What is Early College?

Early College is an initiative that allows high school students to take college classes on their high school campus. For the most part, students in an early college class are taught by college professors and take the class with their high school peers. Students who successfully complete the college class receive both high school and college credit.

Early College opportunities are different at each high school. At Mililani High School, our early college classes are scheduled as part of the school day as much as possible. At other schools, students are required to stay after school to attend early college classes.

Although Mililani High School has participated in the Running Start program for quite some time, we decided to implement an Early College Program that allows students to participate in College-level classes on campus. MHS began their Early College Program in the Fall of 2015 and will continue to offer a seventh cohort for the Spring of 2022.

Running Start

Running start is available to students in grades 9-12. High School students take college-level courses at a University of Hawai'i campus along with college students.

Jump Start

Available to 12th grade students at select high schools who take college courses towards a career/technical education program at select University of Hawai'i campuses.

Early College

Available to students in grades 9-12. Students take college-level courses at their high school campus along with other high school students. Students are able to earn dual credit (both high school and college credit) for most of these courses.

Early College is a program that allows high school students to enroll in college classes and earn both high school and college credit. For the 2021-2022 school year, Mililani High School will continue to offer ENG 100. The class will be held during the school day at Mililani High School and taught by a Mililani High School teacher who is also a Leeward Community College Lecturer. In addition to ENG 100, we will also be offering Intro to College Math, which could qualify students to enroll in Math 100 during the Spring semester. Intro to College English was offered for the first time during school year 2017-2018. The Intro to College English course is a year-long course that could qualify students for enrollment in ENG 100 at the college level. This Intro to College English course is not a dual credit course (students will earn 1 high school English credit), but is meant to prepare and qualify students for ENG 100 upon enrollment at a college/university.

The decision to begin college early is an important one. It is important to consider each student's maturity level in making choices about educational options. Although a student may be academically prepared for college level coursework, he/she may find the demands of college extremely overwhelming. Student success requires motivated individuals who work independently, take initiative, have good study skills, and are able to responsibly complete assignments on time throughout the semester.

Parents and students should give careful consideration to the appropriateness of the Early College Program before enrolling. Students should always keep in mind that they are starting a permanent college transcript when they take any college class. High School and college advisors are available to discuss the many options available for early college access.

Final registration into the Early College class is based on 1) class availability and enrollment capacity, 2) priority registration status [Consistent with most universities and colleges, seniors are granted priority registration status, in addition to Early College students who need to meet high school graduation requirements through completion of a dual credit, Early College class], 3) Placement cutoff scores and course prerequisites, and 4) returning student status.

ENG 100 Composition (3 college credits, 1 high school english credit): Provides practice in producing substantial compositions at the college transfer level for courses across the curriculum. Engaging in research activities, students evaluate and integrate sources into their compositions. Engaging in research activities, students evaluate and integrate sources into their compositions. Following a recursive writing process, they analyze the rhetorical, conceptual, and stylistic demands of writing for various purposes and audiences. Students apply the principles of expository writing and produce compositions that have clear ideas, adequate support, logical organization, and correct sentence structure. Students become proficient language users, independent learners, and thoughtful members of an academic community. Prerequisite: Appropriate writing test score or ENG 22 with a grade of C or higher; and completion of ENG 21 with a grade of C or higher, or appropriate reading placement test score; or approval from the Language Arts Division. Rec Preparation: Experience in using computers for writing.

MATH 100 Survey of Mathematics (3 college credits, 1 high school math credit): MATH 100 includes a variety of selected mathematical topics designed to acquaint students with examples of mathematical literacy and quantitative reasoning that demonstrate the usefulness of quantitative reasoning. The core course content includes deductive, numeric, symbolic, graphical and statistical algorithms and reasoning. MATH 100 is not intended as, and does not qualify as, a prerequisite for advanced mathematics courses.

Impact of Dual Credit Programs

National Data suggest that high school students with dual credits demonstrate the following characteristics:

• More likely to meet college-readiness benchmarks

• More likely to enter college, and enter shortly after high school graduation

• Higher persistence rate into second year of college

• Higher four- and six-year college completion rates

• Shorter average time to bachelor's degree completion for those completing in six years or less

In Hawaii, dual credit students also demonstrate similar characteristics:

• Higher college enrollment rates

• More likely to enroll in college in the fall term immediately following high school graduation

• More likely to enroll at a 4-year institution

• Higher persistence rate into second year of college

For more information about dual credit from Hawaii P20, click here.