Friday, February 14, 2014

Innovative Early College Programs

Students can graduate high school with 60 hours of college credit and an associate degree at no cost.

Several high schools in the Fort Worth Area are collaborating with Tarrant County College to open the Early College High School on the college’s campus. The goal is to enroll about 125 students with the first graduating class in 2018. They will receive associate degrees in arts or science. Currently, the recruiting process is in full swing. Informational meetings for families of eighth graders who want to enroll are being conducted. The director of the program says all eighth-graders in the area are being informed about the program.

A specialized early college program is already underway. It is taught at the Trinity River Campus and serves students in the Texas Academy for Biomedical Sciences. It is a collaboration among Tarrant County College, Fort Worth schools, the University of North Texas and the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Their first class will graduate this spring.

Weatherford High School offers a program preparing graduates to go to work as Certified Nurse’s Aides, Emergency Medical Technicians, or Pharmacy techs. The students begin the Health Occupation Students of America course as sophomores. They follow a three-year pathway through their senior year, when they may be certified.

I applaud the educators for seeing a need and providing the means to meet this need.


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