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52–241 PDF 2009

HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE 

DUAL ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, 

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 

COMMITTEE ON 

EDUCATION AND LABOR 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

HEARING HELD IN FLINT, MI, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 

Serial No. 111–31 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor 

( 

Available on the Internet: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/house/education/index.html 
(II) 

GEORGE MILLER, California, Chairman 

Dale E. Kildee, Michigan, Vice Chairman 

Donald M. Payne, New Jersey 

Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey 

Robert C. ‘‘Bobby’’ Scott, Virginia 

Lynn C. Woolsey, California 

Rube ́n Hinojosa, Texas 

Carolyn McCarthy, New York 

John F. Tierney, Massachusetts 

Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio 

David Wu, Oregon 

Rush D. Holt, New Jersey 

Susan A. Davis, California 

Rau ́l M. Grijalva, Arizona 

Timothy H. Bishop, New York 

Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania 

David Loebsack, Iowa 

Mazie Hirono, Hawaii 

Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania 

Phil Hare, Illinois 

Yvette D. Clarke, New York 

Joe Courtney, Connecticut 

Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire 

Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio 

Jared Polis, Colorado 

Paul Tonko, New York 

Pedro R. Pierluisi, Puerto Rico 

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, 

Northern Mariana Islands 

Dina Titus, Nevada 

Judy Chu, California 

John Kline, Minnesota, 

Senior Republican Member 

Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin 

Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon, California 

Peter Hoekstra, Michigan 

Michael N. Castle, Delaware 

Mark E. Souder, Indiana 

Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan 

Judy Biggert, Illinois 

Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania 

Joe Wilson, South Carolina 

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington 

Tom Price, Georgia 

Rob Bishop, Utah 

Brett Guthrie, Kentucky 

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana 

Tom McClintock, California 

Duncan Hunter, California 

David P. Roe, Tennessee 

Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania 

Mark Zuckerman, Staff Director 

Sally Stroup, Republican Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, 

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 

DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan, Chairman 

Donald M. Payne, New Jersey 

Robert C. ‘‘Bobby’’ Scott, Virginia 

Rush D. Holt, New Jersey 

Susan A. Davis, California 

Rau ́l M. Grijalva, Arizona 

Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania 

David Loebsack, Iowa 

Mazie Hirono, Hawaii 

Jared Polis, Colorado 

Pedro R. Pierluisi, Puerto Rico 

Gregorio Sablan, Northern Mariana Islands 

Lynn C. Woolsey, California 

Rube ́n Hinojosa, Texas 

Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio 

Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania 

Dina Titus, Nevada 

Judy Chu, California 

Michael N. Castle, Delaware, 

Ranking Minority Member 

Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin 

Peter Hoekstra, Michigan 

Mark E. Souder, Indiana 

Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan 

Judy Biggert, Illinois 

Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania 

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington 

Rob Bishop, Utah 

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana 

Tom McClintock, California 

Duncan Hunter, California 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on September 18, 2009 ..................................................................... 1 

Statement of Members: 

Hinojosa, Hon. Rube ́n, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Texas .............................................................................................................. 4 

Hirono, Hon. Mazie, a Representative in Congress from the State of 

Hawaii ............................................................................................................ 5 

Kildee, Hon. Dale E., Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education .............................................................. 1 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 2 

Additional submission: 

Princinsky, Dr. Julianne T., president, Baker College, prepared 

statement of .................................................................................... 47 

Payne, Hon. Donald M., a Representative in Congress from the State 

of New Jersey ................................................................................................ 3 

Statement of Witnesses: 

Brooks, John Otis II, 5th year Mott Middle College High School student .. 17 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 19 

Lotfi, Vahid, Ph.D., interim provost and vice chancellor for academic 

affairs, University of Michigan-Flint ........................................................... 10 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 12 

Shaink, M. Richard, Ph.D., president, Mott Community College ................. 14 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 16 

Additional submissions: 

Table: ‘‘Minority Growth Overtime for Mott Middle College High 

School’’ ............................................................................................. 44 

Quantitative results charts ............................................................... 45 

Skorcz, Stephen, MPH, FACHE, president and CEO, Greater Flint 

Health Coalition ............................................................................................ 20 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 20 

Svitkovich, Thomas, Ed.D., superintendent, Genesee Intermediate School 

District ........................................................................................................... 7 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 9 

Webb, Dr. Michael, associate vice president, Early College High School 

Initiative, Jobs for the Future, Early College High School Initiative 

Student Information System ........................................................................ 22 

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 23 

(1) 

HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE 

DUAL ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS 

Friday, September 18, 2009 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 

Elementary and Secondary Education 

Committee on Education and Labor 

Washington, DC 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:12 p.m., at the 

Northbank Center Ballroom, University of Michigan, 432 North 

Saginaw Street, Flint, Michigan, Hon. Dale Kildee [chairman of the 

subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Kildee, Payne, Hirono and Hinojosa. 

Staff Present: Lillian Pace, Policy Advisor, Subcommittee on 

Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. 

Chairman KILDEE. A quorum being present, the hearing of the 

subcommittee will come to order. I would like to make an opening 

statement and then call upon my colleagues for that, but I want 

to point out that this panel is a great representation of America. 

We have, first of all, Donald Payne, my seat mate from New Jersey, an African-American. We have Ruben Hinojosa from Texas, a 

Hispanic-American. We have Mazie Hirono from Hawaii, JapaneseAmerican, and the son of Ireland, Dale Kildee. This represents 

America, the greatness of America, and I’m very proud to serve 

with these people on the education and labor subcommittee. 

I’m pleased to welcome the committee here. I could not think of 

a better location for today’s hearing. Just like many communities 

throughout the nation, Flint, Michigan is not without its challenges. In the face of record unemployment and significant economic downturn this community is working hard to change its future, a future which rests in the hands of today’s students. 

Earlier this year, in his address to a joint session of Congress, 

President Obama asked every American to commit to at least one 

year of college and pledge to do more to make college accessible 

and affordable for all Americans. This is an important goal for communities like Flint and one we can accomplish if we invest in initiatives that give every American the opportunity to pursue higher 

education. 

In Michigan and a growing number of states across the country 

dual enrollment and early college programs have emerged as a 

promising strategy to accomplish this. Dual enrollment and early 

college programs enable students to earn high school and college 
2 

credits simultaneously, fulfilling the requirements for a high school 

diploma by putting them one step closer to a college degree. 

Students participating in an early college program, for example, 

typically graduate with between 30 and 60 college credits tuition 

free. This translates to as much as one or two years of college education. For nearly half of African-American students and 40 percent of Latino students attending high schools where the majority 

of the students do not graduate we must change our approach. We 

owe the same commitment to our low-income students who are five 

times less likely to earn a college degree than our middle- and 

upper-class students. Indeed, a significant number of gifted students are high school dropouts. Very often they become bored and 

are not challenged and drop out. Dual enrollment and early college 

programs provide these students with challenging opportunities, 

and they see their academic performance blossom and grow. 

To build on this success I’ve introduced the Fast Track to College 

Act with my Senate colleague, Herb Kohl, from Wisconsin. This 

legislation would invest in the expansion of successful dual enrollment and early college programs and provide resources for the establishment of new programs nationwide. It is my hope that more 

at-risk students have the same opportunity as the students and 

alumni of Mott Middle College and Genesee Early College. 

Today we will hear from one of these students as well as administrators and partners in Genesee County’s two early college programs, Mott Middle College and Genesee Early College. I hope today’s testimony provides our committee with greater understanding 

of the potential dual enrollment programs have for reforming our 

nation’s high schools and increasing access to postsecondary education. 

I want to thank all our witnesses for their time this morning, 

and I would like now to yield to the other members of the subcommittee and actually go by order of seniority and call upon Mr. 

Payne from New Jersey. 

[The statement of Mr. Kildee follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Dale E. Kildee, Chairman, Subcommittee on 

Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education 

I’m pleased to welcome my fellow Subcommittee members to my hometown. It is 

an honor to have each of you here today. I also want to welcome the public, and 

our witnesses, to today’s hearing on high school/college dual enrollment programs. 

I cannot think of a better location for today’s hearing. Just like many communities 

throughout the nation, Flint, Michigan is not without its challenges. In the face of 

record unemployment and significant economic downturn, this community is working hard to change its future. A future, which rests in the hands of today’s students. 

Earlier this year, in his address to a joint session of congress, President Obama 

asked every american to commit to at least one year of college and pledged to do 

more to make college accessible and affordable for all Americans. 

This is an important goal for communities like Flint, and one we can accomplish 

if we invest in initiatives that give every american the opportunity to pursue higher 

education. 

In michigan, and a growing number of states through the country, dual enrollment and early college programs have emerged as one promising strategy. 

Dual enrollment and early college programs enable students to earn high school 

and college credit simultaneously, fulfilling the requirements for a high school diploma while putting them one step closer to a college degree. Students participating 

in an early college program, for example, typically graduate with between 30 and 

60 college credits—tuition free. This translates to as much as 1-2 years of college 

education. 
3 

With nearly half of african-american students and 40 percent of latino students 

attending high schools where the majority of students do not graduate, we must 

change our approach. We owe the same commitment to our low-income students 

who are five times less likely to earn a college degree than our Middle-and upperclass students, and gifted students who make up 20 percent of high school dropouts. 

Indeed, a high number of gifted children are at risk-of dropping out because they 

lack the academic challenge in their current programs. 

Dual enrollment and Early College programs provide that opportunity. Students 

at these schools have seen their academic performance improve, their future opportunities expand, and their support system grow. 

To build on this success, I have introduced the Fast Track to College Act with 

my Senate colleague Herb Kohl. This legislation would invest in the expansion of 

successful dual enrollment and early college programs and provide resources for the 

establishment of new programs nationwide. It is my hope that more at-risk students 

have the same opportunity as the students and alumni of Mott Middle College and 

Genesee Early College. 

Today, We will hear from one of these students, as well as administrators and 

partners in Genesee County’s two early college programs—Mott Middle College and 

Genesee Early College. I hope today’s testimony provides our committee with greater understanding of the potential dual enrollment programs have for reforming our 

nation’s high schools and increasing access to postsecondary education. 

I want to thank all of our witnesses for their participation in today’s hearing and 

I look forward to your testimony. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and let me say 

that it’s a real pleasure to be here to participate in the hearing of 

your subcommittee dealing with high school/college dual-enrollment 

programs. 

Let me just say to you in the audience—and I’m sure I’m not telling you something that you don’t already know, but Congressman 

Kildee is probably the most respected member of the United States 

Congress because of the great ethical and moral leadership he has. 

He is a person that we all admire, and when I came to Congress 

I was very privileged to have a seat close to him. I’ve gotten closer 

over the years, and I look—at each term I look forward to joining 

his subcommittee because of all of the innovation and interest that 

he has in all of his constituents, so it’s an honor to be here with 

him. 

Let me just say that I have a daughter who was educated here, 

actually at Michigan State. I don’t know which one of the Michigans is less expensive, but I know the one that she went to was 

tough for out-of-state students, you know. But let me say it’s always great to be here. 

I’ve been to Flint before and it’s really great to see your town just 

fighting back. We all have been hit with the economic downturn, 

but it tells the character of people when things get tough, you 

know, the tough get going. They won’t accept no, and I think that 

the character of this region and of this particular district that Mr. 

Kildee leads I think is certainly exemplified as we came through 

the town and saw various projects beginning and people highlighting parks and talking about art. 

And I think that perhaps the downturn will give us an opportunity to once again appreciate things around us, you know, our 

backyards and the color of the leaves and the things that perhaps 

we got away from in the great economy. I’m not saying therefore 

we should always have a bad economy; however, I’m simply saying 

that we are turning to things that we—we’re realizing and opening 

new doors. I know we’ll all come back, we will certainly deal with 
4 

the issue, but I just wanted to say it’s a pleasure to be here. Thank 

you. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Payne. 

Mr. Hinojosa, from South Texas. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank 

Chairman Dale Kildee for holding this field hearing and for welcoming me to his congressional district. We have worked together 

on many education issues in Washington, D.C., so I’m delighted to 

be here to listen to the witnesses on the issues of early college and 

the dual credit enrollment programs. But before my prepared remarks, I commend you for your selection of your new chancellor, 

Ruth Person, as someone who has roots in Texas. The chancellor 

and I have already met and made friends. 

I am delighted to be here and to share with you that I also wanted to briefly share what we’ve done in my state of Texas on these 

issues that we will hear the panelists tell us about their successes. 

In the year 2006 our Texas state legislature enacted legislation 

to increase dual-enrollment-credit programs in all of our school districts. The legislation requires each school district to implement a 

program under which students may earn at least 12 semester credit hours of college credit in high school. I’m pleased however that 

some of our local school districts are offering far more than 12 

hours of college credit, as I heard Dale say is happening here. 

In the last decade Texas has been—has seen participation rates 

in dual-enrollment-credit programs grow significantly. In the year 

2000 there were 18,000 students enrolled in dual-credit programs. 

Six years forward, the year 2006, that figure climbed to 42,000 students. Participation rates for Hispanic and African-American students have increased significantly due to the expansion of early college high schools and the dual-enrollment programs in our state. 

In Texas we have found that students that take dual-credit courses 

are more likely to enroll in postsecondary institutions and graduate. 

I am one of the founders of the South Texas Community College 

back 15 years ago. We opened our doors with 800 college students 

and today, 15 years later, we have 23,000 students. We changed 

the name to South Texas College. It’s located in McAllen, Texas 

and serves my congressional district and has partnerships with 19 

school districts and 42 high school sites. The difference is that we 

have cities like McAllen with four high schools, and that’s where 

the difference is. 

The number of students served by the dual-enrollment program 

at South Texas College has grown from 425 high school students 

in 1999 to 8,400 this year. Early college high schools and dual-enrollment programs have served as a strategy for dropout recovery 

in my district. I’d like to highlight the impressive work of Pharr 

San-Juan Alamo. We call it PSJA for short. 

In 2007 the school district established the College Career and 

Technology Academy, which included a partnership with South 

Texas College to offer dual-credit opportunities for young people. In 

the short two-year period they have significantly improved the 

graduation rate for our largely Hispanic and low-income students 

through the work at that academy. They cut the dropout rate by 
5 

70 percent and increased the number of graduates from 960 to 

1,600 students in only two years. 

I am pleased to inform you that Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation have recognized PSJA Superintendent Dr. King with many 

honors and large school grants to promote math and science. Thus 

the PSJA school district just opened a T-STEM early college high 

school. In Texas T-STEM early college high school provides advanced educational opportunities for all students to exceed graduation requirements by obtaining an associate’s degree before graduating from high school. 

T-STEM early college school in Texas creates career pathways for 

STEM fields, which is science, technology, engineering and math, 

particularly for Hispanic and low-income students, and I’m pleased 

that we are expanding this successful model. 

Finally, as I approach my closing I want to say thank you to 

Congressman Kildee. He does an excellent job. We look up to him 

because of his many experiences, his wisdom, and he has been a 

very strong supporter of the changes and improvements that we 

want to make to No Child Left Behind. So I thank you, sir, and 

I want to say that the formula for success is connecting high school 

students to college early and providing them with enriched and rigorous coursework and connecting them to our local community colleges and universities before the students leave high school. 

I look forward to hearing from today’s witnesses about the work 

that is being done here in Michigan and I hope to take back your 

ideas to my own congressional district. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Ruben. 

And now a woman who could have chosen to be in Hawaii right 

now but chose Michigan instead, Congresswoman Hirono. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you, Chairman Kildee, and aloha, everybody. 

Obviously I’m pleased to be here because I serve on Mr. Kildee’s 

subcommittee and I also serve on Chairman Hinojosa’s subcommittee. Education is really foundational. I am a first-generation 

immigrant, and English is not my first language. I am the first in 

my family to go to college, and aside from my mother who changed 

my life by bringing me to this country so that her three children— 

I was brought up by her as a single parent so that her three children could have a future in a better place than where we were. 

Education has been the great equalizer in my life, and so I certainly understand all of our focus on making sure that education, 

which is a continuum—it starts before birth and all throughout 

life—education is a continuum and we need to do everything we 

can at the federal level to make sure that we are partnering with 

the states, with the counties, with other jurisdictions, with the 

philanthropic community to create opportunities for our people. 

And especially at a time when our country is losing ground in 

terms of educational attainment vis-a-vis other countries, we need 

to be even more diligent in what we’re doing, and I am looking forward to your testimony because early college programs and dualenrollment programs are yet other ways that we can ensure, especially for our young people who might otherwise not be able to go 

to college, not be enticed to go to college, to be able to have that 

experience. 
6 

We’ve done a lot in our committee on education and labor in the 

House to promote these kinds of opportunities, and just yesterday 

we in the House passed a very important bill that enables more 

people to be able to go to college through expansion of our loan programs, federal loan programs, to support our community colleges. 

And for me particularly as a proponent of quality early education 

there’s a huge piece in partnering with the states to provide them 

grants to enable our states to create quality early-education opportunities for all of our children. 

