About TECS

Mission Statement
The mission of the Tierra Encantada Charter School at Alvord (”TECS”) is to empower students as citizen scholars within a dual language environment through a rigorous learning curriculum, which will prepare students for post-secondary success.

Vision Statement
We believe that a dual language education should be active, challenging, meaningful, public, and collaborative. As an Expeditionary Learning school we use the world as our classroom through interdisciplinary learning which allows our students to excel in a post-secondary environment.

Expeditionary Learning
Expeditionary Learning schools inspire the motivation to learn, engage teachers and students in new levels of focus and effort, and transform schools into places where students and adults become leaders of their own learning. We provide a model that challenges students – even those starting with low skill levels – with high level tasks and active roles in the classroom. This model succeeds in urban, rural or suburban schools and at every grade level.

We measure student success based on three indicators: academic achievement, quality of student work, and evidence of engagement. We are developing tools to track student progress so we can better assess our schools performance—and our own.

Schools implementing our model are consistently outperforming district averages on state and mandated tests. In many of our schools, students’ test scores exceed district averages by substantial margins, with particular success among black and Latino students.

Our model fosters more than just academic engagement and achievement. Beyond developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills, our students show leadership through civic engagement and social and environmental service. Our teachers and school leaders are equally involved in their schools and communities.

*Enrollment by lottery: Because charter schools limit enrollment to a maximum number and they don’t take students from a fixed zone, students are chosen by lottery once the applications exceed the maximum enrollment for the year. This is in the law that governs charters.