Winter '25 New Student Info and FAQ

Welcome to ECHS!

We are so happy to have you join us at Early College High School. As there is a lot of information, we are creating two landing spots for new students and parents to access information. This is the first and will be where we post updated FAQ info. The second is The New Student Section of our Website which will be updated after your Registration.

We will continue to update this FAQ throughout your transition to ECHS and should be your first stop if you have any questions.

You might notice in your MYPCC account that PCC has assigned you to a campus. PCC assigns campuses to students based on their home zip code. Please ignore any campus assignment that PCC lists and only reference the campus assigned by ECHS.

PCC places a hold on all student accounts until you have gone through our registration meeting and your paperwork and your G# has been processed in their system. Holds will be removed before your registration date.

One exceptions to this is an Orientation Hold. If your account lists an Orientation Hold you must complete the PCC Orientation to have this removed before you can sign up for classes. Please click here to remove this hold.

Q: Can you explain the relationship between the home high school and ECHS?

A: We will go into more detail on this during our Registration/Orientation meeting and during our student orientation, but here is a quick overview. ECHS is a program, not a school, and our staff are employees of the Beaverton School District. Students are cross enrolled in ECHS

-BSD students are cross-enrolled with their current high school whether this is a neighborhood high school or an Option School.

-TTSD/SHSD students are cross-enrolled with their current high school (Tualatin or Tigard HS)

-Home Schooled or Private School Students – you will enroll in your neighborhood high school, and you will be cross enrolled in that school.

ECHS students are able to participate in after school events and activities at their cross-enrolled high schools (athletics, after school activities and events like dances and proms). Students keep their student ID numbers when they join ECHS, but it is important for students and families to know that limited announcements and information comes to ECHS from cross-enrolled high schools, so students need to monitor their district email, Canvas pages, websites etc.

Due to state funding guidelines, students cannot take classes during the school day at their cross-enrolled high school. Students are also not to be on the campus of their cross enrolled high school during the school day unless they are there on official business (turning in paperwork to the office etc.) or on a pre-arranged meeting with a staff member. Violations of this policy can result in result in disciplinary consequences. After classes are dismissed for the day students are free to attend after- school clubs, meetings events etc.

ECHS supplies Chromebooks to any student that needs one. Students who are currently enrolled in the Beaverton School District will keep their Chromebook for use during their time in ECHS. Students who are coming to us from TTSD/SHSD or from a private school will have the opportunity to check out a Chromebook, and we will have a date for that during registration.

One of the biggest shifts moving from your current school to ECHS is that in college students are held to adult expectations by PCC and our students are treated like any other student on the PCC campus.

• All communication at the college level can only go to the student.
• PCC professors can only communicate directly with students about their grades and progress.
• PCC professors will not communicate directly with parents if they have questions about grades or student progress.

ECHS is here to help and be a guide, but our students have a great deal more responsibility on their shoulders in this program than in their high schools. Students and parents can prepare for this shift now. One significant shift we discuss in our required courses is that students need to be their own advocates, they need to become comfortable emailing and meeting with their professors and our staff when they need help. They need to learn how to navigate the PCC systems on their own. So, along those lines, if families have questions about this program, students should be the ones to email our staff. Parents, must not be the only ones reading this FAQ, because our students are held accountable for this information. Students need to be the ones checking their email for updates and responding to those updates. They need to be the ones to know how to sign up for classes, obtain textbooks etc. Parents, help and support your students, but now is the time when they need to take ownership of these responsibilities.

A: Courses ECHS Cannot Pay for (due to liability restrictions)

• Any PE courses in the “Swimming” Category
• Any PE courses that are Ski/Snowboarding Lesson Category
• Intro to Rock Climbing, Rock Climbing 1 (PE 199D)

• PE183A Beginning Hiking

• PE184P Advanced Hiking

Courses requiring Parent Permission

• Life Drawing: (Art 237 A, Art 237 B, Art 237 C) – See counselor for permission slip
• Life Painting: (Art 277A, Art 277B, Art 277C) – See Counselor for permission slip
• Evening Courses – any course that starts after 5pm. (Permission slip only needed if an evening course is offered in-person).

