Early College High Schools: Lessons Learned in the College Science Classroom

The Gates Foundation has given more than US$100 million to establish approximately 160 early college high schools (ECHSs) across the nation. The ECHS goal, to send traditionally low-performing students to college early and graduate them with 2 years of college credit, has been widely recognized for its constructive potential. However, not all EHCS students who participate have constructive experiences, and failing experiences have the potential to be educationally counterproductive by impairing future academic performance. Thus, it is important to examine instances of unsuccessful early college experiences, probing for lessons learned. This report documents one such unsuccessful experience of ECHS students in a large introductory biology course.