Now serving a little more than 700 students, IDEA Yukon is building its high school and will have grades kindergarten through eighth grade next year.
Plans are to add high school the year after that.
A public charter school, IDEA believes every child can go to college.
“Next year, we will have all grades for K through eight, so we’ll be full elementary and middle school. … The year after that … we’ll add high school,” Executive Director Permian Basin Bethany Solis said.
IDEA Yukon Academy Principal Bethany Everette said their No. 1 goal is to get all scholars reading on grade level.
“We know that if scholars can read by the time they hit third grade they are more likely to graduate, their quality of life improves. There are just so many great statistics that are aligned with getting children to read and being able to read,” Everette said.
When IDEA Yukon first opened last year, an average of about 20 percent of students were on grade level. Some of that was related to COVID and the “foreign educational landscape everyone was navigating through,” she said.
A little over a year later, they have tripled that percentage.
“I’m really happy to say that from that 20% we’re now looking at a little over 60% of all of our kids K through two being on grade level for reading,” Everette said.
They hope to continue and by next year have 100% of students at the third grade level.
She said part of the way that was achieved was through their direct instruction program.
College Prep Academy Principal Monica Hernandez said reading is critical to middle school students as well.
“What we found, though, is that scholars have a really wide range of abilities coming in as sixth graders or seventh graders,” Hernandez said.
They have been focused on meeting students where they are and making sure they grow. If they are at a second grade level, they figure out how to bring them up to the where they need to be. And if they are already at a ninth grade level, how do they enable the student to grow even more.
“I’m excited to share we’ve had some really excellent results in reading and in math. In math, both our sixth and seventh grade groups have grown in just half a year … 1.5 years on average. We’re on track to have an average growth of three years in math. And right now, at the half a year point … in reading, we are averaging about 6.5 months of growth,” Hernandez said.
Because it is a public charter school, IDEA campuses have to meet state accountability standards and students take the STAAR exam, Solis said.
In a kindergarten classroom, there were two different reading groups with two different teachers and independent learners were at tables.
“What’s really, I think, the success of this program is that we meet them where they’re at, just like Ms. Hernandez talked about. We’ll have some groups that are above and beyond … they’re almost at the end of kindergarten already. And we have some kids that are still in like a prekindergarten program, but we’re giving them the tools they need so that they can excel quickly and grow quickly,” Everette said.
“It’s very individualized and differentiated instruction,” she added.
She added that about 70 percent of kindergartners are reading books. The ratio is 15 students to one teacher, so with two teachers it’s 30 students.
“Our average group of small group instruction is about 10 kiddos. But for our scholars that need more support, you’ll see groups of five or six just because the they need a little extra support,” Everette said.
In observing the class, she noted that visitors see that the culture is really strong.
“Every scholar knew what they were supposed to be doing. Every scholar was engaged, whether in independent work or in their small group settings, because we really do spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year making sure that our scholars practice the expectations and find success in doing the things that we expect,” Everette said.
Solis noted that they are committed to phonics instruction.
“It works for all students and it’s especially important for students that are struggling readers, whether it be due to something like dyslexia, or whether it be due to disadvantages like coming from a low-income family. … Part of our magic is that that curriculum, and done really well the way Bethany and her leadership team have led them to that is, I would say the single most important thing we do in the early grades to get kids reading on level,” Solis said.
Everette said some students have gaps and they may need just one rule to unlock a treasure trove of knowledge.
“We actually have an intervention class with our college prep scholars that if they still are in the process of learning how to read, we teach them. So it’s very phonemic awareness based and phonics space as well,” Hernandez said.
Third-grade math teacher Grace Roa was putting her students through their paces Feb. 7. A coach was nearby to offer real-time coaching to Roa.
Anytime students are working independently, the teachers come by to offer feedback.
She added that giving students immediate feedback from monitoring helps them grow faster and meet their academic goals.
“The more feedback we get, they’re correcting their mistakes in the moment instead of waiting two days later to get a graded paper back and go oh, I got this wrong and not even realize why they got it wrong,” Everette said.
