Charter High School Serves as a Valuable Tool to Increase Racial Diversity at the University of Dayton

According to the latest Department of Education data, blacks are only 3 percent of the 7,500 undergraduate students at the University of Dayton, a Catholic educational institution in Ohio. In an effort to boost racial diversity, the university has established the Dayton Early College Academy, a charter high school that serves low-income minority students in the city of Dayton’s public school system. It is the only charter high school in the nation operated by a Catholic university.

The high school was founded in 2003. Students take a challenging curriculum which includes at least nine hours of college-level courses while in high school. To date the Dayton Early College Academy has graduated 80 students, all of whom have gone on to college.

The charter high school serves as a valuable feeder institution to the University of Dayton. Thirty students from the first two graduating classes in 2007 and 2008 have enrolled at the University of Dayton. Twenty-two of these 30 students are African Americans. Thus the charter high school has become an important tool in efforts to increase racial diversity at the University of Dayton.

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