Ector County ISD students and parents have until Jan. 15 to apply for any of the district’s choice school offerings.
The lottery will be Feb. 14. Parents will be notified on Feb. 21 and will have until Feb. 23 to accept or decline the offer.
A list of school options and the application is available at ectorcountyisd.org/Page/5528
The SchoolMint platform is being used for the application and lottery process.
Before the School Choice Expo in early December, the number of applications was 711. Afterward, it rose to 1,252, a 53 percent increase, Executive Director of Choice Programs, Access and Support Amy Hosick said. They estimated that about 250 families attended.
ECISD offers nine choice elementary schools with focus areas including fine arts, dual language, Montessori, project-based learning, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).
There are also four choice high school programs with pathways to post-secondary opportunities that could lead to an associate degree concurrently while obtaining a high school diploma. STEM Academy on the University of Texas Permian Basin campus is in the process of applying to be an early college high school through the Texas Education Agency, Hosick said.
New this year is the middle school application for the Crockett International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and the addition of choice seats at Gale Pond Alamo with a focus on Project-Based Learning.
“Both programs will feature the ongoing work of our principals and teachers to align curriculum offerings to the desires of our community. The Crockett MYP program aligns with the Odessa High School IB Diploma Programme. In addition, with the passage of the ECISD Bond 2023, a New Tech Middle School is on the horizon at New Tech Odessa (NTO) following the construction and launch of the new CTE Center. Families interested in NTO as a choice middle school in future years may want to consider Gale Pond Alamo STEAM Academy as a choice option which is near NTO,” Hosick said.
Alamo STEAM Academy is an A-rated campus under state accountability standards. Hosick said it is no longer a year-round campus and follows the regular ECISD calendar.
If families are interested in learning more about Alamo STEAM project-based learning, they can attend orientation meetings at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9 and 5:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at Alamo. The campus has about 320 students in grades pre-K 4 through fifth.
Also new this year is a Choice Schools Guide that shows which schools are zoned as neighborhood schools, which schools have a choice application process (a lottery) and schools open for transfer. There is a pre-K application and some schools that are by referral, Hosick said.
Examples of referral campuses are the Community Outreach Center and Acceleration Academy where students can recover credits and get support. Acceleration Academy is a partner with the district to help students gain the necessary requirements to graduate. Hosick said the students are still enrolled at their home campuses.
With the passage of one of three bond propositions Nov. 7, a new career and technology center will be built. Hosick said the district is planning to convert the second floor of George H.W. Bush New Tech to a middle school. It will keep the project-based learning approach.
“If families down the road are interested in the New Tech Middle School, they might be interested in (Alamo STEAM) elementary as a choice now in anticipation of that … because it’s not that far away. It’s just a couple of years away,” Hosick said.
How the parents rank the current choices could determine where ECISD might want to expand in the future. There was discussion about changing some of the choice schools focus, but not currently.
“Based on what families choose in the future, we certainly may consider that,” she said.
Iris Jimenez, director of choice schools and planning, said this includes the high schools other than Odessa High School and Permian because this is the first year the specialized schools will have one.
Previously, Hosick said parents filled out a paper form for the high schools but it was more challenging to track the parent data.
“Now all of the high school, the new middle school and the elementaries are all in an electronic lottery system through our office,” Hosick added.
She added that it’s important to offer families a choice in schools.
“Not every school can offer every … elective option, so choice schools give schools the ability to focus on an instructional method, or instructional model. It also gives the district the the ability to support that instructional model. I’ll use Montessori as an example. Not every school in the district can offer a Montessori curriculum. But it’s wonderful that we have that as an option for families who feel like that’s a good fit for them. STEAM is something we offer throughout the district. Our STEAM campuses focus on different things. … Alamo has been a STEAM campus, but we really are working with them on embracing project-based learning as their as their curricular instructional approach. So I do … believe that allowing families to have choices is a positive. I think it keeps families within our district and helps enrollment at each of our schools,” Hosick said.
“I also think when a student chooses what he or she feels is a good fit for them that there is more commitment on the student’s part and more excitement about coming to school every day. I think naturally attendance increases and engagement,” Hosick said.
At some campuses, students could earn a certificate, an associate degree and/or college credit while still in high school.
The Class of 2023 at OCTECHS had 65 out of 68, or 96 percent, graduate with an associate degree.
Odessa Collegiate Academy had 65 out of 81, or 80 percent, graduate with an associate degree.
