SUNSET HIGH
SCHOOL
El Paso Independent School District
This is a summary of an innovative
dropout prevention program at Sunset High School in El Paso, Texas. Sunset
takes youths who otherwise would give up on school and gives them a disciplined,
concentrated education curriculum, combined with a nontraditional class
setting, that eliminates a lot of the risk factors at regular high schools.
Who Attends
The student body includes
900 referrals from throughout the region.
Full-time students
taking five or more credit-earning classes. Most of these students work
and are involved in a work-study co-op program.
Half-day students
from other El Paso district schools sent to Sunset for GED preparation.
The GED scores are converted into from 5 to 7 academic credits used toward
a Sunset High School adult diploma.
Part-time students
who pay tuition and enroll in evening-school academic classes. Upon completion
of the semester, the credits are transferred back to their home campus.
Students must meet
one or more of the criteria to determine whether they are "at risk"
- whether they're academically behind, under court order to go to school
or jail, dropouts or referred as an alternative to expulsion.
According to Sunset
High School materials, students include those who:
- have enjoyed little
success in school but are now continuing their studies in an alternative
setting;
- have not been able
to learn with conventional materials;
- have low esteem
and poor study skills; and
- are raising their
aspirations from menial labor to professional occupations.
Funding
Funding is through tuition
and from the Private Industry Council and state funds.
Program
Sunset High is a part of
Project Recovery and utilizes its curriculum, Learned & Tested's Accelerated
Learning Systems. Using videotapes from a massive library, students move
at their own pace while systematically learning basic, and then complex,
skills in reading, writing and arithmetic. A small staff of teachers and
aides supervises the classes, which run from late morning until 10 p.m.,
providing individualized instruction when needed, or encouragement. The
program includes:
- Individualized lesson
plans for students
- Students tested
into program at level of student, assuring success.
- Self-paced/teacher
assisted.
- Students always
aware of grades.
- Student folder allows
teacher individual time with each student.
- Student in control
and accountable for all aspects of success or failure.
- Students only required
to work on what they do not know, this is determined by test results.
- Program offers complete
on task behavior.
- Students have immediate
feedback on their work.
- Students can work
on: TAAS, building reading, writing, and math skills, and earning credits.
- Students progress
folders incorporate lesson plans, grades and progress of each student.
Recovery Instruction
Sunset High School --
- Facilitates autonomous
learning with use of videotapes and audio cassette tapes, using student
work texts as support.
- 20-30 VCRs in lab
setting with earphones.
- Non-graded, continuous
progress instruction. Students progress through 270 videotapes at their
own pace.
- 3 hour blocks for
basic skills with study concentrated on subjects and skills that need
improvement.
- Structured skill
instruction based on diagnostic tests that pinpoint skills deficiencies.
- Student progress
controls pace of instruction, enabling students to earn credits faster.
Goal
The goal is to get the students
proficient enough to pass state-mandated achievement tests and gain enough
academic credits to graduate with a real diploma - not a General Equivalency
Degree.
Dropout Rate
Sunset High is credited with
reducing El Paso ISD's dropout rate from 5.8 percent in 1988 to 2.7 percent
in the 1991-1992 school year.
Attendance Rate
Sunset High has a 93 percent
attendance rate and statistics show that 98 percent of dropouts who take
the GED test for a diploma pass.
TAAS Successes
Exit level TAAS results in
math, reading, and writing were higher for Sunset High students than for
other El Paso ISD students and students across the state.
For more information,
contact Jim Archer, Administrator, Sunset High School, 2231 Arizona Ave.,
El Paso, TX 79930. Telephone 915-545-5900.
This summary is provided by the Texas Youth Commission. For more information about programs and research relating to children, youth, and family issues, contact us by e-mail at prevention@tyc.state.tx.us or by telephone at (512) 424-6336.
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Prevention Summary
Texas Youth Commission