Hoping to give underserved kids a head-start on college, UC Davis
joined Sacramento City College and the Washington Unified School
District in West Sacramento to launch an innovative charter
school in 2007. Students at
West Sacramento Early College Prep can graduate with both a
high school diploma and as many as 30 college credits, or the
equivalent of two years of college.
West Sacramento Early College Prep opened its doors on August 22,
2007, to about 120 6th- and 7th-graders. The school adds one
grade level each year, with the first high school class starting
in fall 2009. By 2012, it will enroll as many as 630 students in
grades 6 through 12.
Engaging students is a fundamental goal of the school, which
focuses on project-based learning methods that encourage students
to pursue their interests. “If students are not honored for what
they know, they will lose interest and often drop out,” says Paul
Heckman, professor and associate dean of the UC Davis School of
Education.
The School believes this unique partnership and approach to
teaching and learning will be a breakthrough model for other
communities seeking a way to engage students at-risk for dropping
out.
Hoping to give under-served students a head-start on college, the
UC Davis School of Education joined Sacramento City College and
the Washington Unified School District in West Sacramento to
launch an innovative early college charter school in 2007. The
first graduating class will celebrate with a special ceremony in
Freeborn Hall on the UC Davis campus in June 2013.
In his op-ed, “Time to rethink what makes a school great, keeps
kids learning,” Dean Harold Levine argues that engagement and
keeping kids in schools must be at the top of our list for what
determines a successful school. Read the piece at the
Sacramento Bee.
On the afternoon of Aug. 20, 2007, Harold Levine, dean of the UC
Davis School of Education, stood at the back of a crowded school
cafeteria in West Sacramento. Ahead of him, sixth- and
seventh-graders and their families murmured in rows of metal
folding chairs. They had come to learn more about a new charter
school, set to open in two days, that promised to prepare every
one of its students for college.
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