FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 29, 2003
Number: nr 03-06
Contact: Nan Powers Varoga, 713-658-1881, ext. 14
nvaroga@houstonaplus.org
NEW PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL OFFERS DIPLOMA
AND ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE
400 Students To Get Individual Education Plans
Student recruitment efforts are now underway for a new HISD high school—the only one of its kind in Texas—where young people can graduate in just five years with both a high school diploma and a Houston Community College associate’s degree.
Located on the HCC campus at 5601 West Loop, Challenge Early College High School is a small high school with personalized instruction for each student. Challenge Early College will provide an accelerated, college preparatory learning program, allowing students to combine high school and college-level classes tuition free. (The traditional process takes six years—four years of “free” public high school and two years of college classes for which one has to pay.)
A milestone in collaboration, Challenge Early College High School is the brainchild of HISD, HCC, and the Houston A+ Challenge. In its first year, the school will serve approximately 150 students in grades 9 and 10. The campus will add a grade level for the next three years, eventually educating 400 students in grades 9-13.
Challenge Early College High School, scheduled to open Monday, August 18, is open to HISD-zoned students entering ninth- and 10th-grade.
Young people who will be best served include:
Challenge Early College High School students will attend a variety of advanced academics programs, college and technology classes, and individualized educational courses. In this new model of schooling, students will be given more time when needed to finish a course. They will begin taking HCC courses as soon as they finish the prerequisite high school level material. Students will be encouraged to continue their studies and transfer to upper level institutions.
Challenge Early College designed to give students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college or the workforce. The school is a key part of HISD’s overall strategy to increase the high school graduation rate. The HISD Board of Trustees in June set a goal of graduating 85 percent of all high school students by 2006.
“Our research shows that students drop out of school because they are bored or don’t think material learned in high school applies to real life,” said Linda Clarke, executive director of The Houston A+ Challenge. “Challenge Early College addresses both of those issues.”
In addition, the school will help meet the state’s twin higher education goals of making college prep curriculum the norm in high schools and enrolling 500,000 more students in two or four year institutions by 2015. According to the Texas Education Agency, only 40 percent of the state's graduating class of 200,000 in 1999 had completed college preparatory courses, and that figure is expected to have dropped in the 2000 class.
Challenge Early College stems from the work begun in 1999 by Houston A+ at the request of then-HISD superintendent Rod Paige to develop and implement new high school models that would fit students’ needs in today’s fast-paced Information Age. The school is being developed with funding from Houston A+, Houston ISD and HCC.
To schedule an admissions conference, interested students may contact Dr. Anne McClellan, principal, or Justin Fuentes, dean of students, at 713-662-2142 or at email address challh@houstonisd.org. Conferences will take place through Monday, August 18, at HISD’s West Central District Office, 5827 Chimney Rock.