School’s grad rate high

When high school graduation rates were rolled out last month, the Early College Academy posted one of the highest scores in the state, at 91.7 percent.

Principal Nikki Dennis said at the time the small Albuquerque Public Schools magnet is often overlooked, despite its track record of success. “Oftentimes we’re kind of hidden, but it’s a great place for kids,” she said.

The ECA opened in 2005 and moved to its current location and format near Albuquerque High in 2008. The school emphasizes dual credit for all students, meaning they also take college classes and receive both high school and college credit.

The school shares a campus with the Career Enrichment Center, another APS magnet program. The CEC does not have any full-time students, but offers career-related electives to students districtwide. Dennis is the principal of both schools.

The ECA is similar to the Arrowhead Park Early College High School in Las Cruces. That school, which is too new to have a graduation rate or a graduating class, has been touted by Gov. Susana Martinez, including in her State of the State address.

ECA students take core classes on campus in the morning. In the afternoons, they can take college classes, language electives or career-related classes at the CEC. Some college classes are taught on campus by ECA teachers who are cross-certified. Many students graduate with extensive college credits, and some have finished high school with associate degrees.

On a recent morning, Mark Walker was running a lab with his freshman biology class. The students were isolating DNA from their cheek cells.

The students come from diverse backgrounds. Some are academically strong, others have struggled in earlier grades and their parents chose the smaller school to make them focus. Some are in school for the first time, after being homeschooled.

In some ways, the school has fewer challenges than APS as a whole. About 35 percent of the students at ECA come from low-income families who qualify for lunch subsidies, compared to the districtwide 62 percent.

About one-third of the students are learning English, and the majority of the school’s enrollment is Hispanic. Families are told students need to do two or three hours of homework per night to be successful.

Dennis said she thinks some students who are academic “high fliers” may not choose ECA because the small school, which has 199 students this year, does not offer extracurriculars and electives like sports or band. Students have the option to do these things at their home comprehensive high school, but logistics make that harder to do as an ECA student.

Walker, who has worked at ECA and Career Enrichment Center for years, said he thinks the main advantage for students at ECA is that all have a caring adult in their lives who chose to send them there.

“The biggest thing, in my opinion, is every kid here had somebody, themselves or their family, who chose to come here. The fact that they walked in the door means they have made a choice,” Walker said.

He said that is the common thread, but students otherwise represent a cross-section of Albuquerque. He paused to talk to a student who was anxiously looking at her DNA sample, wondering if it had turned out the way it was supposed to. Walker reminded her that science is about inquiry and discovery.

Some students, he said, come from sheltered homes and don’t deal well with uncertainty. “Things like, ‘who knows what will happen?’ scares them to death,” he said. “Some are here to loosen up, some are here to get organized.”

Maacah Hickerson, 14, is at ECA to get organized. She said at first it was not her choice to go to ECA, but her mother sent her there after Hickerson got failing grades throughout middle school. But now she said she likes it and is glad she is there. She said the small student body creates a supportive atmosphere where students can be themselves.

“There’s less drama and bullying,” Hickerson said. “It’s a good atmosphere. People respect each other, everyone’s very friendly.”

And, by the way, Hickerson’s glob of DNA turned out perfectly.