Flash Banner

New Schools Implement Early College in Innovative Ways

January marks the halfway point in Franklin Community School Corporation’s and Richmond Community Schools’ first year working with the Early College model. Although each district has taken a different approach to implementation, both are marked by the progressiveness and rigor that has come to characterize all Early Colleges.

Franklin Community School Corporation
“We’ve just had so much success this year that we can’t wait to start next year.” –Kim Puckett, English teacher at Franklin Community High School

Despite its small size, the Early College at Franklin Community High School in Franklin, Indiana, is affecting big change within the school and community. Only a couple of months in, extracurricular activities are already drastically different for its 26 Early College freshmen. While they still have the option of participating in traditional school activities, the Early College program also immerses them in more unique experiences.

“Our students have done everything from hosting a diversity fair at the high school to completing over 75 hours of community service in and around Franklin,” Puckett said. “They’re doing really good things.”

Franklin Early College students also have seen a transition in the type of instruction they receive—rather than predominantly textbook- and lecture-based instruction, students are now engaged in more progressive and authentic lessons.

“We constantly talk about what students want after high school and college,” Puckett said. “We’ve also engaged students in a mock trial held in the county courtroom, and we’re even planning a half-day job shadowing event.”

The Early College High School model is so progressive that the transformation does not end with students—even Franklin Early College teachers are experiencing it.

“We’ve taken on a huge time commitment that we didn’t have before,” Puckett explained. “We give up our personal time for community service and our planning periods for bi-weekly update meetings.”

Despite the increased responsibility, the teachers view the new time commitments favorably.

“We see the benefits of the program as far outweighing any sacrifices we make. We just find the program so rewarding because we really get to challenge students and see that they still succeed,” Puckett said.

Success rates among Franklin Early College students are so high that it has generated an unprecedented amount of excitement both within the school and out in the community.

“So many people are interested in our Early College that we’re already recruiting for next year’s class,” Puckett announced. “We’ve just had so much success this year that we can’t wait to start next year.”

Richmond Community Schools
“Our Early College program has generated so much pride and excitement among so many people; it’s really a beautiful thing.” –Jacqueline Schlichte, Early College program coordinator at David W. Dennis Middle School

Last year, in a move considered impressive even in Early College circles, Richmond Community Schools began developing a framework at the middle school level to prepare its students for the rigors of the Early College model in high school.

While investigating the model’s efficacy at other schools, numerous accounts convinced Richmond administrators that starting at the middle school level would be more beneficial for its students.

“We started with middle school after hearing from those who had implemented Early College in high school. It turns out some students just didn’t have the rigor necessary to be successful by that time,” Schlichte said.

With that decision, Schlichte and other educators set about the arduous task of rounding up the 32 sixth-grade and 32 seventh-grade students that would comprise their first Early College cohort.

“We asked teachers to research Early College on the CELL Web site and then nominate students for the program. After that, I met with parents in over 96 home visits to explain the program and meet the students,” Schlichte explained.

According to Schlichte, although parents had little knowledge about the model, they came to view it as an answer to their prayers.

“Our Early College program has generated so much pride and excitement among so many people; it’s really a beautiful thing,” Schlichte said. “Parents heard the words ‘Early College’ and it just spoke volumes to them. One woman even said that the week before my visit, she had been talking to her husband about how bright their child is but there was no way she could go to college because they could not afford to put her in a rigorous school.”

Now Richmond Community Schools’ students have the opportunity to be immersed for free in an environment filled with the rigor and advancements that will prepare them for postsecondary success.

“Each day begins with a question based on Kallick and Costa’s Habits of Mind that students reflect on in journals and group conversations. We evaluate their responses using the Socratic Method to teach them how to have college-level conversations,” Schlichte explained. “We also hired an instructor from China to teach our students, and all of our students have their own notebook computers.”

Richmond educators realize that such a stark transition from the traditional classroom environment can be quite difficult. Therefore, they provide students access to numerous support systems.

“We’ve implemented seventh hour tutoring to provide students with extra help and, for students who need even more scaffolding, we also hold family/teacher conferences during which the student develops a plan for improvement,” Schlichte explained. “We also have mentors that have committed to sticking with students from middle school to college.”

But administrators aren’t resting on these accomplishments. They already are considering ways to provide a more thorough experience next year.

“We plan to develop a Skype project so our students can talk directly with students at the sister school in China and really practice what they’ve learned,” Schlichte said. “We also want parents to be active in this experience, so we developed monthly parent meetings and are working to add three new parents each month.”

Despite the long road ahead, Schlichte feels that administrators’ efforts pale in comparison to the challenges students have faced.

“We have truly called these students to higher expectations and responsibility,” Schlichte said. “However, we also have created the type of atmosphere where all students can receive the right instruction.”

Published: January 2010