classes, completing the first two years of college, she said.
The purpose of the program is "to use the power of place to really encourage these students to push themselves," Tyson said.
The hope is that the middle school students on campus will become accustomed to college life and emulate the work ethic of other college students, she said.
Georgia College's Early College is one of four in Georgia set to open this fall. The state's first Early College opened last year in a partnership between Atlanta public schools and Georgia State University, said Sara Connor, senior executive director of P-16, an outreach arm of the University System of Georgia.
Nationwide, there were 71 schools serving 11,879 students open as of September 2005, according to the Early College High School Initiative Web site, www.earlycolleges.org. The first school opened in 2002.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Woodruff Foundation and the Georgia Department of Education provide funding for the early colleges. Each school receives $450,000 over the course of three or four years, Connor said.
Students do not have to pay to attend.
NOT FOR EVERYONE
The idea behind the early colleges is that the traditional high school structure does not serve all students well, Connor said.
"A lot of these kids, people think they drop out because they're not smart, ... but oftentimes it's because they're not challenged," she said. "This work is much more challenging for them."
Students who exhibit risk factors of not continuing high school or higher education are targeted to apply, she said. Such risk factors include:
• Being a first-generation college student;
• Learning English as a second language;
• Being a minority.
"It's really radical thinking," Connor said. "It's the belief that all kids can succeed."
If the early colleges prove successful, they may be replicated exactly or in parts throughout the state, she said.
Since the early colleges are a pilot project of sorts, each one is different.
Some take place on college campuses, and some take place on high school campuses, Connor said, but all must have a partnership between a school system and a college.
Georgia College's Early College will take place on the college's campus, and students will be bused in daily, Tyson said. The students will have access to all of the college's facilities, including libraries and science labs.
Early College at Georgia College is the only one in the state that starts in the seventh grade - all other state early colleges start in the ninth.
Tyson said starting in seventh grade will give Early College a longer time to get the students interested in college. It's also easier to get younger children interested in a new program, she said.
Each year, the school will add a new class of 55 seventh-graders, and eventually it will become a seventh- through 12th-grade school, she said.
Angela Lindsey, whose son, Seth, will start Early College at Georgia College in the fall, said she is excited about the new program.
When Seth got to middle school, he started to struggle because of the distractions, she said. The small class sizes - 18 students to one teacher - and individualized attention will help him, she said.
Seth will be a first-generation college student, and Lindsey said Early College will give him a better chance of making it through school.
"It will afford him opportunities I was never given, as far as school and years from now," Lindsey said. "We're excited to get it started, but at the same time we're apprehensive because it's all new."
To contact Jennifer Burk, call (478) 744-4345 or e-mail jburk@macontel.com.
* Georgia State University and Atlanta public schools (opened fall 2005)
* Georgia College & State University and Baldwin and Putnam schools (opens fall 2006)
* Georgia Southwestern State University and Crisp and Sumter schools (opens fall 2006)
* Columbus State University and Muscogee County schools (opens fall 2006)
* Georgia Perimeter College and DeKalb County schools (opens fall 2006)
* Dalton State College and an undetermined school system (to open fall 2007)
SOURCE: Sara Connor, senior executive director of P-16, an outreach arm of the University System of Georgia