Serving "At-Risk" or Awarding Degrees? Negotiating Equity and Completion in Early College High School Reform

• In Event: High Schools as Agents in College Access

Abstract

College incompletion and inequitable access remain two of the greatest challenges facing higher education stakeholders. The early college high school (ECHS) initiative endeavors to address both. ECHSs allow high school students to earn up to an associate’s degree at little or no cost through a curriculum of dual credit courses. The model is also designed to target students “at risk” of not entering or completing college. Yet research has yet to unpack how these dual objectives unfold in practice. This study examines how principals, teachers, and counselors from eight ECHSs in Texas frame their schools’ mission. Findings offer insight into the ways in which ground-level actors negotiate completion and equity goals, sometimes to the detriment of marginalized students.

Authors

• Julia Cassman Duncheon, University of Washington

• Stefani Robin Relles, University of Nevada - Las Vegas