BOSTON, MA (May 3, 2010) — The Early College High School Initiative’s Student Information System (SIS) today presented 11 early colleges with SIS Diamond Awards, acknowledging their commitment to quality data collection and use. Each school will receive an honorarium. A second round of awards will be made during the summer.
The Early College High School Initiative’s SIS was developed in 2004 to capture and analyze early college high school data. SIS data provide evidence and documentation of student progress and include student demographics, high school and college courses, persistence and grade progression, state assessment results and post-early college enrollment in higher education. The data in the system offer a means for tracking student progress, improving instruction and student support, and helping students obtain a postsecondary degree.
“These 11 schools set a high bar for other early colleges to reach,” says Michael Webb, an associate vice president at Jobs for the Future and director of the Early College High School Initiative. “They are actively collecting and utilizing their own student data, not only for the sake of proving the success of the early college design nationwide, but to better identify and serve students in need of support.”
“Using data in schools means leaving nothing to chance,” says Isis Randolph-McCree, a program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “It means being intentional and purposeful about guiding young people along a path in their educational career that will ultimately lead to greater opportunity for them into and throughout their adult lives.”
The Early College High School Initiative was established with support from the Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and local and state contributors. There are 210 early colleges in the Initiative serving 46,000 students. The schools are designed so that low-income youth, first-generation college goers, students of color, and other young people underrepresented in higher education can simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree—tuition free. The average early college student graduates with 23 free college credits.
Diamond Awards were given to schools based on their success in collecting and using data to improve student outcomes. Diamond Award winners and their school districts include:
- Academy of the Redwoods (Fortuna High School District, CA)
- Alameda Science and Technology Institute (Alameda Unified School District, CA)
- Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy (Aspire Public Schools, CA)
- California College Preparatory Academy (Aspire Public Schools, CA)
- Ghidotti Early College High School (Nevada Joint Union High School District, CA)
- Global Youth Charter High School (CA)
- Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy (Aspire Public Schools, CA)
- The Met Sacramento (Sacramento Unified School District, CA)
- San Diego Middle/Early College (San Diego Unified School District, CA)
- San Diego High School of the Arts (San Diego Unified School District, CA)
- San Diego LEADS High School (San Diego Unified School District, CA)
About the Early College High School Initiative
Since 2002, the partner organizations of the Early College High School Initiative have started or redesigned 210 schools in 24 states and the District of Columbia. The schools are designed so that low-income youth, first-generation college goers, students of color, and other young people underrepresented in higher education can simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree—tuition free.
www.earlycolleges.org
About Jobs for the Future
Jobs for the Future works with our partners to design and drive adoption of education and career pathways leading from college readiness to career advancement for those struggling to succeed in today’s economy.
www.jff.org
Twitter: @JFFtweets
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