A new program will give Union students the chance to earn an associate degree while they’re in high school.
Early College High School will start next school year with 50 to 60 sophomores, most of them first-generation college students. Union Superintendent Kirt Hartzler said it’s an expansion of concurrent enrollment the district already offers.
"This is kind of just, I think, the next generation of what we need to be offering our students to make sure that the high school experience is more relevant and certainly adds some value," Hartzler said.
Concurrent enrollment programs let high school students earn college credits.
Early College High School is being offered in partnership with Tulsa Community College. TCC faculty will teach the college courses, and students will have to complete additional academic work, including summer school classes.
"The purpose of this type of program is to start them early in terms of academically, making sure they understand the rigors of what the college experience is about, while, at the same time, certainly providing the right amount of advocacy and guidance that they need to be successful," Hartzler said.
Program graduates will have head starts at four-year universities with a two-year liberal arts degree in hand.
"If this program can help us grow more college graduates in the state of Oklahoma, then it's going to be a wonderful thing for us economically speaking and certainly also in terms of improving our quality of life in the state," Hartzler said.
Hartzler said he hopes Early College High School becomes a statewide model. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education still need to sign off on the proposal but are expected to do so.
