Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The case against early college

PPS administration has proposed an "early college" program at Oliver. An article posted by A+ schools makes the case against "early college" (although the article refers to a 2 yr program while PPS would offer a three year program):

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/04/IN0H1CN4T0.DTL

Anyone in favor of early college?

5 comments:

Questioner said...

There is an arrangement the writer of the piece cited above does favor: the career and technical high school.

He notes, "In Massachusetts, these schools have waiting lists and have become schools of choice, with a 100 percent success rate even on the state's 10th-grade academic assessment."

A CTE school would seem at least as important as a school devoted to the arts, to international studies, or to science. And here in Pittsburgh, there are probably as many students who would be enthusiastic about high quality CTE that is likely to prepare them for a job that pays well, as there are students eager to attend a "university prep" program.

Anonymous said...

I have not been around long enough to know without asking around so I will start here. What is wrong with the vocational location on the South Side? I know South High is closed but the vocational building looks like it has been kept in good repair and is now The Annex of something.

Questioner said...

Reportedly the annex would require a fairly expensive renovation before it could be used again. Also someone may remember, doesn't the annex provide work spaces but few classrooms?

Mark Rauterkus said...

I'm in favor of LATE COLLEGE. I went on and on about this in the past, here, and elsewhere. We need the option of a 5th year of high school. We need a public prep year. We need another setting that is beyond the student's traditional 4-year school so as to gear up for stronger academics in another setting. And, CCAC doesn't work. But, a 5th year option to take some IB Classes could.

Mark Rauterkus said...

The South Side Anex building is being used for various tasks. But it isn't a fully functional school setting now.

What's up with Connelley as a location?

Dream alert: I would love to see a Vo Tech School build at Kennywood's parking lot. Talk about a fun place to work and tinker. That would be a lab of all labs.