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Tony Habit

Photograph of Tony Habit
Tony Habit
President
The North Carolina New Schools Project

With more than 20 years experience in public school innovation and reform, Tony Habit began his educational career as a middle and high school counselor for special needs students. Tony was tapped to head the North Carolina New Schools Project in November 2003. Previously, Tony was president of the Wake Education Partnership in Raleigh, and he was the founding executive director of the Durham Public Education Network.

In 2000, Tony was named an Eisenhower Fellow and traveled to New Zealand and Australia to study market competition in public education and the use of technology in the classroom. The Public School Forum of North Carolina presented Tony with its inaugural Lever Award in recognition of his leadership for private-public partnerships for innovation in the public schools in 2002. He serves on many boards and committees including the State Board of Education Leadership for Innovation Committee, High Five, the Research Triangle regional high school reform partnership.

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Question 2: How effective have Early College High Schools been in raising achievement levels and graduation rates for English Language Learners and/or students with disabilities?

North Carolina's early college high schools are helping make a difference both for students with limited command of English and those with disabilities. While room for improvement remains, the state's early college high schools tend to outperform the overall performance of their districts as well as the state as a whole.

In 2008-09, the combined passing rate on all end-of-course tests taken by English Language Learners enrolled in North Carolina's early college high schools was 66.2 percent. That was significantly higher than the combined passing rate of their districts for similar students, which was 50.3 percent. The statewide passing rate for English Language Learners on all high school end-of-course exams was 52.1 percent.

To help put these numbers in perspective, the overall passing rate on all end-of-course tests taken by early college students was 79.9 percent, compared to the state's combined EOC passing rate of 71.4 percent.

Comparing each of the 33 early college high schools with test data for English Language Learners to the district where they're located, 26 of the schools demonstrated passing rates for the students that exceeded the comparable district rate.

A similar pattern can be seen when comparing passing rates for students with disabilities. The combined passing rate on all end-of-course tests taken by students with disabilities enrolled in the state's early college high schools was 53.4 percent in 2008-09. That was greater than the 41 percent passing rate for their home districts, combined, as well as the state's overall passing rate of 43.9 percent on all exams taken by students with disabilities.

Of 35 early college high schools with test data on students with disabilities, 27 of them outperformed the passing rates of their districts.

North Carolina’s early college high schools will graduate their first significant cohort of students as the class of 2010, so data on graduation performance won’t be available until later this year.