Pictured above, students navigate the hallways of the Marysville Early College High School (ECHS) this week. While school officials were told to expect about 20 percent of ECHS students to transfer back to the traditional Marysville High School, through two years that number is closer to 5 percent.
(Photo submitted)
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Though the number is low, some students opt to transfer from Marysville’s Early College High School
For some it doesn’t work
The first year ECHS was open, 10 students moved back to the larger high school. The second year, four moved back. When students decided to attend the STEM school they are asked to give it a full year before they consider leaving.
Even though the number of students opting to transfer over to the Marysville High School is small, McKinniss still takes note of the reasoning. Through the first two years, many of the decisions to leave were based on educational opportunities offered only at MHS.
McKinniss explained that some students have found they wanted additional instruction in art that was only available at the high school and another transferred because of a passion for history courses, which could be more deeply pursued at MHS. Another student switched because he wanted to work more with the FFA program.
But the academic pace of instruction at ECHS is also sometimes to blame. The school website notes that its learning structure compresses four years of high school and two years of college instruction into the traditional four-year high school career. At the ECHS students can earn up to 60 credits, the equivalent of an associate degree, from Columbus State Community College.
McKinniss said three of the four students leaving after the second year found the pace to be too rigorous.
Though transfers tend not to be based on social circles, one departure did involve a student who was miserable being isolated from a peer group.
Moving between buildings
Moving from a mastery-learning environment back to a traditional classroom seems like it could bring transition trouble with it. If that is the case, Cochran isn’t hearing it from students.
The MHS principal said he hadn’t personally heard of any difficulties being aired. He spoke to guidance counselors, asking them to identify issues ECHS students have switching over, but they found there had been none.
Cochran said students’ coursework from the ECHS seems to transition into the MHS curriculum fairly easily. If in the future, some issues emerge, students can be assessed on an individual level to determine where they fit into MHS core courses, Cochran said. He added that the district partners with online learning providers who could assist with the additional lessons if a student is found to need some additional instruction in a particular area to get them aligned in certain classes.
McKinniss said the district could eventually create a way that students could transition over from MHS to the Early College High School. Only one such request has been made and the school is too young for such a process to be in place.
Behind the numbers
McKinniss said the part of the reason the student transfer rate is low involves the selection process. The school does not handpick students or turn anyone away, but potential attendees are told what to expect so they are not caught off guard.
“The kids made a choice to come here so they own the experience a little more,” McKinniss said.
Once in the building, students adopt the ECHS’ “habits of mind,” a series of learning skills that can serve them for any task they face.
Those habits are flexibility, outside-the-box thinking, resilience, collaboration, communication and self-sufficiency.
McKinniss noted that students who picked the Early College High School made a choice requiring outside-the-box thinking. Tackling mastery learning requires flexibility and self-sufficiency.
Resilience, collaboration and communication are all tools a student could use to overcome any difficulty they might have at the new school.
McKinniss acknowledged that the core mindset instilled in students could play a role in the low transfer numbers.
“Those habits of mind are imbedded in our culture,” she said.