Massachusetts Plays Catch Up In Offering âEarly Collegeâ Courses In High School
Xochilth Urena, 18, a senior at Lawrence High School, sits in the schoolâs cafeteria on May 4, 2021. Urena said when she and her classmates talk about going to college, it often boils down to two things: money and motivation. âA lot of people in Lawrence want to be rappers, or I have friends that are nail technicians,â she said. âThey just don t see college as an option.â
Meredith Nierman / GBH News
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As long as she can remember, Xochilth Urena said sheâs wanted to go to college in the United States.
Bunker Hill Community College is one of the participants in Massachusetts early college program.Boston Globe
If there were a low-cost public education intervention that increased college completion rates for disadvantaged students â say, a policy that provided a return on investment of $15 for each dollar spent â wouldnât it be a no-brainer to fully embrace it?
Such a policy exists in Massachusetts, albeit in embryonic form. Itâs early college high schools, the partnership between high schools and local higher education institutions that allows 11th- and 12th-graders â typically low-income, Black, and Latino students â to take free college courses and help them transition into college. The concept has been around for a few years, but it has now evolved into a state-funded, certified program that includes nearly 40 high schools and 19 colleges and universities serving almost 2,900 students as of last fall.