November 25, 2025 • 51 mins
How CTE Really Works for Students ft. Dr. Joey Mendoza | My EdTech Life 344
CTE is changing fast. Certifications, digital skills, pathways, tutoring, attendance, career pipelines—there’s a lot happening behind the scenes. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Joey Mendoza, a South Texas educator and freshly-minted doctoral researcher who has worked across classrooms, regional service centers, EdTech companies, and now the CTE space with YaizY.
We unpack what CTE really looks like today: what works, what doesn’t, where students get stuck, and why attendance—yes, attendance—may matter more than tutoring when it comes to math achievement. We also break down how digital-first CTE programs can help students earn real certifications that actually translate into job-ready skills.
Timestamps:
0:00 Welcome And Sponsor Shoutouts
1:16 Introducing Dr. Joey Mendoza
2:50 From Classroom To Edtech And STEM
5:20 Hands‑On STEM And Student Impact
8:05 Entering CTE: Digital Skills And Pathways
11:07 Digital Nomads And Remote Work Futures
13:18 Certifications And Early Pathway Access
16:20 Myths And Mindsets About CTE
19:10 Funding, Access, And Stacking Credentials
22:00 How YaizY Works From Grade 4 Up
24:20 Barriers To Strong CTE Programs
28:10 Culture, Data, And ROI In CTE
31:10 Why Districts Must Lead With Industry
32:32 Dissertation Setup: Tutoring And STAR Math
34:30 Key Finding: Attendance Outweighs Tutoring
37:10 Rethinking Tutoring, Fidelity, And Alignment
39:40 Attendance Realities And Family Factors
42:00 Next Steps For After‑School Effectiveness
44:00 Closing Thoughts And Rapid‑Fire Questions
47:10 Thank Yous, Links, And Sign‑Off
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (00:10):
Hello, everybody, and welcome to
another great episode of MyEdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningus on this wonderful day.
And wherever it is that you'rejoining us from around the
world, as always, we appreciateall the likes, the shares, the
follows.
Thank you so much for engagingwith our content.
And all of this would not bepossible if it wasn't for our
amazing sponsors.
Thank you so much, BookCreator, Eduaid, Yellow Dig, and
(00:34):
Peelback Education forbelieving in our mission to
bring these amazingconversations to continue to
help our educators continue togrow per professionally and
personally as well.
So thank you so much.
And if you're interested inbecoming a sponsor for this
coming new year, please shoot mea message at myedtech.live
forward slash contacts.
(00:54):
And we can definitely talkabout that as the new year is
filling up.
But I am excited about today'sconversation.
Uh, I have been following ourguests for a while now and going
back and forth on LinkedIn.
And it's just been a pleasureto see his uh progress, his
growth, working from companiesand now a freshly minted doctor.
(01:16):
And I am excited to welcome tothe show Dr.
Mendoza, and that's Dr.
Joey Mendoza.
So, how are you today, Joey?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (01:25):
Good morning, Doc.
Thank you for having me, Dr.
Mendoza.
I'm doing well uh here inCorpus Christi, Texas, so not
too far from where you're at.
But yeah, thanks for having meon the show.
I like you, been following meon LinkedIn, some of the
episodes, and I was like, youknow what?
I like the topics that they'rerelevant.
You do the English and theSpanish, and I'm like, yeah,
(01:46):
let's do it.
So yeah, thank you for havingme.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (01:48):
Yeah, no, excited to have you here.
And also, it was a pleasure tohave met you in person at ISTE
this past year.
You know, I'm just walking bythere, the booths, and then all
of a sudden it's like, hey, it'sJoey, and and it's fantastic,
you know, getting to meet inreal life and making that
connection.
And like you said, just uh theproximity to one another and
just you know, knowing thisregion very well.
(02:09):
And it's always great tohighlight educators here from
our Valley region, Rio GrandeValley, this area, South Texas,
and everything.
And that's just fantastic.
So thank you for being on theshow today.
So I'm really excited abouttoday, uh, Joey, because again,
like I mentioned, freshly minteddoctors.
So I'm really excited to learnand having our guests learn a
(02:30):
little bit more about yourdissertation topic because I
thought and I found it veryinteresting.
We'll talk about that, and ofcourse, we'll talk about a
little bit about your educationbackground and the work that
you're doing now with this greatcompany, and we'll get into
that in just a second.
But before we dive in, just soour audience members know you a
little bit more, can you give usa little brief introduction and
(02:53):
what your context is within theeducation space?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (02:56):
Sure.
Yeah, I'm currently working fora company called YeAZ in the ed
tech sector, CTE, STEM space,right?
And prior to that, I was withanother company.
Prior to that, I worked for aneducation regional center here
in Corpus.
And then prior to that, I wasan administrator, teacher,
coach, substitute, all that goodstuff, right?
So I I've been through uh the Kthrough 12 system on the ed
(03:20):
tech side um now.
And so having a blend of bothworlds, I think it's unique, and
and we can dive into that.
Uh you're in the same rightkind of row where you have a
foot in both, right?
And so it definitely shaped mythinking, my experiences, and
then definitely shape my uhdoctoral program or my
(03:43):
dissertation um that's gonna getpublished here soon.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (03:47):
So yeah.
Excellent.
Well, I'm excited about that.
So let's talk first about justuh your experience because well,
before we dive into thedissertation, I know that I knew
you from a previous company,and let's talk a little bit
about that that STEM world tooas well.
So uh that's something that hasalways been of interest to me.
And so I wanted to ask youabout yourself and in your
(04:09):
experience in the STEM field andSTEM-related uh, you know,
companies that you worked forand that you did, you know, what
what drove that passion intothe STEM field and to dive in
and kind of you know getyourself started in that before,
you know, going into yourdissertation?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (04:27):
You know, I I fell into it accidentally, and I
say that with like excitement,right?
Because I look back at when Iwas teaching and my mindset that
I had as an administrator, itwas very STEM focused.
I just didn't know it at thetime.
And so I taught social studiesin inner city here, Corpus, for
(04:48):
about seven years, and the way Iapproached it was a little
intraditional, right?
I always tied it into careers,and it that's very difficult to
do from a social studies,government history side of
things, and so I've always hadthat lens.
Um, and then when getting intothe administration, I was
exposed to more CTE side, right?
(05:10):
And so I dove into there andthen I went to the service
center, and then um I got towork on a tremendous project
called High Impact Cuterie,right?
That's from my dissertationbasically on, and so I was
exposed to these ed techcompanies that were delivering
online instruction in 2020,right?
(05:32):
And so their programs they werethey were kind of self-paced,
but they would remediate in realtime and they would accelerate
their learning in real time asstudents would go through that.
And those terms I never heardof at the time.
That's interesting.
Like, how does that happen?
Because coming from thenon-techie world at the time, I
(05:54):
was like, what do you mean?
Like they're just gatheringdata points on students and then
like telling them to go back ona problem or forward on a
problem, okay, right?
And it started getting intoautomation and things like that,
and so I worked on that projectand that exposed me to STEM and
ed tech companies.
It's like I can do somethinglike that.
And so 2021, the high-impacttutoring grant that I was on was
(06:18):
grant funded, and so it wascoming to an end, and so I had
to find another job, right?
And so I wasn't ready to goback into the school districts
and start started looking intothese ed tech companies and
found the STEM one that you'rereferring to.
Um, Pittsco education of minesaying that doing great work in
the STEM field.
Um, and so found them, landedthere and worked with them for
(06:41):
three years across the state ofTexas, um hosting STEM events,
uh CTE events, competitions, youname it, they they probably do
it.
Uh very hands-on hardware.
Um, and so that was myintroduction to the STEM space.
But again, looking back on it,I was always doing STEM, we just
didn't call it that forwhatever reason.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (07:03):
Yeah.
No, you know what?
It's so interesting, uh, Joey,because though I'm hearing you
and listening to your path andyour trajectory in this area and
this first part of uh you knowour conversation today and
talking about STEM-relatedfields.
But you know, it's a verysimilar start to the way that I
did.
Now, number one, like you said,you you you fell into it, you
(07:23):
know, on accident, butgratefully you did because
you've been doing some greatthings and you continue to do
some great things.
Uh, also, like myself, I Itell, you know, and many people
have heard this on the show,like, you know, I I fell into
teaching, but then I absolutelyfell in love with it.
And then when I moved toelementary, like you said, I had
no idea I was doing STEM.
(07:45):
I just went to, you know, TCEAone year in 2000, I believe it
was like 2016, 17, one year.
And then I came back and I waslike, all right, everybody,
we're gonna start using this.
And I started doing donorschoose grants, and I was like,
all right, we're gonna dorobots, we're gonna do this, and
but really integrating it intothe current curriculum and
finding creative, innovativeways to make those ties with the
(08:09):
standards and still be able tocover our standards, but make
the learning, like you said,very like hands-on, very
engaging.
You know, students are the onesthat are in control, they're
the ones that are creating thelearning and so on.
And then so that led to uh juststarting a little robotics club
in in my on my campus, youknow, and saying, okay, we're
(08:30):
gonna do a little robotics club.
And then that turned into likea summer STEM camp for like the
district for three years, youknow, continuously and uh
helping the robotics programsand you know, the the young
ladies also to learn how to dothe coding, get into robotics
and so on.
But then of course, COVID hit,and then of course things
(08:51):
changed.
But uh it was just somethingthat is fantastic, you know,
just being in there and beinghands-on with the robots and
working with students and in avery hands-on manner.
And a lot of those studentshave gone on to, you know,
graduate and uh follow pursuing,you know, computer science or
engineering.
And uh it's just been fantasticto hear the work that they're
(09:11):
doing now when we first startedmany years ago.
So it's it's amazing.
