COLORADO SPRINGS — By 4 p.m. most weekdays, a stillness has settled over much of Sierra High School, the constant slamming of lockers and feverish exchanges of hallway gossip reduced to the quiet footsteps of teachers.
But for a small group of high schoolers, the school day is just beginning as dusk sets in.
Among them is Jessie Anderson, a 20-year-old “super, super, super senior” who turned to night school after struggling to stay on pace in classes because of challenges both inside and outside school.
“I didn’t want to give up on my dream so easily because obviously I didn’t graduate on time,” she said.
Anderson and her classmates are on opposite schedules from everyone else at school, but their goal is generally the same: earning their moment on the graduation stage. The students are enrolled in an alternative school that caters to students whose life circumstances often interfere with their ability to thrive in school. During the 2022-23 school year, 93 alternative schools in Colorado attached to public schools or charter school authorizers — mostly high schools — educated more than 28,000 students, according to data from the Colorado Department of Education.
“Across the board, our alternative (education) campuses are typically focused on kids who have many different needs but are often behind in school and are needing a space that can be safe and engaging and connect them and help them still be successful academically,” said Johann Liljengren, director of dropout prevention and student re-engagement at the state education department.
Some schools specialize in working with pregnant students or students who are in recovery from substance abuse. Other schools, like the Career Readiness Academy housed at Sierra High School as part of Harrison School District 2, cater to students whose lives don’t fit neatly inside a regular school day schedule.
The district, which serves 13,367 students in preschool through high school, abandoned its old model of trying to squeeze all kids into “one square box” that worked best for teachers and administrators, Superintendent Wendy Birhanzel said.
Educators and administrators realized they needed to “instead reverse that and adjust our instruction and our opportunities around what the students need,” Birhanzel said. “And now students feel like they belong and there’s a system that’s responsive to their needs and understands that not everyone has to stick to a traditional high school model.”
The high-poverty district — 73% of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, a federal measure of low-income households — has offered night school for high schoolers for two years as a way to keep nudging students who are chronically behind and on the cusp of dropping out toward graduation. Many days, educators celebrate students simply showing up. Most of the students’ lives are pulled in all sorts of directions as they navigate stressors burdensome beyond their years. Some teens must work during the day to help support their families. Others have stepped into the role of caregiver for parents or other relatives.
That means that teachers and school leaders must delicately balance the task of holding students accountable for their schoolwork with the real-life challenges that might prevent them from attending class every day.
Night classes at Career Readiness Academy Day and Night School run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with students trickling in and out as they juggle job and family priorities. Thirty-five students are enrolled in night classes this school year, but the number who make it to class fluctuates between 15 and 20 on a given night, said Kate McKinnon, one of two teachers who oversee night classes.
Students take charge of their education, deciding what classes and how many to plow through at one time through an online platform as they set out to fulfill all 23 credits they need to graduate.
“It’s kind of a last stop,” said Terry Dunn, principal of Career Readiness Academy. “The first thing we ask them is, why are you in the situation you’re in? The second thing is, how badly do you want to graduate? Thirdly is, how hard are you willing to work? And we also make it very known that you can’t continue the same academic behavior that you have right now.”
The students usually own their mistakes, Dunn said.
“Most students, they don’t want to hear that they’re failing,” he said. “They already know that. So we take the approach of how we can be successful.”
“Be actively involved in your own rescue”
Educators and staff who keep the night school program running are careful about the ways they speak to students, particularly when they haven’t seen them in a couple days.
Staff say, “(we’re) so glad to see you. We’re glad you’re here. Let’s get busy. Let’s get started again,’” said counselor Melva Hall, who doubles as the “greeter” for students.
“Boy, do we give chances,” she added.
Dunn and his team teach students the value of showing up since the root of their struggles often starts with attendance.
The alternative education program — which is open to students who live inside and outside district boundaries — has served students who are three years behind, students facing homelessness, some who have been in and out of school and others who have been through “a revolving door” of schools, Hall said.
