Cane Ridge High School will launch an Early College program at the start of the 2024-25 school year, giving students an opportunity to earn a degree or college credits from Nashville State Community College along with their high school diploma.
Cane Ridge will become the third MNPS zoned high school with an Early College program embedded in the school in partnership with Nashville State. With the district’s Early College High School providing an immersive college experience at Nashville State’s White Bridge campus, MNPS will now have four Early College programs in all.
“The Early College model has created tremendous opportunities for students to learn, grow, and get ahead by challenging themselves in both high school and college at the same time,” MNPS Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle said. “I’m excited to see Cane Ridge students getting those opportunities—and grateful to Nashville State for helping us create them.”
Rising sophomores at Cane Ridge will be the first class of students in the program. Cane Ridge is less than five miles from Nashville State’s Southeast campus at the former Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch.
“An Early College program at Cane Ridge creates new opportunities to challenge students, accelerate their studies, and to extend the runway for them to take flight after high school so they are well prepared for the next step they choose. If they choose Nashville State, they will be able to complete their program of study faster to transfer to a four-year or enter the workforce,” said Nashville State President Dr. Shanna L. Jackson. “I am grateful to Dr. Battle and MNPS for working with the college to expand our Better Together partnership. We are committed to improving college and career readiness for all students.”
Dr. Battle and Dr. Jackson announced the program at Tuesday’s MNPS Board of Education meeting. Cane Ridge will soon begin working with selected students and their families to help them prepare for the dual-enrollment classes they’ll start taking in August and see what their course load for the next few years will look like in the Early College program.
The new program will be linked to Cane Ridge’s Academy of Law, part of MNPS’s internationally known Academies of Nashville learning model at the district’s 12 zoned high schools. The electives that students take for their associate degree from Nashville State will align with their academy requirements.
“Collaborating with Nashville State to provide an early post-secondary experience for our students is a tremendous opportunity,” Cane Ridge Principal Deante Alexander said.
MNPS and Nashville State previously launched an Early College program at Whites Creek High School in 2021-22 and announced one that also will start in 2024-25 at Glencliff High School.
