Early College Alliance^SM Provides Students Access to Success

by Dr. Sarena Shivers, Former Instructional Project Coordinator and David G. Dugger, Executive Director, Early College Alliance, Washtenaw Intermediate School District

As the world’s knowledge-based society becomes more advanced, so does the need to provide students with the opportunities to gain the advanced skills needed to compete and live as educated citizens. Districts like the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) are discovering the benefits of early college programs for ALL students to help better prepare them for the 21st Century.

Early college programs blend high school and college into one coherent educational program. By beginning college work before a student graduates from high school, early college programs prepare students for postsecondary education, helping to increase the number of students who successfully complete their degrees.

Thanks to a Michigan Department of Education grant, WISD is partnering with Eastern Michigan University (EMU), the St. Joseph Mercy Health System, and the University of Michigan Health System to form an early college program in Washtenaw County. This partnership—which also includes the Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Works!, and four public school districts (Ypsilanti, Willow Run, Lincoln Consolidated, and Whitmore Lake)—will build on lessons learned from the Washtenaw Community College Technical Middle College and its dedication to personalized learning for all students.

The new program is based on the Early College AllianceSM (ECA) model, which sets itself apart from current middle colleges in the state. The program is scalable, transformative, collaborative, rigorous, personalized, and relevant to provide the very best learning opportunities for students.

Scalable—The ECA will be one of many early college initiatives in Washtenaw County. For the first offering, Allied Health and Medicine, Washtenaw will partner with EMU College of Health and Human Services. Future offerings may be in the area of information technology, engineering, or alternative energy.

Transformative—Prior to the passage of Michigan’s new state graduation requirements (beginning with 9th grade students this year), our K-12 system was mired in a previous era, fostering the assumption that only some students require rigorous courses and are bound for college. Our previous system assigned a majority of students to general or vocational curriculum (Barth, et al., 1999). The ECA supports our new requirements that all students take rigorous courses. Washor and Mojkowski, in Creating New Steps: Innovating from the Edge to the Middle (2006), state that “…indeed, if they dare, districts must deliberately create alternatives to themselves.” The ECA has taken on this challenge and is committed to creating alternatives to the large comprehensive high school, while remaining part of the public school districts.

Collaborative—In the ECA consortium, each local district will be an active participant in all aspects of the program operation. Students will have full access to activities, clubs, and events at both their high schools and EMU as their academic schedules permit.

Rigorous—Each student will have a Personalized Learning Plan that contains his or her customized Academic and Career Pathway. The Academic Pathway will be aligned with the new graduation requirements, state examination, and rigorous postsecondary coursework. The Career Pathway will be aligned with industry standards in health occupations. The result will be a tailor-made curriculum focused on student readiness, success, and health career interest. This will culminate into a student earning a high school diploma and up to 60 college credits concurrently.

Personalized—The ECA faculty will have dual roles as teachers and coach/mentors (CM). Each student will be assigned a CM to help him or her develop a personalized learning plan, clearly define academic and career goals, focus on what it means to be a “learner,” and navigate through the complexities of higher education.

Relevant—The ECA’s emphasis on math, science, technology, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills will equip successful ECA graduates to enter a variety of challenging careers in the medical field and/or to successfully continue their postsecondary education.

Dr. Sarena Shivers is the former Instructional Project Coordinator at Washtenaw Intermediate School District.

For more information, contact: Mr. David Dugger, Executive Director, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Early College Alliance, (734) 487-4290, eca_ddugger@emich.edu or visit www.earlycollegealliance.org.

References

Barth, P., Haycock, K., Mitchell, R., & Wilkins, A. (1999). Ticket to nowhere: The gap between leaving high school and entering college and high performance jobs. Thinking K-16, 3, (2).

Forster, G. (2006). The embarrassing good news on college access. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved June 27, 2007 from http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i27/27b05001.htm.

Washor, E. & Mojkowski, C. (2006). Creating new steps: Innovating from the edge to the middle. Phi Delta Kappan, 87 (10), 735-739.