Dear Parents,

You and your student are to be commended for wanting to take advantage of Canton City School District’s ECHS and ECMS program in conjunction with Stark State College.  As you well know, the world is changing.  Increasingly, opportunities for fulfilling and profitable work require a solid education that includes a college degree.

The administration, staff, and faculty of Early College  are strongly committed to ensuring your student’s success in the classroom, as well as in life. However, it takes more than good intentions to succeed in a challenging academic environment. Your student’s success will hinge on adopting the 14 commitments and the Early College program both at the high school and middle school level looks for students to demonstrate the following 6 Habits to demonstrate high school and college readiness. 

• Effective Communicator: Students will communicate their ideas clearly and have the ability to reflectively consider others' ideas, even when those ideas may differ from their own.
• Inquiring Learner: Students will be inquisitive thinkers, not only asking questions but acting upon those questions in an effort to discover the answers, accepting confusion, uncertainty, and the risk of failure as part of the process.
• Active & Responsible Decision Maker: Students will make decisions rationally and purposefully, considering all available alternatives in order to find the best possible course of action.
• Effective Collaborator: Students will work independently and as contributing members of a team, accepting and reacting to improve oneself based on feedback and critique, and demonstrating compassion and honesty in all interactions with others.
• Critical Thinker: Students will be creative thinkers, approaching new and perplexing problems with positive energy, uniqueness, and originality of thought, drawing from their own personal experiences and prior knowledge.
• Engaged Learner: Students will exhibit persistence, sustaining a problem-solving process over time while remaining focused and producing multiple drafts, much as a skilled artisan, to achieve success.

We strongly believe that by working together we can help your student attain their educational goals. Do not hesitate to call on us for clarification or support. We also ask that you contact us if you have information or ideas you think will help improve the Early College experience.

Troy Russell, Early College Principal