And I love the way that thatkind of transitions into the
following conversation, which isreally the world of CTE, which
now you're finding yourselfimmersed in.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat, you know, new, new um, I
guess, new leap into this worldwith this ed tech company and uh
(09:35):
working with CTE and uhpathways too as well.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (09:39):
Sure.
So YayZ is a C K through 12 CTEcompany that wants to get
students into digital skills,right?
And so when we think aboutdigital skills, we think about
digital marketing, right?
Digital media, arts, visuals,uh, computer science, as you
mentioned, cybersecurity, um, Imentioned computer science,
(10:00):
Python, scratch code, all thatgood stuff.
Uh in the the way I see it,right?
So we we have a standardcurriculum that we created, and
um we have our own LMS thatstudents kind of go through the
courses there.
But the meat and potatoes ofit, as you know, is is the the
teacher, right?
(10:20):
And so we can either put ateacher fully in place to teach
those CT courses because thoseindustry folks are hard to find,
um, especially in some ruralspaces in Texas, but also we can
um zoom in a CT instructor tokind of take students through
those pathways in order to getum certifications to get into
(10:43):
those higher paying wage jobs,right?
That everybody's talking about.
But the the missing piece thatthat I don't think it's talked
enough about with Yates is we'recreating kind of these digital
nomads, right?
Where you're creating thesedigital skills, but for
students, or right now they'regonna be adults going into the
(11:04):
workforce where those youngadults can work from anywhere in
the world, right?
Not that everybody wants to dothat, but as a South Texas kid,
I was like, I want to seeeverything, I want to get out
there.
How can I craft my professionto be able to do that, right?
And so that was a leap into thetech sector because it it
(11:26):
right.
I work remotely here in corpus,I get to travel a little bit.
I get my wife in her job, shegets to travel, and so I get to
go with her sometimes, and viceversa.
And that works for us, right?
But that's a part of YeAZ thatit's we're creating these
digital nomads where that workis already here and it's just
(11:48):
going to get bigger and bigger,right?
Where people can work fromanywhere in the world with
internet access and and thingslike that.
So yeah, we're we're big in theCTE space, about all about
credentials, but going back tothe most important piece, as you
know, is the instructor, right?
We we have a great way ofvetting our teachers, of getting
(12:09):
our teachers certified throughour own proprietary system um
and making sure that's alignedwith the district's goes and the
campus goes that they'relooking for.
So whether in person or online,you can have the best
curriculum or the best LMS inthe world, but you need to have
somebody to deliver that and getstudents to buy into you and
(12:30):
the content.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (12:31):
Yeah.
And I think, you know, youmentioned a couple of things
that I do want to unpack thatreally got me excited.
Like you said, number one, youknow, also with CTE, like you
mentioned, digital nomads, thethe ability for our students to
now be able to be equipped withthe knowledge of just computer
literacy altogether.
Now, of course, right now, youknow, artificial intelligence,
(12:54):
generative AI is huge.
And, you know, talking about AIliteracy and all of that, but
uh, you know, just being able touse hardware, software to be
able to, you know, learn alittle bit of coding and all of
those things.
But not only that, Joey, Ithink like you mentioned too a
little bit about thosecertifications.
One of the things that I haveseen oftentimes is that there is
(13:17):
a list, for example, here inTexas.
We know that in Texas that thethere is a list for CTE
certifications.
And many times a lot, a lot ofdistricts may not be able to
cover a lot of thosecertifications based on
obviously the programming thatwe have within our campuses and
so on.
So I think having a platformthat might be able to offer
(13:40):
something, like you mentioned,being able to get a student on a
pathway, and like youmentioned, this is this is K-12,
correct?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (13:48):
Um, or is it I would say fourth grade and up.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (13:53):
Okay, fourth grade and up.
Perfect.
I mean, and that's a great age,fourth grade and up to be able
to kind of put them on thispath, and then they start kind
of discovering like, hey, whatare some of my interests?
What are the things that Ireally enjoy doing?
And then that way, from such ayoung age, the the young child
can kind of start having an ideaand start, you know, getting
(14:14):
equipped with those tools to beable to continue to move forward
into what it is that theydesire.
And I think that that'ssomething that is huge.
That oftentimes, you know, kindof like with CTE, like I
mentioned, sometimes I feel likethose conversations might fall
a little bit on the wayside andare not upfront and, you know,
(14:36):
in front of all our stakeholdersto have them see the potential
that is there for our learnersand for them to come out
equipped with an industrycertification that they might be
already be able to obtain a jobas soon as they graduate and
maybe during that time be ableto hop into a university program
(15:01):
or something, but at least theyare already working and maybe
they don't have to get into somemajor debt, as we know with
college education being so high.
So I think that that issomething that is fantastic to
be able to start at such anearly age.
So now getting back a littlebit to the CTE conversation, now
with your experience and andwhat are some things that are
(15:26):
maybe some persistent myths ormisunderstandings that educators
or even uh parents might haveabout CTE that you can think of?
Because for me, I'll tell you,for me, it's just really like,
well, CTE is just gonna be likeuh cosmetology, uh, ag and
welding.
And that's it, like those threeprograms, and maybe like uh
(15:48):
like uh EMS.
And so that's the misconceptionthat I see that I'm like, well,
it's only three programs, likewhat else can we do?
What has been your experience,or maybe some of the
misunderstandings that you seeare still out there, or maybe
that you yourself had prior.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (16:35):
I think some of the misunderstandings is that
folks, the parents, eveneducators, think that it's
designed, CTE is designed for asubset subset of students,
right?
Like, hey, if you're only doingif you want to go this pathway,
you have to go, you're a CTEstudent, right?
They define them and they putthem in a box.
And and parents do too, right?
(16:56):
They say, oh, well, we're ablue-collar family, we do XYZ,
you're gonna go down this way,but if you're not, then you're
gonna go to college or whatnot.
But there's this other path,right?
When we talk about digitalskills, that it's exposure to to
be frank with my answer.
I think it's a littlemisconception on what is CTE and
(17:20):
what all it can provide.
Now the shifts coming, whetherparents or educators are ready
for it, that CTE is the future,or right?
These certifications are gonnabecome a premium if they're not
already.
And I say that because there'suniversities that are offering
(17:40):
these certifications, Googledata analytics certification,
Google cybersecuritycertifications.
If you come to theiruniversity, you can take these
for free, right?
And so they're stacking them ona college degree.
And so, what does that tellyou, right?
That they're that important inthe workforce.
(18:01):
And so I say that because whenI'm when I make a move into the
CTE world heavily, it that waspart of it.
I'm seeing the shift kind ofmove towards that way.
You're starting to see peopletalk about more CTE, right?
And open discussions like this,and that is needed.
Um, but yeah, it's just parentsdon't know what they don't know
(18:23):
about CTE.
It's uh I tie you back to thetutoring, right?
About my dissertation becausetutoring has this um kind of
negative connotation to it whenit says, hey, if you're going to
tutoring, then it's bad.
No, not necessarily.
Tutoring is to catch up, it'sto get ahead, it's to stay on
(18:45):
path, right?
And CTE is kind of the sameway.
Oh, if you're you're a CTEstudent, then you must be going
into the trades.
Not necessarily.
I can go into the digitalskills part of it, learn how to
code, right?
Learn how to digital market andlearn uh entrepreneurship, um,
business and marketing, allthose good things.
So I think it's us that are wethat are in the CTE field can do
(19:11):
a better job of just havingthat microphone and and speaking
to a broad audience and say,hey, if you haven't thought
about CT, check this out andhere's why, right?
And sharing a little data andresearch to back it up, right?
Instead of just standing onyour your podium and saying
here's why you should do it, butbringing the data and saying,
hey, here's what the jobs aresaying that are needed in the
(19:32):
next 10 years.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (19:33):
Yeah.
And you know, one thing that Ido like about that that you did
mention is, you know, thecertification talk, I think
we're missing out.
And I don't know if it's justme, but I'm pretty sure, like, I
mean, at least hearing you uhtalking about that certification
uh aspect, I think that we maybe missing out on some great
opportunities for our students.
(19:54):
And like you said, it's allabout parents not knowing what
they don't know yet, and likebeing able to offer student or
parents that information of theadvantages of being able to
obtain a certification whileyou're in high school to again
be able to readily jump into ajob, or maybe that employer
(20:18):
might say, you know what, withthis certification, you are
already showing that you canhandle this task and this task
and this task.
And you know what?
Because you're already workingfor me and the work that you're
doing, I can pay for maybe yournext level certification or the
following certification.
Where now I to me that in thelong run, I'm seeing things in
(20:41):
the long run as far as expenses,you're minimizing expenses for
number one parents.
You know, you I know that wetalk about yes, four-year
university, four-yearuniversity, but I think in the
last for for me, at least in thelast four years, I've seen a
lot more talk about you know,the trades, being able to get
(21:01):
those certifications, hearingand seeing how um young men and
women are obtaining thesecertifications at an early age
and not going into debt, butthey are already, you know,
making profit and not having toworry about paying back loads
and loads of debt debt, excuseme, after uh four, yeah, loads
and loads of debt after afour-year, you know, university
(21:25):
um certificate or a diploma.
And I'm not saying that goingto university, you don't go to
university.
I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying that there aredifferent career paths.
And I think oftentimes what hashappened is there's just been
this kind of negativeconnotation.
I was like, oh, you're CT,you're going into trades.
Like you're seeing that uh inkind of like, oh, you know, what
(21:47):
what is that?
But now I think that this iscoming around where it's like,
you know what, man, if I wouldhave known, and and I've had
this conversation with manyprofessionals such as yourself
and many others thinking, man,you know what?
If I would have known this, Iwould have just gone into these
trades or would have gone intothis and spent, you know, lead
(22:08):
and and things might have beendifferent, but you know, that
this is the path that we chose.
