New hybrid high school is planned

Michael Miller

Hoping to increase the number of graduates going on to higher

education, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and the Coast

Community College District have announced plans to establish an Early

College High School next year.

The proposal, spearheaded by Newport-Mesa student services

director Mike Murphy and Coastline Community College general

education dean Ed Decker, involves creating a new full-time school

site for students who need an extra push to attend college. The

school, which would combine college and high school curricula, would

allow students to graduate in five years or less with a diploma and

an associate in arts degree.

“We’re trying to take kids whose idea wasn’t to go to college

after high school and raise their expectations,” Murphy said.

Murphy and Decker already won approval for the Early College High

School at the college district board of trustees’ meeting May 4. On

June 14, the Newport-Mesa Board of Education is expected to hear the

proposal. If the school district approves the project, the

coordinators plan to apply to the Foundation for California Community

Colleges for a $400,000 grant over five years.

The Foundation for California Community Colleges is a partner in

the Early College High School Initiative, a nationwide program

sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in association

with the Ford, Carnegie and W. K. Kellogg foundations. By 2008, the

initiative plans to establish more than 180 early college high

schools across the United States.

The majority of funds for the new sites will come from the local

school and college districts. Murphy and Coast district trustee Jerry

Patterson said they were counting on the Gates grant to help start

the project but feel that otherwise the expense will be worth it.

“We need to be innovative in order to bring high school students

to the college campus and give them a good start on higher

education,” Patterson said. “It’s good for the student because they

can get an early start on college. It’s good for society because we

have better trained and educated students.

“Right now, you can’t get through a four-year college. It takes

five years, sometimes six years, just to get through.”

Under the proposal, Newport-Mesa and Coast district instructors

would teach at the school, and students could get credit toward a

diploma and a degree in the same class. Murphy said the Early College

High School would require a site of its own, most likely a portable

one located in Costa Mesa.

Decker was on vacation this week and not available for comment.

In a presentation made to the Newport-Mesa board on April 12,

Murphy and Decker outlined plans for recruiting and enrolling

students in the school. Each year between 2006 and 2009, the school

would accept one new grade level of 100 or fewer students, thus

topping the school’s total enrollment at 400. The Gates Foundation,

in its Early College High School Initiative, has stressed the

importance of smaller class sizes.

District officials would recruit students for the pilot school

through middle schools, churches and other community centers.

Recruiters would look at students’ academic records, solicit

recommendations from teachers and counselors and interview children

and their parents.

The Early College High School proposal is similar to other

college-preparatory programs in Newport-Mesa, particularly

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), a four-year academy

for underachieving students who plan to enter higher education.

Murphy said AVID teachers and coordinators would be likely choices

for Early College High School faculty.

Ideal recruits for the new school, he added, would be hard-working

students who had caught few breaks in their public education.

“The idea behind Early College High School is to identify kids

with potential who are first-generation college-goers,” he explained.

“English learners and low-income students would be the target kids.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].