And then—well, on a personal note, my family has—we’ve covered two of the big universities in this state because my husband 

is a University of Michigan graduate and his sister is a Michigan 

State graduate, so that just about covers, you know, a lot of the 

field. I’m very happy to be here, look forward to hearing your 

views. Aloha. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Congresswoman 

Hirono. 

I will now introduce all the witnesses and then we’ll start with 

Tom Svitkovich testifying, but I’ll introduce them all. 

Our first witness, Dr. Tom Svitkovich, serves as superintendent 

of the Genesee Intermediate School District. He has been an educator for nearly 45 years. He served as a math teacher and a building 

administrator at various levels prior to becoming deputy superintendent in the Wayne-Westland Community Schools. He served 

as superintendent of the Carmen-Ainsworth Community Schools 

for five years and joined Genesee Intermediate School District as 

superintendent in 1987. He holds two master’s degrees and earned 

his doctorate from Wayne State University. 

Dr. Lotfi currently serves as the interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint. He 

is the chief academic officer for the university and oversees the 

Genesee Early College program which convenes on the university 

campus. Dr. Lotfi also holds the rank of professor of management 

science, School of Management at U of M Flint. He has a B.S. in 

electrical engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in operations research 

from SUNY in Buffalo. 

Dr. Richard Shaink, who happens to be my neighbor near my 

home here in Flint, has served as president of Mott Community 

College since March of 2000. Prior to that he served in various educational and business roles including a former college campus 

president, multicampus vice president, instruction dean, college, 

business industry director, shopping center general manager, industrial sales representative, production line supervisor, full-time 

high school teacher and an adjunct instructor at Michigan State 

University and Lansing Community College. He received his Ph.D. 

in educational administration from Michigan State University but 

says that he is most proud of the associate of arts degree he earned 

at Jackson Junior College. 

John Otis Brooks, II, is a Flint, Michigan resident. He has attended Mott Middle College High School for the last three years 

and will graduate in June 2010 with both a high school diploma 

and associate’s degree in business management from Mott Community College. He has already earned 32 college credits and has been 

on both the high school honor roll and the college dean’s list, and 
7 

he initiated several all-school projects including a student 

mentorship program. He is an award-winning bowler and loves 

basketball and sign language. He plans on attending a four-year 

university to complete a bachelor’s degree in business management. 

Stephen Skorcz I’ve met many times here in Flint and in my office in Washington, has been president of the Greater Flint Health 

Coalition since mid 1997. He has worked in healthcare for 50 

years, has spent the last 32 years heading hospital and community 

coalitions committed to voluntary planning and coordinating health 

services in their communities. Mr. Skorcz spent ten years working 

in the Canadian healthcare system on health policy and planning, 

and is president of the Hospital Council of Metro Toronto. In addition to the coalition activity he has been a hospital administrator 

in both Chicago and New York City. Stephen has undergraduate 

degrees from DePaul University, the University of Illinois in Chicago and a master of public health, MPH, in hospital administration from Yale University. 

Dr. Michael Webb leads the early college high school initiative 

capacity building work for Jobs for the Future. This includes support for the network of 13 early college intermediary organizations 

and management of the early college student information systems, 

a secure system of confidential collection of data about students attending early college schools throughout the United States. Prior to 

joining Jobs for the Future he served as vice president of New Vision for Public Schools where he helped lead the effort to create 

smaller schools in New York City. As director of education at the 

National Urban League he was a voice for community involvement 

in mathematics and science education reform. Dr. Webb received a 

B.A. in engineering, English, ethics studies from St. John Fisher 

College, an M.A. from San Francisco State University and a doctorate of education from Teacher’s College Columbia University. 

Welcome to all our witnesses, and now we’ll call upon our first 

witness, Tom Svitkovich. But before we begin let me briefly explain 

our lighting system. The five-minute rule exists in Congress and 

that applies to members of Congress and the witnesses. Everyone 

therefore will be limited to five minutes of presentation or questioning. The light is green when you begin to speak. When you see 

the yellow light it means you have one minute remaining. When 

the light turns red your time has expired and you need to conclude 

your testimony. Please be certain that you speak into the mic and 

there is no chair to throw you out of there if you do go a little over. 

We’re somewhat flexible because we want to hear what you have 

to say, so Tom. 

STATEMENT OF THOMAS SVITKOVICH, ED.D., SUPERINTENDENT, GENESEE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DISTRICT 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairman Kildee 

and members of the community for the opportunity to address the 

Fast Track to College Act. The Genesee Intermediate School District is pleased to be the operating agent for the Genesee Early College. We were the successful recipient of the state grant which enabled us to build this program from the ground up. Our first steps 

included developing a partnership with the University of MichiganFlint, our region’s three hospitals, Hurley, Genesys and McLaren, 
8 

the Greater Flint Health Coalition and the Charles Stewart Mott 

Foundation. 

The program is focused on students with a strong interest in pursuing a career in the health employment sector. The student body 

includes future doctors, physicians’ assistants and medical technologists. It is an extremely rigorous program. Each student who 

graduates after five years will earn a high school diploma and 60 

transferable college credits. 

The power of our program is that it quickens the pace and allows 

students to enter their medical profession of choice a year earlier. 

It also guarantees a higher success rate for students after graduation as they pursue their degree. Out first steps also included 

working with our partners, hiring a talented staff and solving the 

ever-present financial challenges to ensure that we could operate 

the program. These financial issues will continue to plague us since 

we were one of a handful of the nation’s early colleges located on 

the campus of a four-year institution of higher education. 

This program includes first-hand experience with physicians and 

other medical specialists. The power of the place, the power of the 

university, the power of the hospital setting is extremely important. We cannot build this kind of learning environment in a traditional high school. The program is totally different, innovative and 

extremely effective. Even with the initial infusion of capital from 

both public and private partners, the long-term success of this intensive on-site learning environment requires additional resources. 

We are no strangers to the challenges of operating middle colleges and early colleges. We were the first middle college in Michigan and one of a few in the nation to open its doors 20 years ago. 

Today nearly—well, it’s really over—today over 400 students attend Mott Middle College. These students have all dropped out or 

have experienced limited success in a traditional high school. They 

are now graduating—and you’ll hear about this soon—with college 

courses, and some leave with an associate’s degree. We pattern the 

Genesee Early College after our successful Mott Middle College 

program. These two schools are prime examples of why the Fast 

Track to College Act is essential. Without the help of the federal 

government we will not be able to deliver our promise to the 

brightest and best, nor to those with amazing potential that will 

go unrealized without these types of programs. 

Our support for Fast Track to College Act is based on several factors. First, research shows that students who complete a minimum 

of 26 hours of postsecondary credit while still in high school have 

an 85 percent chance of finishing their bachelor’s degree. Second, 

we see an important economic need to prepare more medical professionals to fill positions and maintain service capacity as our 

baby boomer population transitions into retirement. Finally, we believe the Fast Track to College Act reflects upon the many years 

of experience and success we’ve had at our Mott Middle College. 

A federal investment in Fast Track to College Act programs can 

provide schools serving low-income students with resources and incentives to establish and support early college high schools. Such 

an investment will help more students obtain a postsecondary credential by exposing them to the rigors of college-level work, moti-
9 

vating them to continue their postsecondary education and saving 

them money in the process. 

With your support we can begin to break down the walls created 

by poverty. This is an opportunity for students that they otherwise 

will not have without your support. It is about giving our young 

people the opportunity to compete and win in a world economy. 

I want to again thank you, Congressman Kildee and the members of the committee, for this opportunity, and I will be very 

happy to answer your questions, but before I do so I’d like to introduce President Larry Ford. Larry Ford is president of the Genesee 

Intermediate School District and he’s been with us for several 

years and he’s a strong advocate and supporter of both our middle 

college and the early college. Larry Ford was on board when we 

first set and started Mott Middle College; in fact, we’re celebrating 

our 19th birthday this year. So I really want to thank Larry for his 

support and for being here this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Kildee. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. 

[The statement of Mr. Svitkovich follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Thomas Svitkovich, Ed.D., Superintendent, Genesee 

Intermediate School District 

Good afternoon. My name is Thomas Svitkovich, and I am the Superintendent of 

Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD), which is Genesee County’s regional 

educational service agency. 

Our organization is pleased to be the operating agent for the Genesee Early College, a high school on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint. We were the 

successful recipient of a state grant which enabled us to build this program from 

the ground up. Our first steps included developing a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint, our region’s three hospitals (Hurley Medical Center, Genesys 

Regional Medical Center, and McLaren Regional Medical Center), the Greater Flint 

Health Coalition, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. This concept of an 

early college is also supported by the 21 constituent K-12 school districts in Genesee 

County, along with districts bordering the county, who send us their students. 

The program is focused on students with a strong interest in pursuing a career 

in the health employment sector. The student body includes future doctors, nurses, 

physician assistants, and medical technologists, as well as students pursuing just 

about every other health related career you could think of. It is an extremely rigorous program, including a full high school curriculum and two years of college 

work. Each student that graduates from our program will earn a high school diploma and 60 transferrable college credits. 

Many of our students will complete their bachelor’s degree at University of Michigan-Flint, some will transfer to schools in the area, and some will leave the state 

to pursue their baccalaureate coursework in the nation’s colleges and universities. 

Middle College and early college research has proven that five year programs for 

high school students located on a college campus which includes significant college 

work all but eliminates the dropout possibilities faced by today’s first and second 

year college students. The power of our program is that it quickens the pace and 

allows students to enter their medical profession of choice a year earlier. It also 

guarantees a higher rate of success for our students after graduation as they pursue 

their degree. 

Our first steps after the collaboration was formed included working with our partners, hiring a talented staff, and solving the ever present financial challenges to ensure that we could operate the program. These financial issues will continue to 

plague us since we are one of a handful of the nation’s early colleges located on the 

campus of a four-year institution of higher education. We are pioneers in the development of these types of programs that are highly effective and have a positive impact on our economy. In the future, the equation for this program can be transferred 

to engineers and other high demand professions, quickening the pace for getting the 

right people into new programs to move our economy forward. 

This program, because of our very effective partnerships with the health community, includes first hand experience with physicians and other medical specialists. 

The power of the place, the power of the university, the power of the hospital setting 

is extremely important. We cannot build this kind of learning laboratory in a tradi-
10 

tional high school. The program is totally different, innovative and extremely effective. It cannot be delivered without leveraging resources from a variety of sources. 

Even with the initial infusion of capital from both public and private partners, the 

long-term success of this intensive, on-site learning environment requires additional 

resources. However, we are no stranger to the challenge of operating middle colleges and 

early colleges. We are celebrating the 19th anniversary of Mott Middle College on 

the campus of Mott Community College. We were the first middle college in Michigan, and one of a few in the nation to open its doors nearly 20 years ago. We have 

been extremely pleased with the growth and evolution of this program, especially 

the success of our graduates. Today, nearly 400 students attend Mott Middle College. These students have all dropped out or experienced limited success in a traditional high school setting. These students enter our program with an average GPA 

of 1.6. A few years later, they graduate with an average GPA of 3.1 and all have 

completed a minimum of a handful of college courses. Some leave with an Associates 

Degree. 

We patterned Genesee Early College after our successful Mott Middle College. 

These two schools are prime examples of why the Fast Track to College Act is essential; especially with regard to the high rigor required for success in the health employment sector. Without the help of the federal government, we will not be able 

to deliver our promise to the brightest and the best, nor to those with amazing potential that will go unrealized without these types of programs. These students have 

made sacrifices and choices for opportunities which surpass those available through 

a traditional high school experience. They are capable of succeeding in a very competitive environment with our help, and we are doing our best to ensure their success 

Our support for the Fast Track to College Act is based on several factors. First, 

we believe this legislation reflects the research that supports the development of 

early colleges and middle colleges. Research shows that students, who complete a 

minimum of 26 hours of post-secondary credit, while still in high school, have an 

85% chance of finishing their bachelors’ degree (Adelman, 1999). Second, we see an 

important economic need to fill vacant medical positions. This is true at the national 

level, but especially on the local level. There is a demand to prepare more medical 

professionals to fill positions and maintain service capacity as our baby boomer population transitions into retirement. We also see the need because of the rapidly 

growing need for technical knowledge within the field, like the new micro surgeries 

and the pervasive use of technologies. New doctors will have this knowledge. Finally, we believe the Fast Track to College Act reflects upon the many years of experience and success we’ve had at our Mott Middle College. 

A federal investment in fast-track programs can provide schools serving low-income students with resources and incentives to establish and support dual enrollment programs and early college high schools. Such an investment will help more 

students obtain a postsecondary credential by exposing them to the rigors of collegelevel work, motivating them to continue their postsecondary education, and saving 

them money in the process. With this support, we can begin to break down the walls 

created by poverty. Aside from the economic, health, and poverty factors, however, 

the bottom line is students. This is an opportunity for students they otherwise will 

not have without your support. It’s all about giving our young people the opportunity to compete and win in a world economy. 

I want to again thank Congressman Kildee and members of the Committee for 

this opportunity. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. 

Chairman KILDEE. Larry and I date back at least to 1964. 

Mr. FORD. That’s right. 

Chairman KILDEE. Been friends ever since and I appreciate all 

you’ve done. 

Our next witness is Dr. Lotfi. 

STATEMENT OF VAHID LOTFI, PH.D., INTERIM PROVOST AND 

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY 

OF MICHIGAN 

Mr. LOTFI. I welcome this opportunity to present the extraordinary partnership between our university and Genesee Intermediate School District which has resulted in the creation of the 
11 

Genesee Early College. Today I’ll speak to the success of this venture from the perspective of the university and how well these students have assimilated into our campus culture. 

First, a bit about the university. The University of MichiganFlint is one of three campuses of the world-renowned University of 

Michigan. We offer over 120 degree programs including two doctoral degrees. More than 7,700 students are enrolled on our campus. The symbiotic relationship between the campus and its community is evident in this city. We are the area’s 11th largest employer, spending millions of dollars annually in Genesee County. 

We are known for our commitment to the university both economically and through partnerships such as the GEC. 

The GEC is a direct response to the State of Michigan Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth. In a report issued 

by the commission in 2004 there was a specific recommendation for 

expanding the opportunities for early college achievement. We 

joined the GISD responding to the charge in 2007 with this unique 

school which allows us to provide an integrated K-16 experience for 

our students preparing them for careers in health professions. GEC 

is a lifeline providing accessibility to college education that is not 

readily available to many deserving students. 

Parents and students have found our campus to be a warm, welcoming place conducive to quality education. Last week over 150 

students arrived on our campus. Impressive statistics from 2008, 

2009 academic year clearly delineate the success of these students 

in the university setting. GEC students were enrolled in 78 separate UM-Flint courses and collectively earned over 1,900 college 

credits. The average 12th grader had 26 college credits and 11th 

graders on average 13 credits. But more importantly the overall 

grade point average of these students in their college courses was 

slightly higher than that of our own freshmen students. Their accomplishments are simply outstanding. We are extremely pleased 

with the level of aptitude and preparedness these students are 

showing in their studies. 

Now I have an example that goes above and beyond statistics 

and truly illustrates the character and dedication of GEC’s students. It’s a story of two students who sought to join the most prestigious program on campus, the honors program. Thaer Farhan and 

Abdul Kazmi are two GEC students who have decided they want 

a challenge. They approached the director of the honors program, 

Dr. Thum, asking if they could enroll. Noting their strong academic 

record Dr. Thum agreed and after a year in the program Dr. Thum 

describes Thaer and Abdul as hardworking and goal oriented. This 

success has resulted in Dr. Thum allowing two reserve seats for 

Genesee Early College students every year in the honors program. 

It is an indisputable fact that people with education beyond the 

high school diploma have an economic advantage. Further, it’s been 

proven that the key to sustained fiscal viability for a state is to 

have a highly educated work force. The GEC is precisely the right 

place at the right time, exposing our children to college environment during high school will increase the likelihood they will matriculate through to an undergraduate degree and beyond. 

Now a little bit about two more families. The Mateen family has 

always told their children they will go to college. Jonathon and 
12 

Tamra Mateen are Genesee County residents. They have two children, Janay and Jonathon, who are with us here, both GEC students. Janay is a senior who is actively pursuing the field of anesthesia. When she graduates she will have earned more than 60 college credits. Jonathon is sophomore. 

Professor Donna Fry is the director of the physical therapy program and the mother of 17-year-old twins, Kathryn and Kristina, 

who are with us as well. They are 13th graders who have earned 

41 UM credits with perfect grade point averages, 4.0. She is also 

extremely pleased with this experience. 

The GEC is just one example of why Congressman Kildee’s H.R. 

1578, the Fast Track to College, is so essential to the future of our 

state and the economy. By investing in early college education and 

dual enrollment the Fast Track is the right track to providing our 

children with necessary tools to compete in a global state. I strongly encourage the support for the Fast Track to College since I witness every day the solid results that come from well-executed early 

college programs. 

