Our School Model
Cardozo EC will prepare students to become inventors of their own learning paths, careers and lives, which will allow them to face and address the next century of challenges in our ever-changing world. Students will be paired with a trio of life coaches building their capacity to become sense-makers and creative thinkers to disrupt economic injustice of marginalized populations. Student learning will lead to the development of a capstone project where they will design and launch a business venture allowing them to become leaders in a more just and equitable society, resulting in every student graduating as a business owner.
Our Case for Change
Our DC + XQ redesign journey started at our Educational Opportunity Audit, where we looked at data that overwhelmingly showed us that although we have no problem graduating students, graduates were not prepared for college or careers once they completed their four years at Cardozo. Some key data that resonated was:
66.7% of the class of 2020 met requirements for High School graduation and 70.4% met eligibility criteria for DC area 4-year colleges. However, of those students, only 1% were prepared to succeed in college based on their GPA, course load, and SAT scores.
Although we have a TransSTEM Academy, offering courses in computer science and engineering, only 16.3% of students at Cardozo completed three or more CTE credits in the same career field, and even fewer, 11.2%, are fully-career prepared.
The redesign journey continued with deep stakeholder engagement with our students, staff, family members, and community where we heard key trends:
- A need to add additional career pathways to increase student choice.
- Ensure all students are connected to a professional mentor to help them prepare for life after high school.
- Intentional support around addressing students’ mental health and fostering strong relationships between students and adults and students and their peers.
- Giving students the opportunity to earn money while they are in school.
- Giving teachers adequate and uninterrupted time to effectively plan across disciplines and with industry partners.
- The school needs to embody the values in action; that it is full of joy and trusting relationships with people who care about them.
- Ensure the development of businesses evolves over time.
- Focus on the skills associated with being an entrepreneur versus a small business.
- Ensure smaller learning communities to ensure students are supported.
- Provide ample opportunity to expose students to entrepreneurship fields.
Explore Our Launch Kit
Transforming learning in high school
Learn moreVideo Gallery
Beginning of a Partnership
Hear from DC+XQ Deputy Chief of School Improvement, Paige Hoffman, and other members of DCPS administration about how the DC+XQ partnership came to be.
How the DC+XQ Schools Got Here
After the formation of the DC+XQ partnership, the intensive work with the schools in the district began.
Meet Cardozo Education Campus: Igniting the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
In this episode, meet Redesign Director William Blake and Principal Arthur Mola of Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus.