FORT WORTH, Texas (May 30, 2017) – The National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) has honored Marine Creek Collegiate High School (MCCHS) as a Gold-Level winner in the 2017 National Excellence in Urban Education Awards. The organization recognizes urban schools that achieve outstanding results across a number of academic indicators, such as test scores, attendance and graduation rates.
Located on Tarrant County College’s Northwest Campus, MCCHS is one of five early college high school programs offered by TCC. Students are able to earn transferable college credit up to an associate degree by the time they complete high school.
“The return on investment is huge when you consider the success rate of students graduating with a high school diploma and either an associate degree or a significant number of college credits that transfer to four-year institutions,” said Elva LeBlanc, Ph.D., president of Northwest Campus. “Clearly, it takes a tremendous amount of commitment, passion and dedication on the part of the students, faculty and staff. It is extremely rewarding to see their hard work recognized on this elite level.”
MCCHS was one of four schools in the nation and the only high school to receive the Gold-Level award among the 68 finalist campuses. NCUST representatives visited finalist schools across the country this spring, meeting with staff members and observing classes.
“During our visit to Marine Creek Collegiate High School, I was incredibly impressed by the consistently high level of rigor in each class observed,” said Granger Ward, an executive coach for the National Center for Urban School Transformation. “The level of student engagement and advocacy for their own educational success was apparent among these hard-working young men and women.”
Campus representatives accepted the award and a $5,000 prize at NCUST’s national symposium in Nashville this month.
MCCHS opened in fall 2010. This year’s graduating class amassed 4,766 college credit hours, for an average of more than 71 hours each. Eighty-eight percent graduated with both their high school diploma and an associate degree.