ABILENE, Texas — Abilene Christian University and IDEA Public Schools are partnering for a program designed to help kindergarten-12th grade students in the selection of and transition to college.
“ACU and IDEA Public Schools are natural partners because of our mutual commitment to student success,” Dr. Susan Lewis, ACU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said in an ACU release.
IDEA is a national network of nearly 150 tuition-free public charter schools, serving more than 80,000 college-bound students across Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Ohio. In the last 16 years, IDEA has sent nearly 100% of its graduates to college.
Through the college partnership program, students have access to information on partner universities and colleges as they make their selection on where to attend. Partner teams work together to create a collaborative and supportive environment for IDEA students as they continue their educational journey on a college campus.
“Such partnerships are a testament to IDEA’s commitment of ensuring every student succeeds in college and in life,” Phillip Garza, chief college officer of IDEA Public Schools, said in the release. “We are excited to work with ACU, as partnerships like these allow IDEA graduates to join the college with a built-in network of support in the short term that facilitate their success in the long term.”
At the university, the network will include a full-time faculty or staff mentor for each entering cohort of IDEA alumni; programming aimed at enhancing participation in co-curricular and extracurricular activities; mentoring meetings and activities between junior- and senior-level university students and freshmen and sophomore level university IDEA alumni; and workshops and programs to improve students’ persistence. Additionally, IDEA alumni will automatically be accepted as a member of Lynay, ACU’s multicultural community leadership initiative, and will receive the Lynay-associated scholarships.
ACU will have the chance to reach out to IDEA students and alumni through visits to IDEA campuses, invitations to regional events, targeted mailings, promotion of pre-university programs and hosting IDEA students and alumni on ACU’s campus. The partnership also provides opportunities for IDEA and Abilene Christian to collaborate and develop strategies to address the challenges of university attendance for IDEA students, many of whom are first-generation college students from low-income families.
For more information on IDEA Public Schools, click here.
