Sheridan Community Schools has announced that Sheridan High School has been selected by the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning program at the University of Indianapolis as a mentor school for the Rural Early College Network 2.0 as a part of a $10 million federal Education Innovation and Research grant.
The program will support an approximate 11,000 rural high school students across 20 districts as they partake in early college programming intended to improve access to advanced coursework and reduce barriers to college.
The project was launched in 2019 and served 20 schools over six years with students benefiting from college exposure and tuition savings by completing college-level courses while in high school, which led to the goal of encouraging more students to attend college. The first iteration saw that the 2022 cohort tracked that 75% of early college high school graduates attended college, which compares to a 53% state average.
Director of the Rural Early College Network at CELL Janet Boyle expressed her thoughts regarding the results and the growth of the program.
“RECN’s emphasis on relationships through our network activities generated positive impacts on each school, its staff, students and families,” Boyle said. “Over $15 million in tuition savings was realized by the 20 RECN schools, and early college is now an established, vital offering in each school.”
Through the 2.0 project, CELL is expected to work with the selected schools to establish an early college program specifically to serve underserved students, including first-generation students, students eligible for free or reduced lunch, students of color and English language learners.
Sheridan Community Schools will serve as one of five schools that were selected to become mentors in the second round of the program as a means to multiply the student impact.
Recruitment for RECN 2.0 will open from March 3 through March 28. Interested schools may reach out to Janet Boyle at boylej@uindy.edu for more information.
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