Saying that it’s good to get out of the office every so often is a cliche that happens to be true. Signing on as the project journalist for the $2 million Broad Prize has refreshed and refined my thinking about works in schools. Often, the reforms favored in Washington think tanks and advocacy groups are pretty much ignored out in the real world — for the better (more on that later).

One reform I barely paid attention to, early college, seems to have a lot of promise in districts that educate children who are long shots at graduating from four-year colleges. Plenty of boys in that group. Here’s a good description of Rhode Island’s version of an early college program:

By Jennifer D. Jordan

Journal Staff Writer

Steven Barthelemy, in class at RIC, is headed to Lasell College in Newton, Mass.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers
PROVIDENCE - A year ago, the 19 students in Moira Collins’ writing class didn’t think of themselves as college material.

People had told Richelene Cesar she was not smart enough to make much of herself.

Francis Reyes was less worried about his academic future than about the dark world that had already taken some of his friends, one of whom had been paralyzed by a bullet.

And Augustina Amaya started hanging out with a tough crowd and got into trouble.

Most students in Collins’ class are the sons and daughters of recent immigrants, all with low incomes. Many of the parents never finished high school.

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