CEC Middle College

Preparing Urban Students to Succeed in College and Careers

http://dosomethingreal.com/

Location: 2650 Eliot Street, Denver, CO

Principal: Domonic Martinez

Background

The Fred N. Thomas Career Education Center Middle College of Denver (CEC) is a Denver Public Schools magnet school that partners with area colleges to give students a unique educational opportunity. When parents choose to enroll their students at CEC, they are selecting a small school with a safe environment that is staffed by teachers who nurture students individually as they reach for their career and life goals.

Students take half-day classes in one or more of 20 career and technical education (CTE) programs, many of which earn college credit. Business, professional and industry specialists teach all career-focused classes and mentor students in their fields of expertise. All staff at CEC are attuned to helping students acquire the skills they will need to succeed in college. Support includes a school-wide, four-year mentoring program.

Because even entry-level positions in many careers require postsecondary education, CEC partners with postsecondary institutions to offer CTE and academic classes that earn post-secondary credit or dual-credit. The goal at CEC is to have all students graduate from high school with a year of college work completed. The CEC approach to education allows students to focus their academic efforts much earlier than their peers in other schools. To encourage students in their pursuit of a college education, all core academic high school classes for juniors and seniors are held on the Community College of Denver’s main campus.

Partnering to Prepare Urban Teachers in the P-16 Zone for Student Achievement

CEC Middle College is host-site for a Metro State teacher education class called Issues in Multicultural Education. In addition, Metro State pre-service teachers in the Urban Teacher Partnership conduct their field and student teaching experiences at the school. Pre-service teachers work in collaboration with classroom teachers to reinforce instruction with students teaching lessons and working in small groups and one-on-one. Metro pre-service teachers also participate in school events and other activities at the school.

Metro State’s CUE program developed and is piloting a computer games class at CEC Middle College. The class is co-taught by CEC teachers and college computer science and mathematics faculty. UTP pre-service teachers help reinforce instruction and work with students to storyboard their ideas into games. For more information about The Urban Computer Games Collaborative, please see Projects.

CUE is also developing a Teachers of Color Pipeline program at CEC. The program will be a collaborative effort teaming high school teachers, college professors and pre-service teachers who will co-teach classes, guide and support CEC high school students interested in pursuing teaching as a professional career goal. The purpose of this urban “grow your own” program is to encourage students of color to complete high school, enroll and graduate from college and then return to their own communities as educators. Classes for this program will be taught on site at CEC beginning in fall 2012.

School Community

Student Population: The student body at CEC is 74 percent Hispanic, 14 percent White, 8 percent Black, 3 percent Asian and 1 percent American Indian. There are 350 students enrolled. Attendance is 93 percent. Nearly 60 percent of students are eligible for the Free and Reduced Lunch program. On the surface, the CEC student population looks much like that of other inner city school. However, a closer look reveals students who have identified career goals and are willing to work hard to turn their dreams into successful realities.

Staff: CEC has 11 academic teachers, 25 career teachers and a librarian. Eighty-six percent of faculty is White and 14 percent is Hispanic.