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THE FACES OF
IMMIGRATI N
IIMMIGRATION
Bilingual educators help the state’s
838,000 English language learners
turn challenges into opportunities.
SPRING 2015 | ATPE.ORG
PAGE 24
Take a Look Inside
an Early College
High School
PAGE 20
Make Preparing
for STAAR Fun
PAGE 8
Build a Successful
Professional Learning
Community
PAGE 16
Hard Work Is Fueling Success
at Clint Early College Academy
Brown street signs dot the corners of town, proudly
proclaiming that Clint, Texas, was established in 1881. The
small West Texas farming community sits in what is called
the Lower Valley, four miles from the US-Mexico border. It is
home to about 1,000 people. Old structures are surrounded
by the Chihuahuan desert, tenacious creosote bush, and rustic
canals. According to the Texas Historical Association, the
El Paso-Juárez valley is the oldest irrigated area in the state.
That’s because people have been farming in this dry and often
unrelentingly hot climate for a long time. You don’t have to be an
agricultural expert to realize that farming this land is hard work.
Trabajar duro—“to work hard.” You can feel it in the dusty
air. And you see it when you walk into Clint ISD Early College
Academy (CECA). The non-traditional school program is
housed in the old Clint Junior High buildings on Alameda
Avenue. Here, students are not only earning high school
diplomas—they are hard at work simultaneously earning college
degrees. In early college high school programs like this one,
students can earn up to 66 college credits by taking classes on
site, online, or at college campuses.
CECA administrators encourage all academically motivated
eighth graders to apply. The application committee looks
at a student’s application, essay, teacher recommendations,
attendance record, discipline record, report cards, and STAAR
scores. Qualifed candidates are formally interviewed by the
principal. About 100 students are admitted annually to this
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particular early college high school. “We are admitting students
who have a sincere interest in advancing their academic careers.
These students are not even completely sure where this leads,
but they are taking a huge leap of faith,” says Principal Edmond
Martinez.
Across the United States, early college initiatives prioritize
low-income and minority students, for whom the transition
into postsecondary education can be challenging because
of their socioeconomic status. Unlike traditional dual credit
programs, early college programs target students who are
statistically underrepresented in higher education. According to
the Texas Education Agency, minority students make up about
96% of the student population in Clint ISD and more than
87% of the student population is classifed as “economically
disadvantaged.” At early college high schools, all tuition and
textbooks are free.
Martinez took the helm at CECA last summer after years of
leading traditional public and private high schools. “It’s a great
experiment and I enjoy being here because it is unconventional
in the sense that we are taking students who would not
ordinarily be targeted as AP students or “Top 10” students
and, in a period of four years, they are receiving their associate
degree and a high school diploma. That’s exciting.”
The road to graduation is not easy. Actually setting foot on a
college campus requires CECA students climb on a bus in Clint
and ride 20 miles to El Paso Community College’s Valle Verde
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PHOTOS BY JEAN SCHLITZKUS
By Jean Schlitzkus
campus. And those bus rides could get longer. Right now, the
academy’s administration is talking with University of Texas at
El Paso (UTEP) offcials, making plans to bus students 30 miles
to the UTEP campus in West El Paso.
Early college students may have to sacrifce participating in
competitive high school athletics, give up UIL Marching Band,
and say goodbye to many of their middle school friends. These
students instead choose to work hard, seizing an opportunity,
in the hope of building a good life for themselves, their families,
and their community. “I’m the frst in my family to get a
college degree,” says 15-year-old Damaris Cortes. “My parents
encouraged me to take this step forward and do something for
myself to change the community I live in—not only because of
the money [I might earn], but to make a difference in someone’s
life. This school opens opportunities.”
PRACTICES THAT WORK
Martinez says the school is implementing strategies that
education experts and professionals have talked about for a
long time. For example, the overarching philosophy driving the
teaching approach at CECA is that all students can learn and
be successful. You’ve probably heard this motto many times.
But, before you glaze over at the possibility of cliché, visit these
classrooms. The teachers, administration, counselors, and staff
at the early college are prioritizing student success.