It’s been an honor to talk before you. Thank you for your time. 

I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Dr. Lotfi. 

[The statement of Mr. Lotfi follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Vahid Lotfi, Ph.D., Interim Provost and Vice 

Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Michigan-Flint 

Partnership and Progress: The Success of the Genesee Early College at the University 

of Michigan-Flint 

Good afternoon. My name is Vahid Lotfi, and I am the Interim Provost and Vice 

Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint. I welcome this 

opportunity to describe in some detail the extraordinary partnership between this 

university and the Genesee Intermediate School District which has resulted in the 

Genesee Early College. What I will speak to today is the success of this venture 

from the perspective of the university, and how well these students have assimilated 

into our campus culture as they pursue their career interests in the varied areas 

of the health professions. 

But first, a bit about our campus. 

The University of Michigan-Flint is one of three campuses of the world-renowned 

University of Michigan. We offer more than 120 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate and two doctoral degrees. More than 7,700 students are enrolled 

on our campus. The symbiotic relationship between a campus and its community is 

evident in this city. The University of Michigan-Flint is the area’s 11th largest employer, spending millions of dollars annually within Genesee County. The University 

of Michigan-Flint is known for its commitment to the community both economically 

and through partnerships such as the Genesee Early College. 

The Genesee Early College is a direct response to the State of Michigan’s Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth which had the charge of developing 

a plan to double the number of college graduates in the state. In a report issued 

by the Commission in 2004, there was a specific recommendation for expanding the 

opportunities for Early College achievement. The report states, quote, ‘‘* * * Rather 

than hold its students back, Michigan must be willing to accelerate the pace of 

learning to realize education gains that will translate into a stronger economy and 

better jobs.’’ We joined the Genesee Intermediate School District in responding to 

the charge in 2007 with this unique school, which allows us to continue our commitment to providing an integrated K-16 experience for students, preparing them for 

careers in high-need, understaffed health professions pathways. The Genesee Early 

College is a lifeline, providing accessibility to education that is not readily available 

to all deserving students. The combination of high school and university classes 

gives bright young minds the chance to achieve at a high level, and gain access to 

one of the University of Michigan campuses. 

Parents and students have found the University of Michigan-Flint to be a warm, 

welcoming place that provides an atmosphere, conducive to quality learning. Last 
13 

week, over 100 Genesee Early College students arrived on our campus. They join 

what will be the largest student body in the history of our university when our official enrollment numbers are released next week. Impressive statistics from the 

2008/2009 academic year clearly delineate the success of these students in a university setting. 

During the last academic year, Genesee Early College students were enrolled in 

78 separate UM-Flint courses and collectively earned over 1,900 UM-Flint (college) 

credits. The average 12th grader last year earned 26 UM-Flint credits and 11th 

graders have completed on average 13 credits. The overall grade point average of 

these students in their UM-Flint courses rose last year to an average of 2.87 compared to 2.62 for students who fall under the First Time In Any College (FTIAC) 

category. 

These accomplishments are simply outstanding, and we are extremely pleased 

with the level of aptitude, preparedness and dedication these students are showing 

in their studies. University of Michigan-Flint faculty report that students from the 

Genesee Early College not only keep up with their fellow students, but in some 

cases excel beyond those who have graduated from high school. Now, an example 

that goes beyond the statistics and truly illustrates the character and dedication of 

Genesee Early College students to their education. It is a story of two students who 

sought out the opportunity to become part of the most prestigious program we offer 

at the University of Michigan-Flint: The Honors Program. 

The University of Michigan-Flint Honors Program consists of the best and brightest students. With an emphasis on research at the undergraduate level, the Honors 

Program offers students the chance to work one-on-one with professors to develop 

special projects. This method has led to a remarkable record of success. Graduates 

from the Honors program have been accepted in the most distinguished graduate 

and professional schools in the country including Harvard University and the Mayo 

Clinic, and 100% of honors program students applying to medical schools, graduate 

schools, and professional schools have been accepted. 

Thaer Farhan and Abdul Kazmi are two Genesee Early College students who decided they wanted a challenge. They approached the director of the Honors Program, Dr. Maureen Thum, asking if they could enroll. Noting their strong academic 

records, Dr. Thum agreed. After a year in the Honors Program, Dr. Thum describes 

Thaer and Abdul as hard-working and goal oriented. She reports they have not only 

kept up with the college students in the Honors Program, they have higher achievements than some of their peers. In fact, Dr. Thum, who is also one of our English 

professors, states that Thaer and Abdul both write at a level, even higher than that 

of some high school graduates. As a result of the positive experiences of Thaer and 

Abdul, Dr. Thum has reached an agreement with the Genesee Early College to 

admit two new students each year to the UM-Flint Honors Program. As Dr. Thum 

recently said, ‘‘Genesee Early College students deserve the opportunity to be at the 

university level to discover what it is like to have a completely different level of 

competition.’’ 

It is an indisputable fact that people with education beyond a high school diploma 

have an economic advantage. Furthermore, it has been proven that the key to sustained fiscal viability for a state and region is to have a highly educated workforce 

that can utilize creativity and innovation to provide solutions to today’s problems 

and invent tomorrow’s industries. The Genesee Early College is precisely in the 

right place at the right time. With approximately 80% of our alumni living and 

working in the state of Michigan, the University of Michigan-Flint can help to increase the number of people who have postsecondary education in the state because 

of its affiliation with the Genesee Early College. Exposing our children to a college 

environment during high school will increase the likelihood they will matriculate 

through to an undergraduate degree and beyond. I will now share with you the stories of two families, the Mateens and the Frys who are advocates for ensuring positive university experiences for their children. 

The Mateen family has always told their children they will go to college. Jonathon 

and Tamra Mateen are two lifelong Genesee County residents. Both are employed 

in the health professions at Hurley Medical Center here in Flint. They have two 

children, Janay, who is a senior, and Jonathon—a sophomore—who are enrolled at 

the Genesee Early College. As parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mateen are extremely pleased 

with the experience their children have had at the Genesee Early College. Janay 

is a senior who is actively pursuing a career in the field of Anesthesia. When she 

graduates, she will have earned her 60 college credits. The Mateens say they feel 

the Genesee Early College has given their children a distinct advantage, helping 

Janay and Jonathon focus on their studies while keeping an eye to the future. 

Professor Donna Fry is the Director of the Physical Therapy Department at UMFlint and the mother to 17-year-old twins, Kathryn and Kristina. They are 13th 
14 

graders who have already earned 41 UM-Flint credits and perfect grade point averages. They did all of this while being incredibly involved, participating in everything 

from the UM-Flint Wind Symphony to volunteering for the Obama campaign to 

playing on the UM-Flint Ultimate Frisbee team. As a parent and education professional, Professor Fry is pleased with the outstanding experience her daughters have 

had at the Genesee Early College. Professor Fry states, ‘‘Medical clinical rotations 

through the Genesee Early College helped them to understand more about patient 

care and firmed up their interest in doing research in medical fields of study. Both 

girls are very mature for their age and the university environment allowed them 

to grow socially and to develop their self-identity as individuals much more than I 

think a typical high school environment would have allowed.’’ The Mateens and Professor Fry firmly believe that being part of a university community so early in their 

lives, their children will be prepared to face the job market of tomorrow and excel. 

The Genesee Early College is just one example of why Congressman Kildee’s bill, 

H.R. 1578, the Fast Track to College Act, is so essential to the future of our state 

and country. By investing in early college and dual enrollment programs, the Fast 

Track is the right track to providing our children with the means necessary to compete on a global stage. Through the example of the Early College, you see how a 

university and its community partners can work together to provide an extraordinary educational experience for students who are willing to eschew a traditional 

high school setting for a learning environment that is both accelerated and accommodating. I strongly urge support for the Fast Track to College Act, since I witness 

every day the solid results that come from well-executed early college programs. It 

is precisely the type of partnership that must occur on a broader level, bringing together government, the educational system, and the people in the best interest of 

our children. 

As you have heard, the Genesee Early College is a key component in providing 

accessibility to education in this community. A recommendation worth considering 

is to continue to invest significantly in Pell Grants and other federal programs so 

that successful graduates of the early college can complete their degrees with the 

comfort of knowing their education will continue to be funded. This financial vote 

of confidence would be particularly meaningful to these students and their families. 

The campus community of the University of Michigan-Flint is united in the belief 

that this type of community partnership is essential to the advancement of our 

state. It is part of our mission to be civically engaged, working with other leading 

institutions to find solutions to critical issues that impact us all. During these difficult economic times for our state and our country, it is heartening to see the substantial support we have received from the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and legislators who approved the funding for this initiative. It is exactly this type of investment that will help Michigan to building a promising future for students such as 

Thaer, Abdul, Janay, Jonathon, Kathryn and Kristina. Let the Genesee Early College and others like it serve as a bold statement about the priorities that we are 

setting for the state of Michigan in the years to come. 

Thank you for your time today, and I welcome your questions. 

Chairman KILDEE. Dr. Richard Shaink, my neighbor. 

STATEMENT OF M. RICHARD SHAINK, PH.D., PRESIDENT, 

MOTT COMMUNITY COLLEGE 

Mr. SHAINK. Thank you very much, Chairman Kildee and members of the subcommittee, for the invitation to speak at today’s 

hearing. As president of Mott Community College I welcome this 

opportunity to tell you about the success of Mott Middle College 

High School and the impact it is having on the lives of students 

it serves. Mott Middle College High School is located on our campus and is a partnership between Mott Community College and the 

Genesee Intermediate School District. The students are earning 

college credit at MCC while attending 9th through 13th-grade 

school. Its sole purpose is to serve 400 at-risk youth who have become disengaged from education. Established in 1991, it is the 

longest-standing middle or early college in Michigan and possibly 

in the country. 
15 

Due to the demonstrated success of Mott Middle College High 

School we are in our 16th year of the National Replication Project 

funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. This effort is providing technical assistance to community colleges, school districts 

and other organizations in over two dozen communities each year 

who are establishing their own middle or early college. As an outgrowth of this replication work the Center for Early and Middle 

Colleges in Michigan was established by the Michigan Department 

of Education with support from Mott Foundation to ensure that 

middle and early colleges in Michigan that have started are being 

planned and have the capacity to become viable and remain sustainable. 

The center’s located at Mott Middle College High School and is 

directed by Dr. Chery Wagonlander, principal. The high school was 

one of the first middle colleges to participate in the Gates Early 

College Initiative through the Middle College National Consortium. 

Additionally, Mott Community College was funded through the 

U.S. Department of Education to operate a tech prep demonstration project, a program that supports the efforts of successful middle and early colleges. 

The practice at the high school and its replication efforts are 

based on design principles that began in New York in the 1980s 

through the Middle College National Consortium. They continue to 

incorporate current research on engaging at-risk youth and are 

seen in the most successful middle and early colleges across the 

country. The design principles together create an environment for 

the success of students who have traditionally been under served 

in our public schools, particularly the students who are 

unmotivated, under prepared for high school work, disengaged from 

their education and/or first-generation college bound. 

You have received detailed information regarding the impact of 

middle college high school. I would like to highlight several of those 

successful benchmarks. Data for the past 16 years indicates students enter with a grade point average of 1.6 and exit with a high 

school grade point average of 3.1. Over the 17 years of dual enrollment Mott Middle College High School students have successfully 

earned a total of 5,455 college credits with an average GPA of 2.92. 

Last year’s graduation class—graduating class averaged 19.2 college credits per student. 13 of those students earned 24 or more 

college credits and two graduated with double associate degrees 

from Mott Community College. 

The high school serves as a national lab setting for middle and 

early college replication research and outreach. It has hosted visitors from all over Michigan, the United States and several other 

countries. Its curricula, affective skills initiative and small schools 

design have been replicated at multiple sites. Mott Middle College 

High School in collaboration with the New York Center for Media 

and Learning has been a national site for the American Social History Project since 1993. And since the Center for Early and Middle 

Colleges in Michigan was launched, six technical assistance conferences have taken place on our campus hosting 12 Michigan programs. 

In conclusion I think it’s important to note that this is a time 

when community colleges are being considered major players in 
16 

helping the individuals from all walks of life to access higher education. In the area of high school college dual enrollment community colleges, including Mott Community College, have been in the 

forefront of successfully addressing the needs of at-risk youth. An 

expansion of these efforts can help to meet the critical need of leaving no one behind and we support a Fast Track legislation. Thank 

you for your time. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Dr. Shaink. 

[The statement of Mr. Shaink follows:] 

Prepared Statement of M. Richard Shaink, Ph.D., President, Mott 

Community College 

I would like to thank Chairman Kildee of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 

Elementary and Secondary Education for the invitation to speak at today’s hearing. 

As President of Mott Community College, I welcome this opportunity to tell you 

about the success of Mott Middle College High School and the impact that it is having on the lives of the students it serves. Mott Middle College High School is located 

on our campus and is a partnership between Mott Community College and the Genesee Intermediate School District. Students earn college credit at Mott Community 

College, while attending this 9th through 13th grade high school. Its sole purpose 

is to serve at-risk youth who have become disengaged from education. Established 

in 1991, it is the longest standing middle or early college in Michigan; and, one of 

the longest standing in the country. 

Due to the demonstrated success of Mott Middle College High School, we are in 

our sixteenth year of a National Replication Project funded by the Charles Stewart 

Mott Foundation. This effort is providing technical assistance to community colleges, 

school districts and other organizations in over two dozen communities each year, 

who are establishing their own middle or early college. As an outgrowth of this replication work, the Center for Early and Middle Colleges in Michigan was launched 

last year. The Center is located at Mott Middle College High School and is directed 

by Dr. Chery Wagonlander, Principal. It was established by the Michigan Department of Education, with support from the Mott Foundation, to ensure that middle 

and early colleges in Michigan that have started and are being planned have the 

capacity to become viable and remain sustainable. 

Mott Middle College High School was one of the first middle colleges to participate in the Gates Early College initiative through the Middle College National Consortium. Additionally, Mott Community College was funded through the U.S. Department of Education to operate a Tech Prep Demonstration Project, a program 

that supports the efforts of successful middle and early colleges. 

The practices at Mott Middle College High School and the replication efforts are 

based on Design Principles (see Appendix 1 for more details) that began in New 

York in the 1980’s through the Middle College National Consortium. They continue 

to incorporate current research on engaging at-risk youth and are seen in the most 

successful middle and early colleges across the country. The Design Principles together create an environment for the success of students who have traditionally 

been underserved in our public schools; particularly students who are unmotivated, 

under prepared for high school work, disengaged from their education, and/or first 

generation college bound. 

You have received detailed information (see Attachment 1—Mott Middle College 

Student Data—September 2009) regarding the impact of the Middle College High 

School. I would like to highlight several of those successful benchmarks. Data from 

sixteen Mott Middle College High School cohorts indicates an average entering GPA 

of 1.6 and exiting high school GPA of 3.1. Over the seventeen years of dual enrollment, Mott Middle College High School students have successfully earned a total 

of 5,455 in Mott Community College credits with an average GPA of 2.92. Last 

year’s graduation class averaged 19.2 of Mott Community College credits per student. Thirteen of these students earned twenty-four or more college credits and two 

graduated with double Associate Degrees. 

Mott Middle College High School serves as a national lab setting for middle and 

early college replication, research and outreach. It has hosted visitors from all over 

Michigan, the United States and several other countries. Its curricula, affective 

skills initiative and small schools design have been replicated at multiple sites. Mott 

Middle College High School, in collaboration with New York Center for Media and 

Learning, has been a national site for the American Social History Project since 

1993. And, since the Center for Early and Middle Colleges in Michigan was 
17 

launched, six technical assistance conferences have taken place, hosting up to 

twelve Michigan programs. 

I think it is important to note that this is a time when community colleges are 

being considered major players in helping individuals from all walks of life to access 

higher education. In the area of High School/College Dual Enrollment, community 

colleges, including Mott Community College, have been in the forefront of successfully addressing the needs of at-risk youth. An expansion of these efforts can help 

to meet the critical need of leaving no one behind. Thank you for your time. 

APPENDIX 1

Middle College National Consortium Design Principles 

These Six Design Principles are based on work that began in New York in the 

1980’s and continue at Middle Colleges across the country. The Design Principles 

are also based on current research on engaging at-risk youth. Each one of the Six 

Design Principles is important to the success of students who have traditionally 

been underserved in our public schools; particularly students who are unmotivated, 

under prepared for high school work and disengaged from their education. These Six 

Design Principles are: 

• Power of the Site—Locating schools on a college campus is integral to student 

motivation and success and to an enduring collaborative partnership. It is a visible 

symbol to the community of a dual accountability for student outcomes and academic success. Students are treated as college students and see themselves as college completers. 

• Teaching and Learning—Developing students’ literacy skills is critical to academic success. Schools regularly engage students in rigorous, in-depth academic 

work, use active intellectual inquiry and sustained writing and revision in all classes. 

