Poor students will gain from Cristo Rey’s launch

CRISTO Rey, a Catholic, college-preparatory school serving inner-city students, begins its first school year in Oklahoma City on Friday. That’s a positive development in Oklahoma education that should not go unnoticed.

The school is the first in Oklahoma, but Cristo Rey schools in other states have generated a strong record of success serving students too often dismissed in other settings as “not college material.”

In Cristo Rey’s unique model, students attend classes four days a week and work a job the fifth day. The wages earned go toward the student’s tuition and cover about 70 percent of the cost; the remainder comes from the student’s family (with rates based on income) and private fundraising.

This year’s first class of Cristo Rey freshmen (the school eventually will serve grades 9 through 12) were matched with local employers last week in an event modeled after the NBA draft. Participating employers include the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Chickasaw Nation, the Oklahoma City Thunder, BancFirst, Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores, The Oklahoman Media Company and more than two dozen others.

In some ways, the work component of the school will be as important as the classroom component. Students have already been provided training on a wide range of topics, including goal setting, study and work skills, taking initiative, financial literacy, balancing a budget and eliminating unnecessary expenses. On a more fundamental level, students have been taught basics like how to tie a tie.

These are things most kids need to know, but for lower-income youth the opportunity to obtain such expertise can be far more limited than what’s available to upper-income peers. The average gross income for the families of Oklahoma City’s Cristo Rey students is $39,200 for a family of four.

The focus on work experience doesn’t mean academics are secondary. A rating published by The Washington Post found Cristo Rey is among the nation’s most challenging private high schools, despite serving many students who start the ninth grade at a seventhgrade level.

Nationally, Cristo Rey graduates enroll in and complete college at twice the rate of their low-income peers. Thirty-six percent of Cristo Rey’s 2009 graduates went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree. In comparison, just 23 percent of all 2009 high school graduates did the same, regardless of income.

All Cristo Rey OKC students will take the ACT test at least twice. Students taking Advanced Placement courses will be required to take the related Advanced Placement Exam, and all seniors at the school will be required to apply to at least five colleges, including four four-year colleges.

One reason Oklahoma City was chosen for a Cristo Rey site is that the state provides a tax credit to organizations that provide scholarships to low-income students. Lawmakers should note this, because it shows how forward-thinking policies can increase opportunity for some of the state’s neediest children.

Cristo Rey is another example of the importance of innovation in the delivery of education. For providing an alternative path to a quality education, Cristo Rey officials deserve Oklahomans’ thanks, and the schools’ student deserve our best wishes.