“I think this is probably the best demonstration and evidence
that something like that is possible because we are not taking just
the elite from all the school district feeder patterns. We are taking
students who have a sincere interest in advancing their academic
careers,” says Martinez. “It requires an entire team effort to really
concentrate our resources in a way that is not always successful at
other campuses.”
At CECA, no one accepts that a student is going to fail. This
standard is upheld thanks to several strategies—preparing
students for rigorous coursework, providing a support system,
adjusting schedules based on individual needs, and hiring
determined, passionate teachers.
spring 2015
Teachers at the early college prepare students for diffcult
classes by promoting critical thinking and problem solving. “Our
teachers work with students to develop their own conclusions and
teach them to justify those conclusions,” says Martinez. He calls
teaching those cognitive abilities “providing access.”
English teacher Jennifer Vega calls her teaching style
“challenging their intellect.” She also says there is no “one
size fts all” approach to teaching students how to navigate
challenging curriculum. “We look at their reactions, we look
at their assessments, and if they are not getting it, we do things
differently,” says Vega. In her classroom, Vega tries to emulate
what she believes is the best college-level learning environment.
She prefers an open-ended, collaborative exchange of ideas to
the traditional lecture-style teaching method. “In my classroom,
it is more student-led than it is teacher-led. I give them a focus
and they run with it. Instead of my teaching them, we are really
learning from each other,” says Vega.
The early college also has several nets to catch students
before they fail. Students and parents are notifed if work is
not turned in and help is available. That support system relies
on teachers being highly aware of a student’s comprehension
and homework completion rate. Damaris says every instructor
expects students to keep up with assignments. She says, “There
is no slacking off and still passing a class.”
In addition to academic help and high expectations, the
support system at CECA also includes a unifed front against
disparaging behavior. English teacher Alejandra Najera says
students at the early college who might have been shy or even
bullied in a traditional high school setting “thrive here because
we build an environment that doesn’t allow students to make
fun of differences or put anyone down. We build a setting where
everyone is encouraged to talk and kids who are quiet become
more outspoken and outgoing.”
Another strategy to ensure student success involves adjusting
students’ schedules to meet individual needs. “We have some
latitude in the way we schedule students because we are an early
college,” says Martinez. “We have varying amounts of tutoring
built into the schedules. The rationale is that they have a lot of
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homework, they have many classes, and they need their time. By
being able to do something as simple as adjusting schedules, we
are manipulating one of the most important resources students,
teachers, and administrators have—time.”
But administrators and counselors aren’t just scheduling in
tutoring time. Martinez says the teachers are keenly aware of
students’ concept mastery. As a result, each student’s schedule
can be adjusted with a certain degree of consideration for their
level of subject understanding. Martinez believes if you can
gauge the amount of time a student needs to be successful in a
particular study area, you can spread out or decrease the time
so that they can move on to the next level. He says, “Time is
relative to whatever the student needs.”
Finally, the practice of hiring impassioned, dedicated teachers
has a positive impact on student achievement. Like the students
themselves, the teachers in Clint are working hard. Both Najera
and Vega earned their master’s degrees in 2014, while teaching
full-time at CECA. To teach early college courses, high school
teachers must meet college faculty requirements, including
holding a master’s degree or completing signifcant master’slevel work in their content area.
Teachers at early colleges must not only be experts in their
felds; they must fully believe in the program. Martinez says he
works with teachers who shun excuses and look for solutions.
“I don’t have to deal with teachers who are focused on saying,
simply, ‘this student is not at the appropriate reading level.’”
Instead, “These teachers are looking at ‘how can I get them on the
appropriate reading level?’” It seems teaching students who are
working so hard has a cyclical effect.
DRIVEN LEARNERS
Damaris’s parents are originally from Veracruz in southern
Mexico. She will be the frst in her family to earn a college
degree. When Damaris is struggling with schoolwork, it is her
parent’s encouragement that keeps her working hard. “They
tell me, ‘We know you can do it, and one day we will see you
graduating with your degree, and one day we will see you
wearing your doctor’s coat.’”
