Unique to Colorado Early Colleges Colorado Springs (CECCS) is the fact that all students are afforded access to college coursework and credits during high school. CECCS's Mission Statement states ''All students, regardless of background or skill level, will have the opportunity to pursue a growth mindset that will allow them to achieve mastery and to demonstrate that they can succeed in school, in college, and in their chosen career. No exceptions. No excuses.'' CECCS serves students in 6th - 12th grade. Additionally, Colorado Early Colleges established a Bill of Rights for students:
Colorado Early Colleges Student’s Bill of Rights:
Each student will have the following rights.
1. Mastery of reading, writing and math skills that allows progress on to college credit courses without remediation.
2. A high school experience that gives students access to 60 or more credit hours of college courses.
3. Students will receive the assessments necessary to ensure their academic progress is successful.
4. Each student will be given the opportunity to earn credit for an internship that corresponds to their area of vocational and educational interests.
5. Guidance and advisory assistance that would include scholarship opportunities for post-secondary education endeavors.
6. Students will succeed regardless of background, experience, ethnicity or sex.
7. Students will have an Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP).
8. Students will have access to a faculty advisor
9. Students will be adequately prepared to pursue post-graduation instruction and life experiences.
10. Students will be given character development activities.
11. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in individualized physical exercise programs.
12. Students will upon graduation receive a high school diploma in addition to college credit up to and including an Associate’s Degree.
To ensure the fulfillment of our mission statement and Student Bill of Rights, CECCS has focused on ensuring consistency in our academic program, maintaining sustainability in our Academic Advising Department, and training for and retention of highly effective teachers.
CECCS has maintained a Performance rating since 2015. CECCS has concentrated efforts in aligning curriculum to ensure a rigorous high school and college prep program particularly in English Language Arts and Math and increasing professional development in instructional strategies and student engagement. Another concentrated effort for CECCS has been to ensure the Academic Advising Department has strong systems and procedures for accurate data tracking and document maintenance as it pertains to completion towards degrees, college credit hours earned, and post-secondary credentials earned. These improvements have led to sustainability in the department as well as an increase in the number of graduation achievements (Associate degree/60+ college credit hours/post-secondary credential) earned by students. In addition to our strong academic focus, CECCS recognizes the social and emotional needs of students and has an intentional Social Emotional Learning focus as we know that El Paso County in general has seen large rates of youth suicide and mental health issues.
Process for Data Analyses: The school Leadership Team, the School Accountability Committee, and Educational Support Staff reviewed the UIP, the School Performance Framework data from the Colorado Department of Education, Accuplacer data, pass-fail rates of college preparatory courses and college level courses, attendance data, Gallup student Poll, Gallup Staff Poll, and Parent and Student surveys. A group comprised of the Head of School, the HS Academic Dean, MS Academic Dean, and Dean of Admissions compiled data and wrote the UIP draft. The SAC meeting on Sept. 5th, 2023 reviewed the draft UIP. The draft was shared with staff and the School Accountability Committee prior to submission to the Colorado Charter School Institute who had the opportunity to review the UIP throughout the school year to provide feedback on the data analysis and progress on Major Improvement Strategies.