2013 Reports

Ten Key Decisions in Creating Early Colleges: Design Options Based on Research

Barnett, Elisabeth; Bucceri, Kristen; Hindo, Claudia; Kim, Jennifer Eunmi

Where do you turn if you want to know how to design an Early College? While there are lots of resources on this topic, there is no summary of the research that provides direction on making key design decisions. Since 2002, the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University has been involved in research and development projects related to Early Colleges. We have worked with a range of schools and intermediaries, but the majority of our work has been carried out in partnership with the Middle College National Consortium.

We wrote this publication to share the findings of our studies and those of many other researchers whose work can be used in making key design decisions. Ultimately, our goal is to support school leaders in creating great Early Colleges – those that offer life‐changing experiences to traditionally underserved students and lead to excellent educational outcomes.