• Student Assessment—Schools design a system of assessment that provides multiple opportunities for students to publicly exhibit what they know and can do. Assessments grow out of classroom work and provide on-going feedback to the school 

community, the teacher, the student and the parent on a students’ progress toward 

achieving academic proficiency. 

• Student Support—‘Smallness’, less than 100 students per grade level, helps to 

create a learning community for students and teachers and provides opportunities 

for flexible and innovative structures to support students academically and emotionally. 

• Democratic School Governance—Purposefully designed structures provide for 

everyone’s voice to be heard and respected in the decision-making process with regard to hiring personnel, managing budget, determining curriculum and pedagogy, 

developing students’ activities and any other policies that affect the daily life of students and faculty. 

• Professional Development—Staff participates in on-going professional development that focuses on student success. Time during the school day is provided for 

staff development and the creation of professional learning communities. New teachers are mentored in order to help them to understand and to implement the goals 

of the community. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. John Brooks. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN BROOKS, STUDENT, MOTT COMMUNITY 

COLLEGE 

Mr. BROOKS. First, let me thank Chairman Kildee and the subcommittee for giving me the opportunity to testify at this hearing 

to support early college programs. My name is John Brooks. I attend Mott Middle College High School in Flint, Michigan and will 

graduate in 2010 with a high school diploma and an associate degree. I feel fortunate that my mom came to me and told me about 

this program. Now I will be the first male and sibling in my family 

to earn a college degree. 

While at Mott Middle College I have maintained a 3.35 high 

school GPA and I will complete my associate’s degree in business 
18 

management. After I graduate I plan on going to a big university 

and becoming a great business manager. 

Mott Middle College has helped me and my family in so many 

ways. My peers and I think one of the program’s greatest strengths 

is it provides free college tuition. If I did not attend Mott Middle 

College I probably would not have gone to college due to my family’s financial situation and the lack of mental and academic support in the traditional high school setting. 

In fact, I have friends who without MMC would not have started 

college or maybe even graduated from high school because of poverty, having children or not seeing a future for themselves past 

high school. At our school all students are looked at as college 

bound and can become college successful. 

At Mott Middle College we are like a family. Everyone supports 

everyone. Our teachers are here for us during school and outside 

of school. During my time at Mott Middle College I was able to 

start a mentor program to help some of the students who do not 

have the support at home and outside of school. We also started a 

Peace Maker and Peace Jam program for our zero-tolerance rule 

for fighting. 

Mott Middle College doesn’t just enroll us into classes and pay 

for them, our teachers give us more one-on-one attention than regular high schools. The teachers help us when we need it, whether 

it’s schoolwork, helping us figure out which college classes to take 

or helping us look for scholarships to pay for additional college 

when we leave. They also send us on leadership trips like the one 

I attended in Canada in 2008. It was a Rotarian leadership conference in Ontario. 

We also have a more diverse student population, so there are 

really no cliques or groups. Students set examples for each other. 

Everyone is expected to be a role model. Because our school is 

small, everyone is acquainted with each other. 

MMC creates more opportunities for students because they get a 

head start on college credits and get a good introduction on a college atmosphere. Our college requires students to take at least 

three early college seminars to prepare us to earn good grades in 

our college classes and mature as responsible adults. We also have 

FOCUS groups where the teachers and the students get to know 

each other like a family. During this class time you can get help 

on homework or have fun with others and communicate. We also 

have college public safety on our campus, so it makes it a safe environment. 

So some may ask what’s different about going to high school on 

a college campus. Being on a college campus forces us to act mature like adults because we are in class with adults, we have lunch 

with adults, we ride the bus with adults, so we become adults. I 

asked some of my fellow classmates how is MMC different from a 

traditional high school and they told me, quote, it’s like we’re at 

home, everyone is friendly. The teachers interact with us more and 

we get more one-on-one attention. When we come here we want to 

do better. It’s a more diverse student population. It gives us a different look on life. We have more responsibilities as students. 

I would like to end my testimony by saying we come in as students, we leave as scholars. Thank you. 
19 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Brooks. 

[The statement of Mr. Brooks follows:] 

Prepared Statement of John Otis Brooks, II, 5th Year Mott Middle College 

High School Student 

First, let me thank Chairman Kildee for giving me the opportunity to testify at 

this hearing to support early college programs. 

My name is John Brooks. I attend Mott Middle College High School in Flint, 

Michigan and will graduate in 2010 with a high school diploma and an Associate’s 

Degree. I feel fortunate that my Mom came to me and told me about this program. 

Now, I will be the first male and sibling in my family to earn a college degree. 

While at Mott Middle College, I have maintained a 3.35 high school GPA and I 

will complete my Associate’s Degree in Business Management. After I graduate, I 

plan on going to a big university and becoming a great business manager. 

Mott Middle College has helped me and my family in so many ways. My peers 

and I think one of the program’s greatest strengths is that it provides free college 

tuition. If I did not attend Mott Middle College, I probably would not have gone to 

college due to my family’s financial situation and the lack of mental and academic 

support in the traditional high school setting. 

In fact, I have friends, who without MMC, would not have started college or 

maybe even graduated from high school either because of poverty, having children, 

or not seeing a future for themselves past high school. At our school, all students 

are looked at as college bound and can become college successful. 

At Mott Middle College we are like a family; everyone supports everyone. Our 

teachers are here for us during school and outside of school. During my time at the 

Mott Middle College, I was able to start a Mentor Program to help some of the students who do not have the support at home and outside of school. We also started 

a Peace Maker and Peace Jam Program for our ‘‘zero tolerance’’ rule for fighting. 

Mott Middle College doesn’t just enroll us in the classes and pay for them. Our 

teachers give us more one on one attention than regular high schools. The teachers 

help us when we need it, whether its school work, helping us figure out what college 

classes to take, or helping us look for scholarships to help pay for additional college 

when we leave. They also send us on leadership trips like the one I attended in Canada in 2008. It was the Rotarian Leadership Conference in Ontario. 

We also have a more diverse student population, so there really are no ‘‘cliques’’ 

or groups. Students set examples for each other and everyone is expected to be a 

role model. Because our school is small, everyone is acquainted with each other. 

MMC creates more opportunities for students because they get a head start on 

college credits and a good introduction to a college atmosphere. Our school requires 

students to take at least 3 early college seminars to prepare us to earn good grades 

in our college classes and mature as responsible students. We also have FOCUS 

groups where the teachers and students get to know each other like a family. During this class time you can get help with homework or have fun with others and 

communicate. 

We also have college public safety on our campus, so it makes it a safe environment. 

So, some may ask ‘‘What’s different about going to high school on a college campus?’’ Being on a college campus forces us to mature and act like adults because 

we are in class with adults, we have lunch with adults, we ride the bus with adults; 

so we become adults. 

I asked some of my fellow classmates ‘‘How is MMC different from a traditional 

high school?’’ They told me: 

‘‘It’s like we’re at home; everyone is friendly’’ 

‘‘The teachers interact with us more and we get more one on one attention’’ 

‘‘When we come here, we want to do better’’ 

‘‘It’s a more diverse student population. It gives us a different look on life’’ 

‘‘We have more responsibilities as students’’ 

I would like to end my testimony by saying, we come in students, we leave as 

scholars. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. Stephen Skorcz. 
20 

STATEMENT OF STEPHEN SKORCZ, MPH, PRESIDENT AND 

CEO, GREATER FLINT HEALTH COALITION 

Mr. SKORCZ. Thank you, Congressman Kildee and distinguished 

committee members and panelists. I am Stephen Skorcz, the president and CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition. And today on 

this panel I represent an industry that employs people. And while 

all of the educational institutions in our community are important 

for the future employees, they all train for our organizations in 

healthcare. We have a special affiliation with Genesee Early College because of its commitment in the healthcare arena. 

I just want to highlight—and my testimony has been distributed, 

but I will only highlight a couple of points, one, of the Greater Flint 

Health Coalition itself and its uniqueness, especially in this day 

and age of healthcare reform; and the other is Flint’s unique role 

in something called Sector Workforce Development, especially in 

healthcare. 

The healthcare industry in Genesee County supports Congressman Kildee’s Fast Track to College Act. About the coalition itself, 

it is probably one of the most unique collaborative exercises in 

healthcare in the nation, and indeed in Genesee County healthcare 

leaders, business, labor, education do cooperate. In fact, this is an 

organization that’s submitted to President Obama three months 

ago a position on healthcare reform that all the diverse participants can agree to. So we were hoping to be invited to Washington, 

D.C. To teach Congress how to do it, but we’ll see. 

The other thing that I would like to mention is that the 

healthcare providers in Genesee County are critical important players to the educational programs and especially to Genesee Early 

College. The hospitals, healthcare providers and myself served on 

the advisory committee for the Genesee Early College. We practice, 

as I stated, in Flint, Michigan. This aspect of Sector Workforce Development, and what I mean by that is we have in this community 

taken traditional workforce development and turned it on its head. 

While traditional training and workforce development has done the 

training and education part, they generally—individuals by and 

large have been on their own to find those careers that will give 

them and make them gainfully employed. 

We do hope in Flint we do this in a different way, and that different way is to make the employers in the driver’s seat where the 

healthcare sector employers actually define the jobs that they need 

for the future and impact workforce development so the individuals 

who then go through those programs can be gainfully employed. 

We are delighted to be here today and supportive of the work 

this committee is doing. Thank you very much. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. 

[The statement of Mr. Skorcz follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Stephen Skorcz, MPH, FACHE, President and CEO, 

Greater Flint Health Coalition 

Congressman Kildee, and distinguished panelists, it is my pleasure to speak to 

you today. 

I am Stephen Skorcz, the President & CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition 

here in Flint, Michigan. I am happy to be here today to provide you with comments 

on the healthcare industry’s perspective on the efforts that have been highlighted 

by the other panelists today. More specifically, I will tell you about the Greater 
21 

Flint Health Coalition’s efforts related to the Genesee Early College and also some 

about our work to further develop a concept known as Sector Workforce Development (which puts healthcare employers in the driver’s seat for developing their future workforce). What you will learn today is that your support to reauthorize the 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act and advance 

Congressman Kildee’s Fast Track to College Act can help communities like Genesee County continue activities like the Genesee Early College and achieve even 

greater success with our Sector Workforce Development efforts. The success of these 

Sector Workforce Development efforts will satisfy the growing demand for skilled 

healthcare workers. 

To start, please allow me to provide you with some general background on the 

Greater Flint Health Coalition. The Greater Flint Health Coalition is a 501(c) 3 organization. It is a highly successful regional collaborative that serves as a successful 

community and institutional partnership. Our Board of Directors broadly reflects 

the community of Genesee County and we have had significant success in pursuit 

of our mission (which is twofold): to improve the health status of the citizens of Genesee County and to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the health care system in our community. We became involved with the Genesee Early College during 

the proposal development process because it aligned with the work being done in 

our Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities Program (or F-H-E-O as we call it) 

which provides training and educational opportunities for individuals who are seeking a career in the healthcare field. The FHEO Program serves low-income individuals, the unemployed, dislocated workers, incumbent workers and youth. We’ve 

worked hard to make the FHEO Program a success and believe that it has set the 

stage for programs like the Genesee Early College to be a success. For more background on the FHEO Program and the Greater Flint Health Coalition, please see 

attachments to this testimony. 

Looking more closely at where we stand today with the Genesee Early College, 

I serve on the Genesee Early College Advisory Committee which advises the Early 

College staff on various issues. There are other FHEO Program partners who are 

also involved in this Advisory Group including representatives from Genesys Health 

System, Hurley Medical Center, and McLaren Regional Medical Center. Having 

these employers at the table is very important. 

When I describe the FHEO Program or Genesee Early College as a sector workforce development program this means that we are turning traditional workforce development on its head. What once was a system that trained people first and then 

sent them out to find jobs is now (under Sector Workforce Development) one which 

targets employers in a specific industry first to define their employment needs and 

then train people to meet those needs. The industry we target is health care and 

its employers fill leadership roles and set the agenda to help us develop the 

healthcare labor force. This is more than just simple consultation. Employers provide direct leadership and drive how we serve participants. 

A specific example of this necessary type of employer leadership is seen in the 

group of employers who were convened by the Coalition to serve as a Genesee Early 

College Subcommittee. When the staff needed advice on student internships, an employer Subcommittee came together to better frame the student internships and provided information on which clinical experiences would be most beneficial for up-andcoming students seeking healthcare careers. 

More recently, the Coalition has been working to bring interested Genesee Early 

College Students in to observe the activities of one of our 20+ Committees and Task 

Forces. As students do research on the field, our committee activities can expose 

them to real world practitioners dealing with specific and pressing issues all in a 

consensus-based environment. What an opportunity for young people to learn! To 

get involved, students must do a write-up on why they want to observe a Committee, interview with staff, debrief with staff after all meetings, and do a writeup on the experience. 

The concept of Sector Workforce Development is taking hold around the nation 

because it works. Recently proposed legislation called The Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (or SECTORS) Act has given the concept further credibility as a national model. Whether the work is done through an 

activity like the FHEO Program or the Genesee Early College, there is a high level 

of employer commitment for Sector Workforce Development in Genesee County and 

we want to see continued growth. I urge you to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and support Congressman Kildee’s Fast Track to College Act. 

These will help the residents of Genesee County by building the skills of young people to meet employer needs over all industries but, most importantly, the skills 

needed to address the shortages of healthcare workers throughout Michigan and the 

U.S. 
22 

Thank you for your time. 

Chairman KILDEE. Dr. Michael Webb. 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL WEBB, PH.D., ASSOCIATE VICE 

PRESIDENT, EARLY COLLEGE INITIATIVE, JOBS FOR THE 

FUTURE 

Mr. WEBB. Chairman Kildee and the State members of the subcommittee, I am very pleased and honored to be here to present 

testimony before you today. My testimony will build on the experience of the early college high school initiative, a national effort to 

significantly increase the number of unrepresented students who 

attain a college degree. 

I am associate vice president for Jobs for the Future. Through research, action, advocacy JFF develops promising education and 

labor market models that enable American families and companies 

to compete in a global economy. 

As education secretary Arne Duncan noted recently, only 38 percent of young workers have a college degree. This is a lower percentage than nine other countries and no higher than a generation 

ago. It’s a sad reality today that one-third of high school students 

don’t graduate and more than half leave high school unprepared for 

college-level academics. Yet, as the United States pulls itself out of 

the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, it is the 

level of preparation of our work force that will ultimately determine our economic strength and our ability to compete in a global 

economy. 

Gaps in educational attainment are caused by failure at critical 

points. For every ten students who start high school approximately 

two-thirds of them will get a high school diploma and five will enroll in a postsecondary institution. Fewer than three of these will 

complete a bachelor’s degree within ten years. The statistics for 

students of color are far worse with just over half of African-Americans and Latinos completing a high school credential. 

However, completing high school is not enough to compete in today’s economy. A high school diploma will no longer enable a young 

person to gain a decent-paying career. A four-year college graduate 

earns two-thirds more than a high school graduate does. An associate’s degree translates into earning significantly higher than those 

earned by an individual with a high school diploma. 

Early colleges are small schools designed so that students can 

earn both a high school diploma and up to two years of college 

credit or an associate’s degree. The early college high school initiative began with a captivating, though radical, concept: Challenge, 

not remediation, will make a difference for those young people who 

are least likely to attend college and for whom society often has low 

aspirations for academic achievement. 

The philosophy behind this approach is grounded in the expectation that most students have the intellectual ability to succeed in 

college. What many students do not have, particularly students 

whose parents did not go to college, are college expectations, meaningful college exposure, sufficient academic rigor in their K-12 

classes and the habits of mind required for college success. 
23 

The first year of college is a critical time. For many students the 

lack of adequate preparation in high school means the need for remedial non-credit courses. Ultimately this means wasted money 

and time and results in low college completion rates. Early college 

schools help to compress the time to a college degree and provides 

support to help students transition to and through the first year or 

two of colleges without the need for remediation. 

Today the number of early college schools has grown from three 

during the 2002-3 school year—and Mott Middle College is one of 

them—to more than 200 early colleges across 24 states. The schools 

enroll 42,000 students. Half the students are the first in their family to attend college. Nearly 60 percent qualify for free or reduced 

lunch. Three-fourths are students of color. 

Though the initiative is young, we are seeing significant successes. In 2008 early college schools open four or more years graduated nearly 2,300 students with a graduation rate of 92 percent. 

90 percent of the graduates earned college credit with 40 percent 

earning more than a year of college credit. More than one student 

out of ten earned an associate’s degree or two years or college credit. 

Despite the severe retrenchment in the state budgets, a number 

of states have continued significant investments in early college 

and even appropriated new investments. North Carolina leads the 

nation with 69 early colleges. New York state recently established 

a program to create 22. Michigan has made a substantial investment in early colleges to develop its workforce in the fields of allied 

health. Texas is also planning to open additional early colleges, 

adding to the 29 that are already in existence. 

