NEW YORK — When students from the Pathways in Technology Early College High School — or P-TECH in Brooklyn — graduate today with an associate degree as well as their high school diplomas, it will be much more than a formality, according to founding principal Rashid Davis.
“You are at the beginning of — I’m going to call it — an educational revolution,” Davis told some of the soon-to-be graduates at a celebration last week.
P-TECH in Brooklyn has become a focal point for the movement — known variably as the “early college” or “dual enrollment” movement, among other names — since the school’s establishment in 2011, in large part due to its partnership with information technology giant IBM.
The public-private partnership also involves the New York City Department of Education, City University of New York and the New York City College of Technology, from which students can earn a degree in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering technology.
Students are not academically screened for entry into the school — a policy seen as ambitious and bold. A major selling point for the school is that students who successfully complete the program get top consideration for jobs at IBM, although there are no guarantees.
In between entry into the school and graduation, students are paired with mentors from IBM and have the opportunity to secure internships at the company.
