LA VILLA COLLEGE & CAREER ACADEMY

by Robert Munoz

January 22, 2012

The La Villa College and Career Academy is an Optional Flexible School Day Program (OFSDP) that allow students flexible options for school attendance. The OFSDP will provide flexible hours and days of attendance for a student in any grade who: 1)has dropped out of school, 2)is at risk of dropping out, 3)will be denied credit for one or more classes in which the student has been enrolled as a result of attendance requirements under the Texas Education Code (TEC), 25.092.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the program is to provide an opportunity for the students that have dropped out of school to return to a program that will afford them one more opportunity to shape their lives. Our goal is to reduce our dropout rates while increasing our completion rates. This program will reach out to students ages 18 – 26 and was inspired by HB 1137 that allows us to receive ADA for students up to the age of 26 that are returning for the purpose of acquiring a high school diploma.

Our objective is to get students who have dropped out to return to a campus with a college and career culture in which they can work toward retrieving credits, and/or get tutorials that will enable them to pass the state tests that they lack. Also students will be graduating with college hours thanks to our partnership with South Texas College through mini-mesters and some will be getting certified in various fields.

The identified demographic has a variety of challenges and obstacles that would keep them from committing to a fixed schedule. Some students are now parents; others are holding part time jobs. The optional flexible school day program will help remove all obstacles and lends itself nicely to a program design that depends on an approach in which a dropout becomes a graduate.

Contact Hours

The program proposes to offer students a flexible school day program Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 8:00 pm. and 8:00am – noon on Saturday and will include weekend or night classes, extended day schedules, and credit recovery classes and day tutorials.

Identification Criteria

The program designed for students who attended La Villa High Independent School District and dropped out prior to completing graduation requirements. All students will go before the admission committee (Superintendent and Campus Administrator). The committee will interview the students, review all academic transcripts, and determine student eligibility to conform to state requirements. The committee will focus on students who lack credits and have successfully passed the Exit Level State Assessment, students who have met credit requirements and have not successfully passed the Exit Level State Assessment, and student who require both requirements. Once eligibility has been determined, the student is provided with the flexible schedule that best fits his/hers needs.

Assessment Assurances

All students participating in the program will participate in the required state assessments. State assessments will be administered for participating students during the time designated by TEA’s assessment calendar.

Progress Monitoring

The District will assess and report the progress of participating students with an end of the year report that disaggregates data based on ethnicity, age, gender, and socio economic status. We will be looking at the following areas: