Dearborn Schools Offer Students 5-Year High School Program with College Degree

Dearborn Public Schools will soon offer students a chance to graduate with a high school diploma and an associate's degree through a new "early college" partnership with Henry Ford Community College.

Beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year, students who attend one of the district’s three high schools — Edsel Ford, Fordson or Dearborn High — have the option of enrolling in a five-year program.

"The idea is that it's a school within a school," said Dr. Gail Shenkman, associate superintendent of secondary education. "The program is set up where students don't have to leave their home school but can earn college credit while still enjoying everything that comes with high school life — homecoming, prom, graduation, etc."

Starting in their junior year, program participants would enroll in College 101 at HFCC, a college preparatory course for incoming students. The number of college classes would increase every semester until the 13th year, when a student has only one course left to take at the high school and all but 14 credit hours of college credit hours completed to receive a degree.

"The program is entirely free at no cost to parents," Shenkman said. "Last spring we received news from the state that our application to offer this five-year program had been accepted. It's very exciting."

The program will be paid for through money the district receives from the state through its per pupil Foundation Allowance.

"Even though students are taking college classes at HFCC, they are still counted as enrolled in our high schools," she explained.

Students are only eligible to participate in the program if they score high enough on the state's PLAN standardized test as sophomores, Shenkman said.

Students have to score at least a "15" on the English section, "19" on the mathematics section, and "17" on the reading section.

"We have several sophomores who qualified for the early college program this year that we recently sent acceptance letters to," Shenkman said. "They will be our first class in this new program."

She said the exact number of students that will opt to participate in the early college program is not yet known.

"We don't expect many students to turn down the opportunity for a free college education," Shenkman said. "I think parents will encourage their children to take any opportunity available to them."

HFCC President Gail Mee said the college's associate’s degrees are accepted at any public Michigan university. Community college credits without a degree might not all transfer, although HFCC does have agreements with most universities regarding different areas of study.

"Our hope is that by participating in the early college program, students will be in better shape to move on to a four-year degree with less debt and better preparaton for rigorous studies," Shenkman said.

Dearborn Public Schools is one of three Dearborn businesses nominated for the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce's Innovative Business Award. The winner will be announced at the Business Recognition and Awards Ceremony Expo on April 19 at The Henry Hotel. Learn more at www.dearbornchamber.org.

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