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Early-College Model Brings Lessons, Results in N.C.

Sophmore Kudzai Matowe, right, waits for the bus with fellow students after the first day of school at Early/Middle College at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., earlier this month. North Carolina has been a leader in implementing early and middle college programs. Last school year, most of the early colleges across the 73,000-student Guilford County district had a 100 percent graduation rate. Teachers meet regularly with students—even in the summer and on weekends—to help high-risk students succeed.

—Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Programs allow students to study on college campuses

By Caralee J. Adams

Students’ odds of success are high if they are enrolled at an early-college program in Guilford County, N.C.

Four of the schools, which allow students to earn college credits while still in high school, boasted 100 percent graduation rates this past school year, and another three had rates higher than 90 percent.

It’s been more than a decade since the 73,500-student district opened its first early-college high school, giving it one of the longer track records for the model. The idea of combining secondary and postsecondary coursework was largely untested at that time, and the state’s Learn and Earn early-college initiative was still several years away. But the risk appears...