Chuck Hughes, Board of Education
♦ On Wednesday, I had the privilege of visiting Rowan County Early College (RCEC). RCEC is well known for its excellence; however, I was even more impressed when I learned of the program’s rigorous standards. Every 8th grade student has equal opportunity to apply for the enrollment lottery. After the submission deadline, each applicant is interviewed to determine if he or she is willing and able to commit to the hefty academic demands. Successful completion of the High School/College “six-years in four-years” program requires a 100% commitment by the student as well as their sacrifice of personal interests such as sports, band and chorus.
Some statistics that testify to RCEC’s success are:
• 100% high school graduation rates for two consecutive years.
• Over 74% with college grades of A and/or B for spring of this yea
• Over 94% passage rate for college courses.
• Of the 46 seniors graduating in 2015, 24 had a HS/College GPA above 4.0 while seven had a GPA above 4.5.
• Eighty-nine percent of 2014-2015 classes passed the Math III Exam.
• Eighty-three percent of 2015 seniors graduated with an Associate of Arts degree while 11 others received both Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees.
• 2015 RCEC graduates went to attend 18 different colleges.
• Of RCEC graduates entering college, over 80% were FIRST generation college enrollments.
The only downside to this program that I see is the number of RCEC applicants that are rejected, not because of ineligibility, but because of the limited space currently allocated to the program. Hopefully, this limitation will one day be addressed.
Without question, graduating from this program gives the college bound student a two year head start towards a full college degree.