Now, the other thing is toothat I like that you said is I,
for example, in my master'sprogram, they stacked, you know,
certifications on there.
So not only did you get yourmaster's in educational
technology, but while doingthose courses, you also got a
(22:28):
certification in technologyleadership and you know, all
these other things, which iskind of great and see, and it's
a value add, you know, but it isthat value add to that, you
know, first four years now, it'sanother 18 months in a master's
program to get those additionalcertifications, where maybe
something like that now, youknow, through a program like um
(22:51):
Yezy, like, you know, being ableto come out, imagine coming out
of high school already with twoor three certifications because
you've tested and you weresuccessful with those tests, and
now you're immediatelyworkforce ready because you're
honing in on those skills thatyou need for that specific job.
But I think that even then youare already picking up other
(23:12):
skills, you know, going througha platform.
So I want to talk to you alittle bit about that.
Can you tell me a little bitabout how YeAZ works?
So let's say I'm a fourthgrader and you know, uh it's my
first day.
This is my first year withYeAZ.
And if I continue thattrajectory, what what might I
(23:33):
see and what would the end uhresult be for that, for that
student?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (23:38):
Yeah, so let's go with the fourth grade
example.
We'd probably put them in theSTEM pathway, maybe computer
science.
So they'll get introducedintroduced to coding at a very
foundational level, right?
Maybe some bot coding.
And then as they transition inthe middle school, um, those
would be self-paced courses atthe elementary level, right?
Um, or a hybrid approach,however the school district
(24:00):
wants to approach that.
But then as they get intomiddle school, then we would
like to have our CTE instructoreither zoom in with that um
student or students, group ofstudents, um, for six weeks,
nine week course, semestercourse.
They go through the platform,very project-based learning
platform.
Um, they spend about 60% oftheir time just building, right?
(24:24):
When for this specific uhexample, they'd be building um
something with computer science,right?
And so they would spend 60% ofthat, and then they'll have
about 10% of peer-to-peer kindof feedback on their project,
right?
And then they would go throughthat progression.
Um, and then once they get intohigh school, they have an idea,
(24:48):
okay, under the computerscience, what am I what am I
most attracted to?
Where do I see myself getting acareer into?
Is that software development?
Is it um cybersecurity?
Um, and so we would put them onthat trajectory in high school
to prepare them to take the testum junior senior year.
(25:11):
That is great.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (25:12):
You know, and that's something that is
wonderful that you already havesomething that is already
aligned for those students andas they go through.
And I think oftentimes, youknow, as as in my experience,
I've heard of other programs, ormaybe there are programs that
are just really siloed and say,well, this is just for computer
science.
So let me show you whatcomputer science can do, or let
(25:34):
me show you what this can do.
But also having a program thatcan offer, you know, variety, I
think is something that would bevery beneficial.
But I want to ask you, Joe, andthese might be some of those
tough questions that maybe inyour experience.
I know I've seen in myexperience what might occur, but
in your experience, and justoverall, you know, what might be
(25:55):
some of the barriers thatschool districts may have with
implementing not just a programlike Yazy, but just implementing
CTE programs because I haveseen uh from other districts and
other colleagues of mine thatare working in other districts
where you know sometimes thingsdon't come through the way that
we think they would, and theirprograms kind of just start kind
(26:19):
of fizzling out.
What do you think some of thebarriers would be?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (26:22):
You know, I think it takes uh a CTE-driven
leader, right?
Whether that's asuperintendent, whether that's a
campus principal, to reallybuild the culture around CTE.
Right now that your campus hasto neglect star math and
reading, that's never gonna goaway.
Um, but somebody who has anidea, and that's what I'm
(26:44):
finding when I'm havingconversations with um director,
superintendents, CT director,campus principals, is that their
CT is their own little world,right?
Like, hey, their CT directorhandles all that.
And so I think that's one ofthe barriers is not having that
synergy as a campus to say, hey,CTE is all of us, right?
(27:08):
And we all have a hand on howthese programs move forward.
One, because we need to knowwhere the funding's coming from,
right?
We need to uh vet some of theseprograms to say, okay, which
one's the best fit for um yourcampus, your district.
And then once you decide onthat, how do you measure
(27:30):
academic return on investmentfrom that program?
Right.
And so you're in the data worldnow, and so you're you're I'm
sure you're tasked with doingthat, but though those three
that I just mentioned, right?
Having a CT-minded drivenleader, um, obviously finding
the funding and having thatsynergy between departments, um,
(27:51):
and then vetting and finding ifthe program is bringing that
academic return are all threethings that are hard to do at
scale.
And so that's why to answeryour question, I think that
there's there's some barriersthere to establishing a
well-oiled CTE program.
(28:14):
Um, and the ones that are doingwell are the traditional ones
that we had in the 80s, right?
That are just kind of embeddedin the culture of the school,
and we're known for having anice welding program and a good
uh welding program.
And so we're gonna continuedoing that, and we're welding
school.
Well, you have other studentsthat are saying otherwise,
according to the surveys thelast flight, right?
(28:36):
According to the data.
Um, and so shifting to that ittakes a lot of upfront work to
vet some of these programs thatcan assist with CT programs, but
and then measuring the academicreturn on investment, also to
say, okay, our welding programsare working great.
(29:41):
Is our computer science programworking great?
Is our drone program workinggreat, or whatever pathway you
decide on?
Is measuring that and comingback to the conversation and
saying, okay, we need to addmore of this, or we need to
eliminate this.
And those are hardconversations to have that um
some folks don't want to have,right?
Because it either they're aB-rated school or they're an
(30:04):
A-rated school, and things aregoing great.
So why disrupt what is goinggood?
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (30:10):
Um, yeah, I think I you know that's one of
the one of the answers that yougave.
Well, all three I do couldagree with, but one of the ones
that you mentioned is like thisis the way we've always done it,
and that's that's it.
Like these are our programs,and this is what we're gonna
stick to, and so on.
But then I feel that you know,in not growing or expanding or
(30:32):
trying, or at least being ableto speak to your students, maybe
having a the you know, studentadvisory board or something,
just being able to hear theirvoices, it's like, hey, what
other programs might you beinterested in and seeing if
those programs are feasible?
Because oftentimes, like Imentioned, it's you'll see
cosmetology, you'll see welding,you'll see ag you know, as more
(30:55):
prominent.
And then sometimes I'll hear,you know, other districts will
they'll have, you know, likemedia, but those aren't too
packed, or maybe even just someof the business uh information
or business courses that theyhave, you know, also as well,
and you know, are very lownumbers.
But one of the things that youhit on too was the importance.
Of being able to not silo thatprogram because I I love what
(31:22):
you said.
It's like, hey, these are allour students, not just say, oh,
those are CTE students.
Like, you know, don't, youknow, it's okay.
They're CTE.
That's fine.
Like, let's worry about this.
No, I mean, they are all ourstudents.
And I think sometimes uh havingthat mentality, it really does
hurt those programs becauseobviously we need to focus here
(31:45):
in Texas, it's always all aboutSTAR.
We want to worry about ourratings, we want to worry about
our distinctions, we want toworry about what is important to
the school as far as the schoollooking great.
And yes, of course, ourstudents are doing phenomenal,
but you know, being able to notonly be an A-rated school, but
to also imagine having like thiswonderful um, you know,
(32:07):
robotics or coding program orcomputer, uh, yeah, computer
science program or engineeringprogram, things of that sort of
preparing the students for thosethe skills that they need to
for you know making that jump,whether it might be a two-year
degree, an associate's degree,it may be a four-year plan that
can later on move on tosomething else, or just that
(32:29):
immediacy of hey, I justgraduated at 18, and guess what?
I already have a job.
And it's like, wow, you know,that's amazing.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (32:37):
But that's a nice pay job, too.
And and I would I would addthat right, we're saying, hey,
what can the districts do tokind of bridge the gap to
improve the CGE program?
And I won't put it all on theschool districts, right?
Like the business partners andindustry partners have a have a
say in that too, right?
(32:58):
Because they're the ones thatare going to need the workforce,
whether it's locally,regionally, or statewide, but
the district has to go first.
And they have to reach out andsay, hey, we're looking to build
XYZ program.
And I know you're anengineering firm that is here
locally.
What kind of engineers do youneed?
How can we support that?
(33:19):
And can we work together tobuild a program that we get them
the certifications and then wecreate that little pipeline,
whether it's a local engineeringfirm, and I just use that as an
example, but the district hasto go first.
We can't rely on industrycoming up to us and saying, hey,
we have X amount of money.
Can you build a program?
(33:40):
It's we gotta take that firststep.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (33:43):
I love it.
I love it, Joey.
That's fantastic.
Well, I want to kind of justchange now a little bit because
I think this is a greatconversation on CTE and and what
YeZ has to offer, but I want totalk a little bit more about
your dissertation.
I mean, this is one of thereasons, too, that I definitely
wanted to talk to you about orbring you on the show too,
because I think that this isfantastic.
(34:05):
And again, getting to know you,you know, through LinkedIn and
then getting to meet you inperson.
And then obviously myself too,just um, you know, in July
defended my dissertation, andthen you just also recently, you
know, defended yourdissertation.
But just to, you know, hearabout that and so tell me a
little bit about you know yourdissertation.
Where did that I know you kindof mentioned it briefly, but
(34:28):
again, where did that researchstem from?
And tell me a little bit ortell us a little bit more about
your findings through thatresearch.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (34:37):
Yeah, and so the the title of my dissertation
is Does After School ProgramInfluence Star Math Performance?
Right.
So it's something I wanted itto be relevant.
I wanted it to be relevant tothe work that I'm currently
doing.
Right.
