To help students

Collaboration, not competition

At the sound of Tuesday’s morning bell, 450 high school students will navigate the halls of eStem High School for the first time on the grounds of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. It is the first time in Arkansas history that a public charter school is located on a public college campus.

Our new facilities mean more than shiny desks. The goal is to make college-ready, career-ready, and world-ready students by implementing a 21st century curriculum rooted in the fundamentals of economics, science, technology, engineering and math.

Positioning our students for success through innovative classes on a college campus provides an unparalleled path for success. Students at eStem are eligible to earn college credit through concurrent classes and graduate from high school with an associate’s degree. At a cost of $50 per class, higher education is accessible for more local students. As students become acclimated to campus culture, higher education will also feel more attainable. Our students’ confidence will be bolstered each day by positive experience until the pursuit of higher education is tangible. This innovation, rooted in partnership with UALR, is something to be celebrated and shared.

Little Rock has been besieged with divisive rhetoric for fear of impending collapse of our city’s public education. For years, public education in Little Rock has suffered as its students transfer to private schools and move into surrounding districts. Charter-school growth has only added to the fears of student population loss.

While many eStem students admittedly come from the Little Rock School District, the number of students coming from private schools or outside the local school district has increased dramatically in recent years. Parents are simply seeking the practices that help their children excel. From diversity in teaching methods to a personalized focus on college admissions, eStem has a record of attracting families from outside districts into a Little Rock public school.

A recent report by the Little Rock Area Public Education Stakeholders Group was submitted to the state Board of Education. It makes an argument for the conversation of public education to turn from competition and choice to cooperation and collaboration. The report finds that “a competitive paradigm exacerbates differences between schools rather than stressing what they share in common, which is the basis for potential collaboration.”

I agree. Throughout my career, I have resolved to put students first. I do so as CEO of eStem schools, but have applied the same mentality in my past work as a Little Rock School District educator and principal. In the current case of Little Rock schools, putting students first means working together.

EStem is ready to collaborate with the Little Rock district. Our model yields student achievement, is replicable and can be implemented across the district and beyond. It starts with eStem demographics, which are comparable to those in the city of Little Rock.

Regardless of race, religion or socioeconomic status, eStem students attend school each day with a desire to learn. Representative demographics yield higher student achievement: in testing scores, in graduation rates and in college acceptance. National education research and eStem statistics support this claim. Just last year, 106 eStem graduates accepted $3.77 million in college scholarships to more than 30 colleges across the country. That’s an average of $35,500 in scholarship money received per graduate.

From teachers and administrators to government officials and civic leaders, I respect most those who place the needs of our students beyond any political issue. I hope that the community recognizes two things: eStem success and Little Rock School District achievement are not mutually exclusive, and the health of the Little Rock district is imperative to this community. EStem is for public education because we are public education. We do not blindly subscribe to a charter movement, but we believe in our work. We believe in putting kids first.

I look forward to working alongside Superintendent Michael Poore to pursue what the Stakeholders Group report seeks: ways to initiate, facilitate and support mutually beneficial relationships among all of our schools.