District Administration - October 2011 - (Page 78)

Early College High Schools in high school and college at the same time, but they are designed to provide a head start for students who are planning to go to college anyway, Vargas says. The ECHS movement is aimed principally at students who face “more and higher barriers,” Vargas says, because they are in racial and ethnic minorities and often are English language learners from low-income families with no previous college experience. In partnership with nearby higher education institutions, mostly two-year community colleges, districts have designed special schools, usually on the college campuses, although some are freestanding district schools. Starting in ninth grade, ECHS students receive a rigorous education from both high school teachers and college instructors, with courses often focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects to meet regional workplace needs after the students graduate. Grades usually are limited to about 100 students, consistent with the Gates Foundation’s smaller schools approach. Early College for All In 2007, when Daniel P. King became superintendent of the Pharr-San JuanAlamo (Texas) Independent School District, in the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border, almost 500 high school students annually were dropping out. King decided to ensure that every one of the 31,500 students would meet college- and career-ready standards and earn at least 12 college credits. Last year, the district made substantial progress toward this goal: Only 100 students left, while the graduation rate jumped from 62 percent to 86 percent over the same period. The district’s three ECHS schools have partnered with South Texas College. The district’s T-STEM Early College High School opened in 2008 with a curriculum that focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. After being housed in portable buildings and the wing of another school, it moved into its own permanent campus this fall. A second ECHS is North Early College High 78 October 2011 All students at the newly opened Arrowhead Park Early College High School in New Mexico have access to state-of-the-art technology for rigorous academics. School, a “school within a school” the district opened last fall that shares a building with a traditional high school, but is segregated in its own wing. With a $2 million grant from the Texas Education Agency, the district is converting an existing traditional school, Southwest High School, to an ECHS for all the school’s students. According to King, this is being done because virtually the entire Pharr-San Juan-Alamo student population fits the profile for which the ECHS concept was initially designed: 99 percent of the students are Hispanic, about 90 percent are economically disadvantaged, and about 70 percent of students come from homes where Spanish is either the primary language or the only one spoken. “Anyone in this district who wants one will have an opportunity,” King says. And every ninth- all’ approach as a college readiness strategy,” says Vargas. He sees a trend toward ensuring that all students, not just those at risk, “get critical core college-level work by the time they graduate high school.” The Framework The Pharr-San Juan-Alamo district’s approach, as in many other districts, begins with all the schools adopting the early college mission and making academic, cultural and structural changes. If students are to succeed academically when they have not before, changing the academic culture will be necessary, but that’s not sufficient to reach college readiness for all, according to Vargas and LaVonne Sheffield, associate vice president for early college expansion at Jobs for the Future. Changing the academics creates the space to change culture and “Anyone in this district who wants one will have an opportunity.” —Daniel P. King, superintendent, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (Texas) Independent School District grader in the district will be in one of these three early college programs. Six years ago, King took that same approach in the Hidalgo (Texas) Independent School District, where he was superintendent. The Hidalgo district, in the lower Rio Grande Valley, has about 3,400 students, and more than 95 percent of Hidalgo’s class of 2010 graduated, with a combined total of 3,700 college credit hours. “We’re seeing districts becoming more interested in adopting an ‘early college for structure, Vargas adds. Instruction is centered around a common framework: six instructional strategies used in concert with one another, developed by Jobs for the Future and the University Park Campus School, Massachusetts’ highest performing urban high school, which prepares every student for college. These are long-standing pedagogical approaches, but what is unique is the power they have when all teachers in a school use them consistently, strategically and well: District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2011

District Administration - October 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Transportation Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Building a Blended Learning Program
How Are Science Fairs Fairing?
A New Age for Algebra
Early College High Schools
Changing of the Guard in Florida
CIO News
How Much Computing Power Do You Need?
An Unconventional Approach to 1:1
New Books
Problem/ Solution
Research Center
Product Focus
New Products
Professional Opinion
Going Mobile
Online Edge

District Administration - October 2011