Part of national effort, California activities focus on educating lawmakers about the importance of early introduction to higher education

Thousands of students, faculty and administrators throughout California will celebrate National Early College Awareness Week over the next five days by hosting local political leaders and awareness activities on their campuses to promote the value of higher education for all students, regardless of the challenges they may face. Schools participating in this effort are part of the Early College High School Initiative, an educational model that blends high school and college to help students compress the time it takes to complete a high school diploma and up to the first two years of college.

National Early College Awareness Week activities will include meetings with political leaders, presentations by students sharing their successes and more. Early college high schools throughout the state are participating in efforts to engage and raise awareness among their legislators. A complete list of early college high school sites is available at www.foundationccc.org/echs.

Early College Awareness Week is part of a national effort to build bridges between young people and higher education. California’s activities are sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges (the official nonprofit organization serving the California Community College system), the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and Jobs for the Future. Thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for California Community Colleges also serves as an intermediary for 23 early college high school partnerships throughout California that educate over 5,500 students.

“Our Foundation has been a partner of the Early College High School Initiative since 2003 and is proud to sponsor National Early College Awareness Week activities in an effort to shed light on an important educational model that opens doors for all students, regardless of background,” said Foundation President and CEO Paul Lanning, Ed.D. “These unique schools provide an innovative educational setting that allows students to start earning college credits as early as ninth grade, helping them to chart a course for higher education at an early age.”

Early college high schools are partnerships between small high schools and postsecondary institutions that give underrepresented youth previously at risk of not attending college the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and at least two years of college credit in five years or less at no cost.

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