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Middle College High School (MCHS) at Contra Costa College (CCC) was established in 1989 as a collaboration between the West Contra Costa Unified School District and Contra Costa College. The program was structured to provide successful, challenging, and meaningful experiences for students identified as having high ability but were not reaching their potential. Students in grades 9 – 12 are offered the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and meet university entrance requirements while taking college courses and earning college units through concurrent enrollment. Additionally, students gain job skills by working in various internships on and off campus. MCHS students earn scholarships and honors commensurate to those of traditional schools on tests such as the PSAT, SAT and the STAR. They also plan to pursue higher education. Many students fulfill their lower division university requirements and graduate from high school and college at the same time. Others enroll for an additional fifth year to complete the lower division requirements at CCC before transferring to a four-year college or university. MCHS currently has a population of 300 students, allowing for smaller classes and personalized attention from Tech Prep, college and high school faculty and staff. Middle College High School at Contra Costa College is recognized as a Middle College – Early College High School. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation have funded the Middle College National Consortium to establish Middle College – Early College High Schools nationally. This concept combines the last two years of high school and the first two years of the community college into an articulated educational sequence, which enables students to earn a high school diploma and complete two years of a rigorous college education leading to an Associates Degree or 60 transferable credits in five to six years.
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