Details

First Name

Christopher

Last Name

McAdoo

Name Pronunciation

Chris

Nickname

McAdoo

District

Santa Fe South Charter Schools.

City and State

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Year started at current school

2014

Year started as administrator

2011

School Detail

Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College is a 4-year comprehensive high school located on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC). The school was founded in 2001 under the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) umbrella as Pathways Middle College High School. The middle/early college design was introduced to Oklahoma with this small, 5-teacher, high school on the OCCC campus, where it operated for 13 years.

However, due to lack of growth and progress toward the middle/early college goal, OKCPS made the decision to close Pathways in April of 2014. Frustrated, the parents of the 71 students who were at Pathways at that time banded together to find a way to keep their beloved school open, and that is when they approached Santa Fe South Charter Schools. After many extensive, rigorous conversations between the leaderships of OKCPS, OCCC, and the SFS schools, it was agreed that the school could reopen as a public charter school as a Santa Fe South Charter School.

With a change leadership came a change in direction.  Chris Brewster, the Superintendent of Santa Fe South Schools, charged the fully retained staff and the new principal with the task of 1: growing the population the school, and 2: building a model that could be replicated by other schools. For its first two years Pathways was an extension program under Santa Fe South High School. In the third year of operation, Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College was recognized with its own Oklahoma site numbers.

Pathways has now grown to over 300 students(100% free and reduced lunch and over 90% hispanic), and a faculty of 20 teachers/staff that have fully implemented a relationship, relevance, and rigor mindset into the culture of the school. A Harry Potter style HOUSE system builds RELATIONSHIPS by helping our teachers and peers provide students with academic and social guidance. Our faculty creates RELEVANCE with a project and cognitive skills-based curriculum using current events, personal backgrounds, and historical realities while emphasizing competency in twenty-first-century skills. The use of a demanding college-preparatory curriculum, SUMMIT learning, that sets high expectations for everyone, Pathways raised the level of RIGOR.

The RESULTS have spoken for themselves. In the last nine years, over 200 graduates have completed their Associates Degrees before they graduated with their high school diplomas. The graduation rate for the last six years is 99.5%. Student have been accepted and are attending elite schools across the country from Columbia, to Florida State, to University of Minnesota, and Stanford University; not to mention the number who stay here in Oklahoma and attend the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. Pathways has produced Santa Fe South Schools 1st National Merit Scholar; a Gate Millennium Scholar; and almost $35 million in scholarships in 9 years.

Experience

I graduated from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a Math Education degree and started teaching mid-year at an Oklahoma City Middle school.  This a was an extremely challenging position, that afforded me the oppoprtunity to be recruited to a different position in a high school that was being re-opened in the OKCPS school district.  Is spent the next 4 years teach HS math and coaching Volleyball.

After getting married, and my wife getting preganant, I decided to leave the classroom for the corporate world of reatil management.  In this role, I learned how to be a manager/leadr by some of the best non-certified teaching I have ever met.  They taught me how to lead through teaching.  I quickly advanced throught the leadership ranks and was promoted up to a district manage over 4 states, and 1300 employee.  I enjoyed this for w hile bu my heart wasn’t truly in it.  I wanted to be back in the schools.  So I left retail and went back into the classroom.

I started teaching at a small chart school in Oklahoma city that focuse on teaching subect by using the “arts”.  It challenged my thought process of meeting the students where they are and teaching them through their lense.   After finishing my Masters in educational leadership from University of Central Oklahoma, I was prmoted to Assistant Principal of the same school, for which I servedat for 3 years.

In 2014, I was hired as the Principal of Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College.  I am truly blessed to have the experiences that I have had through my education both in the education and private sector.  I truly believe that theses expereinces have led to what our school is today.