High School, With a College Twist

By John Gehring

San Pablo, Calif.

For those first two years, Alisha Nguyen drifted through high school. Like many teenagers in the hallways and classrooms of the nation's high schools, she simply went through the motions. Equally uninspired and restless, she dutifully did her time, earned passing grades, and stayed out of trouble. But by her sophomore year, she began craving something more than just getting by. "For a while, I didn't see where I was going in school," says the 16-year-old, who is considering a career in law. "I wasn't being challenged. I wasn't going anywhere."

What Nguyen found here at Middle College High School on the campus of Contra Costa College—high expectations, the chance to take college courses, a small school environment—proved to be the key that unlocked a new found engagement with school.

Nguyen, who transferred to the 240-student school last year, now takes three college classes and is racking up more credits so she eventually can transfer to a four-year university. "The whole atmosphere is different here," she says....