Higher education has been seen as one of the best ways out of poverty. However, connecting low-income student to universities has always been a challenge. This is a a challenge that Phoenix Collegiate Academy has taken on as our mission and driving force for our students, their families and the community in which we serve.
PCA began its journey in August of 2009, with our inaugural class of sixth graders, who will now be our first graduating class of PCA in May of 2016. These students will not only make history for our school, but also for their families. Many are first-generation college bound students who have relentlessly worked to see this dream come to fruition. The preparation starts early and continues throughout their educational journey with us at PCA; a seamless path to college is what we are establishing for our students and their families.
At PCA, we strongly believe that each step of our process needs to be intentional. We have developed curriculum that we stream through our advisory classes, which meet in small groups within grade level four times per week.. On Thursdays, we have College Thursday Curriculum, a series of year-llong units and lessons that are tailor made for each grade level to learn about the road from high school to college. On College Thursdays, students delve into topics ranging from how to read and pull information from their high school transcripts to how to create a scholarship resume. In addition to our advisory lessons, we also take year-end field trips, starting in 6th grade through 12th grade, taking our students out of state to visit various college campus around the nation. Students have visited Stanford, University of New Mexico, and Georgetown to name a few. This year, our 11th graders will have the opportunity to visit the U.S. Air Force Academy as well. The students are eager to take these field trips each year and return with amazing stories and great determination on how they will one day attend one of our visited colleges.
The beauty of our seamless path, being in a K-12th grade school, means that we can readily share data about our students and begin preparing early to meet all of their different educational needs. We have all of our students take the MAP test, a standardized, computer based exam that is correlated to the ACT exam. Teachers use the data from this exam, along with other critical data, to customize and tailor their academic plans and curriculum for our students. It also allows us to see students' progress as they work to become college-ready. During every parent-teacher conference we share this information with our parents and provide them with the knowledge and tools to help their students at home. We provide parents with access to weekly academic reports, websites that they can use at home, workshops after-school that provide valuable information regarding college access, and financial planning.
At our High school, we start our freshmen with Advanced Placement classes, preparing them for the rigors of the college curriculum early. Our student to counselor ratio is 1:188, in comparison with other districts schools, where it is 1:500. This means that our counselor is able to meet with each and every student individually, knows them personally, and can truly be an advocate for them as they embark on their college journey. We know that it “takes a village” to help raise our children, so we have established, nurtured and maintained partnerships with some amazing programs like, STEP Expedition Program, ASU's Barrett Summer Scholars, ASU's Juaquin Bustoz Math-Science Honors Program, Be a Leader Foundation, and AGUILLA to name a few. It's programs like these, that help us and our students be accountable.
As we approach our final semester of the school year, we've reflected on the amazing strides our school and students have made along their path to college. Starting in 2009 with one class of sixth graders and now fast-forward to 2016, with 100% of our graduating class committed to attending a post-secondary school, 67% already admitted into a four-year university and thus far receiving over $80,000 in merit-based aid. We are beyond excited but also know that this is just the beginning, each new year will bring new challenges and rewards, and that's what makes our long days worth it.
-Andrea Glenn, Phoenix Collegiate Academy High School Counselor
PCA began its journey in August of 2009, with our inaugural class of sixth graders, who will now be our first graduating class of PCA in May of 2016. These students will not only make history for our school, but also for their families. Many are first-generation college bound students who have relentlessly worked to see this dream come to fruition. The preparation starts early and continues throughout their educational journey with us at PCA; a seamless path to college is what we are establishing for our students and their families.
At PCA, we strongly believe that each step of our process needs to be intentional. We have developed curriculum that we stream through our advisory classes, which meet in small groups within grade level four times per week.. On Thursdays, we have College Thursday Curriculum, a series of year-llong units and lessons that are tailor made for each grade level to learn about the road from high school to college. On College Thursdays, students delve into topics ranging from how to read and pull information from their high school transcripts to how to create a scholarship resume. In addition to our advisory lessons, we also take year-end field trips, starting in 6th grade through 12th grade, taking our students out of state to visit various college campus around the nation. Students have visited Stanford, University of New Mexico, and Georgetown to name a few. This year, our 11th graders will have the opportunity to visit the U.S. Air Force Academy as well. The students are eager to take these field trips each year and return with amazing stories and great determination on how they will one day attend one of our visited colleges.
The beauty of our seamless path, being in a K-12th grade school, means that we can readily share data about our students and begin preparing early to meet all of their different educational needs. We have all of our students take the MAP test, a standardized, computer based exam that is correlated to the ACT exam. Teachers use the data from this exam, along with other critical data, to customize and tailor their academic plans and curriculum for our students. It also allows us to see students' progress as they work to become college-ready. During every parent-teacher conference we share this information with our parents and provide them with the knowledge and tools to help their students at home. We provide parents with access to weekly academic reports, websites that they can use at home, workshops after-school that provide valuable information regarding college access, and financial planning.
At our High school, we start our freshmen with Advanced Placement classes, preparing them for the rigors of the college curriculum early. Our student to counselor ratio is 1:188, in comparison with other districts schools, where it is 1:500. This means that our counselor is able to meet with each and every student individually, knows them personally, and can truly be an advocate for them as they embark on their college journey. We know that it “takes a village” to help raise our children, so we have established, nurtured and maintained partnerships with some amazing programs like, STEP Expedition Program, ASU's Barrett Summer Scholars, ASU's Juaquin Bustoz Math-Science Honors Program, Be a Leader Foundation, and AGUILLA to name a few. It's programs like these, that help us and our students be accountable.
As we approach our final semester of the school year, we've reflected on the amazing strides our school and students have made along their path to college. Starting in 2009 with one class of sixth graders and now fast-forward to 2016, with 100% of our graduating class committed to attending a post-secondary school, 67% already admitted into a four-year university and thus far receiving over $80,000 in merit-based aid. We are beyond excited but also know that this is just the beginning, each new year will bring new challenges and rewards, and that's what makes our long days worth it.
-Andrea Glenn, Phoenix Collegiate Academy High School Counselor
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