When Aaron Penny first arrived here on the campus of Johnston Community College as a high school freshman, he was terrified. He had no idea if he could succeed in this early college program that sought out at-risk minority teens with promise who were also likely the first in their families to set foot on a college campus.
At this program in rural North Carolina, students take high school and college courses at the same time.
“At first I thought it was very scary, because it’s college and I hadn’t even done high school yet,” Penny, 15, said. “But then once I got into the college program I realized this is a lot of fun and it’s not as scary as it seems.”
He is one of the 250 students at Johnston County Early College Academy, part of the North Carolina New Schools network of 78 early college programs. Students who successfully finish graduate with two degrees: a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.
Mississippi will offer its own program for the first time in August when the Golden Triangle Early College High School opens on the campus of East Mississippi Community College with 62 students. Nearby Mississippi State University will partner with the school to contribute research to the program.
Modeled after the North Carolina schools, Golden Triangle in Mayhew will serve students in four counties. The school will be funded through the same law that funds all public schools in the state, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
The school’s budget is still being worked out, said Golden Triangle Principal Jill Savely.
She said she visited the Johnston school three years ago and wanted Mississippi students to be given that kind of opportunity.
“It was amazing to see kids talk about these traditional high schools and how they weren’t successful,” said Savely, formerly principal of Columbus High School. “I thought if there’s ever a chance to do this, I want to be a part of that.”
Golden Triangle will stick to the traditional four-year high school schedule, while Johnston is a five-year program. Still, school administrators hope to emulate Johnston’s success in Mississippi, where 76 percent of high school students graduated on time in the 2012-2013 school year, five percentage points below the national average. Only 29 percent of adults in the state held two-year college degrees, according to another set of data in the 2014 Opportunity Index, a national survey that in part examines the ability of young people to better their lives through education.
North Carolina New Schools will also provide professional development and consultation to Golden Triangle using a $26 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The money is meant for use over the next five years to aid new schools in other states and parts of North Carolina, said Joyce Loveless, senior director of school services for North Carolina New Schools and state Early College Director.
These high schools — 280 across the country — are typically located on or near a college campus and cater to minority and first-generation college students. The hope is that giving these students early exposure to college, where they are underrepresented, will help narrow racial inequalities in postsecondary education and beyond.
Students who attend early colleges are more likely to finish high school, according to a study by the American Institutes for Research that found 86 percent of students sampled graduated. The 2014 graduation rate for Johnston was more than 95 percent.
Students are also more likely to graduate with at least some college credit. Nationwide, 30 percent of early college students earn an associate’s degree or other postsecondary certificate by their high school graduation.