The early evidence indicates that early colleges are fulfilling 

their mission. By changing the structure of high school and compressing the number of years to a college degree and removing financial and other barriers to college, early college high schools will 

increase the number of underrepresented youth who attain a postsecondary degree. Thank you. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Dr. Webb. 

[The statement of Mr. Webb follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Dr. Michael Webb, Associate Vice President, Early 

College High School Initiative, Jobs for the Future, Early College High 

School Initiative Student Information System 

Dear Chairman Dale E. Kildee and members of the Committee: I am pleased to 

have the opportunity to testify today before the Committee on Education and Labor 

on the issue of ‘‘High School/College Dual Enrollment Programs.’’ 

My testimony today will build upon the experience of the Early College High 

School Initiative, a national effort to significantly increase the number of underrepresented students who attain a college degree. 

I am associate vice president at Jobs for the Future. Through research, action, 

and advocacy, JFF develops promising education and labor market models that enable American families and companies to compete in a global economy. 

Higher Education Attainment is Lagging 

As Education Secretary Arne Duncan noted recently, ‘‘Only 38 percent of young 

workers have a college degree, a lower percentage than nine other countries, and 

no higher than a generation ago.’’ It is a sad reality today that one-third of high 

school students don’t graduate, and more than half leave high school unprepared 

for college-level academics. Yet, as the United States pulls itself out of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, it is the level of preparation of our 
24 

workforce that will ultimately determine our economic strength and ability to compete in a global economy. 

Gaps in educational attainment are caused by failures at critical points. For every 

ten students who start high school, approximately two-thirds will get a diploma, and 

five will enroll in a postsecondary institution. Fewer than three will complete a 

Bachelor’s degree within ten years. The statistics for students of color are far worse, 

with just over half of African-Americans and Latinos completing a high school credential. 

However, completing high school is not enough to compete in today’s economy. A 

high school diploma will no longer enable a young person to gain a decent paying 

career. A four-year college graduate earns two-thirds more than a high school graduate does. An Associate’s degree translates into earnings significantly higher than 

those earned by an individual with a high school diploma alone. 

Preparation, Support, and Success in Higher Education 

Early college schools are small schools designed so that students can earn both 

a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit or an Associate’s degree. 

The Early College High School Initiative began with a captivating, though radical, 

concept: challenge, not remediation will make a difference for those young people 

who are least likely to attend college and for whom society often has low aspirations 

for academic achievement. 

The philosophy behind this approach is grounded in the expectation that most 

students have the intellectual ability to succeed in college. What many students do 

not have—particularly students whose parents did not go to college—are college expectations, meaningful college exposure, sufficient academic rigor in their K-12 

classes, and the habits of mind required for college success. 

To make the early college proposition succeed, secondary and postsecondary partners have had to rethink traditional curriculum sequences, find creative ways to 

align and connect high school and college experiences, and provide the academic and 

social supports students need to succeed in an intensive early college program. The 

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided significant start-up and implementation funding for the initiative. Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W.K Kellogg Foundation also provided early funding. 

The first year of college is a critical time. For many students, the lack of adequate 

preparation in high school means the need for remedial, non-credit courses. Ultimately, this means wasted money and time and results in low college completion 

rates. Early college schools help to compress the time to a college degree and provide support to help students transition to and through the first year or two of college without the need for remediation. 

Strengthening the Pipeline to and Through College 

Today, the number of early college schools has grown from 3 during the 2002-03 

school year to more than 200 early college schools in 24 states. The schools enroll 

42,000 students. Half the students are the first in their family to attend college. 

Nearly 60 percent qualify for the free-or reduced-lunch program. Three-fourths are 

students of color. A number of schools include the middle grades in order to begin 

rigorous academic preparation at an earlier age. 

Though the initiative is young, we are seeing significant successes. In 2008, early 

college schools open 4 or more years graduated nearly 2,300 students, with a graduation rate of 92 percent. Ninety percent of the graduates earned college credit, 

with 40% earning more than a year of college credits. More than one student out 

of 10 earned an Associate’s degree or two years of college credit. 

Based on emerging data, early college graduates are likely to immediately enroll 

in college at rates higher than other high school graduates. In the first study of enrollment patterns, 89 percent of early college graduates enrolled in college right 

after graduation, compared to 67 percent of a nationally representative sample of 

graduates taken from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS). 

Early college students tend to be low-income and students of color, characteristics 

that correlate with low college-going rates. Yet, this same study showed that early 

college graduates were nearly 65% more likely to enroll in college immediately after 

graduation than students in the lowest economic quartile in the NELS sample. 

Early college graduates also enrolled in four-year colleges at rates higher than 

low-income graduates in the NELS study. Enrollment in four-year colleges is a predictor of greater success in attaining a Bachelor’s degree. 

The Power of Place 

More than half of early college schools are located on a college campus. Two-thirds 

are located on a two-year college campus. Schools not located on a college campus 
25 

include in their design activities to create and reinforce the college experience for 

their students. 

Talk with any students attending an early college school on a college campus and 

it will soon be clear that there is a positive effect brought about by the location. 

Expectations for student behavior, recognition, and a sense of belonging all contribute to the development of students’ college-going identity. This is particularly 

important for students who lack the tradition of college going in their family and 

community. 

In Lean Times, A Growing Investment 

Despite the severe retrenchment in state budgets, a number of states have continued significant investments in early college and even appropriated new investments. 

North Carolina leads the nation with 69 early college schools. New York State recently established a program to create 22 early college schools. Michigan has made 

a substantial investment in early colleges to develop its workforce in the fields of 

allied health. Texas is also planning to open additional early college schools, adding 

to the 29 that are already in existence. 

The evidence supporting the growth of early college schools continues to build. 

Jobs for the Future has established a Student Information System to provide data 

on the progress and outcomes of early college students and their schools. With three 

graduating classes of significant numbers, JFF is also tracking postsecondary enrollment of graduates as they progress through higher education. 

The early evidence indicates that early colleges are fulfilling their mission. By 

changing the structure of high school, compressing the number of years to a college 

degree, and removing financial and other barriers to college, early college schools 

will increase the number of underrepresented youth who attain a postsecondary degree. 

Chairman KILDEE. Now we’ll have some questions. I recognize 

myself first for five minutes. 

Dr. Lotfi and Dr. Shaink, these students are able to accomplish 

what they’re accomplishing through the services you provide in cooperation you have with the school districts, and they do that without paying any fee. How do you fund—Dr. Lotfi first, how do you 

fund those programs, where would you find the dollars for that? 

Mr. LOTFI. The Genesee Early College is actually owned and operated by the Genesee Intermediate Schools, so the students do 

come with funding from the states that they would have otherwise 

received if they would have been attending a regular high school, 

so there is some degree of funding to support them. I’m not completely convinced that that is sufficient because obviously the Genesee Early College program has got an enhanced program, so they 

do come with certain degree of the funding. And I’ll leave it to Dr. 

Svitkovich to perhaps comment more on that. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. If I may, Mr. Kildee? 

Chairman KILDEE. Yes. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. They have a foundational allowance that we get 

through the—— 

Chairman KILDEE. Hold your microphone a little closer, please? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. They get the foundational allowance through 

the City of Flint. Now, our partner, fiscal agent, is the Flint Community Schools, so the high school student we have at Genesee 

Early is funded identically to any other high school student in 

Michigan. 

We take that money and we use it in a couple of ways; one, we 

have to pay for the high school operations, and two, we have to pay 

the college tuition that U of M charges for the college courses. 

We’re fortunate that University of Michigan-Flint here does special 

consideration to give us some breaks. They also provide us space 
26 

and security and all the facility kinds of things that a normal 

school would be paying on their own, so there is a partnership 

here. 

The issue that comes up, and both he and I agree on this, is 

there just isn’t enough funding to make it work for both partners, 

and that’s why we’ve been existing with our initial startup grant. 

Mott Foundation has been generous with us to help us along the 

way, but as you know, the Mott Foundation will do—they won’t operate a program but they will get us started, so that’s why we look 

to the Fast Track to College Act to fill the void that will certainly 

come at a later date. 

Chairman KILDEE. Dr. Shaink, do you want to—— 

Mr. SHAINK. Yes. Well, both our gentlemen explained the issue 

from the perspective of tuition and also Dr. Svitkovich did talk 

about the fact that each of our university and college does give inkind services. We provide the space, we provide the security, we 

provide some of the other things and we’re very proud and pleased 

to do that because we just see—the important thing is to see what 

it does for our students and the outcome, if they had not attended 

one of our middle or early colleges where would they be, and we’re 

just excited to see the outcome and how successful they are because 

of that partnership we have. 

Chairman KILDEE. My bill would authorize $140 million over six 

years. You already are in place, you’re one of the pioneers, Flint’s 

one of the pioneers, your program is certainly one of the pioneers. 

As a matter of fact, when the president spoke to us the other night 

Lamar Alexander came in just before the president and I shook 

hands with him also, and he mentioned his visit to Flint, mentioned this program. So you’re already a pioneer in this. 

If we were to authorize and appropriate this $140 million under 

my bill, how would you use that? Could you use it to—more than 

just increase the number of students, could you make improvements in the program? Maybe both Dr. Lotfi and Dr. Shaink could 

respond to that. Are there improvements you can find in the program or keep the continuity maybe smoother or try to recruit even 

more? 

Mr. SHAINK. Absolutely there is, and one of the things though, 

we would look to our partner and to the middle college administration. They are always continuously improving their curriculum and 

that’s the area that we can really improve on in the services that 

are provided to the students. We would—at this point we look at 

not necessarily recruiting more students at this particular high 

school because we feel that there is power to have a smaller-size 

program, we have 400. 

But what it can do is provide more staff and more counselors, 

more faculty, and—that are working back and forth, so yes, we can 

always use that, but technology is improving and we look at the 

technology that we can provide. Those are always challenges for 

any of us, and that money would be able to provide that. 

Chairman KILDEE. Dr. Lotfi, is there any special training or education you can give to your college people who are more used to 

dealing with older students when they deal with the younger students? Is there some orientation for those teachers? 
27 

Mr. LOTFI. Absolutely. Actually we have discovered some 

synergies that really were not expected. For instance, in the Genesee Early College by the second year we discovered some need for 

additional tutorial services for some of the students. Some select 

students who needed extra help, the GEC high school students. So 

what we have done is we have taken our best and brightest college 

students and employed them. We have hired them to serve as tutors for the GEC high school students and the tutorial services, so 

that’s one discovery. 

But certainly we can provide additional support services both in 

terms of professional development for our own faculty because 

these students are—when they take college credit courses they are 

not distinguished when they are sitting in an average college level 

class as GEC students. The faculty don’t necessarily know that 

these are GEC students as opposed to our own freshman or sophomore student. So definitely we could use some support for professional development, but also we are delighted to discover that some 

of the more higher-achieving GEC students by the 13th year they 

are now tutoring our college students. For example, the Welsh 

daughters that I mentioned, Kathryn and Kristy, have completed 

the 40 credit hours and they were such advanced in chemistry, taking organic chemistry, they have now been hired by the chemistry 

department to provide tutorial services by the college students. But 

certainly these are really synergistic developments that we are just 

discovering as we are moving forward, and we could use support 

for professional development and additional support services for 

the students. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. I see my time for the 

first round has expired. Mr. Payne. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. I thank each of the witnesses 

for your fine testimony. I would like to find out from the administrators of the program, each of—any one of the three of you that 

are involved with it could answer. 

The—how is the funding—is there a—is it set up as a normal 

high school and funding from the regular school budget for that 

particular town or is it funds that are—come from—I’m just kind 

of more interested in how you work the funding out? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. There are students—they are high school students, so in Michigan every school district gets a per pupil from the 

State to operate their particular programs, and it’s called foundation allowance. Therefore, since the Flint Community Schools is our 

fiscal agent for both Mott Middle College and Genesee Early College, we or Genesee ISD, the service agency for this region, get the 

foundation allowance for the operation of both the early college and 

the middle college, just like Flint would get the foundation allowance for the operation of one of their own schools, and that’s the 

first step. 

We pay the governmental rate, of course, for the handling and 

doing all the processing of the paperwork. That’s not enough and 

has never been enough to be able to support college tuition and the 

high school curriculum even though the colleges have given us 

space, security, technology support. We’ve worked together in terms 

of staff development, these kinds of things. It still has not been 

enough. 
28 

So there are additional dollars that both the intermediate school 

district finds to support the program. One good example would be 

we use some of our career tech money to support an internship 

that goes on at Mott Middle College where all students have to 

have a realtime job intern experience. 

We use some of that same career tech funding to support 

clinicals that occur in the hospitals with our Genesee early college 

students, so it’s an expensive program because of the power of the 

place, and it doesn’t work like a traditional high school. 

In my experience I have always found that if you give a per-pupil 

allocation there are some students that are not going to use or need 

that full allocation, and that money can be shifted to more expensive students. That has occurred traditionally, especially in special 

education, and I know members of the Congress are very much 

aware of all of the additional costs for special education students. 

This is very much a similar program because there are such external costs. And as I mentioned in my testimony, the whole notion 

of this program being on a four-year campus makes it much more 

expensive and that’s why it’s so unique, because the majority of 

middle colleges and early colleges do indeed exist on a community 

college campus. 

But many students who want to become physicians aren’t interested in starting their career in a community college setting, so 

that’s why we shifted to the four-year institution, because they 

wanted to start their career in a college setting, university setting. 

Mr. PAYNE. Yes? 

Mr. LOTFI. I think the per-pupil concept was really designed to 

support the students throughout the high school life of four years 

with 20 credit hours or whatever it may be. It was not designed— 

the per-pupil funding has not been designed to pay for instructional 

expenses for the additional 60 credit hours that they have for college. Early on we discovered that, and in order to be a good partner 

with the Genesee Intermediate Schools on our campus we decided 

to subsidize that, but we can only do this subsidy to a very limited 

extent. It is not sufficient to a full-blown version, and so we made 

special considerations for the Genesee Early College as when they 

dual enroll in our university college courses not to charge them the 

full tuition. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Thank you. 

Chairman KILDEE. And the gentleman from Texas. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

My first question is to Dr. Shaink. There you are. 

Mr. SHAINK. Yes. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. As a program designed to help at-risk youth does 

the Mott Middle College use some type of early warning indicator 

system to identify individuals who might be at risk of falling behind or dropping out of the program? 

Mr. SHAINK. Absolutely. Right from the very beginning one of the 

things that I’ve been impressed with is how the staff administrators interview the students and also work with families. And one 

of the key things is working with families because it’s not just 

changing one—a student’s life, it’s changing the entire family’s life. 

And so there’s conversation from the very beginning of what the 

expectations are when coming on campus, that they are in an adult 
29 

setting and that they—not only they, the student, but also their 

families, are expected to uphold that expectation, and so that’s 

really clear. 

In addition to that, because of the size of the program—in our 

case 400, maximum 400—faculty and staff are able to really work 

on a one-to-one basis with each of the students. They treat them 

not as just a student, they look at the entire whole of the student, 

their life. And so many of the at-risk students that come to us have 

life issues, and so it’s important on a day-to-day basis to keep in 

touch with the student and how they’re doing. 

I know, having been a former high school teacher, and I know 

that that is what they do, they just check on the students as they 

come in, well, how are you doing, Johnny. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. May I ask you a question regarding this? I like 

what I hear from you, but give me an estimate of how many of your 

minority students are dropping out and not finishing this program, 

African-American children, what percentage, and Hispanic students, how many are not graduating? 

Mr. SHAINK. If I can’t give you that information right now, we 

will get that to you. We do have one of the—— 

Mr. HINOJOSA. If I could get the answer to that later—— 

Mr. SHAINK. You surely can. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. My time is running out and I want to ask more 

questions. 

Chairman KILDEE. We’ll keep the record open for 14 days for additional testimony. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Excellent. I’d like to ask Mr.—is it pronounced 

Skorcz? 

Mr. SKORCZ. Skorcz. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. What role did the Greater Flint Health Coalition 

play in the proposal phase of this Genesee Early College? 

Mr. SKORCZ. Yes. The healthcare sector in the Greater Flint 

Health Coalition specifically were involved in the planning and 

helped create the partnership to support the early college. We 

would eventually also be part of the advisory committee that continues to advise the early college. For example, recently there’s 

been a discussion on internships, and what we did was the hospitals helped define those internships so that they would be an 

asset to the program and added value to the types of internships 

that should occur. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. I think your program will be greatly needed if we 

are to be able to give health insurance policies to some 45, 47 million more people who are uninsured, and so the need to produce allied health workers, particularly nurses and physicians’ helpers, 

those who can help primary care doctors, would be greatly needed. 

And I would ask is there a way that you all are tracking the students that go through your program? 

