Several years ago, there was a lot of media attention on Early College High Schools. Schools were opening across the country to fulfill a vision to provide a rigorous curriculum with a supportive structure to a generation of students who may have not had those opportunities otherwise. These mission-focused schools gave hope to low-income students and first-generation students, which is another way of describing those students whose parents did not attend college. I am a first-generation college student! The parents play an important role in this process but this critical factor is often overlooked.
The other big “media frenzy” if you will around Early College High Schools was that the Gates Foundation was very involved in these initiatives, providing the seed capital for their success. The Gates funding boosted the start-up efforts of the early college high school movement, while other funding sources have sustained these initiatives. In fact, many early adopters of this reform remain true to their mission and the number of early college high schools continues to grow, even with far fewer resources.
In this show, Dr. Judy Hennessey, Superintendent of Dayton Early College Academy (DECA) joined us to talk about this movement. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Hennessey when I first relocated to Ohio and learned so much about Early College High Schools and not only what was happening in the state of Ohio but throughout the country. DECA was the very first early college high school in the state of Ohio, has won awards, and is widely recognized for fulfilling its mission and graduating this population of students from high school into college.
Did you know that the college graduation rate for first-generation students is less than 30%? Listen to this podcast and find out what DECA is doing to get first-generation students ready for college and ready to graduate from college.
