Community College Preparatory Academy Public Charter School

Programs: The charter school is the first adult charter school east of the anacostia river and is designed to support the education and training needs of residents of the district of columbia as they seek to transition to college or careers. Special focus has been given to residents of wards 7 and 8 where there is the greatest concentration of adults with challenges in education and workforce preparedness and the fewest programs. The charter school provides education and training services to adults (18 years and older). The design of the school was in response to two major challenges confronting the district of columbia, namely: 1. The increasing number of adults in their prime wage earning years, entering post- secondary education unprepared to successfully complete an associate degree or advanced vocational certifications; and 2. The overwhelming number of dc residents unable to be employed in the city due to the lack of core academic skills and the lack of certificated workforce skills required by the city's knowledge-based economy the instructional model for cc prep responds to these challenges by providing remediation in core academic skills, core skills in computer literacy, on-line learning, and preparation for a range of highly portable, national certifications to support entry to the city's job market. Special focus prepares students for employment in the technology and tech-related fields. This focus was selected as it offers the broadest range of options for entry-level employment, including everything from a data entry clerk to certified help desk and cabling technician. The charter school's programming is based on the four outcomes for cc prep adult learners: 1. Successful high school completion via the new high school equivalency examination (ged); 2. Successful entry into community college at freshman level as a result of preparation for the accuplacer entry examination; 3. Successful completion of national entry-level employment certifications in the emerging fields for the district of columbia (i. E. , technology, administrative support and health careers); and/or 4. Successful attainment of necessary skills in reasoning, mathematics, computers, and on-line research required for life-long learning in the twenty-first century. In our third year, we continued to expand our role as a microsoft office academy school. We provided free training and assessment toward national certification(s). We added a highly qualified microsoft office suite (mos) trainer to our ranks to markedly expand student access to this critical baseline employment skill. As a result, we were the second most productive mos site among the microsoft academies with over 140 successful mos certifications this year. Other cloud-based national certifications were added to support entry-level employment in the district's knowledge based economy. Whenever possible, a blended learning approach that married active learning with on-line reinforcement is employed. Based upon review of our student data, we continued as a year-round school and operated from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm daily, providing instruction in three-hour sessions: 9:00 am to 12:00 noon, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm to 8:45 pm monday through thursday evenings. All adult learners are assessed initially and at regular intervals (every 6 to 8 weeks based on initial grade equivalent scores) using the etabe (test of adult basic education). The etabe was selected as it is aligned with my foundations lab, the core curriculum and the new ged. The new ged preparation program was developed to align with the common core standards and has remained the declared goal for 55% of all enrolled students. Based on the assessment analysis, students complete an individual learning plan (ilp) with their assigned student success specialist. They also sign off on a learning contract and agree to make every effort to comply with school requirements for attendance, individual bi-weekly academic reviews and semi-annual progress reviews. All students spend a minimum of fifteen hours a week in class. In addition to regularly scheduled etabe assessments, students are assessed for skill mastery as part of the curricular design. Once students reach the 7th grade 5th month level in reading, they are eligible to begin microsoft word training, which is now recommended for all students. When students reach the 9th grade level in reading and mathematics, students participate in either ged or accuplacer boot camps (weekly intensive workshops focusing specifically on test taking skills), in addition to their weekly classes. They can also at this point, enter advanced it certification. All education and training services are free to dc residents. Cc prep will work with a sub-contractor/partner, the h. O. P. E. Project (thp) to provide a tier 1 help desk and desktop support youth tech training program to 100 district of columbia residents between the ages of 18-24. The programming will include assessment, case management and connection to a range of supportive services for any young person in need of services in order to stay in school and fully participate in the program. The custom designed it training program will include specific help desk technical training, comptia a+ certification training, technical professional development, career and social coaching. Additionally, the program will place each participant in a twelve-week internship, provide ongoing job placement assistance, and follow-up services. The follow-up services will include access to a well-developed and tested graduate alumni program and advanced training opportunities and participation in the thp lecture series. Each participant will be paired with a help desk program graduate currently working on a help desk for a major federal or district of columbia government contractor that has completed the thp mentorship training program.