"Our high school is going to be transformed into an Early College, so our kids can graduate high school with an associate degree," my friend gushed. "Isn't that incredible!"
What?
I'm still trying to get a grip on the nefarious revolution that is Common Core, and right behind this wave of the Gates/Soros army slips something more stealthy: The Early College High School initiative. And it's coming to my small town.
We're the lucky recipients of a few million Race to the Top (RTT) dollars. Why were we chosen? We have the right percentage of minorities and low-income families in our district, and in an effort to promote equity, our district is beginning a fundamental change in high schools, a project initiated by the Bill Gates Foundation http://www.earlycolleges.org/overview.html in places where the white middle class doesn't dominate. Now the ECHS model is being replicated with RTT funds, largely supplied by Gates. Of course as illegal immigration and unemployment grows, we'll all be living in areas that qualify soon--that's not a racist comment; it's exactly the reason our previously all-white district is now receiving this funding.
Anyone voices concerns about this initiative had better be ready for an onslaught of dismissive and vitriolic equity proponents. As we've learned during this Common Core battle, if you even question the validity or motivation behind well-funded educational reform, you're going to make enemies, some of whom call themselves conservatives, Republicans, even Tea Partiers. The least hateful comment they'll sling your way is that you're crazy.
The Early College High School Initiative was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the same foundation that now donates millions to states through Race to the Top grants.
President Obama and Arne Duncan (see video posted below) are major proponents of this model.
Here are a few of my concerns:
1. Secrecy: Unless you're obsessively scouring Twitter for every educational movement, you haven't even heard about this. I'm a teacher and this is new to me, even though the initiative began in 2002. Some people are just waking up to Common Core, and I knew about that years ago. I'm suspicious about why this revolutionary overthrow of traditional high school has avoided attracting much attention. ECHS is not the same as concurrent college credit or early graduation.
2. Taxpayer expense: Race to the Top funds are not sufficient for the transformation and maintenance of these high school community colleges. The Gates ECHS site explains this problem: "While there are limitations to comparing early college high schools to regular high schools, a pilot study of budgets suggests that costs for fully implemented early college high schools may range from 5 percent to 12 percent more than costs of regular public high schools. Start-up funding for the schools in the Early College High School Initiative comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and a number of other foundations. These start-up resources are catalytic, but they are minimal compared to the ongoing operating budgets of early college high schools." Expenses include technology, texts, and additional education for teachers who must be certified to teach classes in which students will receive college credit (unless the teachers will be replaced by online classes, which is a real possibility). I don't understand why taxpayers are now going to be paying for students' first two years of college. But of course they won't even notice this is happening.
3. Validity of an Associate Degree: We've heard about schools granting students college credit in AP classes when the students didn't even pass the AP exam. Grade inflation is rampant. I've seen first-hand how the system passes kids onto high school who can't read above a second or third-grade reading level. Now the same students will be earning college credit and possibly walking out of their senior year with a supposed associate degree (again, funded by taxpayers).
4. Local control: Common Core opponents have warned that local school districts will have their hands tied when they adopt the standards, and parents definitely don't have a place at the table when it comes to either standards or curriculum. So with a college-level curriculum, how much input do you think parents will be allowed? Even the local school board would have little control over the curriculum, which would have to be controlled by an accredited college or university.
5. It's discriminatory: Free college degrees for everyone! Unless you live in a white, middle-class community. RTT funds are granted to districts where the minorities are the majority. At some point, the middle class should be issued a pardon for every sin committed against minorities.
I'm open to hearing well-supported and respectful arguments from proponents of this initiative; I just think they should respond to the concerns I listed above. I know the people in our district that are excited about this movement, and they are wonderful people without an ounce of devious motives. They care as much as I do about offering more opportunities for our children and making sure education is valuable, challenging, and interesting. But I don't have the same trust in the people behind the ECHS initiative, and it's a citizen's obligation to demand answers when it comes to something that will so fundamentally change education for the next generation.
I've been trying to contact "Stop Common Core" groups to find out whether this initiative has shown up on their radar. My concern is that it's taking all their effort just to put the brakes on CC, and they're not going to have the time or resources to do anything about ECHS. Besides, ECHS are already established all over the country.
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