Ector College Prep Middle School has a new principal and state ratings to match as it begins the school year.
This is the second year of a partnership between Ector County ISD and Third Future, a Colorado-based charter school network.
Sandi Massey was the principal last year and is now executive director of schools for the network. Welton Blaylock, who was an assistant principal at Ector last year, is now the principal. There are seven assistant principals — two per grade level and one additional that supports special populations.
Massey will make monthly visits to Odessa during the year for support.
Massey said Ector was an F school in 2018-19 under state accountability ratings, but it has jumped to a B this year. The Texas Education Agency did not rate schools in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to COVID.
The TEA website says districts or schools earn a B (80-89) for recognized performance when they serve many students well, encouraging high academic achievement and/or appropriate academic growth.
Ector got an 86 out of 100 for its overall rating. Massey said this was based on how many points students grew from last year to this year.
“But if you look at the proficiency for Ector College Prep, we’re still about a 68, so have we hit proficiency? No. So in our mind … the growth matters because we are closing the gaps, but it doesn’t mean we’re there yet,” Massey said. “Our goal is that our proficiency will move up to at least a 75 next year and then we’ll close the gap the next year and then the next year and then the next year and hopefully all the kids will be at grade level proficiency.”
She said students are doing grade level work, but they aren’t able to accomplish grade level work at a high level.
“That’s where we know that there’s still this big gap between proficiency and growth that we still have to work on. … We’re not going to put that on the kids. We’re putting that on us,” Massey added.
Massey said the improvement involved a lot of factors.
“But when it comes down to it, the model that we use is very effective. It is incorporating a whole lot of reading and writing and annotating in every single content; not just English. When you incorporate a lot of reading and writing and students talking about the material, they just can’t help but grow from it. … It’s hard to explain, but all that reading, writing and thinking is what gets them to that place,” Massey said.
The campus is very structured with extended days, after-school activities and extra help for students.
There was also coaching of teachers, administrators, learning coaches and office staff.
“We are constantly tweaking things to make things tighter, the systems better, so … there is a lot of adjusting but it’s more on the coaching of people, not so much the kids,” Massey said.
She added that the students adapt easily.
Blaylock said constant reminders of expectations, having teachers present every day and ready to meet the challenges of the school model is what made the difference.
Blaylock said teachers put in long days supporting students and that makes a difference. Parents aren’t worried about who’s going to be there for their children all day.
“They know teachers are going to be there for their child, the expert is going to be there that we support day in and day out with the administrative team going into classrooms, coaching up teachers, letting them know, why don’t you try this. That’s always in the model and reinforcing what works and what works has been the model of Third Future,” Blaylock said.
Massey said one of the changes made this year was having teacher apprentices in the classroom as built in substitutes.
“Almost every school district in the Untied States right now is struggling with having teachers in the classroom and absences from COVID and what to do about those absences, not having enough substitutes to fill those absences,” Massey said.
Third Future Founder and CEO Mike Miles decided to add teacher apprentices to the faculty this year. There are eight at Ector College Prep.
Massey said they have two classes with 50 students and two teachers each. The teacher apprentice is learning from an expert teacher.
“They are learning how to be great teachers right in the classroom alongside this expert, and then as soon as a teacher is out with COVID, or someone quits, or just can’t handle the work of education and they leave, then we have a teacher apprentice that’s been learning and is ready to slide into that room,” Massey said.
This means students never have a day without the right instruction, she added.
“That to me is a game changer,” Massey said.
Blaylock said teachers love it, too, because they grow their students to certain levels and rely on the model of instruction to be continued even if they are not there.
That way, Blaylock said, they won’t lose that one day that may make a difference.
Massey said the aim was to show student growth of 1.7 years this past year. But Ector reached 2.03 years, according to Measure of Academic Progress test data.
Third Future now has six schools in its network and Ector scored the highest. The newest school is just opening this year and is in Austin, so they did not test last year.
The next closest school, she said, is 1.93 years of growth.
Massey said the priority is to keep making a difference for the community.
If the school met its goal, Massey said she promised she would get a tattoo. They did, so Massey got an eagle (for Ector Eagles) tattooed on her bicep.
It’s Blaylock’s turn next year if they reach their objective.
Ector has 1,389 students physically on campus, but Massey said they are projecting more.
Blaylock said the students are already setting goals this year.
She stressed that the partnership with ECISD is very important.
“… We don’t want to come in here and just be Third Future schools. We want to come in here and actually be part of ECISD, make a huge difference for the whole community. It’s not about what we can do. It’s about what the whole district can do together …,” Massey said.
Blaylock still owns a dance studio in town, but his children are running it knowing about the huge challenge of being a principal.
He said the charter network challenges you every day, but they offer the support “so you don’t fail.”
Blaylock said he is on a learning curve trying to oversee every part of the building and not “dropping the ball on any end.” He added that he relies on his assistant principals, administrative team and teachers to be his eyes and ears. He even leans on the executives from Third Future who tell him to try things, or that he’s not doing something, or he’s doing something right.
“We get those supports, but it’s a challenge. Every day, I come in and I put the armor of Him above on me before I step in the building and it works,” Blaylock said.
