{"id":617442,"date":"2018-08-23T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T06:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=617442"},"modified":"2018-08-23T13:20:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T19:20:25","slug":"charter-school-organization-that-focuses-on-sending-kids-to-college-eyes-nm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/charter-school-organization-that-focuses-on-sending-kids-to-college-eyes-nm\/","title":{"rendered":"Charter school organization that focuses on sending kids to college eyes NM"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_617452\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-617452\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33-771x519.jpg\" alt=\"Ernesto Cantu\" width=\"771\" height=\"519\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33-771x519.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33-336x226.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33-768x517.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33-1170x788.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_33.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Andres Leighton \/ for Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ernesto Cantu, executive director of IDEA Public Schools in El Paso, interacts with a kindergarten student during lunch time at the IDEA Edgemere school during its second week of operation on Monday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>SOCORRO CITY, Texas \u2013 The kindergarteners of IDEA Edgemere walked quietly single-file down the hall, their uniforms embroidered with the school logo, left hands behind their backs, right fingers over their lips. S<em>hh. <\/em>Emblazoned on the wall above their heads, a sign read: \u201cWe do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was only the second day of school, but they were already learning the rigors of IDEA Public Schools, a Texas nonprofit that targets low-income, Hispanic communities &#8212; and delivers academic results.<\/p>\n<p>Its network of schools &#8212; now 79 and growing fast &#8212; regularly outperforms Texas public schools on standardized test scores in every subject matter and at every grade level. It boasts a 100 percent graduation rate and widely broadcasts the fact that every one of its graduates gets accepted to college.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the No. 1 thing we do is believe in kids,\u201d said Ernesto Cantu, executive director of the office in El Paso, where the network opened four schools in August. \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe that every student should go to college, you don\u2019t belong [at IDEA].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, building on that success, the charter network &#8212; founded 18 years ago in a south Texas border town \u2013 is advertising aggressive plans to multiply. Those plans include expanding to 173 pre-K, elementary, middle and high schools from Texas to Louisiana and Florida by 2022 &#8212; a goal of serving 100,000 students compared to 35,595 today.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/searchlightnm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Searchlight New Mexico<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/series\/raising-new-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>And it has its eyes on New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>No major, national charter management organization operates in New Mexico. But though state law prohibits for-profit companies from running charter schools, it does not preclude a large nonprofit from entering the market, according to Lisa Grover, senior director for state advocacy in New Mexico for the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.<\/p>\n<p>IDEA administrators met in March with Chris Ruszkowski, New Mexico\u2019s education secretary, and got a \u201cgood\u201d reception, according to Cantu. (The Public Education Department did not respond to numerous requests from Searchlight for comment.)<\/p>\n<p>IDEA has already hired away one of New Mexico\u2019s top-performing educators. As principal of Anthony Elementary in the Gadsden Independent School District, Linda Perez raised test scores and helped make the school a Blue Ribbon winner in one of the poorest parts of the state.<\/p>\n<p>She now serves as a \u201cprincipal in residence\u201d at IDEA Edgemere, a training program that will prepare her to lead one of the network\u2019s future new schools in El Paso next year. Her educational philosophy &#8212; marked by a \u201cno excuses\u201d approach and early focus on college education &#8212; apparently meshed well with the charter mantra.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery child can and will succeed if given the opportunity,\u201d IDEA proclaims on its website, a motto that serves as a powerful contrast to New Mexico\u2019s explicit lack of expectations for at-risk students. In opening statements last year in a court case it recently lost, the Public Education Department laid bare its belief that some kids just can\u2019t learn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe students are not like empty vessels that you take a pitcher and pour knowledge into them,\u201d said Stephen Hamilton, the state\u2019s attorney in Martinez vs. New Mexico, in May 2017. \u201cStudents that are economically disadvantaged, because of their situation, are not as receptive to education as other students are and have difficulty learning, and they have worse results.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The IDEA model provides a highly structured academic environment, full of supports to ensure that every student not only graduates but also is admitted to college. Those supports include extended-day programs to help kids with homework, Saturday school, \u201crigorous pre-AP instruction\u201d for middle schoolers, \u201cAP for all\u201d high schoolers, as well as academic and college counseling.<\/p>\n<p>To receive a diploma, students must apply and be accepted to a four-year college, according to the student handbook. It is a rule written into the IDEA Public Schools\u2019 charter in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Not every student makes it that far. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) doesn\u2019t report attrition rates at charter schools, but IDEA spokesman Marco Carbajal said the network\u2019s student \u201cretention goal\u201d is 90 percent. That could mean that as many as 10 percent of students do not return year over year.<\/p>\n<p>The network &#8212; founded in Donna, Texas, by Teach For America alumni Tom Torkelson and JoAnn Gama &#8212; has many boosters, including the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, which has supported it with multiple grants. It has also won multimillion-dollar Race to the Top grants, a competitive federal program to \u201chelp trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for states and local education agencies,\u201d according to the U.S. Department of Education.