• Direct Instruction 
• Computer-Assisted Learning 
• Text and Print-based Learning 
• Collaborative Learning Groups

How can we afford CEP?
CEP partnerships have documented significant savings to school districts. The per-pupil cost for a student attending the Alternative Education Program (AEP) at a CEP school is lower than the local district per-pupil cost for the same programs (i.e., behavior alternative education students, learning disabled students and grade repeaters). In addition, local districts continue to receive ADA for these students, since they remain students of the district.

What are the benefits of the CEP Program to the School Districts?
The CEP program has an immediate impact on school safety and classroom management. CEP is credited with helping to reduce district-wide crime in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) by more than 50 percent since implementation of the HISD-CEP Partnership. Teacher assaults have also been reduced by 50 percent since the program began.

• Academic Growth
  Each year on average, CEP students gained over 2.0 grade levels in reading and math.
• Positive Behavior Change
  Houston ISD administrators and teachers report that students who return to their home schools after participating in the CEP program are better behaved and prepared to learn.
• Lower Dropout Rates
  Dropout rates have declined in Houston ISD since the partnership program was implemented.

Are CEP schools safe?
Yes. CEP has designed a state-of-the-art model for its schools that minimizes the potential for student disruption and maximizes the opportunity for students to learn in a safe, structured environment. The school is divided into individual learning communities of four classrooms encircling a commons area. Students do not mingle in the hallways between classes. They have supervised rotations to the commons area for meals, between and among the classrooms in the learning community and to physical education classes.

Does CEP use certified teachers?
CEP seeks to recruit and employ certified teachers with behavior management backgrounds. If certified teachers are not available (as sometimes occurs in public schools), CEP employs degreed individuals with behavior management, counseling and / or social services experience and requires all new hires to either enter an alternative certification program or obtain a deficiency plan and temporary certification as a condition of employment. CEP and the union have built incentives into the contract to support degreed, but non-certified employees in completing certification, including paying the cost of tuition and books. Similar assistance is also provided for instructional assistants seeking a degree in education. Further, CEP pays certified teachers substantially more than uncertified teachers.

Will the school district accept a credit earned or courses passed at CEP?
School districts accept a credit earned and courses passed at CEP when verified, approved and signed by a certified teacher.

Does CEP work with non-English speaking students?
An ESL program (ESL/ESOL/English for Speakers of Other Languages) is provided for students who are classified by their school district as limited English proficient (LEP) students. CEP works with LEP students who are classified as level 2 or higher by the district's criteria. LEP students work at an individualized pace and advance based on their own language proficiency. Emphasis is placed on improving oral and written communication skills as well as reading comprehension.

How does CEP help teachers?
CEP helps teachers by removing the persistently disruptive and low-performing students from their classrooms. School safety is improved, and teachers are able to focus on helping students who are prepared to learn. Meanwhile, low-performing and disruptive students are getting the help they need to return to the classroom well behaved and up to grade level through specially designed programs that address their academic and behavior
needs. 

How does CEP include parents in the process?
CEP offers a Parent/Student Orientation in the first week of referral to the program. The purpose of the Orientation Program is to ensure that parents and students are made to feel welcome at CEP. A second purpose is to explain the opportunities, expectations and requirements that will help a student improve his/her reading and math skills and will help him/her get back on track toward promotion and graduation.

CEP's comprehensive Student Service Center also provides a variety of social services on campus for students and their families through partnerships with public and private non-profit community organizations and agencies. Services such as counseling, psychological evaluations and support for teenage parents are provided. On-site truancy and probation officers also work with parents and students on attendance and behavioral issues.

Will CEP result in a loss of district jobs?
No. In districts where CEP is currently operating, there has been no loss of district jobs. CEP supports and strengthens the need for positions and increases district attendance by returning to the district students who would otherwise have dropped out.

