CCSD's Early College High School Reveals Failure to Offer Workforce Courses

It's not unique if Charleston County's Early College High School (ECHS), just finishing its inaugural year, copied a program in Horry County touted by Superintendent Postlewait. However, this program could fulfill a need that CCSD graduates paid for in previous years: 60 hours of free college credits. Given the burden of debt most college attendees suffer, that's not small potatoes.

CCSD has correctly selected students scoring between 40 and 60 percent on eighth-grade tests. These students are most likely not to take AP courses and likely to enter a two-year college or technical school prior to attending a four-year institution (if ever). Those initial students have struggled in the hard sciences in this compressed program but mostly succeeded. 

Sadly, most students graduating from CCSD schools must pay for credits they should have taken for free in high school. Our technical colleges have taken over the responsibility to prepare students for work. They've even taken over the responsibility to prepare students for college--check out what percentage of Trident Tech students enrol in remedial courses in any given semester!

Without saying so, this latest program attempts to bridge that gap, especially for those who should succeed in completing a degree or certification program and who come from "under-resourced" families. 

Let's hope that ECHS continues to attract the numbers needed to succeed.