And the companies that I'veworked for over the last uh
three and a half years have allbeen in the after-school space.
(35:00):
And so when I started mydoctoral program, I was working
at the service center.
I was a high impact tutoringmanager, and so I would go into
school districts and help themor support them in accelerated
learning, right?
And reading and math, right?
COVID had just we're coming outof COVID, so star scores
(35:23):
weren't great.
And so, how can we improvethat?
Well, one of the silver bulletsat the time was high impact
tutoring, right?
And so there was a uh a breadthof research that was coming
down from a lot smarter peoplethat than me that were saying,
hey, here's the direction thatwe have to go in order to
improve math and science scores.
(35:43):
And so I went down a rabbithole and was like, tutoring is
the way, right?
And you have that thought whenyou don't really know how to put
your thoughts together andresearch and use data to kind of
predict some stuff.
And so that nugget kind ofstuff stuck in my head when I
started my doctoral program.
(36:04):
And so I spent a year at theservice center doing that work,
and I was like, man, it'sresearch-based, it's good.
Not a lot of people know aboutit.
I'm gonna do some more researchin my doctoral program.
And so started my doctoralprogram, and we couldn't get
tutoring out of my head, like,right, the extra hours outside
of school, it's more flexible,like you can be creative with
(36:27):
groups and programs, and we needto train the staff a certain
way and three times a week and30 minutes and focus,
intentional.
And so I was sold on tutoring,and so spoke to my chair and
he's like, Look, your gunhoodtutoring will do that, but we
have to make it relevant toeither South Texas or Texas
(36:48):
statewide.
I said, Okay, well, let'sconnect it to star math scores
because we can see that the mathscores haven't improved right
over the last five years orwhatever, since COVID.
And so went down that rabbithole, and what we found was that
yes, after-school tutoringprograms influenced star math
performance, but not as much asattendance rate during the
(37:14):
school day affects star mathresults.
And so that was interesting fora couple of reasons.
One is shot down my theory oflike, hey, tutoring is a silver
bullet.
And we didn't get into programimplementation and program
fidelity, we didn't get thatmuch into it.
(37:35):
What we just looked at waslike, hey, these elementary
students or these elementarycampuses have an after-school
program, these middle schoolprograms have an after-school
program.
Let's look at their starsource, right?
And kind of made that uhconnection there.
And we there was someconnection.
Um, but yeah, the biggestvariable was, and we took other
(37:58):
variables into consideration.
We looked at whether thosecampuses were a Title I school,
uh, the teacher to studentratio, we looked at um
attendance rates, we looked atfunding, and the one that stuck
out out of all those wasattendant rate.
If there was a higherattendance rate in those
campuses, they had a higher starscore at the unit.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (38:21):
Man, that is interesting, you know,
because that is what we oftenhear is you've got HB 1416.
It's like, let's get all thekids into tutoring, let's make
sure that they're doing their 30minutes after school, like you
said, Monday, Wednesday, orTuesday, Thursday.
And then so teachers are nowalso getting overworked.
(38:42):
Then, of course, that funding,it's like, oh, where do we find
the money to pay for thatadditional tutoring?
And so you kind of startgetting creative, and then you
feel like, okay, this is gonnado it.
But then, of course, like youmentioned, it's just uh the your
due to your findings, it wasmore on you know attendance and
the importance of that.
And I know that we see highabsenteeism, you know, and it in
(39:05):
a lot of districts.
And I I think that there wasdefinitely a shift.
I think prior, you know, well,in my experience, I'll just say
this in my experience working atat some schools.
Um, many times it was well, itfor example, that we're on
Thanksgiving break.
Well, it was like, hey, uh, Mr.
Mendoza, you know, I know nextweek is Thanksgiving break, but
(39:27):
we're leaving this week.
Can you give me all the workthat my son or daughter need?
Because then they were gone fortwo weeks, you know.
So then there's that aspecttoo, where now it's the the
parents feel like, well, youknow, it's okay, no big deal.
We're just gonna take our kidsout and we're all gonna go on
vacation, you know, a weekprior, or we'll extend the
(39:49):
vacation a week after.
Yes, going on, and so you missthat too, as well.
You know, the uh obviously too,you know, depending on on work
schedules for parents too.
I and it never really hit untila couple years ago where I was
like, when it was star testing,or maybe even not just a regular
day, you know, students comingin like let's say at 9 a.m.
(40:11):
And then I started thinking, Iwas like, why would this happen?
I don't understand.
Well, it was usually like,well, it's like maybe the parent
just said, hey, you know what?
I this when I go into work, Igo in at nine or 10.
I'll just drop them off, youknow, as I'm on my way to work
so that way I don't have to getup, go drop them off, and then
come back.
Or, you know, we don't knowthose variables, we don't know
(40:34):
those extenuating circumstances.
But again, like you mentioned,you know, being present it
definitely will make a bigdifference as far as those star
scores.
And I think that that's a veryinteresting find because again,
I I think we try and findsolutions, and sometimes we may
not be asking the rightquestions or looking at the the
(40:54):
situation through the correctlens.
And obviously, we look at itthrough a corrective lens where
immediately it's like, okay,throw more tutoring at them just
to kind of make it up.
But in reality, we're we'relike based on your research and
of course the variables that youwent over, it the attendance is
definitely the most importantthing.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (41:11):
Was there's research on that, right?
To say that if you're in schoolX amount of days, you'll learn
more.
Um, and then there's leadingresearch that says that hey, we
need students in the seats inthe school day, right?
And so I look at it as tutoringwas impactful.
It's just I think there's somefurther research that we can do
(41:34):
to say, okay, well, why was itimpactful at those campuses,
right?
Were they consistent with ourtutoring schedule?
What kind of tutoring did theyprovide?
Was it math science, STEM,robotics, right?
And kind of look at the theprogramming in a little more in
detail.
We we just very did at a verysurface level.
(41:55):
Um, but yeah, I I think it'sinteresting with uh with uh the
attendance.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (42:01):
Yeah, and you know what, I think and what
came to mind too now is when youare tutoring that student, it's
for them, it might be the veryfirst time they're seeing that
instruction.
Where you you said I knowsometimes tutoring has a
negative uh connotation, but youknow, tutoring is something
that I I went to even while Iwas at university.
But what happened is I got thatinitial teach, but I just
(42:25):
wasn't sure or didn't quitefollow.
And then I would go get thatadditional support.
But here, sometimes thattutoring is going to be that
initial teach.
So the importance of gettingthat initial teach by being
present in class and then addingthat tutoring component would
definitely be very beneficial.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (42:44):
So maybe I'm thinking maybe that that there's
something that's part of theyes, so part of the research was
looking at content alignmentfrom the in-school day
instruction to the after-schoolprogram and what that looks
like, and if there's any ofthat, right?
And so we didn't get intodetails about that, but it it
for further research, it'll benice to see the after school
(43:06):
program curriculum.
Does it tie into what they'relearning in the in the school
day?
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (43:11):
Excellent.
Well, Joey, thank you so muchfor being with us today and
telling us just a little bitabout uh your story, telling us
about the work that you're doingthrough YeAZ and letting us
know about YeAZ too as well.
So definitely we will beputting all of that in the show
notes too, as well, so peoplecan go and visit the website,
learn more about YeZ and thecareer uh technology education
(43:32):
pathways that it offers forgrades fourth and up.
And so I think that this issomething that is fantastic, and
especially like I mentioned,uh, you know, a CTE, oftentimes
it just feels like it's it'sjust a subset.
And but I love the fact thattoday we got to talk about and
say, no, no, no, CTE, those areall our students, and schools
(43:53):
should see it that way.
It's not just, oh, they're CTE.
No, no, no.
It's they're they're districtstudents, they're all our
students, and we definitely needto make sure that we look at
those programs to see how wemight better equip our students
that when they come out, theyare ready to be, they're
workforce ready, and they candefinitely dive in.
So definitely excited about thework there.
(44:13):
And obviously, you know, as youcontinue to grow within YeZ,
definitely would love to haveyou back in a couple of months
and so on, and just to see uh,you know, talking more about
career technology and uh, youknow, it'd be fantastic to have
you back.
So thank you so much.
But before we wrap up, Joey,uh, or I should say Dr.
Mendoza, and let me just do afull disclaimer here.
(44:35):
We are definitely not related.
We yes, we have the last samelast name, but we are not
related.
I just wanted to throw that inthere because some people might
say, Hey, I wonder if they'rerelated.
You've had Dr.
Mendoza and Dr.
Mendoza on the show today.
Yes, not related.
Um not related, but but stilljust a great friendship that has
(44:55):
grown.
But thank you so much.
But let's go ahead and go withquestion number one here.
So, as we know, every superherohas a pain point or a weakness.
So for Superman, Kryptonite washis weakness.
So I want to ask you, Joey, inyour experience through all the
multiple facets of educationthat you've been in, what would
(45:15):
you say currently would be youredu kryptonite?
That's a tough one.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (45:22):
But I I tell you one thing that I I don't
know if it's a kryptonite, butone thing that I'm consistently
trying to get better at becauseI don't think I'm that is is
data.
Like just because there's somuch, right?
And like knowing what data tofocus on and like draw from and
things like that, and thenturning that data into something
(45:44):
actionable.
I'm not where I'm I don't knowif it's a cryptonet, but I'm not
where I want to be at when itcomes to that.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (45:50):
Well, no, no, that's perfectly great
answer because like for me now,you know, transitioning into
this role where I'm working withdata, it's almost like, all
right, like I have all of this,but what what story am I gonna
tell or do I need to tell tomake sure that we're making the
right decisions?
And for me, like just being anoverthinker, it's like I just
want to put everything in there.
(46:10):
Yes, but yes, no, no, I totallyget you.
All right.
