When the bar is set high, the cushion underneath it must be deep and firm. ECA needs dedicated and highly qualified teachers and counselors to challenge and guide students. ECA needs teachers who have an entrepreneurial spirit, teachers who understand that the risks, returns and responsibilities of education rest squarely in their hands… teachers who measure their own success by the success of their students.

Traditional metrics for teacher productivity do not work in an early college high school. With a successful ECHS teacher, students advance more than one grade level in a year. Teachers must have a caseload based on the rate of student progress. Researchers at the Gates Small School Initiative define this as fewer than 80 students per teacher.

A cornerstone to ECA's success will be engaged and innovative counselors, one for each grade. They will bring their skills into the classroom to create a homeroom base for each cohort where students can work to overcome obstacles to their academic success, including addressing the challenges of adolescent development in a college setting.

Counselors will form relationships with students, families, teachers and the community in order to support academic achievement. They will collaborate to mobilize resources in support of students. And, of course, they will use their counseling skills in more traditional ways: to work through social and personal barriers to success, to facilitate student enrollment in enrichment courses, and to use testing and assessment data to insure student and school goals are being met (Challenging, 2002).

As with other choice or magnet schools in the Fairbanks community, family or sponsor involvement in students' academic lives will be mandatory. This will include conferencing with teachers and time devoted to program support.