About Bard

Founded in 1860, Bard College is an independent, nonprofit, liberal arts college with a commitment to equity and excellence in higher education. In service of this commitment, Bard operates a network of tuition-free early colleges in partnership with public school systems in New York, Newark, Cleveland, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C..  In the Bard High School Early College Class of 2018, 97% of students earned a high school diploma, and approximately 85% of students continued their education at four-year colleges and universities. Approximately 80% of Bard High School Early College alumni who continue their college education attain a four-year degree within six years. 

Bard’s ultimate goal is to redesign American secondary education so students in every school system have access to an authentic, free post-secondary experience during high school.The Bard Early Colleges are conceived around three core commitments: that the liberal arts inspire young learners, that immersing young people in college is the best preparation for college, and that students – when taken seriously and empowered in the classroom – will rise to meet extraordinary challenges.

About Bard Sequence

The Bard Sequence dual enrollment program was created as an extension of these efforts for students who are not able or not ready to attend a full Bard High School Early College program, but are ready to begin taking rigorous college courses that will prepare them for postsecondary success in college and career. 

In an effort to address challenges of equity of access and success in higher education, the Bard Sequence in particular works to provide a meaningful bridge between high school and college. Unlike test-based accelerated learning models, the Bard Sequence offers students the opportunity to engage in an authentic college experience. Taught by college professors selected, trained, and mentored in early college pedagogy, the Bard Sequence builds high school students’ writing, critical thinking, textual analysis, and communication skills as well as their academic confidence in an interactive, seminar-based college environment. The Bard Sequence aims to enhance students’ high school experience and college aspirations and increase their chances of success in postsecondary programs.

The Bard Sequence creates a new space between high school and college, one in which a young person’s first exposure to higher education is rigorous and intellectually inspiring while also providing them with the support they need to become confident, self-motivated college students. For many young people, particularly those in underserved communities, the first experience of college is a remedial course or an unfamiliar experience away from home. The Sequence is based on the belief that high school students – especially those statistically at risk of not completing college – benefit from a space in which they can take risks in the classroom, fail forward, and find their voices as collegiate learners.