How does CEP modify behavior when nothing else has worked?
CEP is committed to student behavior development as much as it is to behavior management. Our program is incentive-based and focuses on learning, self-discipline and personal responsibility. Students may earn placement in Honors Behavior Classes through improved self-discipline and behavior. These students have privileges that other students do not, including coed classes and field trips. All students are required to follow the CEP Student Code of Conduct, which includes wearing uniforms. The Code of Conduct is reviewed with students and parents during the CEP orientation program.

Once a student is referred to CEP, how does the district staff work with CEP to monitor his or her progress?
School districts assigning students to CEP monitor the progress of these students through procedures that are jointly established between the district school and the CEP school the student attends.

I work in the district central office. What opportunities does a CEP partnership offer our district?
Operating a public school district in today's society requires an enormous amount of time, resources and energy. When persistently low-performing and disruptive students are added to the mix, teachers and administrators are taxed even further with extremely time-consuming classroom management problems, serious and persistent disciplinary situations and increased requirements to strengthen school and campus security. 

CEP welcomes the opportunity to work with these students, thereby allowing local district teachers to focus their time, energy and resources on those students who are cooperative and willing to learn.

How is CEP different from privatization of schools? 
CEP is not a competitor with public schools, nor does it seek to manage public schools. CEP merely seeks to provide a specialized service in much the same way that certain special education services are provided to school districts. 

What is the process for sending a student to CEP? 
School districts assigning students to CEP monitor the progress of these students through procedures that are jointly established between the sending school and the CEP School that that the student attends.

What do CEP schools look like? 
CEP has designed a state-of-the-art model for its schools that minimizes the potential for student disruption and maximizes the opportunity for students to learn in a safe structured environment. The school is divided into individual learning communities of four classrooms encircling a commons area. There are two student restrooms between each two classrooms in the learning community. Students do not mingle in the hallways between classes. They have supervised rotations to the commons area for meals, between and among the classrooms in the learning community and to physical education classes.

Does CEP accept special education students? 
CEP's standard program is provided for special education students whose needs can be best met by attending our school, as determined by each district's selection and referral process. CEP staff members are also available to attend local school meetings. Currently, 12 percent of our students are identified as needing special education services. 

How do students transition back from CEP to their district schools? 
A transition plan developed by CEP and the local school district provides each student with the opportunity to have a successful return to his or her school. This collaborative program between the district and CEP identifies their respective roles in the six-week period prior to the student's return and the 90-day period after the student returns. Individualized student goal setting, district support resources and intervention support strategies, the role of parents and regular follow-up are all a part of the transition program.

Are CEP employees unionized? 
The non-supervisory employees in CEP's Houston and Dallas offices are represented by the Houston Federation of Teachers. We anticipate that employees will be unionized in most areas where we develop schools. CEP regards its relationship with the unions as a partnership. 

Who are the students referred to CEP? 
In virtually every middle and high school classroom in America, there are two or three persistently disruptive and low-performing students who compromise student and teacher safety, monopolize the teacher's attention and waste valuable class time at the expense of students in those classes who want to learn. CEP works with these students in an alternative setting with the goal of getting these students back on track. CEP's goal is to return these disruptive and low-performing students to the district prepared to learn and follow the rules. 

Why do we need CEP? We already have alternative education programs that work. 
CEP is not a replacement for existing alternative education programs. CEP offers a specialized program that provides an additional option for middle and high school principals in dealing with difficult, disruptive and low-performing students. CEP partners with school districts to work with these disruptive and low-performing students and return them to their sending schools prepared to learn and follow the rules. 

Why does CEP use a Small Learning Community design? 
Current research shows that "students take more interest in schools when they experience a sense of belonging." This is fostered by small learning environments (NASSP, 1996). CEP's Small Learning Communities allow our students, most of whom have felt alone and disengaged from learning in the past, to become known and cared about. As a result, attendance increases, discipline, crime and violence decrease, drop out rates fall and graduation rates rise.

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