Roscoe Collegiate High School Seniors Receive Degrees From WTC
On Friday, May 15, 2015, 18 of the 20 Roscoe Collegiate High School (Roscoe, Texas) seniors will receive the Associate Degree from Western Texas College one day prior to receiving their high school diplomas on Saturday, May 16. When Roscoe Collegiate became the first rural school-wide Early College in Texas back in 2009, the goal then was to become the national leader in college readiness by graduating 90% or more of its senior classes with the Associate Degree by 2015 and beyond.Completion rates for the Associate Degree have also grown steadily from one student in 2010, to 52% of the 2011 Class, 58% of the 2012 Class, 73% of the 2013 Class, 89% of the 2014 Class, to 90% of the Class of 2015.
When asked about the 90% plateau, Roscoe Superintendent, Dr. Kim Alexander, had this to say, “We’ll celebrate this accomplishment for a day or two, and then realize just how many challenges lie ahead, and get right back to work. Obviously, the bigger the ship the harder it is to turn, and we have over 50 8th graders moving into high school next year, with most of the classes below them much closer to 50 students than 20. Also, as a STEM Academy since 2012, we have a similar goal of becoming the national leader in workforce readiness with 90% or more of our graduates leaving Roscoe with an industry recognized Biomedical or Engineering STEM Certification though a paid student apprenticeship experience by 2017. It’s a little bit like running in front of a freight train. We’ll probably be okay if we keep on sprinting, but if we slow down, we’re going to get run over.”