Our Mission

Bard High School Early College (“BHSEC”), founded in 2001, is a collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and Bard College. It offers motivated New York City public school students a rigorous intellectual challenge. BHSEC admits ninth graders and prepares them to enter the early college program at the end of tenth grade.

This unique institution is based on Bard’s recognition that many bright, highly motivated young people are ready to begin serious college work after Grade 10. Since the mid-1960s, Simon's Rock College of Bard, the nation's only four-year college specifically designed for younger scholars, has provided such students the opportunity to prove themselves in a rigorous and supportive learning environment. Bard College, with the support of the New York City Department of Education, has adapted this model to the urban public school setting.