At 4 in the afternoon, when most high school students are unwinding from a day of classes, PPEP TEC night high school students are just beginning them.
"I've always liked coming to the night school," said Robert Garcia, 18, a senior at the Celestino Fernandez Learning Center. "I've always been able to wake up during the day, clean up my house, and come here to work at night."
The Celestino Fernandez School is one of 10 PPEP (Portable Practical Education Preparation )Tec campuses in Southern Arizona, but is the only one to offer night high school for students. Like the other campuses, though, it has open enrollment and a self-paced style of learning so students can continue their education at any time.
"We work with kids that sometimes didn't fit in with other institutions, or somehow got lost," said Dr. John David Arnold, the founder of PPEP, Inc.When Arnold founded PPEP, Inc. in 1967, its purpose was to offer basic educational skills to migrant workers on farms in Southern Arizona from the back of a renovated green school bus aptly named "La Tortuga." In the past 40 years PPEP Inc., has opened up permanent charter institutions where students can earn state recognized high school diplomas.
Night classes also appeal to a variety of students who may have work obligations or family obligations during the day, including taking care of their own children.
Senior Faustino Murillo, 18, works at Casino Del Sol during the day so that he can support his son, and then attends high school classes at night.
"This is the only thing I could do," Murillo said. "It's the only thing that works for me."
Monday through Thursday, students attend classes from 4 to 9:30 p.m. with the option of attending school on Friday to either catch up on their school work or accelerate ahead.
"If they come every day, on time, all four days, they are going to earn their six credits a year," said PPEP TEC High School superintendent Randy Kempton. "Also, on Friday, if they come in for every 30 hours they can earn a quarter credit according to state law."
PPEP Tec High Schools abide by state standards and in the past year they have had to rework their own system in order to improve AIMS (Arizona's Institute for Measuring Standards) scores.
"When No Child Left Behind and AIMS testing began coming down and accountability started going up, we realized that our test scores weren't where they needed to be, so we started making changes," Kempton said.
PPEP Tec High Schools had been primarily self-paced with limited instruction, but with diplomas riding on AIMS success, adjustments were required.
"Last year we went to direct instruction for all of our math and English, and we had some pretty good results," Kempton said.
From 2009 to 2010 there has been up to a 10 percent improvement across the 10 PPEP TEC Campuses in Southern Arizona.
Direct instruction hasn't taken away the individual attention from students. The student-teacher ratio stays around 15:1 and teachers are willing to modify lesson plans to accommodate all students.
"When I came here, it was more hands on," Garcia said. He added that teachers are constantly checking in with their students about the pacing of the class.
Invested teachers and a flexible curriculum encourage students to take their education seriously and to put forth their best.
"When a student decides to come to school in the evening, they are making a conscious effort to invest time in their education," said Garrett Lebby, an algebra teacher at Celestino Fernandez Learning Center. "They put in more effort."
Junior Melina Olvera, 16, enjoys the quiet and mature atmosphere at the Celestino Fernandez Learning Center, which motivates her to succeed.
"I think at other high schools they just go for the social life, but over here kids want to graduate."
Academics are the highest priority, but PPEP Tec schools also recognized that there is more to the high school experience than passing standardized tests and earning a slip of paper.
Students are required to take elective courses that change from term to term and from location to location. Electives, past and present, include German, web design, guitar, health and introduction to veterinary sciences.
In addition, there are elective classes such as yearbook and prom committee that help organize events and activities akin to those at public high schools. PPEP TEC High Schools also have a communal basketball team, where students can compete alongside students from other campuses.
