Ability rules placement at Springs charter school

   When Mary Perez looks at students in her math class at Colorado Springs Early Colleges, she doesn't know whether they are freshmen or seniors.
"I just know where they are in their math," she said.

The charter high school, which opened in August, places students in courses based on ability. If students are ready for college, they take college classes, said Academic Dean Glenn Englund. If not, they get ready for college. College classes are on Early Colleges' dime and count toward a college degree and a high school diploma.
   Student Rebekah Scruitsky, 17, is in pre-college math, for example, but takes college-level English, history and sociology.

   Some students take classes at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs or Pikes Peak Community College, but most of the college-level classes are taught at Colorado Technical University, which shares its campus with Early Colleges.

   Keith King, a former legislator and the school's administrator, worked with Englund and Harrison School District 2 board member Deborah Hendrix to create a school that would motivate students to finish high school, give them access to higher education and ensure their success with college-level classes. One-third of Colorado high school graduates going on to college need remediation, King said.

   Early Colleges opened with 320 full-time students and 40 part-time students, King said. The plan is to increase enrollment to about 500 students for the 2008-09 school year.
   While getting students into college-level classes is the goal, the school isn't catering only to high achievers.

   When the school opened, about 30 percent of students were college-ready in math. The same number tested at the lowest math level, roughly sixth-grade or pre-algebra, Englund said.
   In reading, 10 percent were at the lowest level and 40 percent were college-ready.

   King said the school recruited in D-2 and near Wasson and Mitchell high schools in Colorado Springs School District 11, where test scores and graduation rates are typically low.
   Unlike many charter schools, Early Colleges operates a lunch program and school bus.
   "We wanted to make sure there were no barriers," King said.

   The approach seems to be working, with more students moving into higher-level classes, King said. This semester, for example, 143 students are in pre-college English classes, compared with 218 in the fall.

   Instructors for college-level classes at Colorado Technical University are adjunct faculty. Early Colleges pays to have them teach five days a week, rather than the two or three of a typical college class schedule, King said.
   Those teaching pre-college classes are Early Colleges instructors, but some have higher education experience.

   Perez used to teach at Pikes Peak Community College. She said she now teaches the same material, but students take it at their own pace.
   "They tell me when they are ready to take the test," Perez said.

   Students from three levels of pre-college math are in the same classroom. If they have questions, they ask. Pieces of scratch paper are ready on each table if Perez needs to do an example.

   Students don't move on without a grade of 85 percent or better, which is about all that stops them from moving through pre-college classes.

   Perez said one student was starting at the highest of the three pre-college level classes after finishing the two lowerlevel ones. He didn't have to wait to move on.
   "You give the power to them," Perez said.
   Scruitsky said she enjoys the self-paced pre-college classes - college courses have a set schedule - and she praises the teachers.
   "They are here for me and they want to help me," she said.

   Students are classified by traditional grade levels for at least one part of the school year: the period when Colorado Student Assessment Program tests are given. Students take the tests as other public school students do.