WAMC has learned that Mount Everett Regional High School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, has been officially designated an Early College institution by the Early College Joint Committee. In partnership with Simon’s Rock at Bard College in Great Barrington, Mount Everett students will be able to take courses for college credit, as well as visit college campuses and receive counseling. Thanks to a half a million dollars in grants secured by the Southern Berkshire Regional School District for the program, it’s all tuition free. WAMC spoke with Superintendent Beth Regulbuto about the new program.
REGULBUTO: We started with expanding our internship program, deepening that experience. And then we've been offering some early college classes in partnership with Bard College. But we wanted to expand that on a much greater level, so we applied for Early College designation. We were just awarded that last week, so this is a much more expansive program and kind of a groundbreaking application, so we're just thrilled.
WAMC: What is this going to offer students in your district that they did not have access to before?
Yeah, so this is an incredible opportunity where students as early as 8th grade will be thinking about potential career or college aspirations. But students grades 9 through 12 can participate in college coursework, and it will be part of the regular program of studies, and they can earn as much as almost an associate's degree by the time that they graduate. So this would be fully paid for and would be transferable to just about any institution afterwards. So it's just a terrific opportunity.
Within the program, what kind of courses are going to be offered to students to take for this early college education?
It’s a variety of programs, and we're really interested in what kids are interested in as well. But it'll start with literature, composition, math courseworks, STEM, liberal arts, fine arts, food studies, there's psychology courses that have been- So they can pretty much take whatever coursework supports their interests and future plans, whether it is college or a future career that they might be interested in.
Now, from your perspective, is there an equity angle to this story?
Yes, this is all about increased opportunity for students who- This all came from when I really first started and I had, the student couldn’t have been maybe more than 3rd or 4th grade, and they came down to my office and we were talking about the future. In the end, the child said to me, Oh, we don't do college, college isn't something that we consider. And I thought to myself, this is so important that we never rule out any possibilities as early as 3rd grade. I want kids to have the opportunity for any possibility in their future. So we've been thinking about ways to create that, to get kids excited, to find their passions, to think about ways to expose them to what could be and this is exactly what we were talking about.
With the certification in hand. What happens next? What's the timeline? How long until students are actually going to be able to take advantage of the Early College designation?
So it starts, it’s going in this year's program of studies for next fall. So we'll be rolling out, talking to parents, probably at our April 7th school committee meeting. We'll incorporate the types of offerings as we get this program rolling. So, it's happening. It starts next fall for sure.
The Southern Berkshire Regional School District says it's applied for over half a million dollars in grants to fund the program. Can you break down for me where that money would actually end up going, and how exactly financially this works out for the district?
So it supports all of the tuition, all materials, and supplies. It supports transportation for students who, when they're in the upper level grades, it's- The coursework starts where faculty and staff from Bard come into Mount Everett and provide coursework, but eventually the idea is to get students familiar with being on a college campus and attending, so you have the opportunity to do both. And as they get older, and even at the younger grades, they're going to provide field trips so that kids can get comfortable with these kinds of opportunities. It helps with college counseling information and providing families with support on how to finance college, study support. It's quite an involved funding opportunity. And then the students don't pay for any of the coursework. So it's really a wonderful opportunity.
Now you were awarded the grant to fund the program from the Early College Joint Committee. Can you describe their reaction to the program as proposed and what kind of feedback you got from them?
It was really nice. They called it historical, they called it groundbreaking because it was so expansive and really was a wall-to-wall experience for every student in the district. They were hoping that it could be a program that could be replicated and used for future programs throughout the state. So that was really exciting.
Beth, is there anything about this program I have not thought to ask you that you feel like is important for folks to understand?
I'm so excited about this, because I think it's a way to take education and create a vision that doesn't involve necessarily being in a school building. It's a way to kind of open those doors. It ties in with getting kids out into the workforce as well as out into higher education opportunities in a way that you don't have to build. It's already here. And so I think that will increase students’ confidence, and will show that after high school, they have confidence to go on and try new things. And we're building that and fostering that confidence before they get out there, and I'm super excited about that.
