Since its founding, Franklin Academy has served bright students with unique learning
styles. Complementing our Honors program to offer our students additional intellectual
stimulation, we are now in our 10th year partnering with the University of Connecticut’s
Early College Experience program. Through this program, students can enroll in several
University of Connecticut courses offered right here on our campus, taught by any of
our four certified instructors, with tuition paid by Franklin. Our students are held to the
same standards and graded the same way as students on the UConn campus, but
taught by veteran Franklin faculty. Our students become registered UConn students,
receiving a letter grade on a UConn transcript that they can then apply to transfer to any
university.
This year, we have a record of over 20 students pursuing college credit through our
concurrent enrollment program! Our students are taking:
● CSE 1010: Introduction to Computing for Engineers
● ENG 1007: Seminar and Studio in Academic Writing and Multimodal
Composition
● HRTS 1007: Introduction to Human Rights
● MAST 1200: Introduction to Maritime Culture
● MATH 1070Q: Mathematics for Business and Economics
● MATH 1131Q: Calculus I
● POLS 1202: Introduction to Comparative Politics
● POLS 1402: Introduction to International Relations
● STATS 1100Q: Elementary Concepts of Statistics
To manage the college workload, our students benefit from UConn allowing high
schools to spread most one-semester courses out over the year, permitting a slower
pace of instruction while they adjust to the increased rigor. Each of these Franklin
classes has an enrollment ranging from 3 to 10 students, allowing for significant
individualized attention. Since Franklin embeds our supports, rich content is
supplemented with direct instruction in executive functioning, including how to record
due dates and reminders for long-term assignments and tests, understand essential
information contained in a syllabus, read dense texts, and effectively use office hours.
Even with this support, these college classes are quite a challenge for most of our
students. The experience pushes them to reflect on what they enjoy and what
environments and accommodations allow them to thrive. By learning through practice,
our students in the UConn ECE program receive a year of coaching on how to be a
successful college student, in addition to learning interesting material. Many of our
students report great pride when they see what they can handle!
The experience can be summed up by a graduate of the Class of 2022, reflecting on his
year of UConn Calculus I & II: “I really can’t put into words just how helpful the class
was. Basically, I think it did just about as much for me as maybe my entire first three
years of class at Franklin…. The fact that it was so difficult really made that change, but
the part that kept me growing and not just giving up and blaming it on other things was
the incredible level of support that I got in that class…. I feel like I can conquer pretty
much any class now with enough time and enough chances to fail.”
A graduate from 2023 shared “Dual enrollment classes were instrumental in preparing
me for college! The teachers are amazing and I wouldn’t have been nearly as ready for
college without this opportunity. Graduating high school with 15 college credits also let
me take more fun electives my first few semesters!”
