Early college students make solid debut at UNC Wilmington

North Carolina's early college high schools are quietly proving that high expectations and strong support help students aim higher and achieve ambitious goals. Consider the example of Isaac Bear Early College High School on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

The innovative school's 72 juniors, most of whom are 16, more than kept pace last fall with the high school graduates who were beginning college as freshmen.

In their first semester taking college classes, the 11th graders from Isaac Bear landed a combined GPA of 3.16, compared to a GPA of 2.77 for freshmen in their semester. And while Issac Bear students carried a lighter average course load than the freshmen, nine hours compared to about 15, nearly 13 percent of the early college juniors did well enough to make dean's list, an achievement tied to good grades and full-time coure load.

This year's junior's are the first cohort at the early college to advance from the concentration of high school courses they took in 9th and 10th grades to a schedule that's now heavy with college courses taken with college students.

Tilly Gurley, Isaac Bear's principal, ties the students' strong showing in their UNCW courses to the high school's small size, which promotes personalization, and a group of teachers who have embraced the idea and practice of innovation.

"They are top-notch instructors who are willing to to do things in a creative way and to take chances," Gurley said.

The school's small size means students benefit from the kind of support that traditional high schools are often hard pressed to provide, she said. Students at Isaac Bear loop with the same teachers in 9th and 10th grades, then are assigned to one of those teachers for their last two years as an "accountability partner," whom they meet with weekly as an advisor. Students also learn during their first two years to know how and when to get the help they need.

Six out of every 10 of the 200 students now in 9th through 11th grades at Isaac Bear wouldn't necessarily fit the profile for college-bound: 45 percent are from families with no member who graduated from a four-year college; 35 percent are minorities; 24 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Being on the university campus for their first two years also makes a difference, said Deron Fort, early college liason and academic advisor for Isaac Bear. The students take lab classes in college classrooms and use the university library, among other benefits of the campus-based high school.

"That helps build a relationship," Fort said, "and creates a comfort level they have with the university."

Now in their second semester of college courses, Isaac Bear students are carrying an average of just less than 12 credit hours, Fort said, the minimum load for full-time college students. The juniors were deemed to be ready to take on bigger challenges because of results like these from the fall:

• 64 percent of Isaac Bear students earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher for their college classes
• 5 of 6 students taking Chem 101 earned an A
• 20 of 30 students in English 101 earned an A or A-minus
• 9 of 13 students in Basic Calculus with Applications earned an A or B
• 8 of 9 students in Calculus with Analytic Geometry II earn an A or A-minus

Cross Creek ECHS to help model innovative teaching, learning

With the addition last week of Cross Creek Early College High School, a joint effort is now fully underway to develop a complement of four innovative schools in North Car0lina as showcases of teaching and learning that ensure all students graduate well prepared.

Cross Creek, on the campus of Fayetteville State University, was selected by the North Carolina New Schools Project (NCNSP) and the University of North Carolina system to be part of the Learning Laboratory Initiative, a $2.5-million effort funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the development of innovative high schools that can demonstrate rigorous, effective instruction and deep student engagement to educators, university faculty and policymakers.

The Cumberland County school board last week approved a partnership with NCNSP and UNC to transform the early college high school into a national model of performance and to begin to host visits to the school by practitioners and others beginning in 2011.  Earlier this year, school boards in Caldwell, Durham and Wayne counties approved similar partnerships for Caldwell Early College High School, Hillside New Tech High School and Wayne School of Engineering.

Cross Creek and the other three Learning Lab sites were picked from among 21 schools through a process that involved proposals by each, analysis of the schools' student performance and teacher perceptions, and site visits to the finalists.  The selection process involved a panel of high school innovation experts from outside North Carolina.

The four schools - which include two sites at which traditional high schools are being redesigned and two early college high schools - were found to be the most ready to accelerate the innovative work they have begun and to hold great promise to grow into models for the state.  Through the initiative, the four schools will receive enhanced coaching and support from NCNSP and a UNC institution linked to each over the next three years.

Cross Creek is one of 60 early college high schools open on the campuses of two- and four-year colleges and universities across North Carolina.  Students enrolled in early colleges earn a high school diploma and two years of transferable college credit or an associate degree.  Last year, Governor Mike Easley and NCNSP honored Cross Creek with the state's first Innovator Award for its strong performance in its first three years: Not a single dropout reported and strong achievement, particularly among the school's mostly poor and minority students who are the first in their families to attend college.

Since 2003, part of NCNSP's work to establish more than 100 innovative high schools across the state has been to take more than 700 teachers, principals and education policymakers on "study visits" in seven states to well-established innovative high schools that have a track record of graduating all students ready for college, careers and life.

"Through those visits, long-held beliefs about what students can do - and which students can do it - have been reshaped, practical solutions have been conveyed, and the value of teachers watching peers teach has been reaffirmed," said NCNSP President Tony Habit.  "The rapid development of the Learning Lab schools will allow that change to happen more frequently and more regularly for educators in the field or in training, for the university faculty who train them, and for North Carolina's leaders."

Scotland High's student-run restaurant featured on WUNC-FM

Students at Scotland High School of Leadership and Public Service run their own restaurant. WUNC-FM radio paid a visit for lunch and spoke with patrons, students and the teacher-chef.

Listen to the feature on the Bagpiper that was broadcast earlier this week.