Leveraging potential: in efforts to close the achievement gap, Black college leaders partner with foundations to create innovative, rigorous high schools for minority and disadvantaged students.

BALTIMORE

Dr. Stanley Battle, president of Coppin State University, takes comfort in knowing that his "children" are close by. Nearly 120 ninth-graders enrolled in the Coppin Academy, Baltimore's newest public high school, occupy two floors of the university's library. They are just an elevator ride away from Battle's office.

In one room of the academy, Telisa Claiborne guides students in her English class through a discussion of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Down the hall, university students are wrapping up tutoring sessions with a group of freshmen--high school freshmen. Although Battle runs the campus, Coppin Academy is under the command of Principal William L. Howard.

The academy, which draws from a pool of Baltimore ninth-graders, is one of nearly a dozen such innovative school partnerships nationwide. Various studies have suggested that students, particularly African-Americans, may perform better in smaller, more personalized learning communities. In recent years, Black colleges and universities have proven increasingly willing to test that theory, launching early college high schools to educate and nurture minority students. The goal is that those students will continue to progress through high school and choose to attend college after graduation.

For many students, Coppin Academy is a dramatic change in environment from their troubled homes and impoverished neighborhoods. Howard and the instructors at the academy emphasize respect, manners, neatness and scholarship. Howard, a former Catholic school principal and guidance counselor, wants a lot for his students.

"I want them to be good people, well rounded, conscious of their heritage and able to speak to the homeless or to dignitaries with equal respect," he says.

Some Black college leaders and local educators say the new collaborations are fueled by a…