The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has approved Round Rock ISD’s application to open an Early College High School (ECHS) during the 2016 – 2017 school year.
Early College High School is a partnership between a high school and college that allows students the opportunity to earn up to 60 college credit hours towards a Bachelor’s degree at no cost to the students or their families.
Austin Community College (ACC) will serve as the partner for Round Rock ISD’s ECHS. The campus will be located at ACC’s Round Rock location, 4400 College Park Dr.
“Our approval to open an ECHS is a milestone for our district as it will further opportunities to access higher education for our students,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Flores said. “ECHS adds to the choices our students have when it comes to their education, which is part of our core mission at Round Rock ISD to offer our students a variety of education options to meet their needs. This opportunity would not be possible without our outstanding partnership with ACC and we look forward to seeing it further progress as a result of ECHS.”
Under the ECHS model, students would complete their freshman and sophomore years of high school within a Round Rock ISD facility at ACC and slowly integrate dual credit courses. Junior and senior year classes will be entirely at the ACC campus with access to academic and social counseling.
Current eighth grade students are invited to apply for the program, which focuses on admitting students underrepresented in higher education. It is projected that 125 incoming freshman will be accepted to ECHS for the 2016 – 2017 school year.
“We are excited to offer our students the opportunity to pursue a college education during their high school years,” Board of Trustees President Paul J. Tisch said. “A result of our strategic plan, this campus offers our students the unique opportunity to access higher education that may not be available to them otherwise. As a district, we continually work to meet the needs of all students and ECHS is another resource for our students to utilize to find success in high school and beyond.”
The ECHS program is in alignment with Goal 5 of the Round Rock ISD Strategic Plan, which states that the district “will design our schools by creating flexible programs and learning environments.”
