Now they talk about the day when every kid will go to college from a student body that is predominantly black and mostly low-income. If they didn't believe it, they wouldn't be breaking ground for a new high school.

Located just off I-95 south of the Virginia line, the school sits in a part of the state where poverty rates are high and expectations are often low. But the school's test scores are among the best in the state. Most of the 300 students at the middle school and fledgling high school are above grade level. Some have already posted SAT scores that meet college entrance requirements.

There is no secret to how they do it. They work hard.

Students attend class each day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- and every other Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tutoring takes place at the end of each day. Summer includes a three-week session to prepare for the coming year.

Discipline is tight. Excuses aren't accepted. High expectations include everyone. If children don't understand a lesson, they try again -- and again.

"You can get in trouble pretty quickly for poor behavior," said ninth-grader Marco Squire. "But if you're in trouble academically, they'll work with you all day long."

From the middle school's name to the seemingly endless reminders about college, the mission of Gaston College Prep redefines the way students and teachers go about their daily tasks.

In a recent sixth-grade math class taught by Keith Burnam, students struggled with the idea of finding context clues in word problems. The question involved yards gained and lost in a football game, and many answers from the 26 students were either tentative or just plain wrong.

It was 4:15 p.m. The class was supposed to end 10 minutes earlier. But no one reached for books or stared at the clock, even though students could be heard in the hallway changing classes.

"This is important," Burnam said. "You need to know this."

Slowly, understanding seemed to seep into the students' questions and answers. It wasn't a perfect understanding, but it offered a place to start the next day's lesson.

Outside the classroom, the next class was waiting -- standing in a line down one side of a relatively narrow hallway. They knew from experience why Burnam's class was running long.

A lesson is completed when students understand it, not when the clock says it's time to go.

Push for accountability

Few children who attend Gaston College Prep and Pride High come from well-educated families. Most parents have completed high school, but many have not. Two-parent families with college degrees can be counted on one hand.

That makes the school particularly proud of its test scores, but other forms of accountability ensure that teachers and students keep sight of their college goals.

Every teacher, for example, is given a cell phone, and students and parents are given the numbers. Students who don't understand their homework are expected to call teachers at home.

Teachers quickly learn that a well-taught lesson cuts down on late-night calls. Students soon learn they don't want to be the ones who always call the teacher.

It's all part of the school's effort to push forward as a group. When two ninth-graders got into a scuffle on the first day of school, the new band director was surprised when classes were stopped throughout the entire ninth grade.

"All of the ninth-graders gathered in the band room to talk about what had happened and what should be done next," Kenneth Woodley said. "It's called 'Stop the World' because that's what happens. You take care of the family's problems right away and you do it as a group."

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