The P20 Program
Emily Perdue, a West Virginia University (WVU) Extension
specialist in 4-H youth agriculture, was shocked when more
than 1,000 community members from Boone County, WV,
crowded into Van High School’s gymnasium to learn about
a new program she and her colleagues were hoping to launch
there. It was a Wednesday night, and traditionally the com-
munity would have been in church. However, local pastors
held services the night before, encouraging the community to
attend this meeting.
That night, she presented to the community the opportunity to
kick-start an experiential program modeled after the successful
P20 program she observed in the Roscoe Independent Collegiate
School District while she was pursuing her doctorate at Texas
A&M University. The P20 program is an early college program,
meaning that when high school seniors walk across the stage
to receive their diploma, they’ll also be receiving an associate
degree from a local college or university for free.
With overwhelming support from the Van community, the
West Virginia P20 program launched in the fall of 2018 and
is currently supported by a partnership made up of Pierpont
Community & Technical College, Southern West Virginia Com-
munity and Technical College, West Virginia State University
and WVU. The program recently received a USDA grant to
help fund the research projects and offer a stipend to faculty
to support traveling to Van and working with the students.
“For me, P20 is not just an educational program—it really
is a community development program,” says Perdue. “Parents,
guardians, community members—all those stakeholders are
really involved with the school. It is sort of the center of the
community, and what P20 does is make the school the center
for diffusion of innovation.”
Although the program is still in its early stages, Perdue has
already seen a positive impact in the community. While this
fall’s freshman class is the first group that will graduate with
an associate degree, students in last year’s graduating class
were still able to receive a significant amount of college credits.
One former Van student who is now attending Fairmont State
University told Perdue he was able to receive 27 credits before
graduating, allowing him to start college as a sophomore.
“Not all of the students will go and complete a four-year
degree, but when they get that associate degree, that can really
give them a leg up on finding a job,” says Perdue. “And then
if they do want to get a four-year degree, they have the path
to do so.”
Metro Nashville’s
Career-Based Academies
In 2005, Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) had a
problem: their students weren’t engaged in the curriculum.
They were bored, which led them to skip classes and get in
trouble. The district’s graduation rate was 58 percent, which
Donna Gilley, MNPS’ career and technical education coordi-
nator, considered a failure.
“We were failing our kids, and, quite honestly, we were pre-
paring for a state takeover,” she says. “We knew we had to do
something big and bold.”
The solution was to implement their own version of career-
based academies with an initial goal of engaging the students by
tailoring their courses to the students’ interests. Immediately the
attendance rates increased and behavior issues decreased. Over
time, the district’s academic performance has also increased.
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