November 12, 2021
Hundreds of students at Lawrence High School in Massachusetts are getting a head start on their college careers, thanks to an innovative model that helps students prepare for and earn college degrees while in high school.
This report demonstrates the success of the early college high school program at Lawrence High School. It has improved outcomes for participants, significantly increasing the chances that they will enter college right after high school and earn a degree. While no single educational intervention is a panacea, early college deserves to be scaled—in Lawrence and across Massachusetts.
The success of Lawrence’s early college program is ultimately possible because a well-staffed and collaborative team of educators are leveraging their expertise and commitment to students to make the ambitious dream a reality. The early college team does the daily work of running the program with an eye toward immediate identification of potential stumbling blocks for students and the capacity to respond rapidly with effective solutions.
In addition, its work has always been unfailingly championed by district, school, and college leaders engaged in the partnership. The bottom line is that students trust the adults around them to provide guidance and feedback and to have their backs at every step of their way toward a college degree.
This report is part of a series that highlights promising practices from and the early impact of the Massachusetts Early College Initiative.
Early college high schools are powerful instruments for success for students, especially young men of color. This report outlines strategies to remove systemic barriers to their engagement and provides examples of successful and emerging practices…
Encouraged by strong initial results from early college high school programs, Massachusetts aims to further expand them throughout the state. This report outlines strategies for reaching more students: expanding access to students in grades 9…