Latest news with #JeffCottrill
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IDEA Public Schools to celebrate first-ever College Signing Day
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — For the first time ever, over 130 IDEA Public Schools' graduating seniors in El Paso will take center stage this week to announce their college decisions. College Signing Event (CSD) 2025 will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, at the El Paso Convention Center. IDEA said this milestone marks the inaugural CSD for IDEA El Paso, which opened its first campuses in 2018 with only sixth grade and has added a new grade level each year. Now, as the first cohort reaches 12th grade, seniors from IDEA Edgemere College Preparatory and IDEA Rio Vista College Preparatory will join the tradition celebrated across IDEA's network, IDEA said. 'Across all graduating classes across the district, the Class of 2025 had over 15,900 acceptance letters, with over 680 of those acceptances belonging to El Paso scholars,' Jeff Cottrill, Ed., CEO and superintendent of IDEA Public Schools, said. 'We are thrilled to celebrate our seniors as they take this exciting step toward their future. We applaud their dedication, resilience and achievements, and we look forward to seeing the incredible impact they will make in the world.' 'College Signing Day is the culmination of years of hard work and marks a momentous occasion in each IDEA scholar's academic journey. Out of the entire El Paso 2025 class, 62% received acceptances into different selective and highly selective colleges and universities across the U.S. and beyond,' IDEA said in a news release. IDEA said students from this year's graduating classes across the district will accept spots at Harvard University, Boston University, Colgate University, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas at Austin, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and more. Among graduating seniors is Santiago Esparza, a founding student at IDEA Rio Vista and a first-generation college student who transformed early behavioral struggles into a story of leadership and perseverance, IDEA said. IDEA said Exparza is now a regional flag football champion, multi-sport athlete, and role model to his younger sister. He is headed to Texas Tech University to study kinesiology – an ambition inspired by a sports injury and a passion for helping others. 'Santiago owes much of his success to his mother, Blanca Palacios, who works as a custodian at his school. Her hard work and quiet sacrifices have fueled his determination to succeed, and he's driven every day by a desire to make her proud,' read the news release. Another outstanding student is Quan Tran, a senior at IDEA Edgemere and a first-generation college student, who arrived from Vietnam just three years ago with limited English and no familiarity with the U.S. school system, IDEA said. IDEA said that through relentless effort and adaptability, Quan quickly rose to the top of his class, excelling in AP courses, sports, and student leadership roles, including the National Honor Society. Wanting to study aerospace engineering, he has been accepted to multiple universities and plans to announce where he'll be attending at the CSD event. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IDEA Public Schools recognized as top performing schools in ERP's 'Honor Roll' list
Mar. 26—Educational Results Partnership (ERP), a non-profit organization that applies data science to accelerate student success, has released the 2024 Honor Roll list of Texas top performing schools. This is the 10th year that ERP has completed the Honor Roll, which recognizes top public schools, school districts and charter schools that have outperformed their peers in closing achievement gaps, particularly among higher-poverty and historically disadvantaged student populations. This year, out of 762 schools and 63 school districts in Texas, including IDEA Yukon College Preparatory. This is approximately 12 percent of eligible schools and 9 percent of eligible school districts in the state. The full list of Honor Roll schools is now posted at "We are honored to be recognized once again by ERP for our continued excellence in student achievement," Jeff Cottrill, CEO & Superintendent of IDEA Public Schools, said in a news release. "The distinction exhibits our dedication to our mission of ensuring that all students, regardless of background, have access to a high-quality education that prepares them for success in college and beyond." The designation is based on STAAR testing results provided by the TEA over the last four years. Schools and districts comprehensively performed above the mean at least 80 percent of the time for all cohorts of students served and for all grade levels served. The star ranking was given to schools and districts with greater than, or equal to 33 percent of students designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged. "The Honor Roll recognizes high-performing schools where students are learning the fundamental skills employers demand," Dan Kinney, ERP's Board Chair, said in the release. "ERP is proud to recognize these schools, and we want to learn about their best practices for teaching the fundamental skills of reading, writing and math." The program is part of a national effort to engage business leaders in recognizing successful schools and educational systems and promoting best practices that improve student outcomes. Honor Roll schools are recognized for demonstrating consistently higher levels of student achievement, improvement in achievement over time, and a reduction in achievement gaps among student populations. Click here to learn more about the methodology behind the selection of the 2024 Honor Roll schools and districts.