<\/p>\n<p>But it has also faced its share of criticism, including claims that its policies artificially inflate metrics and fail to account for the potential \u201cweeding out\u201d effect of student attrition. The TEA gives the network a \u201cB\u201d overall in its school grading system, which weighs student performance on standardized tests, college readiness and graduation rate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA typical charter management organization has policies in place that allow them to make claims, like \u2018100 percent of our kids apply for college,\u2019\u201d said David Knight, associate director for the Center for Education Research and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can make that claim because it is a requirement at IDEA schools that in order to graduate you apply to college,\u201d he said. \u201cSome call that charter school math.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The role of student attrition in charter school graduation rates is a controversial issue. Researchers have asked, but not yet resolved, a fundamental question: Are certain groups of kids prone to leave certain charters?<\/p>\n<p>Another criticism has to do with the long-lasting academic gains behind such programs. IDEA is working to address to what extent those gains fizzle when its students move on to college.<\/p>\n<p>IDEA graduates who attend Texas colleges and universities don&#8217;t perform as well as their public school peers, according to 2017 data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. That year, some 37 percent of the IDEA students who attended a Texas college ended up earning a 2.0 or less their freshman year &#8212; anywhere from a \u201cC\u201d average to a failing grade &#8212; compared to a quarter of high school graduates generally.<\/p>\n<p>Cantu said IDEA Public Schools has acknowledged the issue and is analyzing its students\u2019 performance in college. While hand-holding ensures high school success, it may backfire in the college environment where kids need to make their own way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe review GPAs and we\u2019re purposely proactive in providing support,\u201d Cantu said. \u201cWhile in college, it\u2019s up to them to look for that support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like many of his students who come from poverty, Cantu grew up in a family of migrant farm workers in the Rio Grande Valley. He has worn many hats in the IDEA network, including as principal of a school in his hometown of Las Milpas, a former <em>colonia <\/em>on the Texas-Mexico border.<\/p>\n<p>The IDEA network currently serves a student population that is 93 percent Hispanic and 87 percent economically disadvantaged, according to the TEA. More than a third of its students are English-language learners.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_617454\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-617454\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_28-771x544.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"771\" height=\"544\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_28-771x544.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_28-336x237.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_28-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/idea_edgemere_28.jpg 1161w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Andres Leighton \/ for Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pre-K students from a line outside their classroom at the IDEA Edgemere school during its second week of operation in east El Paso on Monday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Between 2014 and 2016, the latest year for which data is available, the charter\u2019s students topped Texas students generally on the state\u2019s standardized test scores in nearly every subject matter and grade level. In that same period, 100 percent of IDEA\u2019s high school students graduated on time, according to TEA.<\/p>\n<p>IDEA has been graduating seniors since 2007 and has matriculated more than 4,000 students since that time. It\u2019s a drop in the bucket in Texas, which graduates more than 300,000 students annually.<\/p>\n<p>The program has occasionally faced strong local opposition as it has moved into new areas.<\/p>\n<p>Where IDEA Edgemere opened on the far east side of El Paso, new single-family houses are rising in the desert by the hundreds. The local Socorro Independent School District issued a $448.5 million bond in 2017 to accommodate that growth, and pay for new schools and renovations for its 46,300 students.<\/p>\n<p>When the district discovered IDEA\u2019s plans, its administrators fought back hard.<\/p>\n<p>Superintendent Jose Espinoza organized 3,000 teachers and volunteers to go door-to-door and flaunt the district\u2019s own successes and programs. They knocked on some 10,000 doors, according to a SISD spokesman, touting the public schools\u2019 graduation rate of 91.5 percent; an extended school day for kids struggling with academics; art, music and sports; and a year-round school schedule.<\/p>\n<p>The effort took a toll on IDEA\u2019s recruitment plans. The charter, which enrolls its students through a lottery, had fielded roughly 3,000 applications in El Paso but by the first week of school had missed its enrollment target of 1,068 by more than 100 children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSocorro has done a really good job countering what we\u2019ve done,\u201d Cantu said, even as he shrugged off the impact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we go into a region,\u201d he continued, \u201cpeople like to argue, \u2018You are taking our money away.\u2019 First of all, the money doesn\u2019t belong to you, the local school district. The money doesn\u2019t belong to IDEA Public Schools. The money belongs to the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IDEA Public Schools spends $9,883 per student, according to the TEA, about $380 more than Texas public school districts on average. Teacher pay at IDEA schools starts at $47,500 and caps out at $67,000. By comparison, Texas public school teacher salaries start at $28,000 and top out at $45,510.<\/p>\n<p>With school about to let out at IDEA Edgemere, parents waited with engines running in 100-degree heat. Ariel Navarro, driving a bright blue pickup, said she was thrilled to enroll her 5-year-old son, Junior, at an IDEA school. She comes from south Texas and knew IDEA\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat really stood out,\u201d she said, \u201cis the college focus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Reporter Lauren Villagran can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:lauren@searchlightnm.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lauren@searchlightnm.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><em>Help Searchlight New Mexico continue to report the news that matters to you. Contribute at <a href=\"http:\/\/searchlightnm.com\/support-investigative-reporting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">searchlightnm.com\/support-investigative-reporting\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IDEA schools serve low-income Hispanic students in Texas &#8212; and tout a 100 percent graduation rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":617452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[234,125],"class_list":["post-617442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-children","tag-education","series-raising-new-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}