On Top of the News
Should We Turn High School Into College?
Washington Monthly | 10/21/15
Behind the Headline
High Schoolers in College
Education Next | Summer 2011
This fall, a low-income school district in Texas became the first large district to implement “early college” in all of its high schools. In Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District (PSJA), located a few miles from the Mexican border, nearly all high school students are enrolled in college courses so that they work towards an associate’s degree while still in high school.
Since the first three early college high schools opened in the U.S. in 2002, the program has become increasingly popular as a way to transform the high school experience for disadvantaged students who have high potential for success. The idea is that introducing low-income, minority students to college coursework as early as ninth grade can help jumpstart their higher education while saving them money, and it is spreading across the nation.
In “High Schoolers in College,” June Kronholz wrote for Education Next about a different type of dual enrollment program in Indiana that enrolls select, ambitious high school students in college courses.
—Education Next