Courses with Fees that ECHS does not pay for:

Any courses that have private lessons: ECHS can pay for the class, but not the private lesson fees. There are some Language classes or Music classes that include private lessons for example:

• Private Music Lessons: https://www.pcc.edu/programs/music/private-lessons.html Students that choose to take one of these courses are responsible for the $250 (1 credit) or $500 (2 credit) fee associated with these courses.

Students need to sign up for enough PCC credits each term so that they have the equivalent of 2.0 high school credits per term using this conversion

• 1 Credit PCC Course = .25 High School Credit
• 1 Credit P.E. Course = .5 High School Credit
• 2, 3,or 4 Credit PCC Course = .5 High School Credit
• 5+ Credit PCC Course = 1.0 High School Credit

Prior to competing in an OSAA sport ECHS students fill out this form that is signed by the Principal and their parent which confirms they are enrolled in enough classes to meet the 2.0 HS credit requirement. Students need to complete this form for every term they are participating.

OSAA forms can be found on New Student Section of our website. Students playing a Winter Sport will want to complete the form after they have registered for Winter Term classes

A: Before each term students have a meeting with their counselor to select courses and ensure students are completing their high school graduation requirements. At the end of each term ECHS supplies BSD/TTSD/SHSD with your student’s PCC transcript and grades and credits are applied to the home high school transcript. Because high schools are on a semester credit system and colleges are on a credit hour system there is a conversion that school districts use to convert the credits.

College Credits.

1 Credit class = .25 HS Credits

1 Credit PE class = .5 HS Credits

2,3,4 Credit Class = .5 HS Credits

5 + Credit class = 1.0 HS Credits

A: About 40% of our students earn an AA degree at the time of their graduation. The average student graduates with 70-75 college credits completed at the time of graduation which is about 1 term short of their AA degree. There are several factors as to why students choose not to earn their AA degree.

• entry math course- students need to earn a certain number of math credits above Math 95 to earn their AA degree. If students start in a lower math course, they cannot complete the math sequence in 6 college terms.
• College acceptances and programs: Senior year most of our students going directly to a 4-year school focus on taking courses that will match particular 4 year programs. These do not always match the required courses for the AA degree.

ECHS supports students who are interested in earning their AA degree; however, what is most important is that our students establish their goals and dreams and interests.

ECHS has a retention rate in the 90% range. However, we do have students who choose to return to their home school on their own or because of lack of academic progress. Students always have the right to return to their neighborhood high school The exception to this would be students coming from a private school or students coming from an option school in BSD.

Obviously private schools make their own admission decisions.

For Options Schools in BSD:

• Students need to let ECHS and your Option School know you would like to remain at your option school by Winter Break.
• Your ability to return to your option school after Winter Break will be based on capacity at your school and is not guaranteed.

A: ECHS only pays for classes during the Fall, Winter and Spring Terms.

For those students whose families are willing to pay for courses on their own, we do not recommend new students take a summer course at PCC before they are enrolled in ECHS.

Depending on the course there can be a very big difference in expectations between high school and college. We help students navigate these differences in our Orientation course, CG101/102. College classes are more condensed and move at a faster pace than high school courses; however, PCC summer courses are a week shorter than Fall, Winter and Spring terms. As there are less students on campus, there is less academic support in the Student Learning Center. Additionally, our staff is not on campus, so there is no support from our program. Finally, Summer courses tend to be taught by less tenured instructors.

We have had students who took a class and struggled and it put them behind coming in to the program and made them ineligible to start with ECHS in the Fall.

A: No, you do not need to purchase your own computer. BSD students will keep their computers from your previous school and over the summer. TTSD/SHSD students or students joining us from a Private or Homeschooled environment will have an opportunity to check out a Chromebook before classes start your first term.. We will have dates for checkout during the Student Orientation.

Q: Can I use my own computer?

A: Yes, that is not a problem

A:CG101/102 class cannot be split. They are coded as 2 classes by PCC, but they are taught as one continuous class. The coursework for each is blended together by each instructor and it is graded as one class. Students are assigned to a particular CG101/102 class that will be taught by their counselor- this is by design as their counselor is the student's main point of contact and support throughout their time at ECHS.