A recent study by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College found that students, especially those from low-income backgrounds, enrolled in programs incorporating college courses with their high school curriculum were more likely to earn high school diplomas, to pursue higher education and to stay in college beyond one semester.
As a result, education officials in the state of New York are proposing to enroll potential dropout students in college classes while still in high school.
Currently, high school students have the option to enroll in community college classes or to take Advanced Placement classes if their high school offers them.
However, not every high school can provide students with challenging Advanced Placement classes, and transportation to community colleges adds another barrier between high school students and the possibility of taking college level courses while still in high school.
By bringing college courses directly to high school campuses, the proposal not only offers students direct access to higher education, but also specifically targets students likely to leave education altogether by giving them a chance to experience higher education.
In theory, such a program could greatly help to not only decrease the amount of students dropping out of high school, but could also bring more of them into higher education at the same time.
For low-income students, science, math and English classes may seem tangential to future employment, but when presented with college courses, they may discover that they are capable of completing the step directly prior to employment in a higher paying job.
Blending higher education with high school in a way that offers a bachelor’s degree in seven years holds the potential to bring more low-income students into higher education by giving them practical exposure to it and encouraging them by directly including them in the process.
All of the students who decide to simply cut off their education once high school is finished would instead have a clear bridge into college.
While only time can prove whether or not such a program could be beneficial to decrease dropout rates and to promote higher education among low-income students, the plan represents the refreshing type of innovative thinking that more states, including California, need to continually consider and pursue.
Rather than simply pushing for legislation that throws more money at education or places performance quotas on school programs, this proposal is an example of how innovation in the structure of education may be a more effective means to improving the American scholastic system.
Instrumental to the success of this program will be the willingness of students to become involved in activities and programs outside the classroom upon their arrival at a four-year university. While the completion of both a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree in seven years is impressive, the traditional college experience is about more than coursework and credentials.
Nonetheless, the state of New York should be commended for its initiative and readiness to consider dynamic solutions to conventional problems of education.