The prospective partners in the Massachusetts Early College Initiative sent off their application packages and are eagerly awaiting the acceptance letters.
High Quality College and Career Pathways (HQCCP) Initiative
K-12 districts and higher education institutions submitted letters of intent to submit an application for preliminary designations as either Early College Pathways or Innovations Pathways. The applications were due on September 27. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has additional information on their Early College Criteria available online.
The two pathways are described below:
- Early College Pathway – focused on expanding early college model that will support students in earning 12 college credits in high school.
- Innovation Pathways Program – focused on connecting “student learning to a broadly-defined industry sector that is in demand in the regional and state economy.” These programs will include a one-hundred hour career immersion experience and a sequence of four courses related to a particular industry sector that includes at least two college-level courses.
Sixty-seven Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) districts or schools were identified as lead institutions or partners in the first data available on the applications submitted last week. The impact these programs will have on school operations, teacher and faculty assignment and the instructional programs for students has not been analyzed yet.