Mr. SKORCZ. Well, really the early college is tracking those programs. We do have as a Greater Flint Health Coalition something 

called the Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities, which is a 

different older population in the community, people who haven’t 

worked for many years, entry-level people, people who are in entrylevel jobs currently in healthcare who wish to get additional credits 

to get promoted. And by that we hope to increase the slots avail-
30 

able at the entry level, and more recently we’ve had a grant from 

the Department of Labor for dislocated workers, especially auto industry. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. That’s very important, sir. My last question goes 

to Mr. Brooks. 

Mr. Brooks, do you feel that minority students are being helped 

to have accessibility and to be able to afford higher education, 

those that you are mentoring and helping out? 

Mr. BROOKS. Yes, I do, and that’s because not only is it free college but the support that the teachers give us, they give us the 

mindset that we can go farther and do better as individuals, not 

just as students. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Please let them know that the House of Representatives just passed a bill yesterday which we are sending to 

the Senate, and it—if it passes the Senate and the President signs 

it, there will be $80 billion over the next ten years to help in terms 

of the accessibility and affordability for all students to go to colleges and universities. 

The Pell grant will go up. It was 4,000 just two years ago. It will 

be 5,700, and it will go to 6,900 in just a few years. So we have 

direct student—we will have under this bill direct government 

loans with a very low interest rate and there will be no reason to 

not have the money necessary to pursue a college education. With 

that I yield back. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. Hinojosa is being very humble. The landmark bill that passed yesterday emerged from his subcommittee, 

from his mind and his heart. He worked very hard on that bill. It 

had to be a very happy day for you yesterday when that bill 

passed. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. It was. I did somersaults after the vote. 

Chairman KILDEE. I let him handle higher education, I do K-12, 

but on this we see how the two come together. We’ve demonstrated 

it here in Genesee County, we put it together. I would like to replicate this throughout the country. If people want to see how these 

programs work, let them come to Flint and Genesee County. We’ve 

got it here. Thank you very much. The gentlelady from Hawaii. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you very much. Since this program is very 

much focused on helping at-risk students to be able to succeed in 

high school and also college and in life, how do you go about identifying the students who should be encouraged to participate in this 

program? Any of you can respond to that. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. There’s a partnership. There are 21 constituent 

districts, there are K-12 districts here in Genesee County serving 

our 80,000 students. They have all approved these programs as legitimate alternative-school programs, plus neighboring counties 

also have an access to the programs as well. And when students 

meet the criteria, either in the middle college because they’re at 

risk of dropping out—you heard the grade point statistics I’m sure 

that were shocking to you—but they’re having a difficult time in 

a traditional high school. Then they either look at one of several 

alternatives. 

They may be running an alternative program within their own 

district. There may be another opportunity. The Baker College— 

Julianne Princinsky was introduced earlier, president of Baker Col-
31 

lege—has a career academy that operates on a similar basis. That 

might be an option for them. Or there’s an application process for 

the Mott Middle College. If the student meets the criteria and can 

fit, then they’re off and running, and the same process occurs with 

the Genesee Early College. So it’s a professional to professional relationship as well as advertisements directly to the parents because 

if you were watching our local TV or watching—or listening to local 

radio or reading our local press, you would find out about the Genesee Early College or Mott Middle College as an opportunity for 

your student. So that’s pretty much the way it occurs. 

Ms. HIRONO. So—excuse me. So what you’re describing is a range 

of options that a student, at-risk student, would have. You know, 

you said if a student meets the criteria for MCC then—— 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. The process goes. 

Ms. HIRONO. So what’s the criteria particularly for—— 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. First of all, they have to have some difficulty in 

the traditional school. They’re either—most of the time they’ve already dropped out. Two, they have to have some ability to be able 

to perform in an environment. There has to be a potential there. 

Ms. HIRONO. How do you determine that? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. The leadership of the school has a rubric that 

they run through, and it’s pretty effective. They can make a selection that works well. For the most part students that apply are accepted because they do meet the criteria in both cases. 

Mr. LOTFI. In the case of Genesee Early College I think the genius is in the admission process, which includes a personal interview. It is a little different than the way we admit our regular university students. In this case students are interviewed so they 

could not necessarily have a 3.5 GPA to automatically get into a 

university, and having a relatively lower GPA, but the principal, 

the counselors, they analyze their transcripts, and more importantly, they interview each and every one, because in order to become part of the GEC, the Genesee Early College program, at least 

on our campus, they have to give up certain things. For example 

if they want to play football they can’t do that because we do not 

have a football team. So we want to make sure that student is really committed to coming here and going through that sacrifice, giving up certain amenities that they would have in their high school, 

in return earning 60 transferable free college credits. 

And our—statistically we are very young, obviously. We are in 

our third year, so we have not graduated our first cohort yet, but 

we have tremendous success in terms of dropout, we have less than 

a couple of percent. 

Ms. HIRONO. And that dropout rate is low not because you’re 

kind of cherry picking them? 

Mr. LOTFI. No, absolutely not. 

Ms. HIRONO. In terms of trying to replicate this program, because it sounds like a program that’s very successful, what are the 

most important factors that would go toward some other state replicating your program? 

Mr. SHAINK. Well, I would say it’s really on the design principles, 

and you have a handout, the design principles, and that really is 

the basis of making sure that it does focus on the at-risk students. 

And I agree that it’s the interview process, it’s the process that— 
32 

what we get excited about is we’re actually taking at-risk youth 

and we are turning them around, as we’ve indicated, from 1.6 to 

a 3.1 grade point average, and we’re not just cherry picking. And 

the family and the student has really got to want to be in that position. 

Ms. HIRONO. Has anybody from Hawaii come to visit you? Not 

yet? 

Mr. LOTFI. But we would love to have them. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. We’d love to visit Hawaii and give you the information. Have us over. 

Mr. SHAINK. January? 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you, Ms. Hirono. 

Dr. Webb, Congress in the last few years has been moving 

around, touching, twisting, turning over the problem of transfer of 

credits from one higher education unit to another. We have not 

done really very much on it, but it is our concern, we recognize that 

difficulty. Do students participating in dual enrollment face challenges transferring their college credits to colleges not affiliated 

with the program? 

Mr. WEBB. Absolutely. That’s a problem here in Michigan as 

elsewhere in the country. States that have been really successful 

in creating those seamless opportunities for students have articulation agreements among at least the public institutions, public twoyear, four-year, the colleges and universities. Articulation agreements would say that for this syllabus for this course this will be 

recognized in all the public institutions in the state. It really takes 

that kind of agreement among the higher-education institutions 

about what constitutes the content and request the accountability 

associated with every course and agreement about that in order to 

help create that seamless transfer. 

Where that doesn’t exist, then it’s ad hoc. It’s actually haphazard 

for the student who could earn 60 college credits and find that he 

or she has no place to put them upon graduation from high school. 

So this is really a big problem nationwide, and some states, Texas 

included, California among the two-year in the Cal State University system, but not the University of California—and other states. 

Ohio has made some really great progress in this area. 

This is an area that I think along with the other issues that were 

mentioned has to be in place for replication. There has to be an 

agreement that at least the state—that the public institutions in 

the state will come to the table to begin the process of thinking 

about articulation transfer agreements. 

Chairman KILDEE. Is there a role for either the state government 

to help facilitate those transfer of credits or the federal government? 

Mr. WEBB. Absolutely. New York state recently announced an 

RFP to create 22 early colleges within the next five years, and in 

order to apply for that the institutions involved, which will be primarily public institutions, have to agree that they’re going to sit 

down together and they’re going to figure out how credits will be 

transferred from one institution to another, and that’s where the 

state which is holding the money and the state which is authorizing this new program has the power to bring folks to the table 
33 

and from the bully pulpit address a really critical issue in early college and a dual enrollment in general. 

Chairman KILDEE. Well, the power of the dollar could be used in 

both places, could it not? 

Mr. WEBB. Absolutely. 

Chairman KILDEE. We hesitate to interfere with the autonomy of 

any educational institution of higher education. But when there 

seems to be maybe an unfairness or arbitrariness in not accepting 

transfer, do you think that maybe the use of the dollar might encourage them to sit down to the table? 

Mr. WEBB. Absolutely. And if they won’t go all the way, they can 

think about core courses that will be transferable. What is the set 

of courses, even whether it’s a technical set of courses or liberal 

arts set of courses, that everyone will agree upon. Let’s start with 

a core set of courses, a core curriculum, if you will, that’s the place 

to begin. The autonomy is a major issue and not just in Michigan 

but all across the county. State systems don’t want to be told by 

other systems which credits they’re going to accept, and even campuses within the same system don’t want to be told but to agree 

upon a set of core courses or core curriculum for transfer is one 

positive step in the right direction. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. Brooks, can you tell me a little more 

about the mentor program you established at Mott Middle College 

and who helped you establish the program and how many students 

participate? 

Mr. BROOKS. Last year we had a certain amount of kids that 

weren’t doing too well, and a couple of my teachers came up to me 

and asked what can I do to help make not only the students better 

but the school. So I went home and I thought, and I thought of a 

mentor program because that will not only help the students academically but if they don’t have the support at home or any type 

of support period, that’s what the other peers and the other students and the mentors are there to help for. 

And I started it last year, and now I have a co—like a coworker 

type. Her name is Danielle, so she’s helping me. And I have approximately about 15 students in there right now and I still have 

people signing up, so the program is increasing as we speak. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. My time is expired. 

Mr. Payne. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. 

Mr. Brooks, say if you went to your normal high school you were 

probably scheduled to go to, how do you think you would be doing, 

do you think you would be doing as well, maybe you have the special ability anyway, or do you think the fact that you’re in a setting 

you’re in gives you the incentive to do better and why? 

Mr. BROOKS. Academically I would still be successful, but what 

it was is when I changed to Mott Middle College the teachers actually cared about the students. It’s not like they’re getting paid to 

teach and it’s another day they have to come to work, they are willing to come to work and help the students succeed and they want 

us to be just as successful as they are. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Webb, the—well, let me ask another, perhaps any of you— 

in some—we have some specialized high schools that are not this 
34 

type, but in Newark. What do you think about the possibility for 

a student to go to say Mott Middle College, not necessarily having 

the ability to participate in sports or if they—would they be able 

to be assigned a public high school which would have done that, 

a special school so that they can participate? I don’t know, maybe, 

Mr. Brooks, you might know? 

Mr. WEBB. Well, nationally that is something that happens quite 

a bit where the comprehensive high school or the high school to 

which the student would have been assigned had he or she not 

gone to early college, is the place where a student can go back with 

permission and participate in activities, sports and other activities, 

the caveat being they have to maintain a certain GPA and they 

have to maintain satisfactory progress in their courses in order to 

continue that. But it’s fairly common practice because sports is 

engrained in the American culture and even early colleges which 

hold the promise of so many benefits still aren’t compelling enough 

without sports for students to feel satisfied with that academic experience. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. Mr. Payne, if I may, the specific in Michigan is 

the Michigan High School Athletic Association will allow our students at both Genesee Early and Mott Middle to participate in high 

school sports activities with the permission of their local district, 

and that’s the catch. Some districts do, some districts don’t, and 

that’s the issue. And the reason they’ll allow that is both of these 

schools, Mott Middle and Genesee Early, are considered alterative 

schools so the student can participate in their local districts’ programs but with the permission of the local district. 

The other part that’s challenging to us and extremely difficult, 

the schedule that we have established is not a traditional high 

school schedule. As you know in a traditional high school athletic 

practice happens when the bell rings for the most part. Well, 

there’s no bell here, so they’re given advanced chemistry and 

they’ve got to be in their chem lab. So those are the kinds of things 

that inhibit that. There are really two avenues, the local district, 

one, and the fact that the structure itself doesn’t lend itself easily 

to that kind of thing. 

Mr. PAYNE. We even have a school in our district that has athletic practice before school and they have to be there a 6:00, 6:30 

if they want to participate in sports going to the normal school. 

Dr. Webb, this is sort of a general question. We’ve always heard 

about North Carolina, New York, you know, the states, and Michigan now—of course we have to include Michigan—but certain 

states seems like it has more of an initiative. And I wonder in your 

opinion, does that come since education is so local, do you think it’s 

the individual governor or what is—I know North Carolina had a 

governor who really took education to heart. Even in New Jersey 

we had to have a decision, a court decision, that said all schools 

had to be funded at the same level, and therefore no school district 

could be funded at a higher level. 

So the court, unless we had a constitutional provision that was 

done in the 17—1800’s, 1700’s, that said every student is entitled 

to a thorough and efficient education, so if the student just sued 

the constitutionality of their school and won the case—anyway, 
35 

what do you see as the spark in North Carolina or in New York 

like this Jersey case? 

Mr. WEBB. I think in the same vein that the State of Michigan 

has made a decision about its economic feature and what it’s going 

to need to be prosperous, other states have made that decision too. 

In Texas, for example, the leadership of the former governor as 

well as the higher education system resulted in the decision to expand early colleges. In New York state it really wasn’t led by the 

governor so much as it was by legislators and the Department of 

Education, but in every case there’s a champion with power that 

sees that education is integrally tied to the economic future. 

But in states where it works very well, it works well because 

there are a set of policies that are conducive to early college. For 

example, in Texas they have something called Hold Harmless, so 

the local district does not lose anything if a student is taking high 

school and college courses. The local district gets its full allocation 

of per-pupil allocation and the college gets its full allocation of 

FTE, and so there’s no penalty for being a partner in early college. 

In places where it works well, either through waivers or through 

regulations, they put in place a set of policies that help to make 

it work. They deal with the funding issues, they deal with transfer 

of credit, they deal with seat time, which is major barrier for many 

early colleges. If you’re taking a college course you’re not sitting in 

that seat for the same amount of time as you are if you’re sitting 

in a high school course, so what does that mean, that the college 

course is not worth as much as the high school course? Of course 

you know that’s not the case. 

So in those states where early college is proliferating and working the legislators and other officials are really working on those 

policy issues. I think here in Michigan we’re seeing the same thing, 

that as Chery Wagonlander mentioned to me earlier, one by one 

they’re addressing those barriers to effective programming and financing. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. Hinojosa. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having another 

round of questions. I want to address a very important question 

that our Chairman Kildee asked, and I will expand in just a moment. The question was do students participating in dual-enrollment programs face the challenges transferring their college credits 

to colleges and universities not affiliated with this program. 

I want to get as many students into college, but in looking at the 

college accreditation process that the proprietary schools go 

through versus accredited colleges and universities like you have 

here in Michigan and other states, is it possible that your Michigan 

state higher education coordinating board be the group that would 

tackle this question that he asked so as to set the standards at 

such level that it would be easy to get those agreements that colleges and universities would accept our students from this early 

college course program that we are discussing? I’d like to ask that 

of the chancellor. 

Ms. PERSON. I know I’m not a witness, but if I could help answer 

that in any way, we don’t have a higher education—we don’t have 

anything like we did—we do in Texas for higher education coordi-
36 

nating where there is no one single entity that sort of controls all 

higher education. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. If you don’t have a similar entity as ours, who in 

the state of Michigan could be that entity who could tackle this 

problem because it’s very important? 

Ms. PERSON. There are probably the couple different entities, and 

I’ll yield in a minute to my colleague from the community college 

sector. For the four-year colleges and universities, public colleges 

and universities, we do have a president’s council, so that’s one avenue. And I’ll yield to Dr. Shaink to speak about the two-year 

schools. 

Mr. SHAINK. To answer your question, all of the students who attend Mott Middle College High School take college credits, they 

transfer, period. And the reason why is we—the community colleges and the universities along with the K-12 system fall under 

the North Central Accreditation. In our case it’s the higher learning commission is the division of it, so we have standards. We work 

with the public institutions. We work across the board to make 

sure that we have the same credential for instructors that we’re 

following. We’re working with the different universities and colleges to have articulation agreements, so in our case we are always 

aware of that, making sure that the courses that they are taking 

as part of the system of working and the power of the site where 

our teachers, our faculty, our counselors can work with the teachers and faculty of the high school and with the students. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Please know that we’ve had field hearings on 

higher education in California, New York, different places, and this 

question, this issue that the chairman asked is very, very important. And there’s no question that the proprietary school student 

enrollment has quadrupled in just the last five years, and it’s a 

multi-billion-dollar business for them. 

And many of the students who are graduating, in my opinion at 

least some of them—I don’t know the percentage, but it’s questionable about the preparation. It seems like there are articles in major 

newspapers that talk about other students taking the tests for 

them because it’s done online and a lot of cheating on tests, and 

so it makes their degrees questionable. And we do not—we need to 

have the same type of regulations on those proprietary colleges as 

we have on our public colleges as yours. 

And know that when I heard the chairman ask that question I 

said thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing that up because it certainly did come up in the field hearing we had from east coast to 

west coast. So with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. My time has 

run out. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. The gentle lady from 

Hawaii. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. There’s no question that a caring, competent and qualified teacher is really foundational to the success of 

any classroom and the students, so Mr. Brooks has mentioned several times how important the teachers are in this program. And my 

question is who gets to teach in your program, how do you find 

them, what do you pay them, do they get more, do they get special 

kind of training, do you need teachers with particular kinds of attitudes to be part of this program? 
37 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. The question is since we’re the employer of all 

those teachers, first of all, they have to meet the highly-qualified 

standard and they have to meet the certification standards in the 

state of Michigan, so those are given as a point. And I’m thinking 

of a particular teacher as I describe this to you. 

