Lesson 2: Build a Framework That Allows for Structure and Flexibility. Launching and Sustaining Early College Pathways at Charlestown High School. Three Big Lessons in Six Years

"Three Big Lessons in Six Years" is both a reflection on the past and a look ahead to the future at Charlestown (C-Town) High School (Boston, Massachusetts) and other early college programs across the country. The purpose of this series is to document essential design elements, operational structures, and critical support for students to be successful. It also presents an authentic view of the troubleshooting required to overcome key initial challenges. The lessons--"Set a Vision to Guide the Future" (ED614773), "Build a Framework That Allows for Structure and Flexibility," and "Build a 'Both/And' Team" (ED614784)--represent three integral parts of C-Town Pathways' journey. As new early college programs welcome the first cohorts of students, an important asset is a pathways framework that lays out a sequence of courses, aligns to degree programs offered at the partnering college, and provides windows into future careers. This report, the second of the three lesson reports, details how staff from the C-Town Pathways early college program--a partnership between Charlestown High School (CHS), an open enrollment high school in Boston Public Schools in Massachusetts, and the nearby Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), with support from JFF--created a more structured experience that also allows for flexibility and individualization of students' early college journeys.