QCC and Marlborough High School Receive Early College Designation

WORCESTER, MA—June 13, 2019— Quinsigamond Community College has taken a deeper dive into the waters of early college with Governor Charlie Baker’s announcement on June 13 that included QCC and Marlborough High School as one of 13 high schools and eight public colleges across the Commonwealth to receive early college designation.

Marlborough High School will be partnering with QCC to offer Marlborough High School students early college options to pursue the early college pathway. Marlborough High School students in 9th and 10th grades will be enrolled in honors level classes in math, English Language Arts, history and science, with academic supports built-in to ensure success and readiness for taking college-level courses. In 10th grade, the students will be ready for college-level work and will be placed in credit-bearing courses taken at the high school. Marlborough High School will still offer its STEM pathways in computer science, biotechnology, healthcare, and engineering with QCC. School officials estimate there will more than 150 students enrolled by 2020-2021 school year.

“This partnership with Marlborough High School further embeds QCC into the communities we serve. Offering these type of early college programs enables students to get a jump on their higher education and offers them a seamless pathway to their postsecondary college education and beyond,” said QCC President Dr. Luis G. Pedraja.

QCC, Worcester State University (WSU) and the Worcester Public School System (WPS) were one of four early college programs to receive official designation and part of a $420,000 implementation grant. The Early College Program collaborative effort between QCC, WSU and the WPS was designed to establish college pathways for high school students in all seven Worcester high schools. This early college model creates college and career learning experiences, college credit course offerings, mentoring and wrap-around services to Worcester high school students.

“Exposing students to early college is a way to create opportunities for students to earn college credits in high school and encourage them to continue pursuing a degree,” Governor Charlie Baker said. “We believe early college has such an impact on student success that our administration proposed making it part of a school district’s state aid calculations so that more districts can provide students with these opportunities.”

Each program awarded designation was approved by the Commissioners of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education. Programs received up to $140,000 in implementation grants. To date a total of 35 high schools and 18 colleges in Massachusetts have received early college programs.