I knew this teacher for, oh, at least three years before he came 

to work for us, and I knew him when he was a high school student 

and I knew him from a standpoint of how he looked, how he acted, 

what his intellect was, what his interests were. And when we finally got him into the process and interviewed him—and our process requires a committee interview of staff, interview of the administration, ending with a private interview with me that is truly an 

interview, so there are many steps that a person goes through. 

This teacher is extremely successful at Mott Middle College, and 

I would consider him one of our best, for he was a graduate of Mott 

Middle College, and he would not—if he were here testifying today 

he would tell you that I would not have graduated from high school 

had I not had the opportunity to go to Mott Middle College for the 

same reasons that this young man explained. And he became an 

excellent candidate. 

And those are the kinds of people that we look for. We look for 

people that are highly skilled, highly trained and are very, very 

empathetic and understanding within the work force. They also 

have to take on additional responsibilities for continuous improvement, staff development, stand evaluations, all of the things that 

I would consider normal. 

But it’s not for everyone, and we take a great deal of time in selecting the right person to perform, and we’ve done a good job with 

that. Our principals are excellent in looking for candidates. We do 

pay well. 

Ms. HIRONO. Do you pay better than—— 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. The general salary schedule of the Genesee Intermediate School District—and we employ teachers—is not the 

highest in this county, but it’s certainly not at the midpoint. 

Ms. HIRONO. And are the teachers union members? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. They are union members, they’re members of 

the Michigan Education Association. We’ve developed over the 

years something very different with our union. We have our own 

win-win negotiations process. I have 1,200 employees in my school 

district working on various tasks. The vast majority of them are 

union members. In the last year I don’t think I’ve had a grievance 

come to my level. We have a very positive working relationship 

with our unions and we’re able to do the kinds of things that make 

the school extremely successful. 

Ms. HIRONO. Anybody else want to add anything further? Because of the recruiting, the training, retention of highly-qualified 

teachers or effective teachers, as I like to use that term, is a huge 

challenge throughout our school system, and for a school like this 

I would think that you would need some very special kinds of 

teachers who are not only qualified but committed. I’d like to see 

that in every classroom. 

Mr. LOTFI. I would like to just congratulate and acknowledge the 

teachers and the principal of the Genesee Early College on our 

campus because certainly teaching in the Genesee Early College is 
38 

different. My own spouse, by the way, is a high school teacher in 

a local school district, so I’m a little bit familiar with it. 

It takes a little bit of extra effort on the part of the teachers because of the schedules, so for example, by the time the students get 

to the sophomore level or junior level their daily schedule is vastly 

different than that of the regular classroom students that are entered in blocks because they walk out to go and take a college class 

and they come back. So the teachers have to be creative in a way 

that they could schedule a chemistry lab or physics lab or biology 

lab and arrange it so they are within the university’s schedule as 

well. So there are some complexities and nuances, and these are 

fantastic schoolteachers that we have on our campus and the principal, and they have really made this a very, very successful experience. 

Mr. WEBB. I have something to add to that. The professional development is a really important aspect of any successful early college. Most early colleges are successful and have common planning 

time, and just like there’s a relationship among the students, it’s 

very personable and very close, the same thing has to happen with 

the teachers because they’re starting with a population of students 

who may not have been successful before they came there, so they 

enter oftentimes with issues, some learning issues, personal issues. 

And so in order to make sure that these students are successful 

teachers have to collaborate and talk with each other. 

It’s not like traditional education, like the schools I’ve taught in 

where you go into the classroom, close the door, you open up the 

door when the bell rings, you close it again, and you do that all 

day. Teachers work with each other, they collaborate, there’s common planning time. And that professional development and that 

common working together, that collaborative work is a very important hallmark for professional development in early colleges and 

really contributes to success of that school’s experience. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Ms. Hirono. The chair 

at its discretion is going to try one more round of questions. This 

has been very, very helpful. We really have people who know this 

issue very well, so I’m going to try one more round of questions. 

Let me address the question to Dr. Shaink. In your testimony 

you reference Mott Middle College affective skills initiative. What 

does that initiative entail? 

Mr. SHAINK. I would really like to call upon the principal who 

really is engrained in that, but part of the effective skills is really 

working with the high school instructors, working with the college 

instructors to make sure that there’s an easy transition for a student to be able to know how to take the college course. It could be 

the facts of understanding of time management, it could be understanding of the explanation of you’re going to walk into a class and 

you’re going to have to use Blackboard, which is a software package, it could be how to hold a discussion in a college course. 

It’s really designed to make sure that there’s an integration between the high school curricula and the college curricula so that 

the student is not surprised. And again, that’s where the faculty 

on both parts, both on the high school and the college, work together and work with that student and keep track and in touch 
39 

with that student to make sure that they’re not getting lost and 

that they are being successful in that transition. And I think that’s 

where the power of the site, when we talk about where it’s located 

on the college campus, that it’s easy for their students to have communication both ways, so that’s really part of that. 

Chairman KILDEE. You know, it reminds me when my first child 

was born I really kept telling my wife of this affective education 

part we have to make sure that David has a good feeling about 

himself, and I must have overdone it because one day I called from 

Lansing, the State capital, and I said how is David doing today? 

And she said he has a very good feeling about himself today. But 

I try to do that as to a teacher too. 

Mr. SHAINK. And it’s more than just academically prepared, they 

also have to be prepared to go in a college environment, and that’s 

what both the high school and the college faculty help those students to do. 

Chairman KILDEE. Has Mott College tracked its graduates over 

the course of the 19 years that you’ve been in existence, do you 

have a sense of long-term success in the program? 

Mr. SHAINK. Yes. In fact, materials, that data that we have given 

you, there are different charts, and one of the charts—there are 

several charts—they show the different aspects of cores, meaning 

the classes for the past 16 years. And you can see that each year 

they gain more in number of credits that they’re taking, number 

of courses they’re taking. 

We’re also—they’re also tracking the grade point average and so 

that these data sets can be interpreted and improved upon, and so 

we’re very mindful of that and Mott Middle College is, so if you— 

I would direct your attention to the charts that we have and I 

would be willing to explain or help to explain any of those charts. 

But yes, we keep track of them and they show the progress and 

it’s been successful each and every year. 

Chairman KILDEE. The gentleman from New Jersey. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Brooks, how have you been accepted by your buddies, you 

know, you’re out with some of the guys down the street, you know, 

in your neighborhood that don’t have a nice suit on like you, you 

know, pull their trousers up a little bit. What’s going on? 

Mr. BROOKS. They still think of me the same because I can still 

clown around and do things, but what it is, I get my work done 

first and I know when it’s time. Like I’ll take acting and drama 

classes, therefore I have classes where I can be myself and I can 

have fun. And there’s a time to learn and there’s a time to play, 

so they understand and we have the understanding that I’m going 

to try to be successful and I’m going to try to make you successful 

just as well as I want you to be also. 

Mr. PAYNE. A great act of ecclesiastics, there’s a time for all 

things, right, my spiritual advising. 

Let me ask, let’s see, our health professional. Do you believe— 

I think it’s Mr. Skorcz—that the kind of—the interest that you’ve 

taken—since healthcare, you mentioned you could go to Washington, you could help us, but aside from that do you think that 

this kind of a program that you’re doing here should be replicated 

and isn’t it since healthcare—once we put this new plan together 
40 

with the public option to make sure that we have more people covered there will be a big need? 

Mr. SKORCZ. Yes, absolutely, it could be replicated and indeed 

there’s some legislation called Sectors that was promoting this Sector workforce nationally. Not only is the issue of health reform potentially having incredible impact on manpower, those manpower 

or person power needs exist right now. And indeed healthcare in 

Michigan is the really—the only growth area for jobs, so it’s a very 

significant issue. 

I think the success of supporting the academic institutions in 

their training as healthcare professionals is really related to this 

role that I think is fairly unique in this community is putting the 

employers in a key driving mode to define the kinds (inaudible) because I think sometimes historically educational institutions would 

gear up to train individuals that training would take place and 

then the field would change. So this whole aspect of having 

healthcare people with real expertise finding what the needs are to 

assist the educational institutions and work for its development is 

beneficial. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Webb, on your student information system for Jobs for the 

Future have you gotten data yet and have you been able to evaluate how students in the early college programs be tracked and 

what’s the success rate? How are you doing? 

Mr. WEBB. Yes, we have. Now that we have graduates—and remember, this is a young program—we’ve been able to look at some 

of the post early college graduation experiences of kids and what 

we’ve seen from the limited data that are coming out so far from 

this is that they enroll faster in college after they graduate in the 

nation as a whole. 

We have this long-term study called the National Education Longitudinal Study, NELS, that’s tracking a group of kids from the 8th 

grade into adulthood, and it’s a representative sample, so we can 

compare different things that are happening around the country to 

what’s happening with those kids. When we make a comparison we 

see that the kids in early college enroll faster and they enroll more 

often in a four-year institution. Enrolling in a four-year institution 

right after college is a greater predictor that you’re going to get a 

B.A. degree than if you enroll in a two-years college, so that’s what 

we’re seeing so far, and particularly among low-income kids, that 

the rate for—and in the written testimony remarks there are some 

statistics about this, but low-income kids don’t enroll as fast in college after graduation, if they enroll at all, because they have to 

work basically. But early college kids who are from low-income 

families enroll in much greater numbers than the national sample 

of kids do, and they enroll in four-year institutions, so we’re seeing 

great success. 

The early college graduation rate for the cohort which graduated 

in 2008 was 92 percent using the federal definition. And I’ll leave 

it at that, 92 percent. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. My time’s expired. 

Chairman KILDEE. Mr. Hinojosa. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Thank you. My friend and colleague, Congresswoman from the state of Hawaii, Mazie Hirono, asked the question 
41 

about cost, and I want to follow up a little bit on that. How does 

the cost—and I’ll ask this question of Dr. Svitkovich. I’d like to ask 

how does the cost per pupil compare for students in the Genesee 

County’s two college—early college programs compare to students 

in the traditional setting? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. I can tell you it’s the same amount of money 

that we receive, first of all, but it’s not the same amount of money 

that’s spent. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Would you speak a little louder? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. It’s the same amount of money we receive from 

the State, but it is not the same amount of money that’s spent. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Yeah, but you said it was more expensive? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. Yes, I did. The reason I said that is we have to 

supplement the existing cost with resources from other—from other 

sources. Right now we’re able to get by with a grant from the Gates 

Foundation, we’re able to get by with some grants from the Mott 

Foundation, we’re able to get by with using career tech dollars, and 

we’re able to supplement the foundation allowance to make all that 

money kind of seem to work together to make it go. 

Now, understand this, we have no building costs, we have no 

telephone costs, we have no technology costs and we have no security costs for the most part. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. The good news is that when Chairman Kildee’s 

bill passes on No Child Left Behind there will be some money but 

not for all the public schools, but there is hope. So let me go to the 

next question. 

This question is for Dr. Lotfi. How are the teachers selected for 

the college-level courses of Genesee Early College and tell me if 

they’re accredited and certified to be able to teach advanced placement courses and international baccalaureate courses? Speak closer 

to the mic. I can’t hear you. 

Mr. LOTFI. The (inaudible) of instructional faculty for the students when they are in dual-enrolled college-level courses is exactly 

the same as that of the rest of the university, so in fact when the 

students are taking college-level courses there is no distinction between the instructional faculty. So high school teachers when 

they’re taking their high school classes, as Dr. Svitkovich mentioned, is pretty much the same as any other public high school in 

Michigan. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. I understand the answer. Let me just say this, 

that if I want to go teach some undergraduate courses at the University of Texas I’m going to show that I have a master’s degree 

in the academic course that I’m going to be teaching even for the 

community colleges. So how can these teachers who you tell me 

don’t have that additional preparation, how can they be teaching 

courses that we want colleges to accept? 

Mr. LOTFI. I beg your pardon, I must have misspoken. When they 

are taking—let’s say they are taking a biology course that’s a college-credit biology course that is offered by our own faculty and our 

practice at the university level is that all of our faculty are qualified, so they either have a Ph.D. or their last degree to be a faculty 

at the University of Michigan, so that faculty has expertise in biology. If they’re taking a chemistry course, that faculty has a Ph.D. 

in chemistry. I hope that answers. 
42 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. In essence there are two faculties, my faculty, 

the high school faculty, and Dr. Lotfi’s faculty, the college faculty. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Okay. That answers that question. And then the 

next question if there’s time—and I’m almost out of time—would 

go to Mr. Brooks. 

Have you told your mother that she’s a very smart woman? 

Mr. BROOKS. Yes, I have. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. I come from a family of 11 children and I’m the 

first one—I’m the eighth down the ladder, and I’m the first one to 

graduate from college, from the university, and it was my mother 

who had involved herself with all the children, all my brothers and 

sisters, so that we all graduated from high school and half of us 

from college. 

And did she insist that there be reading to you when you were 

a baby, one-year-old, two, three, four until you were say kindergarten? Tell me a little bit about—where did the literacy, early 

reading and writing that you acquired, how did that happen? 

Mr. BROOKS. It was because of my mother because not only did 

she read to me and things, but she also looked for me to get better 

education, like every school that I went to she looked at the ACT 

scores of the whole school or it’s different situations that she looked 

at to see how can my children get a better education. So when she 

heard about Mott Middle College and the college and high school 

at the same time she thought, well, since me and my younger sister 

are doing very well in school why don’t we try this opportunity to 

see where it takes us. So she made a great decision. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. I suspected that that was the case, that’s why I 

said she’s a very smart woman. Will you go back to your mom and 

you tell her that I send her my praises and that Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, was on the steps of the Capitol just Tuesday 

and talked about this bill that we passed yesterday. And there’s $8 

billion over a ten-year period for early education for reading, early 

reading and writing, from cradle to kindergarten, and that’s going 

to be over a ten-year period. And so what that tells us is that from 

the President Obama to the secretary to the Congress we’re all 

going to be singing the same song, and that is that early reading 

plus writing equals success in school and in college. So you just tell 

her that she was just ahead of most people, okay? 

Mr. BROOKS. Yes, sir. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. With that I yield back. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. Ms. Hirono. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. 

Dr. Shaink, I’m looking at your design principles, and in particular the democratic school governors. Can you describe a little 

bit more what constitutes a purposefully designed structure so that 

everyone’s voices can be heard in the decision-making process including the designing of curricula, and I’d like to know how do the 

parents get engaged in this whole process? 

Mr. SHAINK. Yes, and I will always yield to Dr. Svitkovich to add 

to this too, but that is one of the principles of the design. And what 

it is structure for everyone’s voice to be heard in respect in the decision-making process with regard to hiring personnel, managing 

budgets, determining curricula, developing student activities and 

other policies that affect the daily life of students and faculty. And 
43 

one of the things with the Mott Middle College High School is that 

the faculty, staff, administration involve parents all the way, not 

just at the beginning, but throughout the period of time that the 

student is involved. It’s very, very critical. 

And, in fact, one of the things that we learn from parents and 

both ways that the faculty can also work with the parent to help 

that individual work with their particular—their child, their son or 

daughter. So yes, that’s part of—— 

Ms. HIRONO. Well, I was interested in the structure. Do you have 

a PTSA or do you meet every other week, how is this accomplished? 

Mr. SHAINK. I need to talk—we’ll let Dr. Svitkovich talk about 

that. 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. One of the things that happens—remember I 

said earlier that our whole district with our unions have a win-win 

philosophy, that’s pretty much what this is based on within the 

school level. From a student’s standpoint there’s something called 

a FOCUS group which meets on a regular basis with groups of kids 

and each faculty member, same message, small group, getting this 

contact between the faculty and students on a regular daily basis. 

That expands to parents so that there’s always a contact or a lifeline for the parents directly through that process. 

There isn’t so much a PTA in the traditional sense of it all. It’s 

more of the personal contact and relationship system that works 

and that blossoms out. If you think of it as petals of a rose that 

fall out, and that’s how the communication system links. 

Ms. HIRONO. And I take it the small size of every grade level 

makes a huge difference? 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. Well, there are 400 students there in grades 9 

through—well, really 9 through 13, so in some cases that is a small 

school. In others it would be considered a fairly good size, but I 

would consider it small. And that does help, but it’s also a large 

geographic area that’s an inhibitor for us. We take students from 

this whole county plus outside of the county, so there are two 

things. But we’re able to use the technology, we’re able to establish 

the communication links and we’re able to assure that we have a 

counseling staff that leads a lot of the work, to have that happen. 

There’s the interview process when they become involved in it. 

There’s the intensive communication between student and faculty. 

