The first time Columbus sophomore Alexis Turner got straight As was after she started high school at the Golden Triangle Early College High School on East Mississippi Community College’s Mayhew campus.
“There was always a B or a C (that) would pop up somewhere (before),” she said. “Here my grades have improved. … I have kept a 4.0, and I think the environment is what helped me keep my 4.0 up.”
Turner is one of 61 students who made up GTECHS’s first ever class when the school began in the 2015-16 school year as part of the Lowndes County School District. The school — Mississippi’s first early college high school — accepts incoming freshmen from Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties.
The students not only have smaller class sizes, fewer extra-curriculars (for example, there are no sports programs there) and more one-on-one time with teachers, but they have opportunities to take college classes, earning an associate degree by the time they graduate, Principal Jill Savely said.
“(GTECHS is for students who) want to do high school a little bit differently,” Savely said.
To get in, the students complete an application and interview process, but their admission is based less on grades and more on whether they would benefit from a break with the traditional high school setting. This year, GTECHS added an incoming class of 60 freshmen, bringing the total number of students to 121. School administrators have also begun accepting applications from eligible eighth graders for next year.
In less than two years, GTECHS has so far proved successful, Savely said — like Turner, most students’ grades have improved since middle school, and 60 out of the 61 had six hours of college credit at the end of their freshman year.
Some things still hard to compare
But with the school still so new and with so few students, it can be difficult to compare test scores with other schools in the Lowndes County School District or other districts in the Golden Triangle. And with its first class still 2 1/2 years from graduating, comparing through graduation rates is also out — though Savely said early college high schools in other parts of the country typically have high graduation rates.
“We don’t have enough data to make a real strong comparison,” Savely said. “Our test scores are great, but … to really know how we’re doing, we need to see historically how our kids are performing. Once we get a group of students through all four years, then we’re really going to be able to talk about what our test scores look like, how many of our kids are getting associate degrees, how much college credit our kids are getting. I think it’s just going to take us some time to really make strong comparisons.”
Still, each of the 61 freshmen from the first class returned this year as sophomores, and they’ve generally reported the school is an improvement from their middle school experiences. Turner said she feels more comfortable asking questions and engaging with teachers and other students at GTECHS because teachers encourage a “less judgmental” atmosphere in classrooms. She’s also had the opportunity to take multiple college classes at EMCC, like American Government and World Religions.
“I’m actually sitting in a college room with the normal college students and college professor,” she said. “It’s not like high school at all. You sit in there, you’re quiet, you get your work done and you leave.”
Sophomore Joshua Taylor specifically went to GTECHS to be challenged, he said, and has already seen that in play. Teachers push him harder — for example in middle school he never had consequences for turning homework in late, he said — and he’s already taken nine hours of college credit classes.
“I think GTECHS has helped me because it is preparing me for life after I move from high school,” he said. “Because the real world isn’t going to be easy.”
Prospective students
Eighth graders from any Golden Triangle county are eligible to apply for GTECHS. Currently, 26 students came from Columbus Municipal School District, 31 from LCSD, 15 from Noxubee County School District, 24 from Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District and 25 from West Point School District.
Since GTECHS falls under the purview of LCSD, that district gets credit for all of its students test scores, including state accountability testing and college entry exams such as the ACT and SAT. This differs from, for example, the Columbus-based Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, which isn’t associated with a specific public school district and therefore credits students’ home districts for their scores on those tests.
Still, counselors and superintendents from GTECHS pool of districts say they make sure their eighth graders know the school is an option.
“We encourage them to apply,” West Point Middle School counselor Danielle Spencer said. “Wherever they go, we want them to be successful.”
SOCSD counselors don’t necessarily encourage or discourage students to apply, Superintendent Lewis Holloway said. Students from the district selected vary in academic performance, he added — meaning he’s not concerned about those grades now going to LCSD.
“Eleven students of our district isn’t going to affect us one way or another,” he said.
At Noxubee County Middle School, counselors and teachers give eighth graders fliers, let them know when information sessions are and help the students apply.
“It’s an option — an alternative to the regular high school experience,” Noxubee Middle School counselor Cynthia Barry said. “Some students would benefit from this program, and some it may not be suited for them.”
Former Dispatch news editor Angel Coker contributed to this article.
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