DESE Early College Designation 

NHCSB believes scholars must be Academically Ready, Socially Prepared, and Motivated for Success in order to meet the basic requirements of college preparation. Grades 6-8 Scholars develop the academic skills necessary to enroll in and succeed in college courses. Grades 9-12 Scholars earn college credits towards a Liberal Arts Associate’s Degree at Massasoit Community College.

DESE Early College Design Principles

  1. Equitable Access
  2. Academic Pathways
  3. Robust Student Support 
  4. Connections to Career
  5. High-Quality and Deep Partnerships 

NHCSB  Early College Model

The NHCSB Early College design requires a school culture that enhances academic preparation, particularly with literacy and numeracy, while promoting college awareness and readiness skills inherent to a student’s success in college. Students’ schedules ensure that all students take 2 ELA courses and 2 Math courses each day.  A NHCSB student is deemed college ready when s/he completes the school’s academic requirements, motivational requirements and finally, social/emotional requirements. Together, these three areas serve to create a strong platform that indicates to advisors, teachers, and New Heights’ administration that a student is ready for the rigors of college coursework. 

As an early college program, NHCSB seeks to have every student take a minimum of 12 college credits and up to 62 credits earning them an Associate’s Degree from Massasoit Community College. 

Dual Enrollment: Once students develop the academic skills necessary to succeed in college courses, they are started on the NHCSB dual-enrollment track. Dual enrollment students begin taking 1-2 college courses per semester at New Heights with a college professor. Each dual enrollment college class has a corresponding lab session with a NHCSB teacher serving as a dual enrollment Liaison on the days that the college courses are not occurring. Labs are intended to provide students with more intensive support, supplemental instruction, and individualized tutoring. 

Early College: Dual Enrollment students typically transition to the Early College pathway in the fall of their junior year. Early College scholars register for 3 to 4 Massasoit Community College courses per semester and attend classes on the college campus. NHCSB Early College teachers serving as Liaisons participate in all of the college courses, with the Early College Scholars, to keep abreast of the college course content. For additional support, scholars are also scheduled for content-based lab classes. Early college labs are facilitated by NHCSB Early College Liaisons and are intended to provide intensive support, supplemental instruction, and individualized tutoring. 

Recent Scholar Achievements 

39% of Scholars on Fall 2019 MCC Dean’s List   

33% of Scholars on Spring 2020 MCC Dean’s List 

43% of Scholars on Fall 2020 MCC Dean’s List

35% of Early College Scholars in the class of 2021 were inducted in to the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society (as of  Fall 2020 Induction)

 

Higher Education Partnerships

Massasoit Community College 

NHCSB has partnered with Massasoit Community College over the entirety of our first charter term and that partnership has yielded a number of incredible opportunities for our staff and our students, from credit-bearing courses to SummerBridge, to research internships, to meeting space for NHCSB staff, and finally, to a college working group that has met monthly since before NHCSB opened its doors. 

4-Year Institutions

NHCSB is committed to fostering and developing formal relationships with four-year institutions. Formal MOUs can vary from institution to institution, but the ultimate objective is to create seamless pathways to encourage persistence in college after graduation from NHCSB. 

Nichols College – Our first formal partnership is with Nichols College. Nichols College is offering NHCSB graduates an automatic acceptance, full transfer of credits and scholarships should they choose to matriculate at their institution!