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Early College High School aims to keep students on track
New Focus, Toledo Federation of Teachers
Fall 2006
TECHS is somewhat like a boot camp for college. The school takes selected incoming freshman who have academic potential and strives to prepare them for the challenges of college work.
Last year, three days of freshmen orientation were held in early August, during which the new TECHS students participated in team-building and trust-building activities, toured UT’s Carlson Library, enjoyed an event at the Rec Center, had class pictures taken and ate lunch on campus. The students also completed their UT enrollment application and took UT’s reading and writing placement tests, as well as a math test.
The new school opened officially on August 22 with 96 students in attendance. Within the first three days, the students completed their first cooperative learning unit, wrote a paper and presented it orally in front of their peers.
"The kids work hard," says Tim Bollin, physical science teacher at TECHS. "You ask the kids after three months, six months, if they expected when they started here to be doing what they’re doing now, and nearly every one of them will say 'no way.'"
The hard work is shared. "I've never had to put in as many hours and I do here," says Randy Nissen, world studies teacher.
"But, if you really want to teach," adds Tim, "there's no better place to be."
One of the misconceptions about TECHS is that it is an elite academy that siphons off the best eighth-graders from the district. That is simply not the case—and that is not the mission of the school.
"The top kids are probably going to do OK," says Randy. "We're going for the middle, for kinds who might make it if they have some extra help."
In order for students to be accepted into TECHS, they must meet at least one of these criteria: first generation to go to college; low income (free/reduced lunch); minority; English as a second language.
If students meet those criteria, their school records are screened (discipline, attendance, standardized test scores, grades). Ability levels vary among the students at TECHS, from those who are at least two years below grade level to those who are on level of slightly above.
TECHS enrolls students from TPS junior highs, from charter schools, parochial schools, even from some suburban schools.
"One of the problems we've noticed," Randy points out, "is that some of the kids coming in out of charter schools have no records. No test scores. Nothing. We asked about one eighth-grader’s science score, and we were told, 'Oh, we're not teaching science this year.' The kids we see from the charter schools are generally underskilled and less prepared for the work we do at TECHS than the kids we get from the regular public schools."
The pay off for students (and their parents) who successfully complete the TECHS program is a high school diploma and two years of credit toward a bachelor's degree. Performance expectations and demands on the students are high. About nine students left the program because they felt there was too much work or that the work was too hard.
These high standards are necessary, the teachers feel, in order to prepare students for the realities of college. Historically, many high school graduates start college but never make it past their freshman year. TECHS is trying to improve those odds by exposing students to rigorous academic challenges. It seems to be paying off.
"The amount of work, the quality of the work they're doing," says Tim, "is heads above what I'm used to seeing. It's a positive learning environment. The kids help each other out. We have kids tutoring kids."
A normal school day for a student who hasn’t yet started taking college courses consists of four 68-minute periods covering the four core subjects—English, world studies, physical science, and algebra or geometry. A fifth period allows students to take with Spanish 1 or 2 while the teachers share in a common planning time.
Val Napieralski served as principal at TECHS last year (she is now assistant superintendent of secondary schools), using a collaborative management model that stresses shared governance involving all staff members. "When it comes to decision making," Randy says, "we're all at the table."
Because there are only four teachers [expanded to eight this year as a new freshman class arrives to join last year's students] it is possible to be flexible about class periods. Assignments often cut across the curriculum, with overlapping projects that tie the separate disciplines together.
"The nice thing about it," says Tim, "is that we can do a lot of interdisciplinary assignments. If I have students writing a conclusion for a lab, Paulette [Dewey, English teacher] can talk about it in English class. Or we can combine a science assignment about rockets with a math assignment with Paul Tierney's class involving calculus. There is a lot of that going on."
"If everything is working correctly," explains Randy, "most of our kids, by their third year, will be taking most of their classes at the university." Those classes will be regular college classes. The instructors will not know that the students are from TECHS.
"There is no special accommodation, whatsoever" Randy says.
In the first semester, every student does one college class: First Year Information, an orientation class required of all freshmen by UT. In the spring semester, last year, 19 students received teacher recommendations to take a university-level class ranging from PE/health to geology or college composition.
In order to attend TECHS, students give up most of the extracurricular activities usually associated with high school, including sports. The focus at TECHS is strictly academic. If a student makes sufficient progress, he or she can eventually participate in UT's offerings in drama, music, or sports, but, initially, acquiring academic skills is the priority.
This does not seem to be a problem with the students who have chosen to enroll at TECHS. Many of the kids stay after school to do homework, even on Friday afternoons.
School is officially over at 4:00 p.m., "but we're here at least until five every day," says Randy.
On a snow day last winter when all TPS schools were officially closed, a third of the students enrolled at TECHS showed up at the Scott Park Campus to use the media center and work on assignments.
In its first semester, TECHS had the second best attendance rate of any school in the district. They also outscored all the 10th-graders in the district taking the OGT except for students at TTA.
The Toledo Federation of Teachers was a key stakeholder in the creation and implementation of TECHS. Through its collaborative efforts with Knowledge Works Foundation, TFT paved the way for the successful beginning phases of ECHS. The Gates Foundation is so please with its partnership with TFT and TPS that TECHS was invited to participate in a Leadership Institute in Cleveland this past June. Knowledge Works will utilize TECHS as a model for other districts. It will be referred to as the Toledo Model.
TFT President Francine Lawrence describes the program as "an excellent opportunity to provide a personalized learning environment for students. TECHS faculty is engaging their students in a rigorous academic curriculum and nurturing their belief in themselves and their potential. The students will have a strong foundation for success in post-secondary education and work."
Reprinted with permission from the Toledo Federation of Teachers.