Question number two, Joe, is ifyou could have a billboard
right smack in the middle ofCorpus Christi, and it's your
old billboard, what would yourbillboard say and why?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (46:27):
Yeah, I was thinking about that one when you
asked me.
Uh, so there's I don't I'm sureyou've been to Corpus a couple
of times, and so there's ahighway that we call Crosstown
Expressway, and so there's anold building like on the
northwest side of CorpusChristi, and oh, I'm sure
somebody lives there, but it's atwo-story house, I should say,
(46:50):
building, and at the very top,and like fading, you can tell,
is like a 1950s building thatsays education is free.
And so I would redesign thatbillboard to say that, right?
Just because education hasgiven me an unlimited
opportunity, it's taking me toplaces that I thought I never
(47:14):
would go, right, as a SouthTexas boy, and I mean the people
I meet, right, like this, it'sall because of education, right?
Through the people that I'vemet, through my educational
experiences in the classroom,outside of the classroom,
university, all that stuff.
So education is freedom.
I love it.
(47:34):
I love it.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (47:35):
No, and it's so true.
I mean, I yeah, like, you know,that's one thing that I have
been grateful for in these last19 years in education.
And mind you, I always say,like, I fell into education and
and I grew up never wanting tobe an educator, but once I fell
into it, like I absolutely fellin love with everything.
I mean, it it's just and likeyou said, the opportunities that
(47:58):
it has afforded me and to beable to see things I never
thought I'd be able to see orconnect with people who I never
thought I'd be connecting withand having conversations with.
I think it's fantastic.
And I think that thatbillboard, definitely a great
one.
So great answer, thank you.
And the last question, Joey, isif you can trade places with a
single person for a day, whowould that be and why?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (48:21):
My wife.
Because her brain works likethe way we describe with date,
like a computer, and I was like,God dang, I don't know how you
do that.
And obviously, you're you're ina day computer.
I hope our daughter gets yourbrain, because God, yeah, just
the way she breaks up data andlike tells a story with it, it
(48:42):
it's it's impressive.
Um, but that's to her hard workand all that good stuff.
But yeah, my wife and True seethe world through her eyes and
the way she breaks it down, andvery analytical.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (48:55):
So love it.
That is fantastic.
Well, that is a great answer,and Joey.
Again, Dr.
Mendoza, it was an honor.
It was an honor to have youhere on the show.
Thank you so much for uh justagain connecting on LinkedIn.
Thank you so much for likeengaging with the content too
and getting to meet you inperson was an absolute pleasure.
And you know, knowing thatwe're just a couple of hours
(49:17):
away is also great.
So maybe someday we candefinitely make a plan just to
meet up, you know, for breakfastin a chat or something, lunch
in a chat or whatever.
But definitely, but thank youso much for being on the show
and again just being part ofthis journey.
And I always love to highlightjust wonderful educators like
yourself that are here today andjust amplify the work that
(49:39):
you're doing, what you havedone, and then just to see where
it is that you're going.
It's something that is what oneof the main things here of our
show.
So, again, thank you for todayand being part and being here
today, episode 344 of My Ed TechLive.
So, 344 today.
So, for all our audiencemembers checking out this
(50:01):
episode, please make sure youvisit our website at
myedtech.life where you cancheck out this amazing episode
and other wonderful episodeswhere I promise you you will
find some knowledge nuggets thatyou can sprinkle on to what you
are already doing.
Great.
And again, as always, thank youso much to our amazing
sponsors, Book Creator, EduAid,Yellow Dig, and Peelback
Education.
(50:22):
We really appreciate all thelove and support that you bring
us each and every week so we cancontinue to bring you amazing
conversations week after weekwhere we can continue to grow
professionally and personally aswell.
So, again, my friends, you willfind all of Dr.
Mendoza's uh links in the shownotes.
So make sure you connect withuh Dr.
(50:43):
Mendoza on LinkedIn.
Make sure that you follow him,make sure that you check out
Yeizy.
We're gonna put that in theshow notes as well.
And my friends, until nexttime, don't forget, stay techie!
Hello, everybody, and welcome to
another great episode of MyEdTech Life.
Thank you so much for joiningus on this wonderful day.
And wherever it is that you'rejoining us from around the
world, as always, we appreciateall the likes, the shares, the
follows.
Thank you so much for engagingwith our content.
And all of this would not bepossible if it wasn't for our
amazing sponsors.
Thank you so much, BookCreator, Eduaid, Yellow Dig, and
(00:34):
Peelback Education forbelieving in our mission to
bring these amazingconversations to continue to
help our educators continue togrow per professionally and
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So thank you so much.
And if you're interested inbecoming a sponsor for this
coming new year, please shoot mea message at myedtech.live
forward slash contacts.
(00:54):
And we can definitely talkabout that as the new year is
filling up.
But I am excited about today'sconversation.
Uh, I have been following ourguests for a while now and going
back and forth on LinkedIn.
And it's just been a pleasureto see his uh progress, his
growth, working from companiesand now a freshly minted doctor.
(01:16):
And I am excited to welcome tothe show Dr.
Mendoza, and that's Dr.
Joey Mendoza.
So, how are you today, Joey?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (01:25):
Good morning, Doc.
Thank you for having me, Dr.
Mendoza.
I'm doing well uh here inCorpus Christi, Texas, so not
too far from where you're at.
But yeah, thanks for having meon the show.
I like you, been following meon LinkedIn, some of the
episodes, and I was like, youknow what?
I like the topics that they'rerelevant.
You do the English and theSpanish, and I'm like, yeah,
(01:46):
let's do it.
So yeah, thank you for havingme.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (01:48):
Yeah, no, excited to have you here.
And also, it was a pleasure tohave met you in person at ISTE
this past year.
You know, I'm just walking bythere, the booths, and then all
of a sudden it's like, hey, it'sJoey, and and it's fantastic,
you know, getting to meet inreal life and making that
connection.
And like you said, just uh theproximity to one another and
just you know, knowing thisregion very well.
(02:09):
And it's always great tohighlight educators here from
our Valley region, Rio GrandeValley, this area, South Texas,
and everything.
And that's just fantastic.
So thank you for being on theshow today.
So I'm really excited abouttoday, uh, Joey, because again,
like I mentioned, freshly minteddoctors.
So I'm really excited to learnand having our guests learn a
(02:30):
little bit more about yourdissertation topic because I
thought and I found it veryinteresting.
We'll talk about that, and ofcourse, we'll talk about a
little bit about your educationbackground and the work that
you're doing now with this greatcompany, and we'll get into
that in just a second.
But before we dive in, just soour audience members know you a
little bit more, can you give usa little brief introduction and
(02:53):
what your context is within theeducation space?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (02:56):
Sure.
Yeah, I'm currently working fora company called YeAZ in the ed
tech sector, CTE, STEM space,right?
And prior to that, I was withanother company.
Prior to that, I worked for aneducation regional center here
in Corpus.
And then prior to that, I wasan administrator, teacher,
coach, substitute, all that goodstuff, right?
So I I've been through uh the Kthrough 12 system on the ed
(03:20):
tech side um now.
And so having a blend of bothworlds, I think it's unique, and
and we can dive into that.
Uh you're in the same rightkind of row where you have a
foot in both, right?
And so it definitely shaped mythinking, my experiences, and
then definitely shape my uhdoctoral program or my
(03:43):
dissertation um that's gonna getpublished here soon.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (03:47):
So yeah.
Excellent.
Well, I'm excited about that.
So let's talk first about justuh your experience because well,
before we dive into thedissertation, I know that I knew
you from a previous company,and let's talk a little bit
about that that STEM world tooas well.
So uh that's something that hasalways been of interest to me.
And so I wanted to ask youabout yourself and in your
(04:09):
experience in the STEM field andSTEM-related uh, you know,
companies that you worked forand that you did, you know, what
what drove that passion intothe STEM field and to dive in
and kind of you know getyourself started in that before,
you know, going into yourdissertation?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (04:27):
You know, I I fell into it accidentally, and I
say that with like excitement,right?
Because I look back at when Iwas teaching and my mindset that
I had as an administrator, itwas very STEM focused.
I just didn't know it at thetime.
And so I taught social studiesin inner city here, Corpus, for
(04:48):
about seven years, and the way Iapproached it was a little
intraditional, right?
I always tied it into careers,and it that's very difficult to
do from a social studies,government history side of
things, and so I've always hadthat lens.
Um, and then when getting intothe administration, I was
exposed to more CTE side, right?
(05:10):
And so I dove into there andthen I went to the service
center, and then um I got towork on a tremendous project
called High Impact Cuterie,right?
That's from my dissertationbasically on, and so I was
exposed to these ed techcompanies that were delivering
online instruction in 2020,right?
(05:32):
And so their programs they werethey were kind of self-paced,
but they would remediate in realtime and they would accelerate
their learning in real time asstudents would go through that.
And those terms I never heardof at the time.
That's interesting.
Like, how does that happen?
Because coming from thenon-techie world at the time, I
(05:54):
was like, what do you mean?
Like they're just gatheringdata points on students and then
like telling them to go back ona problem or forward on a
problem, okay, right?
And it started getting intoautomation and things like that,
and so I worked on that projectand that exposed me to STEM and
ed tech companies.
It's like I can do somethinglike that.
And so 2021, the high-impacttutoring grant that I was on was
(06:18):
grant funded, and so it wascoming to an end, and so I had
to find another job, right?
And so I wasn't ready to goback into the school districts
and start started looking intothese ed tech companies and
found the STEM one that you'rereferring to.
Um, Pittsco education of minesaying that doing great work in
the STEM field.
Um, and so found them, landedthere and worked with them for
(06:41):
three years across the state ofTexas, um hosting STEM events,
uh CTE events, competitions, youname it, they they probably do
it.