The beginning can be daunting as students start to inch their way through what is sometimes a long list of courses. That’s why staff like Hall help students chart out timelines so they have a realistic picture of when they will graduate. They also reassure students that they’ll never give up on them and try to empower them to continue making choices that will lead them closer to their diploma.
Dunn’s mantra: “Be actively involved in your own rescue.”
Alternative schools tend to have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than other schools, but alternative schools have also helped Colorado continue to improve its statewide graduation rate, said Liljengren, of CDE.
The state tracks students who take up to seven years to earn their high school diploma. Colorado’s four-year graduation rate in 2023 jumped by 0.8 percentage points to 83.1% as 56,812 students earned their high school diploma — 528 more students than in 2022, according to data from the state education department. Last year’s five-year graduation rate was 86.1%, up from 85.7%. The seven-year graduation rate hit 87.6%, ticking up from 87.3%.
“From a basic level, we see a large number of additional students graduating from alternative education campuses above our comprehensive high schools,” Liljengren said.
Birhanzel, of Harrison School District 2, said the night school has helped the district make progress with its graduation rate — 82.3% of students from the class of 2023 graduated in four years, up from 80% in 2022, according to data from CDE.
Last year marked the first set of graduates from night school with three students earning their diplomas.
The school keeps students who may have otherwise dropped out engaged in school and on track to secure their diploma, which changes what the future holds for them and their families, Birhanzel said.
“This was where I was supposed to be”
Inside one Sierra High School classroom where students spend their evenings, their hours together resemble study hall more than a guided class. Piano music playing gently in the background from a device softens the academic pressure hanging over each of them. Students sit scattered across groups of desks with the option to sink into a few lime green beanbag chairs or padded gray chairs low to the ground. Some wear baseball caps.
Their classroom is windowless but has touches of cheer, with fidget toys to use while studying independently and a poster on the door that welcomes them with the Dr. Seuss-penned words, “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”
Anderson, the 20-year-old, is now in her second year of night classes after shifting to an evening schedule so that she could finish school in an environment that is more compatible with her needs. She became sensitive to loud noises during high school after suffering a minor concussion. She also has long struggled to speak up when she needs clarity on an assignment, falling into a tendency to fade into the background, particularly after years of being bullied at school physically and emotionally and a childhood in a volatile home.
Outside of school demands, Anderson also helps care for her mom, making sure she gets her oxygen when she wakes up and helping her get up when her knees give her trouble.
She is making her way through two astronomy classes and next will decide on four electives to cap her high school credits, anticipating that she’ll graduate in May. Crossing the graduation stage would make Anderson the first in her family to earn a traditional diploma. Neither of her parents graduated from high school. One of her older brothers never graduated, though her older sister and other brother both completed a GED certificate.
“I would be extremely proud of myself that I would push the boundaries of what our family would be considered lower class, that we can go beyond,” Anderson said.
It’s that budding sense of pride that leaves teachers like McKinnon continuing to push her students and fight for their futures as she helps them one on one or in small groups, always there to answer their questions no matter how timid they are.
“Hearing them be proud of themselves” motivates McKinnon, who also teaches students in a daytime alternative education program.
“Some of them obviously haven’t gotten that other places in life,” she said.
Junior Alex Sanchez Cuevas, 17, also switched to night school for a calmer classroom setting and is tackling Spanish, English, algebra and psychology classes at once, hoping to graduate by December and then join the Army.
Sanchez Cuevas, who sometimes works construction jobs during the day, has had a hard time finding meaning in school. Transitioning to a program at night, when he said his mind is more awake, has made the path to graduation easier.
“I really just focus on myself and my work,” he said. “That’s the difference because when I’m at day school I get distracted by my peers and don’t focus on myself.”
Anderson, who aims to enroll in Pikes Peak State College and pursue any kind of career working with animals, credits night school for shaping her into a more confident version of herself, giving her a place where she felt better understood and putting opportunities in reach that she never counted on having.
She expects to accept her diploma with long-awaited tears of joy.
“I think it would be the moment in my life,” Anderson said, “that I knew this was where I was supposed to be.”