Both Vega and Najera understand that drive for higher
education. They were also the frst in their families to earn
degrees. And both agree that shared experiences like this
contribute to their students’ success. Vega says, “I think it’s very
important that I can relate to them. I think it’s harder to grab an
audience if you don’t have a connection. If I had grown up rich
and never had to fght for my schooling or if I never had some of
the life experiences I had, I don’t think they would want to listen
to me. If they know I’m just like them, it’s easier to follow me
into battle.”
Like students at traditional comprehensive high schools,
the students at CECA are battling a range of challenges. Some
students’ lives outside the walls of CECA make the phrase
“economically disadvantaged” seem too generous. “They may
not know where they are going to be staying next week, they
don’t know where the grocery money is coming from, and they
don’t have money to fll the tank with propane to heat their
home. They go through very real challenges,” says Martinez.
Some CECA students are learning English while taking
high school and college-level courses. Once, Najera returned
an unclear essay to an English language learner who attends
DUAL CREDIT
PROGRAMS
Allow junior
and senior high
school students
to enroll in
college-level
courses
Typical program
ofers between 12
and 30 hours of
college credit
College-level
coursework is
introduced in the
11th or 12th grade
EARLY COLLEGE HIGH
SCHOOL PROGRAMS
COMPARING DUAL CREDIT AND EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS:
Focus on minority,
low-income, and
frst-generation
college
students
Students are able
to earn more than
60 hours of college
credit
College-level
coursework is
introduced in the
9th or 10th grade
22 | atpe.org
Tuition and
textbooks may or
may not be paid by
the student (cost
varies by district)
Tuition and
textbooks are
free to the student
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tutoring daily and asked her to rewrite with a dictionary by her side.
The girl brought back fve drafts. “The fnal draft was 100 times
better. Despite her English language issues, she works very hard,
she’s breaking stereotypes, and she’s succeeding,” says Najera.
Several students have only recently immigrated to the United
States. “Families are separated. There are families who are living
partly here and partly in Mexico. All of that takes a toll on these kids.
Then you add college coursework, and it is all very stressful. That’s
why it is important that we provide support systems,” says Martinez.
And there are students who don’t have access to commonplace
technology. Vega says, “These students have a lot of fght. Many of
them don’t have the right technology at home. But they will fght
for it, and they always fgure out a way. I have yet to hear an excuse
about why homework wasn’t done. For example, I asked a class to
type a response. One student said, ‘I don’t own a computer, can I
please hand write my response?’ He didn’t say, ‘I can’t complete the
assignment because I don’t have a computer.’”
The early college students in Clint aren’t simply overcoming
challenges and settling for passing credit. The students seem to be
competing with themselves, their classmates, and millions of other
teenagers across the country. Vega says, “I have one student who
will talk to me if she has a 99. She will ask for extra credit work.
They want to be the best at everything.”
After graduation, early college high school students are expected
to enter a four-year university as a college junior. Martinez says it is
important that the students earn a bachelor’s degree and continue
their education after earning a two-year degree. “I won’t rest
comfortably until our frst group of students gives me an invitation
to their graduation from a four-year institution.”
Damaris plans to send her early college high school principal
one of those graduation invitations. She hopes she’ll be sending
the invitation after graduating from medical school. “I’ve always
had this dream of being a doctor. I know that medical school is
expensive, college is expensive, and I realize how fortunate I am to
be coming to this school.” Damaris pauses, refects, and adds, “At
the same time, you have to do the work. The school can only give as
much as you give.”
IMPACT ON STUDENTS’
WORKING FUTURE
Students graduating from CECA earn an associate of arts
degree in addition to a high school diploma. But Martinez wants
his students to have even more career options. He is looking at
integrating an associate of applied science degree and various
certifcations. “With an applied science degree, you can study a
craft area, and the career feld is wide open,” says Martinez.
English teacher Jennifer Vega (right) says students like
Damaris Cortes excel at leading college-level class discussions.
spring 2015
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