Of 95 ninth-graders who recently completed their first year in Tyler ISD's new Early College High School Program, 93 earned three college credit hours from Tyler Junior College.
Two of them will be sent back to the regular high school program because they were not successful with Education 1300, the orientation course and the easiest college level course that students in the Early College High School Program take, said DelSenna M. Frazier, program director.
"They should be able to master it, so we are losing two students," she said.
Going into the 10th grade in 2016-17, the other early college students will attempt 12 college hours. Thus, the program will become "more rigorous" for them in their second year, Ms. Frazier said. Some may even earn 15 credit hours if they pass the Spanish 3 advanced placement exam as a 10th-grader.
To earn an associate degree during their four years in the Early College High School Program, Tyler ISD students must earn 60 college credit hours.
Out of the total enrollment, 98 percent met the standard in the algebra end of course state accountability test, known as STAAR, 100 percent passed biology and 96 percent passed English, according to the director's report. Those percentages represent one student who did not pass algebra and four students who did not pass English.
The girl who did not pass algebra is not remaining in the program. "We are looking forward to getting all of (the others) up to 100 percent passing," Ms. Frazier said.
Those four will start remediation on June 29. "We will be working with them on different strategies so they can retest," she said. Because all of them are limited English proficient students, Ms. Frazier said, "We will be meeting with teachers to discuss plans to address the LEP students."
The Early College High School Program originally started last school year with 110 students, a number that later dropped to 95.
Some students went back to either John Tyler or Robert E. Lee high school when they realized they were not going to be allowed to participate in team sports, Tyler ISD Superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford said.
Early college students are allowed to participate in Olympic sports such as tennis, golf, swimming and track, but not bigger team sports including volleyball, baseball, basketball or football. Nor are they allowed to participate in band.
A breakdown showed 66 students who finished the first year of the Early College High School Program came from the John Tyler High School attendance zone and 29 came from the Robert E. Lee High School attendance zone.
The number of applicants was 150, of which 118 returned acceptance letters and 110 reported to Summer Bridge, a program that prepares students for early college.
An analysis showed the number of students from the different Tyler ISD middle schools who finished the first year of early college: Boulter, 24; Dogan, 30; Hogg, 18; Hubbard, nine; Moore, 17; and Stewart, 20.
For the 2016-17 school year, 153 upcoming ninth-graders submitted applications for early college. Of those, 90 are from the John Tyler attendance zone and 32 are from the Lee attendance zone.
A breakdown of the campuses they are from shows: Boulter, 17; Dogan, 34; Hogg, 25; Hubbard, 11; Moore, 17; Three Lakes, four; John Tyler, 10; Robert E. Lee, six; and out-of-district, two.
Twitter: @Betty_TMT