Video: Early College High School Set To Open At EMCC

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GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) — A new public high school is coming to the Golden Triangle and education leaders say it could save at-risk students, improve graduation rates and be another step toward building the region’s skilled work force. The new school will start with 50 9th graders on the campus at East Mississippi Community College in Mayhew and grow from there. Many details still are being worked out but as WCBI’s Alyssa Martin tells us, students will graduate with both a high school and an associate degree and even more, a new lease on a bright future.

The state’s first Early College High School is a partnership among Mississippi State’s Research and Curriculum Unit, the state Department of Education, and EMCC. It’ll target first-generation college students and teens from low-income families.

“It’s a strategy to provide a high school option for students who may have barriers to completing high school, not to mention barriers that would prevent them from enrolling and completing college,” said Vice-President of EMCC, Dr. Paul Miller.

The school is modeled after ones operating successful in North Carolina and a handful of other states. Smaller class sizes and targeted curriculum produce higher graduation rates and with a two-year degree under their belts, students already have job skills and a leg up on a four-year degree.

The school will start at EMCC with 50 ninth graders and add a grade each year. Classes will start in scattered locations and then move to the school’s new student union under construction. Eventually, it could call the proposed $38 million “Communiversity” slated to open in three years, it’s home.

“The intent has always been to start small and grow, even if we had a tremendous amount of space that we could provide, that’s still the way we would do it in order to be a successful program, would be to start small then grow but our plans are predicated on the fact that we are building new facilities on campus,” said Dr. Miller.

The school will have to meet all the standards of a normal high school, including testing.

“Transportation, meals and support services that they need as high school students, all those things will be addressed, so those details are being worked out,” said Dr. Miller.

The North Carolina New Schools foundation will provide guidance and in-kind assistance and state funding will play a large role in paying for operations.

“The funding still remains one of the issues that we’ll work out over the next eight months, however, it will be primarily funded by the per-pupil funding by the state government,” said Instructional Design Specialist, Myra Pannell.

Administrators and staff haven’t been named but student recruitment will begin early next year.

“That principal will be informing parents, families and students in the tri-county area about what ECHS is and how they can become involved. There will be an application process that they’ll go through, possibly an interview,” said Pannell.

The school will be open to students in Oktibbeha, Clay and Lowndes counties.

School organizers say administrators in the three counties have been heavily involved in planning the program.