These programs in Edmond and Norman allow high school students to simultaneously earn college degrees

EDMOND — Since the 1970s, Oklahoma secondary students have taken “concurrent enrollment” classes, through which they can earn college credit while attending high school. A new program now being offered in districts large and small takes that concept further — allowing high school students to earn college degrees.

Known as Early College High School (ECHS) programs, the idea is to have secondary students take college-level classes throughout high school and graduate with an associate degree to go along with a high school diploma. The goals are to more efficiently produce a college-educated workforce while bridging what education leaders say are long-standing equity gaps that can serve as barriers for some students seeking to earn a college degree.

“By 2028, 66 of our state’s 100 critical occupations will require a college degree,” Oklahoma higher education Chancellor Allison Garrett said. “As demand for a college-educated workforce continues to grow, our public institutions work tirelessly to increase efficiency and accelerate degree completion. Students who participate in Early College High School programs perform better on state assessments and are more likely to enroll in college and earn a degree.”

Early College programs are available in Edmond, Norman and Tulsa

Two large Oklahoma City-area school districts, Edmond Public Schools (with the University of Central Oklahoma) and Norman Public Schools (with Tulsa Community College), recently have announced the creation of such programs. In Tulsa, the Union Public Schools have had a similar program since 2018 with TCC, and in recent years have been joined by Sand Springs Public Schools and two Tulsa Public Schools high schools, Memorial and McLain, among others.

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved an ECHS agreement between Murray State College in Tishomingo, a junior college, and both Wilson Public Schools, a small district in Carter County, and Southern Technology Center in Ardmore. Murray State also has similar agreements with school systems in Kingston, Madill, Sulphur, Tishomingo, Dickson and Fox, along with both Plainview and Ardmore districts in Ardmore.

Oklahoma City Community College has ECHS agreements in place with Moore Public Schools, Crooked Oak Public Schools and Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Pathways Middle College at Santa Fe South High School in Oklahoma City. According to the state regents, ECHS agreements are, or have been, in place between Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell and its feeder high schools. Connors State College in Warner (with Muskogee Public Schools) and Seminole State College (with The Academy of Seminole) also have ECHS programs.

While each ECHS program is unique, the general sense of the concept is to give an academic advantage to students who come from less-affluent economic backgrounds or who might be attempting to be the first in their family to earn a college degree. Most of the programs come at no cost to the student, meaning they essentially have the opportunity to receive two years of free college education.

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“We are really trying to create additional pathways to college for those who may not have considered all of their options before,” said Chris Payne, a spokesman for Union Public Schools. “We are really kind of taking a pathways approach, recognizing that we just need to give students many different options and kind of let them experience things before they go to college. We expect them to make these life-changing, high-level decisions and this is a chance for them to experiment a little bit.”

Edmond program starting with students who may not have gone to college otherwise

Educators hope students who successfully complete an ECHS program will continue on to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but even if they don’t, having the associate degree will mean the student is better prepared for entering the workforce and will be able to command a higher salary than someone with only a high school diploma, said Angela Grunewald, the superintendent of Edmond Public Schools.

“We’re going to start with a group of students that probably would not be able to go to college if this was not available to them,” Grunewald said. “They would be going straight into the workforce from graduation. We want them to either know when they graduate that they can (go to) college or if they do need to go straight to work, they go as a higher-qualified employee.”

Edmond’s program, which will be funded by the Edmond Public Schools Foundation, will be limited to 30 students per classification and will start with freshmen entering high school for the 2024-25 academic year. As freshmen, students will take classes focused on college readiness. The college-level classes will begin during their sophomore year, and by their senior year, they will spend much of their school time on UCO’s campus. UCO applied for, and received, permission from the state regents to offer an associate degree program, which the four-year university did not previously have, Grunewald said.

Norman’s ECHS program differs from others in two ways. It will have an initial cost of about $5,500, although the district is seeking partnerships to help provide scholarship opportunities to students. It also will be primarily virtual, which allows the district to work with a college more than 100 miles away in Tulsa.

“As a first-generation college student myself, I understand some of the barriers that students may face when pursuing higher education. The virtual format of TCC’s program removes the need for transportation and reduces those barriers,” said Justin Milner, the Norman district’s associate superintendent and chief operating officer. “Studies show that for students who earn an associate degree, the potential to finish a four-year degree goes up exponentially, and we are looking forward to providing this option for our students.”

The ECHS concept has been supported nationally by organizations such as Jobs for the Future and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The American Institutes for Research has reported ECHS students performed better on state assessments in English language arts and math than their district peers in traditional high schools and that 88% had enrolled in college for the fall semester after their graduation. A 2019 AIR study found that over four years, ECHS programs cost about $3,800 more per student than traditional high schools, but the return on investment was about $33,709 in increased lifetime earnings per student.

“We get these great ideas sometimes and there’s not funding available to do them,” said Payne, the Union district spokesman. “We figured out a way to do that and relied on partnerships, but our hope has been our legislators will realize value of these programs, because it’s not something they are providing funding for. We’re doing this on a shoestring, without a lot of extra help. If they came through with funding, we could really boost the college-going rates in Oklahoma.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What to know about Oklahoma Early College High School programs