Presented by Pat Marshall, Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs & Student Success, and Christine Williams, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Academic Affairs & Student Success, at the June 20, 2017 meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
2. 2
January 2016 Launch of Parthenon Study of Early College in Massachusetts
December 2016 Parthenon Report released
January 24, 2017 Joint BHE/BESE Motion, creation of ECJC
February 2017 DHE and DESE staff form working committee in partnership with EOE, to
develop criteria and process for Early College Designation
March 23, 2017 Launch of the MA Early College Initiative Event at UMass Club
April 12, 2017 First ECJC meeting, review of draft Designation Criteria
May 2, 2017 Presentation and feedback from BHE Academic Affairs committee
April/May 2017 First round of stakeholder outreach to policy leaders, early college and
dual enrollment experts and stakeholders
May 31, 2017 Second ECJC meeting, review and feedback on updated draft criteria
Early June 2017 Final stakeholder outreach, with refinements based on ECJC feedback
and final outreach
June 20, 2017 ECJC recommends Early College Designation Criteria to BHE for Board
approval, will be recommended to BESE on June 27, 2017
Massachusetts Early College Designation
Designation Design Process
3. 3
Key Design Principles of Early College
Equitable Access
▪ Prioritizing students underrepresented in
higher education
▪ Eliminating barriers to student participation
Guided Academic Pathways
▪ Experiences beyond the classroom, exposure
to career opportunities
▪ Credits toward postsecondary credential (12)
▪ College-level rigor and experience
Enhanced Student Support
▪ Wraparound services to promote success
and completion
Massachusetts Early College Designation
Design Principles
4. 4
Key Design Principles of an
Early College School
Connection to Career
▪ Exposure to targeted pathway
opportunities intended
to lead to careers
Effective Partnerships
▪ At least one institution of
higher education and
one secondary school
and/or district
Massachusetts Early College Designation
Design Principles (cont’d)
5. 5
Massachusetts Early College Designation
Early College Designation
Framed around Guiding Principles
Joint application/partnership between institution of higher ed & K-12 district
First Preliminary Designation process to be complete in Fall 2017
First Final Designation process complete in early 2018 for
Fall 2018 enrollments
Next steps:
First Preliminary Designation application to be released mid-July
DHE and DESE to design structure, process, rubric for designation review
and approval
Technical assistance to be provided by both agencies for applicants and
designated Early College programs moving forward
ECJC continued role:
Final Designation determination based on recommendation of staff
Ongoing review of the designation process, criteria and implementation
Support and promotion of Early College in Massachusetts
Some possible questions for ECJC to answer:
Should applicants be required to be joint applicants?
What should the role of private higher education institutions be?
The joint motion contemplates that the ECJC will approve the designations. We propose bringing recommendations to the ECJC, much like we would with our subcommittees. Does this structure make sense, does the ECJC see any challenges to that?
While we are still seeing what funding possibilities exist, do you have insight on how we might frame the incentive to schools and campuses to apply?
As we move forward, we’ll need support of the ECJC and our boards as we try to unify this process both in terms of the mechanics of the designation process itself, but also as our agencies seek to serve schools and campuses as they try and move forward.
Ideally we would serve to provide thoughtful technical assistance, help convene designated early college high school programs to share best practice, help support schools to scale, continue to learn from established ECHS programs nationally, etc.
What scale? How do we adjust for startup time, schools to implement gradually, but work up to scale?
What about small schools?