As director of the program, Nolan will work with community colleges across the state to develop 15 alternative high schools on their campuses. Ideally students would be able to attain four years of high school education and two years of college credit in four years at these early college high schools.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing $9 million in funding to create these schools as long as the schools target disadvantaged youth who may not be succeeding in large high schools.

Research has shown that small schools have higher graduation rates, less violence and higher test scores, says Nolan. There are also a larger number of students from small schools that go on to college, he says. "The research confirms common sense. These students will get more attention and perform better," says Nolan.

"The Gates Foundation has a particular interest in helping students from disadvantaged homes, especially where they may be the first in their families to attend college," Nolan says. But the schools will not exclude anyone, he says.

Nolan has always had an interest in educational reform, and directing the early high school program is a further step in that direction for him.

Nolan started teaching right out of college in an inner city high school in Ohio and then in New York. He made his way to the west coast to Stanford and earned a master's degree in sociology and a doctorate in education.

"I want to know, how can we change schools and how can we sustain that change?" Nolan says. His concern with school reform led him to Southern California, where Nolan became principal of a continuation high school in Ventura in 1977. In Ventura Nolan worked with students with different needs, including actors as well as students who financially supported their families. Nolan supervised an independent study program to help these students graduate from high school.

But it was in Napa Valley that Nolan helped create New Technology High School, which allowed students to have their own computers and had a curriculum that mixed technology with education. In the early 1990s Nolan helped the school district with recruiting students, funding and curriculum.

The Institute of Computer Technology in Sunnyvale, where Nolan currently works, concentrates on training teachers to teach in the computer and tech fields.

The Foundation for California Community Colleges is currently reviewing applications from community colleges to establish the 15 alternative high schools.