In June 2009, early-college high schools were highlighted by Education Week in its online journal. The article explores challenges faced by early-college high schools and uses quantitative data to demonstrate the program's success.

The initial funders of early-college high schools originally set a seemingly impossible goal for success: students chosen specifically because they were academically underprepared were expected to graduate from high school in four years while simultaneously gaining two years of college credit or an associate degree.  The first sizable group of early-college high school students had a 92 percent graduation rate, showing a more than 70 percent reduction in dropout rate for underserved youths. Of the first group of graduating students who spent all four years at an early-college high school, 81 percent enrolled immediately in two-year and four-year colleges. Overall, the early-college high school movement has opened skeptics' minds about what low-income students can accomplish while boosting students' confidence and building their commitment to earn a college degree.