ISEE COLLEE! Initiatives for Student-Engaged Educational Ecosystems

Education, when it engages and inspires well-mentored students, is a proven path to eliminating the impact of generational poverty, increasing innovation, improving communications, and enhancing the quality of life in communities. New Mexico is currently the only state in the US with a medium income below $40,000 per year. Although many approaches to improving educational outcomes have been tried, New Mexico still ranked 50th in education. While there are many challenges to changing the educational trajectory of our students, especially first-generation and underrepresented students (URM), ISEE COLLEGE! is a novel, innovative, and uniquely inclusive approach that inspires and allows stakeholders, eventually at every level of the educational ecosystem, to see a new path forward.  
 
UNM CCS developed an innovative pilot program, starting in 2016, with the goal of creating an education ecosystem that would impact K-12 schools, student engagement, college enrollments of first-generation students, and teacher engagement and professionalization. To do this, we linked:
 
  1. Dual degree New Mexico heritage classes (up to 12 college credits per student), taught by these teachers at their schools, in collaboration with Education and Chicana/o Studies experts at UNM, 
  2. Dual Degree classes, High School teachers, and UNM through workshops and events at CCS,
  3. Qualitative evaluation through mentoring and follow-up by High School teachers and CCS to determine the percentage of students in these High School classes who applied to college (UNM) and the success of students who enrolled at UNM.
  4. Online advanced educational opportunities (MA and PhD degrees in Chicano Studies and other online MA degree programs) for High School teachers in 7 Title 1 schools. 
The goals of CCS and ISEE COLLEGE! are to increase the number of URM high school students in New Mexico who graduate and apply to college. This is a collaborative effort, and we invite all stakeholders to be part of this journey. Students in ISEE COLLEGE! can choose any college major and will test our hypothesis that culturally relevant curricula and additional mentoring in high school and college will increase college matriculation and greater postsecondary success.

High Schools ISEE is in Collaboration
  • Albuquerque High School
  • Atrisco Heritage Academy 
  • Bernalillo High School 
  • Career Enrichment Center 
  • Highland High School
  • Mark Armijo Academy 
  • Rio Grande High School
  • Robert F. Kennedy Charter 
  • Siembra Leadership High School
  • South Valley Academy

Download a sample unit plan from our College Prep Teacher Team here: Immigration, Migration, Transnationalism, and Globalization