In his best seller, The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman attributes the need for higher order skills in the workplace to thefact that “…technology will be churning old jobs and spawning new, more complex ones much faster than during the transition from the agricultural economy to the industrial one.”  Achieving success in today’s workplace means students will need to graduate from high school and complete at least two years of postsecondary education. In an era when student achievement and preparation for 21st century employment are prominent issues in the eyes of the American public, school districts are looking for innovative ways to deliver instruction and individualize the learning experience, as well as develop strategies to encourage high school students to pursue college degrees and experience success in college.

The transformation of the high school experience and the preparedness of traditionally under-served populations to enter the college environment are rising to the top of the priority list for school administrators.  The fact that only a little more than half of high school students make it to college is a frightening indictment of high schools’ and families’ preparation and counseling toward postsecondary learning.  And if teenagers don’t have their sights set on college education, then we’ll never achieve the kind of world competitiveness Friedman writes about.

One way around the barriers to college is to get kids thinking, planning and preparing for college at a much earlier age, not just in 11th grade when they first take the PSAT.  In fact, some of the research on college-going suggests that children form their ideation about whether they are going to college early on, in middle school or even earlier.  It is widely recognized that minority and poor youth especially suffer from at least three barriers with regard to the pursuit of college acceptance: the lack of financial resources to attend college and the lack of a culture of college-going, and the lack of support for college participation.  So, it’s important for families--especially those with no college experience—and schools to begin the college preparations early, possibly in seventh grade. 

That sort of model is behind the Early College High Schools (ECHS) Initiative, begun in 2002 with support from Jobs for the Future and financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Building the culture of college-going is an often overlooked barrier that the ECHS project seeks to ameliorate.

Making higher education “more accessible and affordable for underrepresented students” is the goal of ECHS, and as of fall 2006 there were 67 ECHS programs operating in 24 states.  Anticipated enrollment is approximately 12,000 students.  A feasibility study conducted by Hezel Associates for The State University of New York at Brockport and the Rochester City Public Schools revealed some complexity in trying to raise student achievement and performance from high school to college level courses.  The study found a need for greater additional support and higher expectations for students involved in the ECHS initiative.

On a broader level, Measuring Up 2006, the report card on national higher education, reveals that a number of states have moved toward bettering  postsecondary preparation and participation.  At present, some states are in the process of developing longitudinal data systems to track, measure and analyze student performance data as they transition from one level to another and from one district to another.  These improved data systems will help better track student achievement and enhance learning no matter where in the state the student may live.  Attributes of a successful longitudinal data system include: Quick report turnaround, providing professional development and training for administrators and teachers, and flexibility in the LDS plans. The problem is that the Education Commission of the States has found that fewer than half the states can claim partial or full alignment between high school graduation and college admissions requirements in core subject areas.  Tracking and better data systems, without doubt, will help, but most states must also address larger policy issues around building seamless academic and social transitions between K-12 schools and public higher education systems that function toward better preparation for college.