Early college schools are succeeding at our nation’s most daunting educational challenge—propelling students from underserved backgrounds to graduate high school and earn postsecondary degrees. These schools combine high school and college in rigorous, yet supportive environments that embrace acceleration over remediation. Their “college for all” culture helps to motivate students from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education to earn an Associate’s degree or significant college credit by high school graduation—at no cost to their families. Over the past decade, early colleges have produced dramatic results, beating typical outcomes for the low-income youth, first-generation college goers, and students of color they were designed to serve.

Jobs for the Future and our partners have created or redesigned 280 early colleges, currently serving more than 80,000 students. Today, we are building on a decade of success to spread Early College Designs to 56 additional schools—and more than 50,000 additional young people—through local, state, federal, and corporate initiatives.