Uh very hands-on hardware.
Um, and so that was myintroduction to the STEM space.
But again, looking back on it,I was always doing STEM, we just
didn't call it that forwhatever reason.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (07:03):
Yeah.
No, you know what?
It's so interesting, uh, Joey,because though I'm hearing you
and listening to your path andyour trajectory in this area and
this first part of uh you knowour conversation today and
talking about STEM-relatedfields.
But you know, it's a verysimilar start to the way that I
did.
Now, number one, like you said,you you you fell into it, you
(07:23):
know, on accident, butgratefully you did because
you've been doing some greatthings and you continue to do
some great things.
Uh, also, like myself, I Itell, you know, and many people
have heard this on the show,like, you know, I I fell into
teaching, but then I absolutelyfell in love with it.
And then when I moved toelementary, like you said, I had
no idea I was doing STEM.
(07:45):
I just went to, you know, TCEAone year in 2000, I believe it
was like 2016, 17, one year.
And then I came back and I waslike, all right, everybody,
we're gonna start using this.
And I started doing donorschoose grants, and I was like,
all right, we're gonna dorobots, we're gonna do this, and
but really integrating it intothe current curriculum and
finding creative, innovativeways to make those ties with the
(08:09):
standards and still be able tocover our standards, but make
the learning, like you said,very like hands-on, very
engaging.
You know, students are the onesthat are in control, they're
the ones that are creating thelearning and so on.
And then so that led to uh juststarting a little robotics club
in in my on my campus, youknow, and saying, okay, we're
(08:30):
gonna do a little robotics club.
And then that turned into likea summer STEM camp for like the
district for three years, youknow, continuously and uh
helping the robotics programsand you know, the the young
ladies also to learn how to dothe coding, get into robotics
and so on.
But then of course, COVID hit,and then of course things
(08:51):
changed.
But uh it was just somethingthat is fantastic, you know,
just being in there and beinghands-on with the robots and
working with students and in avery hands-on manner.
And a lot of those studentshave gone on to, you know,
graduate and uh follow pursuing,you know, computer science or
engineering.
And uh it's just been fantasticto hear the work that they're
(09:11):
doing now when we first startedmany years ago.
So it's it's amazing.
And I love the way that thatkind of transitions into the
following conversation, which isreally the world of CTE, which
now you're finding yourselfimmersed in.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat, you know, new, new um, I
guess, new leap into this worldwith this ed tech company and uh
(09:35):
working with CTE and uhpathways too as well.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (09:39):
Sure.
So YayZ is a C K through 12 CTEcompany that wants to get
students into digital skills,right?
And so when we think aboutdigital skills, we think about
digital marketing, right?
Digital media, arts, visuals,uh, computer science, as you
mentioned, cybersecurity, um, Imentioned computer science,
(10:00):
Python, scratch code, all thatgood stuff.
Uh in the the way I see it,right?
So we we have a standardcurriculum that we created, and
um we have our own LMS thatstudents kind of go through the
courses there.
But the meat and potatoes ofit, as you know, is is the the
teacher, right?
(10:20):
And so we can either put ateacher fully in place to teach
those CT courses because thoseindustry folks are hard to find,
um, especially in some ruralspaces in Texas, but also we can
um zoom in a CT instructor tokind of take students through
those pathways in order to getum certifications to get into
(10:43):
those higher paying wage jobs,right?
That everybody's talking about.
But the the missing piece thatthat I don't think it's talked
enough about with Yates is we'recreating kind of these digital
nomads, right?
Where you're creating thesedigital skills, but for
students, or right now they'regonna be adults going into the
(11:04):
workforce where those youngadults can work from anywhere in
the world, right?
Not that everybody wants to dothat, but as a South Texas kid,
I was like, I want to seeeverything, I want to get out
there.
How can I craft my professionto be able to do that, right?
And so that was a leap into thetech sector because it it
(11:26):
right.
I work remotely here in corpus,I get to travel a little bit.
I get my wife in her job, shegets to travel, and so I get to
go with her sometimes, and viceversa.
And that works for us, right?
But that's a part of YeAZ thatit's we're creating these
digital nomads where that workis already here and it's just
(11:48):
going to get bigger and bigger,right?
Where people can work fromanywhere in the world with
internet access and and thingslike that.
So yeah, we're we're big in theCTE space, about all about
credentials, but going back tothe most important piece, as you
know, is the instructor, right?
We we have a great way ofvetting our teachers, of getting
(12:09):
our teachers certified throughour own proprietary system um
and making sure that's alignedwith the district's goes and the
campus goes that they'relooking for.
So whether in person or online,you can have the best
curriculum or the best LMS inthe world, but you need to have
somebody to deliver that and getstudents to buy into you and
(12:30):
the content.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (12:31):
Yeah.
And I think, you know, youmentioned a couple of things
that I do want to unpack thatreally got me excited.
Like you said, number one, youknow, also with CTE, like you
mentioned, digital nomads, thethe ability for our students to
now be able to be equipped withthe knowledge of just computer
literacy altogether.
Now, of course, right now, youknow, artificial intelligence,
(12:54):
generative AI is huge.
And, you know, talking about AIliteracy and all of that, but
uh, you know, just being able touse hardware, software to be
able to, you know, learn alittle bit of coding and all of
those things.
But not only that, Joey, Ithink like you mentioned too a
little bit about thosecertifications.
One of the things that I haveseen oftentimes is that there is
(13:17):
a list, for example, here inTexas.
We know that in Texas that thethere is a list for CTE
certifications.
And many times a lot, a lot ofdistricts may not be able to
cover a lot of thosecertifications based on
obviously the programming thatwe have within our campuses and
so on.
So I think having a platformthat might be able to offer
(13:40):
something, like you mentioned,being able to get a student on a
pathway, and like youmentioned, this is this is K-12,
correct?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (13:48):
Um, or is it I would say fourth grade and up.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (13:53):
Okay, fourth grade and up.
Perfect.
I mean, and that's a great age,fourth grade and up to be able
to kind of put them on thispath, and then they start kind
of discovering like, hey, whatare some of my interests?
What are the things that Ireally enjoy doing?
And then that way, from such ayoung age, the the young child
can kind of start having an ideaand start, you know, getting
(14:14):
equipped with those tools to beable to continue to move forward
into what it is that theydesire.
And I think that that'ssomething that is huge.
That oftentimes, you know, kindof like with CTE, like I
mentioned, sometimes I feel likethose conversations might fall
a little bit on the wayside andare not upfront and, you know,
(14:36):
in front of all our stakeholdersto have them see the potential
that is there for our learnersand for them to come out
equipped with an industrycertification that they might be
already be able to obtain a jobas soon as they graduate and
maybe during that time be ableto hop into a university program
(15:01):
or something, but at least theyare already working and maybe
they don't have to get into somemajor debt, as we know with
college education being so high.
So I think that that issomething that is fantastic to
be able to start at such anearly age.
So now getting back a littlebit to the CTE conversation, now
with your experience and andwhat are some things that are
(15:26):
maybe some persistent myths ormisunderstandings that educators
or even uh parents might haveabout CTE that you can think of?
Because for me, I'll tell you,for me, it's just really like,
well, CTE is just gonna be likeuh cosmetology, uh, ag and
welding.
And that's it, like those threeprograms, and maybe like uh
(15:48):
like uh EMS.
And so that's the misconceptionthat I see that I'm like, well,
it's only three programs, likewhat else can we do?
What has been your experience,or maybe some of the
misunderstandings that you seeare still out there, or maybe
that you yourself had prior.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (16:35):
I think some of the misunderstandings is that
folks, the parents, eveneducators, think that it's
designed, CTE is designed for asubset subset of students,
right?
Like, hey, if you're only doingif you want to go this pathway,
you have to go, you're a CTEstudent, right?
They define them and they putthem in a box.
And and parents do too, right?
(16:56):
They say, oh, well, we're ablue-collar family, we do XYZ,
you're gonna go down this way,but if you're not, then you're
gonna go to college or whatnot.
But there's this other path,right?
When we talk about digitalskills, that it's exposure to to
be frank with my answer.
I think it's a littlemisconception on what is CTE and
(17:20):
what all it can provide.
Now the shifts coming, whetherparents or educators are ready
for it, that CTE is the future,or right?
These certifications are gonnabecome a premium if they're not
already.
And I say that because there'suniversities that are offering
(17:40):
these certifications, Googledata analytics certification,
Google cybersecuritycertifications.
If you come to theiruniversity, you can take these
for free, right?
And so they're stacking them ona college degree.
And so, what does that tellyou, right?
That they're that important inthe workforce.
(18:01):
And so I say that because whenI'm when I make a move into the
CTE world heavily, it that waspart of it.
I'm seeing the shift kind ofmove towards that way.
You're starting to see peopletalk about more CTE, right?
And open discussions like this,and that is needed.
Um, but yeah, it's just parentsdon't know what they don't know
(18:23):
about CTE.
It's uh I tie you back to thetutoring, right?
About my dissertation becausetutoring has this um kind of
negative connotation to it whenit says, hey, if you're going to
tutoring, then it's bad.
No, not necessarily.
Tutoring is to catch up, it'sto get ahead, it's to stay on
(18:45):
path, right?
And CTE is kind of the sameway.
Oh, if you're you're a CTEstudent, then you must be going
into the trades.
Not necessarily.
I can go into the digitalskills part of it, learn how to
code, right?
Learn how to digital market andlearn uh entrepreneurship, um,
business and marketing, allthose good things.
So I think it's us that are wethat are in the CTE field can do
(19:11):
a better job of just havingthat microphone and and speaking
to a broad audience and say,hey, if you haven't thought
about CT, check this out andhere's why, right?
And sharing a little data andresearch to back it up, right?
