Veronica was not a top-performing student during her first years at Clear Horizons Early College High School. But, like all students attending early college high schools, Veronica started taking classes at a community college while still in high school and realized that college might really be possible for her. So she didn't give up her dream of a four-year degree, even when her father lost his job and her family moved 1,500 miles away. Within a semester, Veronica had moved back to Houston alone (with her family's consent) to complete her last two years at Clear Horizons, including taking enough college classes to receive an associate's degree at the same time as her high school diploma.
As a high school senior, Veronica received several college acceptances, including a $20,000 scholarship from Baylor University, which she was able to enter as a junior. Her story is unusual for an early college high school student only because she is living alone. At all 200 early college high schools throughout the United States, students can earn a high school diploma and a two-year associate's degree simultaneously by taking dual-credit courses while in high school.
Like many early college schools, Clear Horizons is located on the campus of a community college, San Jacinto College South. We serve mainly first-generation college goers, English language learners, and at-risk students. Our freshmen and sophomores take a few college-level classes, and by their senior year the majority of their classes are college classes. Even those who haven't earned an associate's degree by high school graduation generally graduate with more than 40 college credit hours.
Although many of our graduates have been accepted into four-year colleges since Clear Horizons opened in 2007, last year we decided there was room for improvement in helping students navigate the college application and entry process. We wanted our students to have more choices and more financial help. David Conley has said a comprehensive college preparation program should provide students with cognitive strategies, content knowledge, self-management skills, and knowledge about postsecondary education. Taking Conley's recommendations to heart, this academic year we've put in place new practices that strengthen the latter two skills for our students.
We help students, beginning in 9th grade, gain the inside knowledge about college and the self-management skills necessary to create and follow a post-secondary plan, even when they face obstacles. And we're seeing results: The number of Clear Horizons seniors accepted at a four-year college by January was twice as high this academic year as last year. Three times more students were accepted at top-tier universities. Here are some of our strategies.
Creating an Academic Culture
We start by establishing our common expectations for success, which create an internal compass that guides academic behaviors. Teachers expect students to attend every class, complete every assignment, and earn no grade below a 75; if a learner falls below these expectations, we assign mandatory tutorials and study halls. Every teacher provides 30 minutes of tutorial time four days a week. Some students set personal goals at higher thresholds, such as getting no grade below 85 or even 90 on an assignment.
Knowing Our Students—and Their Goals
Every year, each of our 370 students submits a one-page autobiography that highlights his or her academic characteristics, motivation for being at Clear Horizons, academic and education goals, and career goals. Our staff uses these statements to get to know students, to hear their voices, and to better serve them. Writing the autobiographies gives students experience in developing and articulating academic goals. Students draw on their autobiographies when they compose a résumé.
With the help of adult mentors, every year students identify long-term goals. We provide students with a detailed list of their scores on specific standards on their most recent standardized test to help them reflect on their needs. They list their current achievement scores and specific goals in the areas of state testing, report card grades, service learning, and college and career achievement. They note their academic strengths and weaknesses and their action plans.
Students set three to five short-term education goals at the beginning of each quarter. Common goals include receiving no grade below a 75, getting no zeroes, and attending every college class. Some learners choose more complex goals such as earning an outstanding student award, finding an internship with a particular agency, or becoming the leader of the robotics club. Each Monday, students write about how they are progressing toward their goals and what they need to do that week.
Advisory teachers monitor this progress weekly and write supportive comments and questions for students on their goal sheets. The principal and other adults in the school join this dialogue by taking turns commenting on goal sheets to further envelop the students in a learning community of support. At the end of the first quarter, we mail home the first short-term goal sheet, the long-term goal sheet, the state testing achievement report, and a letter from the principal so that parents are aware of their child's strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
Mentoring
Students have a regular advisory period and an advisory teacher every year they attend Clear Horizons. Their advisory teacher remains the same from their freshman to sophomore years.
Teachers, administrators, and other mentors work with students to help them find career paths and colleges that meet their interests, abilities, and financial situations. We help students seek employment training and internships with local organizations and community professionals, such as the NASA food development laboratory and a leading emergency-room physician. This work is possible because we've spent so much time getting to know students and building relationships with them.
Because we prioritize conversations about realistic options for college, seniors often come to us for help, and they know what questions to ask. Brad, a young man who aspires to be a doctor, recently came into my office and asked, "Dr. Morrow, Should I go to the big-name college that's accepted me or the lesser-known one that offered me more financial help?"
Discussing Transcripts and the SAT
We now show each student his or her transcript in the second semester of each high school year. In advisory classes, each student discusses with his or her advisor the grades received in individual classes, grade point average, and class rank. The first time we did this was truly enlightening. Students were appalled, in some instances, at their grades. They wanted to discuss how to improve their class rank and achievement. They saw how their academic record would appear to colleges at the end of their high school career. The sense of urgency this realization created was impressive, and we realized this was a meaningful step toward preparing students to leave us and enter any postsecondary program of their choosing.
All students in grades 9–11 take the PSAT in October. We use those scores to help parents and students know how they're progressing toward scores that will open doors to four-year colleges and to identify groups of students who need additional training to raise their SAT scores. We invite these students to participate in an SAT-preparation program.
Mastering Deadlines
Most of our graduating seniors already have two years of college under their belts and are applying to enter four-year schools as juniors. Still, they face challenges getting accepted and finding funding. One strategy we adopted from another early college high school is helping students take steps to meet early deadlines along the college admissions path within high school classes. Students now file their applications earlier in fall; thus, they receive acceptances earlier so we have more time to give them guidance about financial aid.
During advisory classes, our junior English class, and our senior independent study class, teachers guide students in applying to postsecondary schools. We've implemented checkpoints and our own deadlines for the essential steps in the application process, so that students meet our deadlines before the college deadlines. This obliterates a deterrent to the application process—getting started—and ensures that students and parents won't be starting applications in the last few hours before a December 1 deadline.
This year, by September 1, our juniors and seniors had all
- Drafted two admissions essays.
- Logged on to the state's common college application website, created an account, and completed basic information.
- Drafted a résumé to use for admissions or scholarship applications and to show adults who would be writing recommendations.
- Received training in how to request recommendations from teachers.
Students and teachers felt a sense of relief and accomplishment through engaging in this collective process. Following these steps shows students a model for pursuing any complex process with deadlines, a good employability skill. Several comprehensive high schools in our area are now building this approach into their programs.
Educating Parents and Celebrating
Clear Horizons publishes a newsletter each semester to tell parents about college and career readiness activities and resources like free test-prep classes. We include a checklist of steps that freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors should take to solidify and pursue goals.
Every semester we hold three parent nights, each offering a variety of workshops, such as a "lessons learned" roundtable featuring parents who have children at a university, financial aid counseling, and a session at which university admissions counselors share what they really want on college application essays.
We publicly highlight our students' honors and our juniors' and seniors' progress in the application process. It's important to tell the community when students receive their first acceptance letters of the year and to list the universities that say "we want you." It's also important to give updates on how many students have submitted applications. This gives students and parents confidence that they are in a high-performing environment and reminds seniors that their application deadlines are nigh.
Requiring students to set high goals, providing guidance about postsecondary options, and monitoring key deadlines create a momentum for each student's planning process. Last year, Clear Horizons sent 91 percent of our graduates to four-year schools; 4 percent to complete a two-year program they'd already started; and 5 percent to travel, missions work, a technical program, or military service—all of which are well-thought-out choices. College and career-ready means something different for each of these youth. Our strategies provided the scaffolding each of them needed to climb to individualized success.
