Set the rental car GPS on “South” when you leave Houston’s Hobby airport. Drive past the oil pumpers at Victoria, past the dozens of majestic wind turbines in Somewhereville, and past the 60-mile stretch of zero gas stations. Shortly before you would otherwise cross one of several international bridges into Mexico, get off on Business Route 83. When you see “The Lazy Owl,” turn right onto First Street. Reduce your speed as there are roller coaster dips in the road. Once the mobile homes have receded from your view, you will have completed a 350-mile trek to – a school.
The catchment area for said school is challenged to say the least. The average family reportedly has 5.8 members, and 90% of the kids are eligible for Title One financial support. The vast majority have English as their second language. Undoubtedly many are undocumented. A cup of coffee here costs less than a buck, as does the accompanying breakfast pastry. A night’s sleep at the Dolphin Motel is $35 + $2 for the key, paid in advance in cash. Border patrol SUVs are commonplace. Multiple “Dollar” stores are the area’s convenience outlets, WalMart being more of a destination retailer.
If I told you that the college graduation rate of the above school was 60% (over six years), you would regard that as highly implausible, but that is what I was told.. The IDEA “College for All” public school of Donna, Texas seems to be knocking the ball out of the park. This location is part of an overall IDEA system which has 44 schools with 24,000 students and an equal number on the lottery waiting list. Interestingly, IDEA is a charter school but does not publicize that fact.
The tone of IDEA is set at the beginning of this particular December day with a loudspeaker announcement that can be heard throughout the school campus. At 7:30am, students and parents dropping off their future collegians hear a request from the principal, in a positive tone, to stay focused on upcoming tests even during the Holiday season.
On entering the lobby, it is impossible to miss the extensive, informational wall display. Specifically, each teacher has a 8 ½ x 11” sheet with his or her picture, education, prior experience, why committed to IDEA, a learning experience that changed them, a favorite book, and a favorite snack (none of which are available at the school; it has a working organic farm and the only option in its vending machines is water).
My visit was coincidentally the day of some major testing for students, which limited the time spent with the principal. I asked her what she needed. At a different high achieving urban charter school, the response is to “make teachers better faster.” When the IDEA principal was asked, she minced no words, “better teachers.”
The staff skews young and has significant numbers of Teach for America and IDEA alumni represented among its personnel. The recent teacher retention data (84%) equates to longevity of six years, up from 72% (four years) previously. There is a differentiated compensation system and, for superior teachers, the opportunity to create their own lesson plans (in contrast to the use of Direct Instruction for grades one and two). As is often the case in education, the teaching staff is more diverse than the ranks of leadership.
Like charter schools everywhere, classroom walls are covered by instructions, encouragements, quotations – it is almost impossible for a briefly bored student to have his wandering eyes not see something which is helpful to his academic progress. The high school at Donna includes AP courses for freshmen and sophomores and an International Baccalaureate program for juniors and seniors. The latter must complete a course entitled “The Theory of Knowledge,” encompassing a 4,000-word essay and presentation.
Historically, the emphasis has been on the ACT; a 21 here is considered the threshold for college readiness, but a 23 is needed for college without the need to take any remedial courses. The latter is the school goal, as is increased attention to the SAT. In addition to conventional college counseling, the school has ten individuals who are considered to be People with Influence (PWI is the official designation), each with the responsibility for ten students.
As part of the process of acclimating students to college, sixth-graders are taken on a trip to visit Texas schools, while ninth-graders go to the East Coast to see that part of the college world. In addition to the obvious purpose, these trips serve to educate families toward the possibility that their child may want to go far away, always a controversial desire in a close-knit family.
The school does not have tackle football, which is practically sacrilegious in Texas, where hundreds of helmeted high schoolers have what lamentably will be the greatest moment of their lives under the Friday Night Lights. IDEA does have flag football, basketball, and volleyball; students must have at least a 90% mark to participate.
As is true elsewhere in the charter world, IDEA has to beg, borrow or steal (just kidding!) the funds necessary for facilities as it does not receive the money for that purpose which goes as a matter of course to traditional public schools.
P.S. A final observation from this admittedly truncated visit: when some first graders were progressing in an orderly manner from one building to another, several of them were reading while they walked. As I said to the teacher, “if you have young scholars that eager to read, there is little to worry about regarding their educational path!”
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