More about OEC

OEC is a fully operational Early College High School, and the first and only Early College in Oakland County. (The school is part of a larger shift in K-16 education. There are several other Early Colleges in Michigan, including Genesee Early College on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Middle College on the campus of Mott Community College. Across the country, there are over 150 such schools.)

A major purpose of Oakland Early College is to increase post-secondary access and opportunities. As such, Oakland Early College has a special interest in meeting the needs of underserved students, including students who are the first generation in their family to attend college.

Our position is that students may be underserved in many ways. Some students are underserved by virtue of socioeconomic status or geography, or by being the first generation of college students in their families (research has shown that even academically gifted first-generation college students find college difficult to navigate). Some students may be academically successful, but have career interests and educational development plans that are simply not appropriately met by the courses of study offered at their home schools. Still others are being served adequately academically, but have been marginalized in their home communities, or have been impacted by family and/or life circumstances. Similarly, students may be underserved vocationally if their career pathway leads towards jobs or academic tracks which have not traditionally been open to them. Some students simply come from backgrounds where continuing educational opportunities are not readily available, especially in high-poverty areas. While Oakland Early College is open to any student capable of, and interested in, succceeding at the college level, the school has a special commitment in meeting these students' affective, support, and academic needs.

OEC will open in August of 2008. For the 08-09 school year, the school will accept applications from Oakland County students who will enter grades 10 and 11 in the fall of 2008. A number of seats will be reserved for West Bloomfield residents, with the remaining seats open to residents of other Oakland County communities.

Students at OEC will be encouraged to select areas of academic focus, including:

• Fine and Performing Arts;
• Business and Entrepreneurship; and
• Liberal Arts

Areas of academic focus will be determined by each student's personal Educational Development Plan (EDP).

At full enrollment, the five-year Early College High School, will serve a total of 300 students (60 at each grade level). OEC will grow to three grades (10, 11 and 12) in the 2009-2010 school year, and will enroll students in grades 9-13 by the 2011-2012 school year.

More about Early Colleges

According to the National Early College Initiative, which is funded and supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Jobs for the Future, early colleges focus on young people for whom the transition into postsecondary education can be problematic. The priority of these schools "is to serve low-income young people, first-generation college goers, English language learners, and students of color, all of whom are statistically underrepresented in higher education and for whom society often has low aspirations for academic achievement."

Throughout the nation, there are approximately 160 early college high schools. As of the 2006-2007 school year:

• Over 20,000 students in 24 states are attending early college high schools.
• Two-thirds of students enrolled in early college high schools are African-American or Latino.
• Eight early college high schools target and serve Native students.
• Twelve schools specifically serve students who previously dropped out or were unsuccessful in traditional high schools.
• The majority of students enrolled in early college high schools across the nation will be the first in their family to attend college.
• Nearly 60 percent of early college high school students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

While the study of Early Colleges is a relatively young field, Early Colleges appear to have a substantial positive impact on college access and success, especially among underserved students. Nationally, nearly 75% of existing Early Colleges have a student body that is at least 50% minority, and 50% of Early College students qualify for federally subsidized free or reduced lunches (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). While longitudinal data remains sparse as the Early College movement grows, data suggests that students in Early/Middle College programs have been markedly successful. A 2006 NCREST study, for instance, found that Middle College students--of whom 80% were non-white, and 43% of whom did not speak English as their primary language--passed their college courses at an astounding rate of 96%.

According to the Early College Initiative, "in contrast to troubling national data for similar student populations, early college high schools are beating the odds for the students they serve:

• Attendance rates for early college high school students average over 90 percent, indicating high levels of student engagement and commitment to the academic program.
• Grade-to-grade promotion rates in early college high schools also exceed 90 percent.
• Early College High School students outperform students in their districts on state-mandated math and English Language Arts exams.
• The vast majority of early college high school graduates (85 percent) accumulated between a semester and two years of college credit by the time they finished high school.
• Over 60 percent were accepted to four-year colleges, exceeding national rates for similar populations."

Early Colleges provide crucial opportunities for students. They appear to:

• ease the physical and cultural transition to college for their students, and establish rigor by making college attendance a spoken assumption for all students;
• provide an integrated course of study from grade 9 through the first two years of college, with scaffolding that increases the likelihood of successful matriculation at the college level
• remove an increasingly dire economic obstacle from its students, for whom the cost of higher education is becoming an increasingly unbearable burden--especially for low-income and first-generation students who frequently cannot attend college

While OEC is designed to meet the specific needs of its students, it is fortunate to be able to draw on the Early College movement's early successes. OEC will adhere to the six design principles of the Middle College National Consortium. These include Power of the Site (embedding the program in an existing college campus, with shared resources and schedules for each); Teaching and Learning (accelerated curricula with high expectations, with special emphasis placed on multiple literacies); Student Assessment (in which authentic assessment is interwoven with classroom activities, in which assessment informs school decisions and redesign, and in which student's individual EDPs are ongoing and central to curricular efforts); Student Support (small class and school size and embedded counseling, with special attention paid to each student's educational and affective needs); Democratic School Governance (with all voices in the school heard as part of ongoing, data-driven school improvement efforts); and embedded Professional Development (with time provided during the school day).

Download the 2008-2009 OEC application.

OEC is now accepting applications from Oakland County residents, regardless of district of residency, for 10th and 11th grades for the 2008-2009 academic year! You may download the application here.

The application deadline is April 4, 2008.

Questions about the application process should contact Gary Weisserman, Interim Head of School and Director of Early College and K-16 Initiatives at the University of Michigan-Flint, at (248) 865-6477, or by email at oec@westbloomfield.k12.mi.us; or Dr. Kendra Hearn, Assistant Superintendent for West Bloomfield Public Schools, by email at hearn@westbloomfield.k12.mi.us or by phone at (248) 865-6479.