About El Colegio
History
Founded in 2000 by a collective of teachers, El Colegio High School is a public, tuition-free charter school located in the Bancroft neighborhood of south Minneapolis. We are, first and foremost, a black and brown space on indigenous Dakota land. In a neighborhood that is increasingly gentrified, our school remains a bastion of talent, culture and Latinx heritage.
El Colegio was conceived by teachers and artists who worked in traditional urban high schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul using an inter-disciplinary arts integrated approach to teaching and learning. Their successes with students who had previously been disengaged and their challenges with the traditional system led to the birth of El Colegio. The Board of Education of Minnesota approved Augsburg College (www.augsburg.edu) as the school’s sponsor in 1999, and El Colegio opened its doors to 65 students in September 2000. Since then we have grown to a diverse group of 100 students and 25 staff. We have been recognized locally and nationally as an innovative force in improving achievement for Latinx students and other students of color, and we have seen over 90 graduates head out into the world, many who are first generation high school graduates and many who are attending and completing college here in Minnesota and elsewhere.
The EC Team
At El Colegio, we know that our staff is key to the success of our students and the school. We strive to bring to our team the best teaching and support staff we can find. Staff bring experience working with a broad diversity of students, not only in terms of ethnicity, but also in terms of academic background and skills level. Key to our work is the ability to integrate the teaching and learning of diverse concepts in a hands-on, dynamic learning environment. All staff have a specific interest in and understanding of diverse urban learners. Furthermore we are dedicated to having a fully bilingual staff with each individual holding appropriate licensure for their position.
El Colegio contracts with EdVisions Cooperative to provide payroll services, benefits, human resources services, and professional development support. All El Colegio staff members are members of EdVisions Cooperative.
El Colegio Approach
As a small school, El Colegio has the capacity to focus on the whole person, the whole family, and our collective role in the broader, intersecting metropolitan ecology. We provide dual-immersion student-centered learning, a robust college and career readiness program, and above-and-beyond 1:1 support that lead to our youth graduating with bright post-secondary futures.
Our graduates become change agents to contribute in ending the perpetuation of trauma and help the community at-large heal and grow.
El Colegio is one of the few organizations in Minnesota that has the capacity to provide a rigorous academic program with a compassionate approach as well as a space for navigating and healing from trauma.
Here are a few ways El Colegio acknowledges the lived experiences of our community:
We create a safe environment where community members can discuss their immigration status freely and without concern of repercussion.
We connect families with legal services that have proven to work for the benefit of the community.
We collaborate with other organizations that support immigrant families.
We support families to be prepared in case a family member needs to leave the country involuntarily.
El Colegio is more than high school, we are an anchor in our community. We provide a safe and trusted space for different local organizations and grassroots initiatives to convene, organize, advocate for change, encourage engagement in civic activities, and mobilize individuals to participate in their local democracy. All of these efforts contribute to building leadership and strengthening community participation.