P-TECH: expansion of Crown Heights 6 yr hybrid high school

Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, as most people call it, has such high demand for enrollment that 14 students are applying for each available seat.

The model has done so well that Gov. Cuomo has plans to open up 10 more schools like it around the state. President Obama set aside $300 million to seed similar schools nationwide and NYC itself will reach six P-TECH modeled schools by the 2014 school year, two of which will open up this September.

One of the critical partners in P-TECH’s success has been IBM. The school’s principal published his one year update, Where We Are Now, on Citizen IBM, the company’s corporate citizenship blog.

Some aspects of P-TECH that makes it stand out:

• Students attend for six years, from grades 9-14, and graduate with both a high school diploma and an Associate’s Degree.
• Students can attain an Associate’s Degree in either Computer Systems or Electromagnetic Engineering, from the CUNY’s CityTech
• Volunteers working at IBM mentor its students.

Stanley Litown, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at IBM, promised P-TECH students that they would be “first in line” for jobs at IBM when they complete P-TECH’s program. Since the school is so new, its progress can’t be compared well to other students over time. In its first NYC Department of Education Progress Report, its students performed about the same as students in similar schools across the system.