A seventh grade math intervention class, taught by Jennifer Lovett, was the next stop. Lovett came to IDEA from Ector County ISD.
“One thing that she has told me that she loves is the coaching and the constant feedback that teachers received here. That’s a big difference than what she received previously,” Hernandez said.
The students have math at a different time of day and it’s almost a double block of the subject.
“Some students are at the higher range. Some students are at the lower range, but having them both be in the same class it allows her to pull small groups,” Hernandez said.
There is a special education teacher who “pushes into” the classroom to work with students who need extra help as well.
Lovett, who is in her first year at IDEA, said she is enjoying her job.
“I’m loving it,” Lovett said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it. I love the way they have the curriculum setup and I get a lot of support for guiding the curriculum with my manager.”
Initially, she was nervous about the immediate feedback she would get, but it has become part of every day.
“It’s always something I’ve talked with my manager about. When she comes in, we debrief and I feel like it’s definitely helped me grow, especially score wise. I’ve always been stuck in a certain area, not been able to grow and having somebody in here, once a week even or every day helps me see where I can” improve, Lovett said.
Solis said Lovett has quickly become an exemplar and a teacher-leader that they can count on.
Officials noted that school leaders have rolling desks that allows them to travel the hallways coaching teachers and seeing students.
Hernandez noted that students are very well behaved and respectful.
“If you have a good scholar culture and a good staff culture, things can happen,” she added.
Solis said the schools take several days at the beginning of the year to teach youngsters what it means to be an IDEA student.
“What are the procedures that we follow? Why do we follow them? What are the expectations we have of them? What expectations can they have of us? We actually orient parents to that, as well. When they first register, we have what’s called a welcome to IDEA orientation that culminates in a commitment that is a three-way commitment — student, parent, and staff, principal, teacher, saying we’re committed to making these choices that make us different,” Solis said.
She added that the students are the same. They’re all from Odessa. The thing that changes is the environment, the expectations and explicit instruction that the students get.
Currently, the Academy has 476 students and the college prep part has 254 students. When IDEA Yukon is at scale, Solis said it will have just under 1,500 students in grades kindergarten through 12.
Extracurriculars are in place now. IDEA has started basketball and football. Soccer is about to start. There are also cheerleaders as well as volleyball. Their mascot is the Yellowjackets and the motto is Yellowjackets Sting.
Enrichment also is being offered during the day. Hernandez said they brought in Project Lead the Way for some students who came to IDEA with high levels of math ability. In College Prep, there are 13 teachers and for Academy, around 32.
“We are hiring for next yer. We’re adding three new grade levels — fourth, fifth and eighth. So we need lots of new teachers, support staff; everything,” Solis said.
They also always accept applications for substitute teachers and they use an in-house system. The same type of support offered to teachers, is offered to subs, Everette said.
The physical expansion is expected to be finished in the fall.
Solis said they will fundraise for programmatic add-ons.
“For example, we’re piloting a virtual tutoring program called Ignite in partnership with Teach for America, so we’ve been doing some small fundraising for that because that’s not a part of the model,” Solis said.
“… That’s part of the reason, not the only reason, but part of the reason that we’ve seen the kind of growth in math that Monica was talking about earlier,” she added.
They plan to keep using it until they don’t need it anymore.
The lottery is coming up Feb. 18. IDEA does not charge tuition and there is no test to get in.
Solis said they are still taking applications and there are two for every slot.
“It’s an evenly weighted lottery,” said Vice President of Schools Aaron Fong. “Every person has an equal chance.”
He added that the big key to the school’s success is really good leaders that they have gotten to become principals, which “made our job super easy.”
Fong said there are two fantastic leaders at IDEA Yukon.
“That’s why we pour so many resources into getting the right people and developing them for the one to two to three years so that our eventual schools will have an equal leg up on launching really good schools,” he added.
When you have great principals, teachers want to work for them, take their feedback and stay year after year.
“A great principal is the foundation. The key is a great teacher … but how to do you get a school full of good teachers to stay year after year, you get a great principal,” Solis said.
