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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 "tremendously high" dropout rate, Gho says.
"What this does, is it gives them this head start," Gho says. "It lets them know that college is an option. "Many of our students don't recognize college as an option; it's expensive, no one else in their family has gone."
Dorothy Shockley, an aide for Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, says the expectation of attending college is "a new concept for most Alaska Natives."
Shockley, who grew up in Manley Hot Springs north of Fairbanks, said her grandparents never attended Western schools. Her mother and father, from Tanana and Rampart respectively, only attended grade school. They were discouraged from speaking their native Athabascan language, making learning even more difficult for them.
"People need to realize, a lot of us are second and third generation," in experiencing Western culture, she said.
Shockley graduated from high school in Tanana in the early 1970s and has taken some college courses. Her daughter graduated from Dartmouth College, but both of her sons dropped out of high school in Fairbanks. It's a struggle to keep kids in school, she said. "Some just don't thrive in those types of structured education."
Those are the youth for whom the Effie Kokrine Charter School was designed. The school, for students in grades 7 through 12, came about through a collaboration with several Interior Alaska Native groups. The curriculum is based on the traditional values of Alaska Native culture; the schedule includes a two-week break in September so students can participate in subsistence activities.
It is named for Effie Kokrine, a respected Athabascan elder who often worked with youth in the Tanana Valley.
The most important parts of the charter school's curriculum are the cultural units, six-week units of study integrated with Alaska Native culture, Gho says.
For instance, Gho says, a unit on skin sewing may also require students to write essays and do historical research. It integrates science, social studies and math. Effie Kokrine must also adhere to state and federal education standards, such as No Child Left Behind.
The school opened in fall 2005, but has been struggling to get its enrollment above 150 students, the threshold for receiving a higher level of per-student state funding.
BABY STEPS
The Early College Program began in January 2007, with fewer than two dozen students enrolled. School officials have been actively recruiting students for the 2007 fall semester, focusing on incoming seventh-graders, Laughlin says.
The Early College program is geared toward juniors and seniors, but younger students may also take courses. One student graduated from the school this spring with 22 college credits, Gho said.
The programs are offered through the Tanana Valley Campus and the Interior-Aleutians Campus. Students will get support for a year after completing high school, with the goal of completing an associate's degree or a certificate. The programs are offered in such fields as law enforcement, health care, construction trades, tribal administration, education and human services.
Ross Miller says the program in Fairbanks is just the beginning.
"I really strongly believe it should be the norm for students to be able to successfully make the transition to college.
"I would love to see the university take this on across the state."
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