LYNN — Lynn Public Schools has applied for funding that would enable the district to pilot an innovative early college program next school year.
The program, The Early College Promise, would allow high school seniors to defer their diplomas for a year, which would enable them to continue to take early college courses at no cost while still benefiting from high school support.
Students would be able to take a full or nearly full college course load through the district’s college partner, Salem State University, next school year through a hybrid model at the high school for 12th graders, and at the college’s campus for those 13th year students.
Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said the initiative would represent an expansion of the school district’s early college program, which is offered in partnership with North Shore Community College and Salem State University.
Offering students an opportunity to take early college courses beyond their senior year was not something the district had been thinking about, Tutwiler said, explaining that the Smith Family Foundation reached out to the Lynn Schools with the idea this past summer and awarded the district a planning grant to explore the concept in September.
“We’ve taken a deep dive to understand it better and now we think that this could be a really innovative and promising feature of our early college program,” said Tutwiler.
Based on its planning progress, Lynn was only one of four Massachusetts school districts that was invited to apply for an implementation grant through the foundation to pilot the program in the 2021-22 school year.
The district submitted its grant application last Monday and expects to hear back in January, according to Shannon Gardner, who coordinates the school district’s early college program.
Under the district’s current early college program, the goal is for students to earn up to 12 credits by the end of their 12th year. If the grant is approved, students could earn up to 36 credits by the end of their 13th year under the pilot program next school year.
The district’s ultimate goal, three-plus years out, is for students to earn 60 credits by the end of their 13th year — with courses taken on both the NSCC and SSU campuses — which would provide them with an associate’s degree or get them halfway through a bachelor’s degree credit requirements, according to information shared during last week’s School Committee meeting.
“This is a way of strengthening that bridge from high school to college,” said Erika Giampietro, a consultant with Boston-based nonprofit Empower Schools, who has been working with LPS on their proposal. “The goal of this program is to prepare students for success beyond high school.”
The program is well-suited to respond to the pandemic, Giampietro said, noting that first time enrollments in Massachusetts colleges and public universities this year declined significantly over previous years.
Families have indicated that the cost of higher education is the primary reason their plans for college had changed, which the program would try to remediate, she said, as it “significantly reduces the cost of college and the impact COVID is having on college plans.”
“Some of the hardest-hit students are marginalized students and for many of those students, it’s pretty serious,” added Gardner of this year’s declining college enrollments. “It’s not a gap year. It’s a true loss.
“With that knowledge, we were very interested in a 13th year program that would allow cohorts of our students to experience that first year of college in a supported way.”
The program, which is modeled after successful ones in Michigan, New York and North Carolina, would align with work around racial justice, Giampietro said.
White students are three times more likely to graduate from college than their Black or Latino counterparts, an opportunity gap the program would seek to close. Graduates of early college programs, which enroll a majority of Black and Latino students, attend college at a 20 percent higher rate than their peers, according to Giampietro.
Jeffrey C. Riley, the commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a statement, read by Giampietro at last week’s meeting, that he and his early college team agree that the early college program through a fifth year has the potential for deeper outcomes.
However, Riley said that he understands the potential negative impact that allowing students to defer their graduation for a year would have on a district’s four-year graduation rates, which is part of how school districts are evaluated by the state.
The commissioner said he is exploring a solution and encourages school districts not to let that discourage them from pursuing a pilot for a 13th year early college experience.
If the district’s implementation grant is approved, Tutwiler said he would seek approval from the School Committee for a shift in graduation requirements for students who opt into the program, and would ask for the panel’s input on the district’s plans for the initiative going forward.
School Committee members expressed support for the potential pilot program last Thursday.
Committee member Jared Nicholson said he thinks that the proposal would be a “fantastic opportunity,” and would provide the district a chance to take its early college program to the next level.
“I think saving on costs is huge,” said Nicholson. “It’s a huge advantage to the program. That is definitely a reason why somebody would do it.”
Committee member Michael Satterwhite agreed, saying that the program could be a pathway for the many Lynn families who live below the federal poverty line.
“This is such a tremendous asset,” said Satterwhite. “It would change so many lives if you just think about it.”