Reach for a dream: Effie Kokrine Charter School Early College Program gives Native students a head start on advanced education.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: Alaska Native BUSINESS NEWS - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

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Students at the Effie Kokrine Charter School in Fairbanks are working on their college degrees while still in high school under a program that aims to bridge the divide between the two for students who have a high risk of dropping out of college or who have never considered college as an option.

The Early College Program at Effie Kokrine allows students to take college courses with college instructors, for free. It is funded in part by a four-year $526,140 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding covers tuition for the students and provides them with tutoring and other support services.

The Gates Early College Initiative is part of a nationwide program to encourage more Alaska Native and Native American students to attend college. The program is administered through the Early College Consortium for Native Youth at Antioch University in Seattle.

BRIDGING THE GAP

In Fairbanks, the program bridges the gap between high school and college so students are better prepared for college life, says Carol Lee Gho, Early College Program coordinator at Effie Kokrine. Gho also teaches math at UA's Interior-Aleutians College.

"It gives them a kick-start into college," Gho says. "It gets them into the frame of mind of what a college class is like and what the expectations are. Plus it gives them college credit.

"Our goal is to have all of them graduate from high school with at least some college credits."

Alexis Ross Miller, site coordinator, emphasizes that the classes are not remedial. "You have to have a college curriculum; you have to have college instructors," she says of the program. "They have to rise to the occasion."

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The program differs from Advanced Placement classes taught at many high schools. In order to get college credit for AP classes, students have to pass an exam at the end of the year. In the Early College program, students are actually taking college courses.

The charter school targets "middle-of-the-road" students who are unlikely to want to take Advanced Placement classes, says Effie Kokrine Principal Eleanor Laughlin.

"The whole idea is you start in middle school and really begin preparing the kids for an idea of a career and prepare them to be academically successful," Laughlin says. Study skills and a career exploration class are among the course offerings.

A HEAD START

Many Alaska Native students have trouble adjusting to college and the University of Alaska has a...