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PTECH grad smiles for the camera

“Dual enrollment” programs are the hottest reform in education. But they haven’t worked for lower-income students of color—until now.

Washington Monthly features P-TECH in this piece on the growth of early college schools that partner with industry. Texas now offers more than 60 P-TECH schools and programs. 

Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus

Suriana Rodriguez is only 19, but she’s already lined up a full-time job at IBM. After her junior year in high school, she interned at the tech giant’s Poughkeepsie, N.Y., campus, 20 miles north of her hometown, for $17 an hour. For a year, Rodriguez has worked 40-hour weeks as an apprentice test technician, examining IBM mainframes to confirm they work before shipping them to customers. In January, she’ll move to a permanent position with a future salary that she says is “definitely much more than I ever thought I’d be making at 19.”