What is an Early College?
Mott Middle College
has re-designed into Early College. Mott Middle/Early
College follows the Middle
College National Consortium Design Principles (MCNC).
MCNC Design Principles:
These Six Design
Principles are based on work that began in New York in
the 1980’s and continue at Middle Colleges across the
country. The Design Principals are also based on
current research on engaging at-risk youth. Each one of
the Six Design Principles is important to the success of
students who have traditionally been underserved in our
public schools; particularly students who are
unmotivated, under prepared for high school work and
disengaged from their education.
These Six Design
Principles are:
- Power
of the Site – Locating schools on a college
campus is integral to student motivation and success and
to an enduring collaborative partnership. It is a
visible symbol to the community of a dual accountability
for student outcomes and academic success. Students are
treated as college students and see themselves as
college completers.
- Teaching
and Learning – Developing students’ literacy
skills is critical to academic success. Schools
regularly engage students in rigorous, in-depth academic
work, use active intellectual inquiry and sustained
writing and revision in all classes.
- Student
Assessment – Schools design a system of
assessment that provides multiple opportunities for
students to publicly exhibit what they know and can do.
Assessments grow out of classroom work and provide
on-going feedback to the school community, the teacher,
the student and the parent on a students’ progress
toward achieving academic proficiency.
- Student
Support – ‘Smallness’, less than 100 students
per grade level, helps to create a learning community
for students and teachers and provides opportunities for
flexible and innovative structures to support students
academically and emotionally.
- Democratic
School Governance – Purposefully designed
structures provide for everyone’s voice to be heard and
respected in the decision-making process with regard to
hiring personnel, managing budget, determining
curriculum and pedagogy, developing students’ activities
and any other policies that affect the daily life of
students and faculty.
- Professional Development – Staff participates in
on-going professional development that focuses on
student success. Time during the school day is provided
for staff development and the creation of professional
learning communities. New teachers are mentored in
order to help them to understand and to implement the
goals of the community.
Early College Academic Features:
In addition to the
Six Design Principles, Middle College-Early College High
School’s have the following academic features to ensure
that all students can and do earn 60 transferable
college credits or an associate’s degree.
- Students have
the expectation to complete a combined academic plan
that results in a high school diploma and an associate’s
degree in five or fewer years of starting high school.
This opportunity is highlighted in all literature, in
student talk, in teacher classrooms and in the ways that
the school culture is visible to outsiders.
- Dual
enrollment in college courses is a requirement for high
school graduation and everyone knows this. This results
in a heightened “academic push” by all teachers and
students.
- Students are
provided an academic and affective support system that
starts in high school and is extended through community
college completion for all youngsters.
- There is
communication between the high school and college that
keeps students and students’ experiences at the center
of all decisions.
- Mott
Middle/Early College offers enhancement and expansion of
peer group relationships for high school students who
increasingly have more and more college students as
peers (e.g. peer learning communities that have no age
barriers).
- Mott
Middle/Early College provides an enlargement of the
adult community, including college staff that is
responsible for the high school students.
- A Mott
Middle/Early College graduate has a better chance to go
on to full college completion (four years). Because
students have started and completed academically
challenging and rigorous work in earlier stages of
development than most high school students, they have
developed work habits and habits of mind that recognize them as more valued members of their
community than their peers.
For
more information:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Early College High Schools
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