Bard High School Early College

Bard has a 40-year history in early college education, dating back to 1979 when Bard assumed leadership of Simon’s Rock, the nation’s first private, residential early college. This experience led Bard College President Leon Botstein to make the case for early college education in his 1997 book Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture. The 1999 Columbine High School massacre reignited a debate about how to better serve the American teenager through high school reform. Bard stepped into this conversation with a groundbreaking idea, made possible by the support of the New York City Department of Education under the leadership of Chancellor Harold Levy.

1979: Simon’s Rock becomes part of Bard College, inspiring Bard’s involvement and leadership in the early college movement
2001: Bard High School Early College (BHSEC), designed by Bard and Simon’s Rock leadership, opens through a partnership with New York City Public Schools
2008: BHSEC Queens opens through a second partnership with New York City Public Schools
2011: BHSEC Newark opens through a partnership with the Newark Board of Education; Bard Early College New Orleans is established
2014: BHSEC Cleveland opens through a partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District
2015: BHSEC Baltimore opens through a partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools
2017: Bard Early College Hudson is established through a partnership with Hudson City School District and the New York State BOCES
2019: BHSEC DC opens in partnership with the District of Columbia Public Schools
2019: The Bard Sequence dual enrollment program is established
2023: BHSEC Bronx opens through a third partnership with New York City Public Schools
2024: BHSEC Brooklyn opens through a fourth partnership with New York City Public Schools

Committed to the mission of allowing students to accelerate their learning and achievement, the leadership of Bard College and Simon’s Rock partnered with New York City Public Schools and national education foundations to create the first Bard High School Early College (BHSEC), now located in Manhattan, in 2001. BHSEC was among the first public early college high schools established in the country.

The first decade of the Bard Early College was focused on launching and establishing one of the country’s first public early college high schools, our flagship campuses in New York City, followed by our campus in Newark, New Jersey. In its second decade, BEC expanded its campus network to five states and the District of Columbia. BEC also introduced new models and new approaches to early college and made public policy inroads to support early college education. In 2021, BEC will begin its third decade as a home for intellectually ambitious teenagers and will increase its policy impact at the local, state, and national levels.

While hundreds of early colleges have been created around the country, Bard Early College remains unique. BEC is the country’s only multisite early college network, and a leading voice for access to the liberal arts for adolescents.