Background and Purpose
As a means to significantly increase educational opportunities and to increase high school and college graduation rates for Latinos, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is implementing the Early College Project, which focuses specifically on Latino students. This initiative grew out of NCLR’s work in developing a national network of Latino-serving charter schools.
This project was created in April of 2002 to increase the number of Latinos with a postsecondary education by developing 12 Early College High Schools across the country. An Early College High School is a school in which students will not only graduate with a high school diploma, but will also earn a two-year undergraduate associate degree, or complete two full academic years of credit toward a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree.
The Early College Project will begin as a demonstration project, establishing the initial cohort of 12 schools over a five-year period, with the intention that the models developed and lessons learned will subsequently be shared with the broader NCLR network of schools. All schools participating in the Early College Project are committed to active and sustained involvement in the Early College cohort for a minimum five-year period for documentation and dissemination purposes.
The cohort of schools is a mix of start-up and conversion or expansion high schools. They include charter schools as well as traditional public schools or university-sponsored schools which meet the participation criteria. All schools serve low-income students; seven serve adjudicated/overage students; and seven serve over 25% English-language-learner (ELL) students and over 10% special education students.
NCLR’s experience with its broader network of charter schools has shown that many Latino students entering a new charter high school are years below grade level in all academic areas, and in far too many cases are not literate in either English or Spanish. Hence, preparing students to be able to participate and succeed in an Early College High School program is a major challenge. However, it is not the purpose of the Early College Project to create schools with a selective admissions process or schools that recruit the “best and the brightest” Latino students. Early College High Schools must have open enrollment policies.
It is NCLR’s hope that this project acts as a catalyst for innovative approaches to educating Latino students and particularly for preparing those students that are significantly below grade level, are English language learners, and have needs that require a holistic educational and social services solution, for a successful postsecondary educational experience.
Services
School Development Grants: These grant opportunities are designed to fill critical gross revenue and cash flow needs of new or converted Early College High Schools. Schools receive funding at four stages of development: Planning, Preopening, Implementation, and Follow-up.
Training and Professional Development: NCLR offers national and regional workshops to staff of participating schools. These opportunities include all of the events offered to the NCLR charter school network and address the challenges and opportunities in working with Latino students.
Technical Assistance: More targeted information and assistance is provided through regional cohort meetings. These meetings are aimed at deepening schools’ understanding of what it takes to implement a successful Early College High School model. These meetings also provide an opportunity for the schools to engage in ongoing peer learning and planning within and across school teams as well as an opportunity to identify resources and needs.
Facilities Grants and Loans: While the school development grants may not be used for capital costs, participating schools have the opportunity to apply for small pre-acquisition grants and for facility acquisition, renovation, and financing assistance through NCLR’s Raza Development Fund, the largest Latino Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in the United States.
