Robert Nolan has already had a distinguished career as an educator.  He inspired hundreds of students as a high school teacher and principal.  He led the creation of the acclaimed New Technology High School in Napa and an alternative high school in New York. And he grew the nonprofit Institute of Computer Technology (I.C.T.) into a national teacher-training organization.
 
Dr. Nolan has accepted a new challenge working for the Foundation for California Community Colleges (F.C.C.C.) as the Director of their Statewide Early College High School Initiative. 
 
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced in early April a $9 million grant to F.C.C.C. to create 15 Early College High Schools on community college campuses throughout the state.  With a maximum of 400 students each, the new schools will target disadvantaged students who are not succeeding in large, impersonal high schools.  In addition to a high school diploma, students will be able to earn either a certificate ensuring a good career, an Associate’s degree, or college credits transferable toward a four-year degree. 
 
Beginning in April, F.C.C.C. conducted a national search for a director for the program.  Of the more than 180 applicants, Dr. Nolan emerged as the perfect candidate.  He cares deeply about the disadvantaged students that often slip though the cracks of large high schools.  He has been a high school teacher in Ohio, New York, and California.  For fourteen years he was principal of Mar Vista Continuation and Opportunity School in Ventura.
 
In discussing his experiences and the scholarly research on high schools, Dr. Nolan commented, "Students in large high schools simply do not get the attention and personal support as do students in small schools. Such attention and support can be deciding factors in determining whether or not students from low-income families will graduate from high school and be successful in college."
 
Dr. Nolan has a real-world understanding of what alternative high schools can do.  In the 1990s, as Director of Alternative Education for Napa Valley Unified School District, Dr. Nolan led the design team for and served as the initial director of the New Technology High School, a school that has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a demonstration school.  Earlier in his career, he was the Director (Principal) of the alternative Roslyn School-Within-A-School in Roslyn, New York. 
 
In addition, Dr. Nolan has grown programs to scale, as evidenced by his success as the Executive Director/Superintendent of the Institute of Computer Technology, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. In the past six years under his leadership, I.C.T. has increased the number of teachers served from 8,000 per year to 46,000 per year and they have expanded services to Europe, Asia, and South America.
 
Through a formal proposal process, Dr. Nolan and F.C.C.C. will select in July community colleges to sponsor these 15 new high schools. This network of Early College High Schools will leverage the strengths of the California Community Colleges system, including its 108 colleges around the state and its existing relationships with local high school districts.  After a year of planning and preparation, the first students will begin attending these alternative high schools in the fall of 2004.
 
"Combining the advantages of small high schools with the extensive course selection of community colleges will provide unique learning opportunities for students," noted Dr. Nolan.
 
This program builds on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s effort to strengthen America’s high schools and ultimately raise high school graduation rates, particularly among at-risk and under-represented students. Through grants totaling $54 million, the Gates’ Foundation aims to create more than 93 small Early College High Schools throughout the country in the next five years.
 
Dr. Nolan holds an earned doctorate in the sociology of education from Stanford, as well as Master’s degrees from Stanford and Oberlin College.  He has been recognized with many awards, including Napa County Schoolmaster of the Year, Community Supporter of the Year by the Napa County Private Industry Council, and Outstanding School Administrator in Ventura.
 
The Foundation for California Community Colleges, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, is the official auxiliary for the system of 108 California Community Colleges. F.C.C.C. manages the collegebuys.org and schoolbuys.org purchasing programs and many other programs.