For 800 Baltimore high school students this week marked a first for them and the city with the opening of three new accelerator schools.
Baltimore Community High School, Baltimore Antioch Diploma Plus and Baltimore Liberation Diploma Plus, operated by One Bright Ray Inc. of Philadelphia and Massachusetts-based Diploma Plus, respectively, are the city's effort to enable students aged 16 to 21 to catch up to peers or graduate early by attending the schools for just two years.
There is, naturally, a catch. Students attending these high schools have extended school days and school years. At one school the freshman year stretches from August to December, and the sophomore year from January to June.
According to theAlliance for Excellent Education, nationwide approximately 1.2 million students fail to graduate on time every year. Without a high school diploma, dropouts have difficulty finding good jobs, are less healthy, die earlier, are more likely to become young parents, are more at risk of involvement with the criminal justice system and more likely to need welfare.
The Open Society Institute-Baltimore provided $675,000 to the Baltimore City Schools Transformation Schools Initiative to help fund the creation of the schools.
OSI-Baltimore director Diana Morris says the Accelerator Schools model is essential in a city where about half of the students don't graduate.
"It's clear we have many students for whom the traditional four-year model is not working," she says. "OSI-Baltimore is focused on increasing learning opportunities and providing better options for young people. And we know that, to become successful citizens, kids need to stay in school."
Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Diana Morris, OSI-Baltimore