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The Eastside Promise Neighborhood (EPN) covers 3.

5 square miles San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), including 6 Title I schools; two Academically Unacceptable and one persistently low achieving. Families skew younger, are poorer and have less education than the rest of San Antonio. The 5,925 students face persistent barriers to academic achievement. Access to quality early learning programs is inadequate, with less than 24% of 0-5 year olds enrolled. Only 62% of 3rd graders pass standardized reading or math tests. Nearly half of 6th graders are over-age. Fewer than half of high school students graduate in four years. Student mobility is a core issue, with 25-45% of students leaving each school year. The parents, educators and public and private stakeholders that developed the EPN Plan identified three school reform strategies. (1) Combine one low-enrollment elementary school with the middle school to create a P-8 Academy focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). (2) Address improvement in teacher effectiveness by employing Instructional Coaches for new teachers or teachers in need of assistance; assigning mentors to young teachers; and, establishing an online professional development series covering literacy and research-based instructional strategies available to all teachers. (3) Challenge EPN schools to implement rigorous, integrated and aligned STEM curricula to build a pipeline that prepares students for college and career success. Finally, EPN will cluster family strengthening resources and sponsor GED and ESL classes to enable parents to complete their education. The success of this endeavor, however, was enabled by the one-year EPN planning grant led by EPN residents, supported by key community stakeholders, and dedicated to the development of operational capacity and enabling trusting relationships necessary for implementing the continuum of solutions.

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