What the students say

By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD — For 99 students, this fall means not only back to school, but also back to college at the same time.

This is the inaugural year for Oakland Early College, a partnership between the West Bloomfield School District and the Oakland Community College Orchard Ridge Campus. Those 99 students are now part of a program at the college campus in which they will take their high school classes and phase in college coursework as part of an associate degree program. And that college coursework comes pretty close to free, save some materials.

“This is something that has really been in the works for a couple years, and West Bloomfield and OCC have always had a great relationship, and we had been talking … to the district for several years trying to figure out a way that we could reach out and help the community and bridge the gap between K-12 and higher ed,” said Gary Weisserman, the head of Oakland Early College.

He said there are 150 early colleges around the country, and the governor talked about early college in her State of the State address.

“The concept has actually been around since 1972,” said Jacqueline Shadko, president of the Orchard Ridge Campus. “It is a national movement, but this is the first one in Oakland County.”

For this first year, with a few exceptions, Oakland Early College accepted sophomores and juniors. They will be eased into college courses while taking their high school studies in the morning. While the sophomores have a class that introduces them to college, the juniors have more college courses on their schedules.

The school has an individualized approach.

“This isn’t a school that’s done to kids. This is a school that’s done for kids and with kids. And that sounds cheesy, but the whole idea of a small school is to be able to treat each kid as an independent learner,” said Weisserman. “Part of that’s academic, but part of that is helping them grow as a person.”

Taking high school and college courses at the same time means that the students will have a 13th year of school before they graduate. They will take at least one high school class in that 13th year.

Weisserman can see the students receiving their high school diplomas one day and their associate degrees the next.

“Our goal is to get kids to graduate from college. We know that, nationally, only 25 to 30 percent of kids who start college are going to graduate. But kids who go through early college programs and accrue a minimum of 24 credits, which all our kids will have to do to get their diplomas, that number goes up to between 80 and 85 percent,” said Weisserman.

But the goal is for students to accrue 60 credits to get associate degrees.

“In an ideal world, every kid here would graduate with their associate degree and then go on to a four-year college,” said Weisserman. Some might not get the associate and go right to the four-year college, but the goal is that every student in the program graduates from higher education.

“We really think that we’ll be changing some lives, and that’s what we do at Oakland Community College,” said Shadko.

“It’s really all about helping our K-12 students succeed at college,” she said.

Shadko noted that such a partnership helps the college learn more about how schools teach students through high school, and schools learn more about college expectations for incoming students.

The West Bloomfield School District recognized this is a concept for the future of education, according to Joey Spano, director of the district’s community relations.

“I think it was a great opportunity, and if I can boast a little bit, I think our district likes to be on the cutting edge of initiatives,” said Spano.

The program right now probably is at a break-even point, Spano said, but it will eventually bring money into the district. The district receives a state foundation grant for each student in the program, just like any other student.

That means the district essentially pays for two years of college, which makes OEC attractive to parents and students.

Next year, the program will take ninth-grade students. The program is full right now, but interested people can learn more at http://www.oaklandearlycollege.org.

“I think this is one of those rare situations — we have the chance to do something great,” said Weisserman.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.