By the Numbers
100 percent of 2014 DECA graduates are in college or serving in the military.
97.4 was DECA's score on the 2014 state percentage index, best among area charter schools.
95 percent of DECA eighth-graders passed the OAA math test last year.
91 percent of DECA Prep third-graders passed Ohio's state reading test last year.
More than 91 percent of its third-graders passed the state reading test. Its high school is filled with college-bound teenagers.
Some fancy prep school in the suburbs? Far from it.
Dayton Early College Academy and its elementary feeder school — DECA Prep — are packed with eager city kids who benefit from an energized teaching staff and a synergy that demands parental involvement.
The result is the area’s highest-ranking charter school.
“People are passionate about what they do; if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be here,” said math teacher Brett Doudican, who stays late some days to help students with ACT prep work. “We’re all pushing students in the same direction.”
That direction is college, and 100 percent of DECA’s 2014 graduates currently are in college or the military.
DECA has been so successful that it opened an elementary school — DECA Prep — in 2012. Total enrollment for both schools exceeds 900. Next fall, DECA Prep will add a fifth-grade class to complete the system’s K-12 roster.
The schools offer a rigorous academic curriculum that include six “gateways” that culminate with formal presentations by students. The curriculum also includes 100 hours of volunteer service for each student.
Along the way, they are helped by more than 130 volunteers who provide one-on-one help. Nearly 300 local businesses and nonprofits have hosted DECA students for internships and job shadows.
“We’re trying to create a college-going community,” DECA superintendent Judy Hennessey said. “People have embraced us, I think, in part because they can see where their money goes. We believe we’re an engine of economic development.”
Moving quickly
DECA was founded in 2003 as part of an initiative of the Gates Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates’ global effort to improve college readiness and academic performance. It was started as a Dayton public high school, but a failed levy in 2007 that threatened to shrink its teaching staff prompted the school’s board of directors to move toward a charter model.
That has helped DECA set its own course, with help from the University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College. The high school rents 42,000 square feet in one of UD’s renovated Brown Street buildings, and its students take college courses at Sinclair.
Dayton Public Schools serves as DECA’s sponsor; the Fordham Institute sponsors DECA Prep.
One of DECA’s strengths is its nimble culture. Four years ago, Hennessey said, students expressed a desire for a calculus class. A teacher agreed to take the lead — staying after school twice a week to do it — and books were ordered. The class was up and running in a week.
“We were able to make it happen without going through layers of approval,” Hennessey said. “The whole bidding process of who gets to teach (a class) is often, in contracts, governed by seniority.
“This way, if someone comes up with a good idea, and if we can put it together, usually we’re pretty agile. The same thing is true with taking things off the plate.”
Parent academies
Involving parents has been key to the schools’ success. Last week, parents packed the DECA Prep cafeteria to listen to a panel of DECA students and graduates discuss what it takes to make it to college. It was an example of what Hennessey calls “parent academies” — monthly meetings at which attendance is mandatory.
“They’re not PTO meetings,” she said. “We really do try to engage our parents in meaningful ways, so they understand what we’re doing at school and how they can support that at home.”
The DECA schools employ 65 teachers and spend about $10,000 per student — spending that falls in line with many public school districts. It has an annual budget of $6.5 million, and with guidance from a board of professionals, Hennessey expects total enrollment to peak at 1,300 in 2019.
Every one of those students — 70 percent from poverty-stricken households — will hear the word “grit” often. That trait is used throughout school literature.
“We have Grit teams, Grit awards, Grit everything,” Hennessey said. “Students have to stick with difficult content to learn. We want them to see that it isn’t just how smart you are, but also how hard you work.”
Starts with reading
DECA scored a 97.4 (of a possible 120) on the state’s 2013-14 performance index. That lags behind the area’s top public high schools but it is comparable to high schools like Wayne and West Carrollton, and far ahead of all other urban schools.
DECA holds informational meetings for parents each February and students enroll on a first-come, first-served basis. (Enrollment for the 2015-16 school year closed earlier this month.)
There are no social promotions and DECA doesn’t add students after freshman year.
“Certain grade levels have waiting lists — long ones,” Hennessey said. “We don’t take students after the ninth grade. The requirements are too different from just taking courses, and it would put a child at a real disadvantage at that point.”
DECA’s approach has not gone unnoticed. Newsweek listed it as one of the country’s top high schools for “closing the gap” in 2014, and DECA and DECA Prep were the only area charters to meet state testing standards last year.
DECA’s old-school building blocks are reading and writing.
“Reading is the basis for everything we do,” kindergarten teacher Michelle Gilbey said. “Research tells us that little ones who can identify letters quickly will be good readers.”
Kindergartners get iPads and all other students get Chromebooks, thanks to a state grant and local contributors.
Heavy-hitters such as Premier Health and the Mathile Family Foundation are valued partners. The Vectren Foundation provided funds for a STEM lab at DECA Prep, housed in the old Corpus Christi Catholic School building north of downtown.
More than teachers
To reinforce the college concept, copies of college diplomas are paired with teachers’ photos outside classrooms.
Hennessey said teacher pay is at about the midway point for public schools in Montgomery County, and the schools have had no problem attracting talent. During Hennessey’s first year at DECA — she was superintendent at Oakwood before joining the school in 2004 — it had 13 openings. A total of 642 teachers applied.
“What gives us an edge is teachers can be entrepreneurs in the classroom, and we all feel a level of accountability,” she said.
Teachers do more than teach. They are expected to be on call 24-7 for their kids. Some take students ice skating, out for pizza or to Dragons games. One teacher even adopted a student.
“I have fed and clothed a family because I was able to. That’s what we do here,” said Gilbey. “It’s a hard place to work. A lot is expected, but a lot is given.”
Teachers also serve as advisors to groups of students who stay together throughout their time at DECA. This helps cut down on bullying, students say, because older kids get to know younger kids.
Joey Byrd, a senior who wants to be an intellectual property lawyer, calls the younger kids in his group his “nieces and nephews.”
Teachers also visit homes to keep parents abreast of their kids’ progress.
“In poor schools you have to make this a relationship,” Hennessey said. “It’s absolutely pivotal that we go into the homes. It has broken down a lot of barriers.”
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