Press Release: Massachusetts Alliance for Early College Is Launched

Today, we announce the launch of the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College, a coalition of more than 80 organizations across Massachusetts, including community-based organizations, college success organizations, business and community leaders, foundations, school districts, and higher education institutions, that are collaborating to substantially increase the number of students in Early College programs from 4,500 today to 45,000 in five years. At this scale, and maintaining the initiative’s current student demographics, Early College in Massachusetts is positioned to double degree attainment for Black and Latino students annually and close the college success equity gap by race and income by a quarter, and benefit thousands of students beyond that. Closing the gap is essential to meeting our shared vision of opportunity and justice, closing wage and wealth gaps, and ensuring workforce readiness for the jobs of the future.

Erika Giampietro, founding Executive Director of the Alliance, commented, “There is significant momentum building in the Commonwealth behind Early College, and that’s because it works. Students from low-income communities and students of color are on track to earn college degrees at significantly higher rates. Massachusetts has lost 30,000 college students over the span of the pandemic, disproportionately in underserved communities. But we have a program that works, and the legislature and leaders at the highest levels are supporting it. There has never been a more important or more hopeful time than now to grow high quality Early College in Massachusetts.”

Early College is a proven strategy for addressing the college success equity gap and raising attainment for all students. In Massachusetts, students of color are less than half as likely to complete a college degree within six years after high school than their white peers. Among the 4,500 high school students currently enrolled in Early College programs, two-thirds are students of color, and nearly half are from low-income families. Early College has been shown nationally to increase degree attainment, especially for historically underserved students. According to Manny Cruz, Massachusetts Advocacy Director for Latinos for Education and Salem School Committee Member, “In Massachusetts, white students are three times as likely to graduate from college as Latino students. We’ve learned in the early years of the Early College initiative that if we give Black and Latino students the opportunity to enroll in college courses in high school with academic and guidance support, they will thrive. By giving students an opportunity to succeed early in a college setting, they are building self confidence, habits, and skills that will buoy them later on. Early College also presents a unique opportunity to the Commonwealth to diversify both the future STEM and educator workforce, which would lead to greater upward mobility for Black and Latino students.”

The early evidence on Early College in the Commonwealth is promising. While the initiative is young, data suggests that Early College students in Massachusetts are one-third more likely than school peers to go to college immediately after high school graduation and over 50% more cumulatively likely to persist into a second year, suggesting they are on track to complete a degree at twice the rate of their school peers. In order to meaningfully reduce the college success gap, Massachusetts will need to make a significant investment in scaling up these efforts. The Alliance is adopting the call by the nonpartisan think-tank MassINC for the Commonwealth to be on track to serve 45,000 students in Early College programs by school year 2026-27. “Early College is the best opportunity we currently have for closing major equity gaps in college success for Black, Latino, and low-income students,” said Juana Matias, Chief Operating Officer for MassINC. “In order to meaningfully impact these inequities, we should be aggressive in our efforts to scale up these programs to serve 45,000 students within the next 5 years. It’s a needed investment for our students, our state’s future workforce and in closing our states’ persistent racial wealth gap.”

Since 2017, the state’s Early College initiative has experienced significant growth; the state legislature has increased funding for these programs to $11 million in FY22, a tenfold increase from just $970,000 in FY18. In January, Governor Baker released an FY23 state budget proposal that would increase funding for Early College programs by two-thirds, from $11 million to $18 million, demonstrating the state’s commitment to bringing this initiative to scale. These rapid increases in funding have supported the development of new programs, and have allowed existing programs to enroll more students and increase the number of college credits students earn. As a result, there are now 31 state-designated Early College programs across the Commonwealth, involving 42 high schools and 22 colleges.

Despite this early growth, Massachusetts is still only meeting a small fraction of the need. Expanding access is urgently needed to improve college completion rates, particularly among low-income and first generation students, and will require significant increases in funding each year through at least 2027. “Early College is a ground-leveler, a game-changer, for students in Lynn and communities like ours,” said Superintendent Patrick Tutwiler of the Lynn Public Schools. “Early College is a core piece of what we do, what we offer to families, because we are seeing the results. We look forward to working with the Alliance to continue to see this opportunity grow.”

Early College programs improve the workforce readiness of students and address enrollment challenges that colleges are facing by increasing the likelihood that students enroll in and succeed in college. “As we work towards a diverse and inclusive workforce of the future that meets our needs for talent, it is critical for the business community to support efforts that help get students into and through college. To succeed, it is vital that we ensure low-income students and students of color are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. Early College is a promising economic development strategy that is designed to reduce racial and social inequities in college access. That is why State Street, as the first corporate supporter of this initiative in Massachusetts, invested $1.3 million directly into Early College programs, provided seed funding for the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College, and why we are a proud member of the Alliance,” said Ron O’Hanley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of State Street.

The Massachusetts Alliance for Early College (MA4EC) is a growing coalition of community-based organizations, business leaders, philanthropists, school districts, and higher education institutions supportive of a substantial increase in the number of students enrolled in high-quality Early College programs in order to improve college degree attainment, particularly for low-income, Black, and Latino students. We support the field through a blend of policy, community engagement, and technical assistance, helping grow and coordinate the private sector partners of this public sector led initiative.

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Achieving the Dream
ALPFA Boston
American Student Assistance
Amplify Latinx
BayCoast Bank
Boston Leaders for Education
Boston Opportunity Agenda
Boston Plan for Excellence
Boston Schools Fund
Bottom Line
BUILD Boston
Digital Ready
Duet
Education Resource Strategies
EdVestors
Elevated Thought
Jobs for the Future
Latino Education Institute
Latinos for Education*
LEAP for Education, Inc.
Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education* Massachusetts Business Roundtable
Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN) Massachusetts High Technology Council
Massachusetts Tech Leadership Council (MassTLC)

MassEdCO
MassINC*
Metro South Chamber of Commerce
MetroWest College Planning Collaborative Joint initiative by Framingham State University and MassBay Community College
North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce One SouthCoast Chamber
OneGoal Massachusetts
Project LEARN
Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation
Springfield Business Leaders for Education State Street Corporation
State Street Foundation
State Universities Council of Presidents
Teach Plus Massachusetts
The Boston Foundation
The Education Trust
The Irene and George Davis Foundation The Lawrence Partnership
The Lowell Plan
The Lynch Foundation
The Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy The Teacher Collaborative
uAspire
United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley Worcester Education Collaborative

Boston Public Schools
Charlestown High School
Chelsea High School
Dearborn STEM Academy
Haverhill High School
High School of Commerce
Hopkins Academy
Lawrence High School
Lawrence Public Schools
Lowell High School
Lynn Public Schools
Marlborough High School
New Heights Charter School of Brockton
Quincy Public Schools
RoxMAPP at Madison Park Technical Vocational HS
Salem Public Schools
Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership
Whittier Tech
Worcester Public Schools

Bristol Community College
Bunker Hill Community College
Cambridge College
Framingham State University
MassBay Community College
Middlesex Community College
Mount Wachusett Community College
North Shore Community College
Northern Essex Community College
Salem State University
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Worcester State University