Ms. HIRONO. Do you have a high level of parental involvement, 

because we know that one of the indicators of successful schools is 

where the parental engagement is high, so what—— 

Mr. SVITKOVICH. In a lot of our challenge situations I don’t know 

if I could say it’s a high level of them coming to school, but it is 

a high level when there’s a need. It’s not high level in terms of a 

structure, but it’s high level in terms of need. 

Ms. HIRONO. Thank you. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much, Ms. Hirono, and thank 

you, Witnesses. This has been a remarkably good hearing. I’ve 

learned a lot about my home town. I’ve lived here all my life, 80 

years last Wednesday. I love this town. 

I’m glad that my colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee were able to see Flint. We drove them down Saginaw Street 

to let them see how Flint is changing. What they’ve seen is what 
44 

a great educational system we have here and how you integrate between higher ed and from the kindergarten up or preschool how it’s 

integrated. 

We have some problems in education in certain areas, but we 

also have so many rich assets and I’m glad that I could share with 

you those assets, with my colleagues. So I thank you for that. I 

thank you for what you’re doing. You are the most important profession. You have real obligations and you assume those obligations. I think you know being called to education and/or health is 

like a vocation, it’s a calling, and it attracts a certain type of people 

who really are concerned about other people. 

I’ve got to make one personal provision and do something that 

I ordinarily don’t do. This gentleman right here could have flown 

home today to the accolades of his district because yesterday from 

his subcommittee emerged and was passed on the floor of the 

House one of the greatest higher education bills since the GI Bill 

of Rights was passed, and thank you for coming here rather than 

going home, I appreciate that very much. 

Mr. HINOJOSA. If I may answer that, Mr. Chairman, I had accepted the invitation to come two weeks ago when you extended it, 

and yes, I was hoping that I could go back home and talk to our 

community and share with them what’s the contents of this bill, 

which as he said, it’s a big, big thing because it’s bigger than the 

GI Bill of 1944, and it’s far more complete. It starts with educating 

children from the cradle and goes all the way up through higher 

education, graduate school, professional schools and so forth. 

So I came because I believe that the work that you’re doing in 

having these field hearings will enrich the databank of information 

that we have to work with to improve No Child Left Behind, and 

this hearing today is going to be one of the hearings and the data 

of the hearings that will be used. And I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, that I’ve learned a great deal just as you made your closing 

remarks, and we will be there to give you the support necessary 

to include it in the Chairman’s Mark when you take it to the Committee of the Whole. And thank you for inviting me. It’s been a 

pleasure. 

Chairman KILDEE. Thank you very much. I have certain secretarial matters I have to take care of. As previously ordered, members will have 14 calendar days to submit additional materials for 

the hearing record and you may submit materials also yourself, Dr. 

Shaink. You had some information you were going to share with 

us. 

[Additional submissions of Mr. Shaink follow:] 

MINORITY GROWTH OVERTIME FOR MOTT MIDDLE COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL 

Year 

American 

Indian/ 

Alaskan 

Black Hispanic Hawaiian/ 

Pacific White Total Population % Minority 

1998/1999 ....................................... 2 58 6 1 171 238 28% 

1999/2000 ....................................... 4 50 8 0 197 259 24% 

2000/2001 ....................................... 6 55 11 0 189 261 28% 

2001/2002 ....................................... 7 64 13 0 154 238 35% 

2002/2003 ....................................... 6 82 9 1 170 268 37% 

2003/2004 ....................................... 3 91 15 1 169 279 39% 

2004/2005 ....................................... 3 103 15 1 202 324 38% 
45 

MINORITY GROWTH OVERTIME FOR MOTT MIDDLE COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL—Continued 

Year 

American 

Indian/ 

Alaskan 

Black Hispanic Hawaiian/ 

Pacific White Total Population % Minority 

2005/2006 ....................................... 4 115 17 1 220 357 38% 

2006/2007 ....................................... 6 154 21 1 207 389 47% 

2007/2008 ....................................... 9 171 20 0 184 384 52% 

2008/2009 ....................................... 6 207 18 0 162 393 59% 
46 
47 

Chairman KILDEE. Any member who wishes to submit follow-up 

questions in writing to the witnesses and coordinate with the majority staff within the records of time, then without objection this 

hearing is adjourned. 

[Additional submission of Mr. Kildee follows:] 

Prepared Statement of Dr. Julianne T. Princinsky, President, 

Baker College 

Background 

Baker College of Flint is a private, not-for-profit, 501C3, post-secondary, careeroriented college. Since 1911 the mission and purposes are to ‘‘* * * provide quality 

education and training which enable graduates to be successful throughout challenging and rewarding careers.’’ Baker College of Flint is one campus (nearly 7,000 

students) within the Baker College System (44,000 students). The campus has been 
48 

a forerunner with regard to dual enrollment and early college initiatives with many 

school districts over the past 15 years and has early college initiatives in place in 

Genesee County and in Michigan’s Thumb. Likewise, sister campus, Baker College 

of Owosso, has long-standing programs in Shiawassee County, and other Baker College campuses state-wide have similar arrangements. 

Early on many of Baker College’s dual enrollment efforts involved an agreement 

with one K-12 school district at a time. These individual collaborations enable qualifying students to participate in several ways: 1) by taking college classes at the high 

school and earning advanced placement credit at Baker College; 2) by taking a class 

at the high school that the K-12 district used in lieu of a high school class, thus 

allowing students to gain both high school and Baker College credit; and 3) by taking Baker College classes at the College that the high school accepted as high school 

credit as well. It is important to note that as Baker is a part of MACROA, earned 

Baker College credits are accepted in like programs at other Michigan Colleges and 

Universities. Students are able to take Baker credits to other colleges, if they desire 

to do so, and if they meet the program requirements of the receiving institution, or 

they simply enter Baker College academically, economically, and often socially, well 

ahead of their high school counterparts, who have not taken dual enrollment options. 

More recently, as K-12 Districts’ interest in providing enhanced value to high 

school students has grown, accompanied by declines in the Michigan’s K-12 funding, 

Baker College of Flint has helped to develop unique public-private partnerships that 

include a number of public school districts. Currently, in Genesee County Baker College of Flint has in place two, more comprehensive, early college initiatives, that are 

well established (one for four years and one for three years) and a third initiative 

in the Thumb of Michigan. 

Principles core to Baker College early college successes 

Each Baker College of Flint early college initiative embodies the following 

foundational principles: 

1. Private and public partners, intentionally working together with the will to succeed, can build, implement and sustain very effective, early college models. 

2. The framework, design, and infrastructure of any early college model should 

be based on leveraging the strengths of each partner involved. 

3. The curriculum should at least meet, if not exceed, Michigan’s rigorous standards, as well as offer a variety of unique student experiences that extend well beyond the classroom, and preferably, include a relevant, career component/thread in 

each year of studies. 

4. Faculty and staff should be passionate, not only about their subject matter, but 

also motivated to actively nurture and facilitate a multi-faceted learning experience 

that encourages students, their parents, employers, and the community to be fully 

active in the educational process. 

5. Community resources should be researched, sought and used in ways that promote mutually beneficial partnerships/collaborations that become integral to the 

students’ learning experiences. 

6. Students should be held to high standards; participation in an early college is 

a privilege and students are accountable for their learning/achievements/behavior. 

7. Educational partners should share equally in terms of the executive leadership 

and decision making, ensuring ‘‘ownership’’ of the initiative by all involved. 

8. Each institution and their faculty/staff bring unique resources and talents that 

enable a variety of responses to the who, what, where, when, why, how and how 

much questions; in general, partners should commit to seeking common ground, and 

innovatively finding ways to enhance value as they help ‘‘jump start’’ students’ collegiate level studies. 

9. No challenge is too great; all are simply opportunities to create ‘‘best practices.’’ 

10. Normative and summative evaluation is a must; on-going assessment is key. 

Public/private early college partnerships work! 

With these principles in mind, Baker College of Flint and its K-12 Public School 

partners have developed several comprehensive early college partnerships. Two of 

these successful models currently in place in Genesee County are described below: 

1. The Three District Consortium Early College Partnership: (Partners: Linden 

Community School District, Lake Fenton Community Schools, and Fenton 

Area Public Schools, and Baker College of Flint) 

From 80 to 100 students, primarily Juniors and Seniors, annually, attend classes 

at Baker College of Flint. These students may earn up to 32 credits per year towards an Associate Degree in Health Sciences, Computer Programming, or Automotive Services Technology and in some cases, they also earn individual certifi-
49 

cations, while they are still in high school. The balance of their course work is done 

at their home high school. 

In addition to program and curricula support, Baker College of Flint provides access to state of the art laboratories. For the Automotive Program, a fully equipped 

Automotive Services Technology Lab is part of the partners’ agreement. As that curriculum at the high school and college level is mandated by NATEF certification 

standards, for this program only, the instructor is a certified employee of the Three 

District Consortium. That instructor still works closely with the certified College 

faculty, particularly in the lab areas. All other dual credit offerings (in all models) 

are taught by college faculty who possess Masters degrees or beyond and/or the credentials required for the particular program. 

A unique feature to this program is that the three high schools, through their 

‘‘Three District Consortium,’’ ensure that the high school students are bused to the 

College and then taken back to their home school where they are also able to participate in all high school activities. 

Under separate cover materials were provided to the sub-committee that further 

detail the variety of curricula offered as well as the credit hours possible for participating, dual-enrollment students. 

2. The Carman Park-Baker Career Academy: (Partners: Bendle Public Schools, 

Carman Ainsworth Community Schools and Baker College of Flint) 

This early college initiative is even more comprehensive. The partners created a 

high school under the consortium agreement that already existed between Bendle 

Public Schools and Carman Ainsworth Community Schools, which addressed alternative education options. The high school is located on the Baker College of Flint 

Campus in collaboration with Bendle Public Schools and Carman Ainsworth Community Schools. It is possible because of an agreement by the College to lease part 

of an elementary school that was sitting empty. Currently, Baker College of Flint 

students and The Career Academy students take classes in the same building and 

all have access to the same computer labs, etc. Carman Ainsworth was thus able 

to re-purpose a vacant building and the College gained much needed space—while 

at the same time—all partners were able to fully implement a dual enrollment, 

early college initiative, right on the College’s campus. 

The Carman Park-Baker Career Academy offers a curriculum that meets the state 

standards for rigor, relevance, and relationships—but also helps students gain college credits and hone their career skills at the same time. Students participate in 

work experiences in each year of their studies. Students typically begin college 

courses in their Junior and Senior years. 

The curriculum reflects an accelerated approach for combining academic excellence with career preparation. The Principal, Diana Balbaugh, and the high school 

faculty and staff ensure that high school requirements are met. They work closely 

with the College administration, faculty and staff to ensure that college requirements are met as well for those student engaged in college level programs/courses. 

An oversight committee meets with the Executive Committee periodically throughout the year to evaluate/assess how things are going and to recommend changes as 

necessary. 

The Baker Career Academy has been and continues to be one of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce’s (GRCC) Teen Quest training sites. This enables Career Academy students (and other districts’ students) to gain summer employment 

after demonstrating proficiency in career ready skills. Via a grant, Baker College 

of Flint has helped to support the Summer Youth Employment Initiative for Genesee County for the past several years, while at the same time enabling this opportunity to be built into The Academy’s programs. 

Currently, in its third year, The Career Academy serves 9th through 12th grade 

students. Beginning with 40 plus students the first year, 24 students earned 102 

college credits while in high school; four seniors graduated, who also went on to college (three at Baker) in order to complete their Associate Degrees. Last year, 2008- 

2009, there were 60 plus students; 11 graduates (attending Baker and other colleges); and 25 students earned 240 credits towards their collegiate-level programs. 

In addition, all of these students experienced a broad array of career-related, beyond 

the classroom, hands-on, and often service-learning, opportunities. Enrollment is 

around 80 for 2009-2010 and is projected to grow to a maximum of 300. 

In both of these early college ventures, the K-12 districts, through their respective 

consortium’s fiscal agents, pay some combination of: 1) a discounted tuition per student; 2) program fees, where applicable for certain programs; 3) part-time staff reimbursement; and/or 4) provide in-kind services. In the case of The Career Academy, 

through the agreement with Carman Ainsworth Community Schools, the College 

provides the full-time Campus Safety and Maintenance personnel with the K-12 
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Consortium covering a portion of that cost based on the total rooms in use. In return, the College provides access to all services, equipment, facilities, library, health 

and fitness center, tutoring services, and student activities at no additional cost. 

These two initiatives have been publicized in the Flint Journal, television and 

radio media, and discussed at the Schools Boards for each of the public institutions 

involved, at the Greater Flint Educational Consortium (GFEC), and in Superintendents’ meetings. Beyond the unique student-centered focus, one of the best aspects 

of both of these partnerships is that each institution involved did their part with 

no additional funding sources. Each institution worked from their strengths and 

found common ground to move beyond what they already had in place. Innovation 

is evident throughout. The benefits for students, parents and community—and employers are outstanding. 

There are, of course, many opportunities to further promote and support these 

‘‘early college’’ initiatives in multiple ways—through curriculum, staffing, outside 

support for employers, materials, and infrastructure. But so far, much has been accomplished through the vision, passion and hard work of the participating institutions’ faculty, staff, leadership and students—and also—for The Baker Career Academy, the involved employers. 

These two examples enumerated above certainly add to Genesee County’s early 

college success stories and are as deserving of potential funding support as any 

other. In some ways, perhaps they are more deserving, because they represent what 

can be done well in terms of public-private partnerships, where the participants 

have the will to make it work—even without additional funding! 

While not in Genesee County, Baker College of Flint has another early college initiative in place in Computer Sciences with the Huron Area Technology Center in 

Bad Axe, and has had it for the past four years. The first two years focused on Automotive Services Technology Program and the past two years on Computer Science 

Programs. Students come from many of the surrounding districts. 

To gain additional recognition and support for these types of initiatives, it is important for legislators to examine the variety of models that have an early college 

foundation. The three mentioned above, and described in the materials provided 

under separate cover, prove that unique settings require customized solutions, but 

they can all work. As long as the partners involved have a real propensity to leverage resources and to provide a ‘‘jump start’’ for our high school population, there 

is room for ‘‘tweaking’’ any model, thereby making it a great fit for the students, 

families, communities, and colleges involved. 

The need for additional funding support is evident 

There are many, very practical ways that legislators can ensure on-going early 

college successes. The College stands ready to discuss these with any interested legislators/designees. Here, however, are five that would provide immediate benefit to 

both existing and new models: 

1. Fund and promote public-private partnerships that demonstrate collaboration. 

2. Fund capacity building—including dollars for infrastructure needs as well as 

staffing and curriculum needs—difficult for the partners to do at such discounted 

revenue streams. 

3. Offer ‘‘pilot’’ grant opportunities to encourage schools and staff to develop and/ 

or implement ‘‘best practice’’ models or portions of models that would enhance the 

value of the existing model. 

4. Fund career-oriented activities—including wage stipends to employers who 

agree to employ high school student interns—at least part-time. 

5. Fund activities to support those early college initiatives that recruit diverse 

student populations and/or the more ‘‘at risk’’ student—supported by actual data. 

Baker College of Flint philosophically and practically supports early college initiatives. The College is committed to doing all that is possible to further such ventures. 

The benefits are huge and cross all levels of the educational system even as they 

impact many levels in the community! In times of scarce resources, as never before, 

educators should be compelled to use them more effectively. Beyond the direct benefits of accelerating education there are economic and social benefits that promote 

a stronger, more literate population with increased collaboration and commitment 

among and between all constituent parties. 

As a member of the GFEC, Baker College of Flint was and is pleased to provide 

support to the grant requests for the early college initiative at UM-Flint. Further, 

the College has always supported the Mott Middle College (MMC) efforts as well. 

In fact, Baker College of Flint enjoys the fact that many of the MMC graduates then 

attend Baker College. And the College has been and continues to be a service provider to the Greater Flint Health Coalition dual enrollment efforts. 
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Baker College of Flint will provide any additional history, brochures, enrollment 

statistics, etc., that the sub-committee needs to further support the Baker College 

of Flint initiatives referenced above. 

In addition, Ms. Peggy Yates, Superintendent of Fenton Area Public Schools, 

which serves as the fiscal agent for the Three District Consortium Early College Initiative, and Superintendents, John Angle and William Haley, of Bendle Public 

Schools, fiscal agent for The Career Academy, and Carman Ainsworth Community 

Schools, respectively, who serve with me on the Carman Park-Baker Career Academy Executive Committee, will also provide additional information. 

We welcome the opportunity to ensure that our legislators, our County, and our 

citizens are fully aware of all of the successful early college—fast track to college 

type—ventures in place, in progress, and in the planning stages. 

On behalf of Baker College of Flint, thank you for this opportunity to share just 

a bit of our experience in this area. We hope that it will enable more fruitful discourse and support more effective planning for the future. 

[Whereupon, at 3:19 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

Æ