Instead of just standing onyour your podium and saying
here's why you should do it, butbringing the data and saying,
hey, here's what the jobs aresaying that are needed in the
(19:32):
next 10 years.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (19:33):
Yeah.
And you know, one thing that Ido like about that that you did
mention is, you know, thecertification talk, I think
we're missing out.
And I don't know if it's justme, but I'm pretty sure, like, I
mean, at least hearing you uhtalking about that certification
uh aspect, I think that we maybe missing out on some great
opportunities for our students.
(19:54):
And like you said, it's allabout parents not knowing what
they don't know yet, and likebeing able to offer student or
parents that information of theadvantages of being able to
obtain a certification whileyou're in high school to again
be able to readily jump into ajob, or maybe that employer
(20:18):
might say, you know what, withthis certification, you are
already showing that you canhandle this task and this task
and this task.
And you know what?
Because you're already workingfor me and the work that you're
doing, I can pay for maybe yournext level certification or the
following certification.
Where now I to me that in thelong run, I'm seeing things in
(20:41):
the long run as far as expenses,you're minimizing expenses for
number one parents.
You know, you I know that wetalk about yes, four-year
university, four-yearuniversity, but I think in the
last for for me, at least in thelast four years, I've seen a
lot more talk about you know,the trades, being able to get
(21:01):
those certifications, hearingand seeing how um young men and
women are obtaining thesecertifications at an early age
and not going into debt, butthey are already, you know,
making profit and not having toworry about paying back loads
and loads of debt debt, excuseme, after uh four, yeah, loads
and loads of debt after afour-year, you know, university
(21:25):
um certificate or a diploma.
And I'm not saying that goingto university, you don't go to
university.
I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying that there aredifferent career paths.
And I think oftentimes what hashappened is there's just been
this kind of negativeconnotation.
I was like, oh, you're CT,you're going into trades.
Like you're seeing that uh inkind of like, oh, you know, what
(21:47):
what is that?
But now I think that this iscoming around where it's like,
you know what, man, if I wouldhave known, and and I've had
this conversation with manyprofessionals such as yourself
and many others thinking, man,you know what?
If I would have known this, Iwould have just gone into these
trades or would have gone intothis and spent, you know, lead
(22:08):
and and things might have beendifferent, but you know, that
this is the path that we chose.
Now, the other thing is toothat I like that you said is I,
for example, in my master'sprogram, they stacked, you know,
certifications on there.
So not only did you get yourmaster's in educational
technology, but while doingthose courses, you also got a
(22:28):
certification in technologyleadership and you know, all
these other things, which iskind of great and see, and it's
a value add, you know, but it isthat value add to that, you
know, first four years now, it'sanother 18 months in a master's
program to get those additionalcertifications, where maybe
something like that now, youknow, through a program like um
(22:51):
Yezy, like, you know, being ableto come out, imagine coming out
of high school already with twoor three certifications because
you've tested and you weresuccessful with those tests, and
now you're immediatelyworkforce ready because you're
honing in on those skills thatyou need for that specific job.
But I think that even then youare already picking up other
(23:12):
skills, you know, going througha platform.
So I want to talk to you alittle bit about that.
Can you tell me a little bitabout how YeAZ works?
So let's say I'm a fourthgrader and you know, uh it's my
first day.
This is my first year withYeAZ.
And if I continue thattrajectory, what what might I
(23:33):
see and what would the end uhresult be for that, for that
student?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (23:38):
Yeah, so let's go with the fourth grade
example.
We'd probably put them in theSTEM pathway, maybe computer
science.
So they'll get introducedintroduced to coding at a very
foundational level, right?
Maybe some bot coding.
And then as they transition inthe middle school, um, those
would be self-paced courses atthe elementary level, right?
Um, or a hybrid approach,however the school district
(24:00):
wants to approach that.
But then as they get intomiddle school, then we would
like to have our CTE instructoreither zoom in with that um
student or students, group ofstudents, um, for six weeks,
nine week course, semestercourse.
They go through the platform,very project-based learning
platform.
Um, they spend about 60% oftheir time just building, right?
(24:24):
When for this specific uhexample, they'd be building um
something with computer science,right?
And so they would spend 60% ofthat, and then they'll have
about 10% of peer-to-peer kindof feedback on their project,
right?
And then they would go throughthat progression.
Um, and then once they get intohigh school, they have an idea,
(24:48):
okay, under the computerscience, what am I what am I
most attracted to?
Where do I see myself getting acareer into?
Is that software development?
Is it um cybersecurity?
Um, and so we would put them onthat trajectory in high school
to prepare them to take the testum junior senior year.
(25:11):
That is great.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (25:12):
You know, and that's something that is
wonderful that you already havesomething that is already
aligned for those students andas they go through.
And I think oftentimes, youknow, as as in my experience,
I've heard of other programs, ormaybe there are programs that
are just really siloed and say,well, this is just for computer
science.
So let me show you whatcomputer science can do, or let
(25:34):
me show you what this can do.
But also having a program thatcan offer, you know, variety, I
think is something that would bevery beneficial.
But I want to ask you, Joe, andthese might be some of those
tough questions that maybe inyour experience.
I know I've seen in myexperience what might occur, but
in your experience, and justoverall, you know, what might be
(25:55):
some of the barriers thatschool districts may have with
implementing not just a programlike Yazy, but just implementing
CTE programs because I haveseen uh from other districts and
other colleagues of mine thatare working in other districts
where you know sometimes thingsdon't come through the way that
we think they would, and theirprograms kind of just start kind
(26:19):
of fizzling out.
What do you think some of thebarriers would be?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (26:22):
You know, I think it takes uh a CTE-driven
leader, right?
Whether that's asuperintendent, whether that's a
campus principal, to reallybuild the culture around CTE.
Right now that your campus hasto neglect star math and
reading, that's never gonna goaway.
Um, but somebody who has anidea, and that's what I'm
(26:44):
finding when I'm havingconversations with um director,
superintendents, CT director,campus principals, is that their
CT is their own little world,right?
Like, hey, their CT directorhandles all that.
And so I think that's one ofthe barriers is not having that
synergy as a campus to say, hey,CTE is all of us, right?
(27:08):
And we all have a hand on howthese programs move forward.
One, because we need to knowwhere the funding's coming from,
right?
We need to uh vet some of theseprograms to say, okay, which
one's the best fit for um yourcampus, your district.
And then once you decide onthat, how do you measure
(27:30):
academic return on investmentfrom that program?
Right.
And so you're in the data worldnow, and so you're you're I'm
sure you're tasked with doingthat, but though those three
that I just mentioned, right?
Having a CT-minded drivenleader, um, obviously finding
the funding and having thatsynergy between departments, um,
(27:51):
and then vetting and finding ifthe program is bringing that
academic return are all threethings that are hard to do at
scale.
And so that's why to answeryour question, I think that
there's there's some barriersthere to establishing a
well-oiled CTE program.
(28:14):
Um, and the ones that are doingwell are the traditional ones
that we had in the 80s, right?
That are just kind of embeddedin the culture of the school,
and we're known for having anice welding program and a good
uh welding program.
And so we're gonna continuedoing that, and we're welding
school.
Well, you have other studentsthat are saying otherwise,
according to the surveys thelast flight, right?
(28:36):
According to the data.
Um, and so shifting to that ittakes a lot of upfront work to
vet some of these programs thatcan assist with CT programs, but
and then measuring the academicreturn on investment, also to
say, okay, our welding programsare working great.
(29:41):
Is our computer science programworking great?
Is our drone program workinggreat, or whatever pathway you
decide on?
Is measuring that and comingback to the conversation and
saying, okay, we need to addmore of this, or we need to
eliminate this.
And those are hardconversations to have that um
some folks don't want to have,right?
Because it either they're aB-rated school or they're an
(30:04):
A-rated school, and things aregoing great.
So why disrupt what is goinggood?
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (30:10):
Um, yeah, I think I you know that's one of
the one of the answers that yougave.
Well, all three I do couldagree with, but one of the ones
that you mentioned is like thisis the way we've always done it,
and that's that's it.
Like these are our programs,and this is what we're gonna
stick to, and so on.
But then I feel that you know,in not growing or expanding or
(30:32):
trying, or at least being ableto speak to your students, maybe
having a the you know, studentadvisory board or something,
just being able to hear theirvoices, it's like, hey, what
other programs might you beinterested in and seeing if
those programs are feasible?
Because oftentimes, like Imentioned, it's you'll see
cosmetology, you'll see welding,you'll see ag you know, as more
(30:55):
prominent.
And then sometimes I'll hear,you know, other districts will
they'll have, you know, likemedia, but those aren't too
packed, or maybe even just someof the business uh information
or business courses that theyhave, you know, also as well,
and you know, are very lownumbers.
But one of the things that youhit on too was the importance.
Of being able to not silo thatprogram because I I love what
(31:22):
you said.
It's like, hey, these are allour students, not just say, oh,
those are CTE students.
Like, you know, don't, youknow, it's okay.
They're CTE.
That's fine.
Like, let's worry about this.
No, I mean, they are all ourstudents.
And I think sometimes uh havingthat mentality, it really does
hurt those programs becauseobviously we need to focus here
(31:45):
in Texas, it's always all aboutSTAR.
We want to worry about ourratings, we want to worry about
our distinctions, we want toworry about what is important to
the school as far as the schoollooking great.
And yes, of course, ourstudents are doing phenomenal,
but you know, being able to notonly be an A-rated school, but
to also imagine having like thiswonderful um, you know,
(32:07):
robotics or coding program orcomputer, uh, yeah, computer
science program or engineeringprogram, things of that sort of
preparing the students for thosethe skills that they need to
for you know making that jump,whether it might be a two-year
degree, an associate's degree,it may be a four-year plan that
can later on move on tosomething else, or just that
(32:29):
immediacy of hey, I justgraduated at 18, and guess what?
