Atlas Prep uses innovative methods for success

Sonya Felder was hurrying into a grocery store last spring when Julian Flores approached her, clipboard in hand.

“I thought, ‘What does this guy want?’” the single mother of two recalled recently.

What he wanted was to ask a simple question: Did she have a fifth-grader who might want to go to a new charter school serving diverse and economically disadvantaged students?

It would be rigorous, Flores told her. Students would attend school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The school year would be 190 days instead of the typical 180.

The goal, he said, was to close the achievement gap between low-income and minority students and their more affluent peers, and instill in the students a drive to go to college.

Felder was intrigued. She did, indeed, have a daughter about to enter fifth grade — 10-year-old Shayla — and she wasn’t happy with Shayla’s schooling.

So when Atlas Preparatory School opened in August in Harrison School District 2, Shayla was part of the inaugural class of about 100 fifth-graders.

Atlas is patterned after several innovative schools nationwide that have received accolades for their educational successes. At one of them, KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy in Denver, students advance two grade levels in a year, in part because of the longer school hours. (For more information on the school, call 358-7196 or go to www.atlasprep.org.

Beyond adding classroom time, Atlas is breaking the mold in other ways:

• Its administrators and board of directors have been professionally trained to help the charter succeed; at most charter schools, the boards are made up of parent volunteers.
• Students don’t use textbooks, but are taught through a curriculum created by the teachers.
• Those who get in trouble aren’t suspended because, as Flores said, “They wouldn’t be learning.”
• The school provides transportation for all its students to guarantee they’ll be in class.
• Good manners and proper behavior are mandatory.

'FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION'

On the first day of school, Shayla was up an hour earlier than usual and had her uniform on.

At the end of the week, Felder asked what she had learned that first week.

“Failure is not an option,” Shayla happily replied.

Even now, with the newness worn off, Shayla comes home excited and talks at length about her days.

“I kept waiting for some big glitch, it being a new school and all,” Felder said. “I thought, ‘something is going to happen’.”

But, no. Shayla is a completely different student now.

“She talks different. She has all this self-esteem. She does all her homework,” Felder said. “She even says things to her brother like ‘Don’t be disrespectful,’ instead of getting in a big argument. She told me they don’t let kids make fun of other kids at Atlas. She likes to wear uniforms because no one picks on her about her clothes.”

But it’s not all roses.

“It’s not an easy school; they expect a lot,” Felder said.

Twenty students quit after just a couple of weeks. Some moved away, but others couldn’t adapt to the academic and behavioral expectations and the longer hours, Flores said. Others dropped out because of issues associated with at-risk families. For example, Felder said, one mother pulled her daughter out because she needed her to babysit the younger children when they got out of school earlier.

Flores said some felt the school was too regimented.

“Parents told us their kids complained because they couldn’t go out to recess if they didn’t finish their homework. They complained because friends in other schools got out two hours earlier and they didn’t have time for fun.”
Felder has a different take on it.

“I can’t imagine being upset because Shayla was studying at school instead of running around the neighborhood or playing video games,” she said.

'EVERYONE IS ON THE SAME PAGE'

Felder especially likes that Shayla’s homeroom teachers call her every two weeks to discuss her progress and ask if there are any concerns. They work closely to keep Shayla on track.

Staff members will show up at a family’s door to find out why a student might be a habitual no-show.

The school’s seven teachers have a big challenge, and not just because they have long days in the classroom, followed by evenings of planning.

On average, the school’s students are below the 28th percentile nationally on achievement tests. At their former schools, fewer than half of the students were proficient in reading and math on state tests, and fewer than a third were proficient in writing.

“It means most of our school is one to two years behind in core subjects and they’re only 10 years old,” Flores said.

But Atlas is geared toward catching kids up quickly in core subjects, as well as building their character and the academic and social skills to graduate from college.

Erin Wahler, a teacher for five years, joined Atlas because she was disillusioned with traditional public schools.

“I felt that no matter the gains, they were negated the next year because there wasn’t a cohesiveness of goals.

It’s awesome at Atlas. Everyone is on the same page, including the students,” she said.

Atlas officials hope to add a high school so students won’t be thrust back into schools that don’t have the same rigor or goals. If the high school doesn’t become a reality by the time this year’s fifth-graders reach high school, the administrators say they will find them similar educational opportunities and scholarship money.

Although the school hasn’t been open long, it can already boast of reaching one goal: boosting interest in college — at least where Shayla is concerned. College hadn’t been on her radar before, Felder said. Now, Shayla frequently talks about her aspirations.

“I’m going to go to University of Northern Colorado,” Shayla said matter of factly.