I already have a job.
And it's like, wow, you know,that's amazing.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (32:37):
But that's a nice pay job, too.
And and I would I would addthat right, we're saying, hey,
what can the districts do tokind of bridge the gap to
improve the CGE program?
And I won't put it all on theschool districts, right?
Like the business partners andindustry partners have a have a
say in that too, right?
(32:58):
Because they're the ones thatare going to need the workforce,
whether it's locally,regionally, or statewide, but
the district has to go first.
And they have to reach out andsay, hey, we're looking to build
XYZ program.
And I know you're anengineering firm that is here
locally.
What kind of engineers do youneed?
How can we support that?
(33:19):
And can we work together tobuild a program that we get them
the certifications and then wecreate that little pipeline,
whether it's a local engineeringfirm, and I just use that as an
example, but the district hasto go first.
We can't rely on industrycoming up to us and saying, hey,
we have X amount of money.
Can you build a program?
(33:40):
It's we gotta take that firststep.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (33:43):
I love it.
I love it, Joey.
That's fantastic.
Well, I want to kind of justchange now a little bit because
I think this is a greatconversation on CTE and and what
YeZ has to offer, but I want totalk a little bit more about
your dissertation.
I mean, this is one of thereasons, too, that I definitely
wanted to talk to you about orbring you on the show too,
because I think that this isfantastic.
(34:05):
And again, getting to know you,you know, through LinkedIn and
then getting to meet you inperson.
And then obviously myself too,just um, you know, in July
defended my dissertation, andthen you just also recently, you
know, defended yourdissertation.
But just to, you know, hearabout that and so tell me a
little bit about you know yourdissertation.
Where did that I know you kindof mentioned it briefly, but
(34:28):
again, where did that researchstem from?
And tell me a little bit ortell us a little bit more about
your findings through thatresearch.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (34:37):
Yeah, and so the the title of my dissertation
is Does After School ProgramInfluence Star Math Performance?
Right.
So it's something I wanted itto be relevant.
I wanted it to be relevant tothe work that I'm currently
doing.
Right.
And the companies that I'veworked for over the last uh
three and a half years have allbeen in the after-school space.
(35:00):
And so when I started mydoctoral program, I was working
at the service center.
I was a high impact tutoringmanager, and so I would go into
school districts and help themor support them in accelerated
learning, right?
And reading and math, right?
COVID had just we're coming outof COVID, so star scores
(35:23):
weren't great.
And so, how can we improvethat?
Well, one of the silver bulletsat the time was high impact
tutoring, right?
And so there was a uh a breadthof research that was coming
down from a lot smarter peoplethat than me that were saying,
hey, here's the direction thatwe have to go in order to
improve math and science scores.
(35:43):
And so I went down a rabbithole and was like, tutoring is
the way, right?
And you have that thought whenyou don't really know how to put
your thoughts together andresearch and use data to kind of
predict some stuff.
And so that nugget kind ofstuff stuck in my head when I
started my doctoral program.
(36:04):
And so I spent a year at theservice center doing that work,
and I was like, man, it'sresearch-based, it's good.
Not a lot of people know aboutit.
I'm gonna do some more researchin my doctoral program.
And so started my doctoralprogram, and we couldn't get
tutoring out of my head, like,right, the extra hours outside
of school, it's more flexible,like you can be creative with
(36:27):
groups and programs, and we needto train the staff a certain
way and three times a week and30 minutes and focus,
intentional.
And so I was sold on tutoring,and so spoke to my chair and
he's like, Look, your gunhoodtutoring will do that, but we
have to make it relevant toeither South Texas or Texas
(36:48):
statewide.
I said, Okay, well, let'sconnect it to star math scores
because we can see that the mathscores haven't improved right
over the last five years orwhatever, since COVID.
And so went down that rabbithole, and what we found was that
yes, after-school tutoringprograms influenced star math
performance, but not as much asattendance rate during the
(37:14):
school day affects star mathresults.
And so that was interesting fora couple of reasons.
One is shot down my theory oflike, hey, tutoring is a silver
bullet.
And we didn't get into programimplementation and program
fidelity, we didn't get thatmuch into it.
(37:35):
What we just looked at waslike, hey, these elementary
students or these elementarycampuses have an after-school
program, these middle schoolprograms have an after-school
program.
Let's look at their starsource, right?
And kind of made that uhconnection there.
And we there was someconnection.
Um, but yeah, the biggestvariable was, and we took other
(37:58):
variables into consideration.
We looked at whether thosecampuses were a Title I school,
uh, the teacher to studentratio, we looked at um
attendance rates, we looked atfunding, and the one that stuck
out out of all those wasattendant rate.
If there was a higherattendance rate in those
campuses, they had a higher starscore at the unit.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (38:21):
Man, that is interesting, you know,
because that is what we oftenhear is you've got HB 1416.
It's like, let's get all thekids into tutoring, let's make
sure that they're doing their 30minutes after school, like you
said, Monday, Wednesday, orTuesday, Thursday.
And then so teachers are nowalso getting overworked.
(38:42):
Then, of course, that funding,it's like, oh, where do we find
the money to pay for thatadditional tutoring?
And so you kind of startgetting creative, and then you
feel like, okay, this is gonnado it.
But then, of course, like youmentioned, it's just uh the your
due to your findings, it wasmore on you know attendance and
the importance of that.
And I know that we see highabsenteeism, you know, and it in
(39:05):
a lot of districts.
And I I think that there wasdefinitely a shift.
I think prior, you know, well,in my experience, I'll just say
this in my experience working atat some schools.
Um, many times it was well, itfor example, that we're on
Thanksgiving break.
Well, it was like, hey, uh, Mr.
Mendoza, you know, I know nextweek is Thanksgiving break, but
(39:27):
we're leaving this week.
Can you give me all the workthat my son or daughter need?
Because then they were gone fortwo weeks, you know.
So then there's that aspecttoo, where now it's the the
parents feel like, well, youknow, it's okay, no big deal.
We're just gonna take our kidsout and we're all gonna go on
vacation, you know, a weekprior, or we'll extend the
(39:49):
vacation a week after.
Yes, going on, and so you missthat too, as well.
You know, the uh obviously too,you know, depending on on work
schedules for parents too.
I and it never really hit untila couple years ago where I was
like, when it was star testing,or maybe even not just a regular
day, you know, students comingin like let's say at 9 a.m.
(40:11):
And then I started thinking, Iwas like, why would this happen?
I don't understand.
Well, it was usually like,well, it's like maybe the parent
just said, hey, you know what?
I this when I go into work, Igo in at nine or 10.
I'll just drop them off, youknow, as I'm on my way to work
so that way I don't have to getup, go drop them off, and then
come back.
Or, you know, we don't knowthose variables, we don't know
(40:34):
those extenuating circumstances.
But again, like you mentioned,you know, being present it
definitely will make a bigdifference as far as those star
scores.
And I think that that's a veryinteresting find because again,
I I think we try and findsolutions, and sometimes we may
not be asking the rightquestions or looking at the the
(40:54):
situation through the correctlens.
And obviously, we look at itthrough a corrective lens where
immediately it's like, okay,throw more tutoring at them just
to kind of make it up.
But in reality, we're we'relike based on your research and
of course the variables that youwent over, it the attendance is
definitely the most importantthing.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (41:11):
Was there's research on that, right?
To say that if you're in schoolX amount of days, you'll learn
more.
Um, and then there's leadingresearch that says that hey, we
need students in the seats inthe school day, right?
And so I look at it as tutoringwas impactful.
It's just I think there's somefurther research that we can do
(41:34):
to say, okay, well, why was itimpactful at those campuses,
right?
Were they consistent with ourtutoring schedule?
What kind of tutoring did theyprovide?
Was it math science, STEM,robotics, right?
And kind of look at the theprogramming in a little more in
detail.
We we just very did at a verysurface level.
(41:55):
Um, but yeah, I I think it'sinteresting with uh with uh the
attendance.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (42:01):
Yeah, and you know what, I think and what
came to mind too now is when youare tutoring that student, it's
for them, it might be the veryfirst time they're seeing that
instruction.
Where you you said I knowsometimes tutoring has a
negative uh connotation, but youknow, tutoring is something
that I I went to even while Iwas at university.
But what happened is I got thatinitial teach, but I just
(42:25):
wasn't sure or didn't quitefollow.
And then I would go get thatadditional support.
But here, sometimes thattutoring is going to be that
initial teach.
So the importance of gettingthat initial teach by being
present in class and then addingthat tutoring component would
definitely be very beneficial.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (42:44):
So maybe I'm thinking maybe that that there's
something that's part of theyes, so part of the research was
looking at content alignmentfrom the in-school day
instruction to the after-schoolprogram and what that looks
like, and if there's any ofthat, right?
And so we didn't get intodetails about that, but it it
for further research, it'll benice to see the after school
(43:06):
program curriculum.
Does it tie into what they'relearning in the in the school
day?
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (43:11):
Excellent.
Well, Joey, thank you so muchfor being with us today and
telling us just a little bitabout uh your story, telling us
about the work that you're doingthrough YeAZ and letting us
know about YeAZ too as well.
So definitely we will beputting all of that in the show
notes too, as well, so peoplecan go and visit the website,
learn more about YeZ and thecareer uh technology education
(43:32):
pathways that it offers forgrades fourth and up.
And so I think that this issomething that is fantastic, and
especially like I mentioned,uh, you know, a CTE, oftentimes
it just feels like it's it'sjust a subset.
And but I love the fact thattoday we got to talk about and
say, no, no, no, CTE, those areall our students, and schools
(43:53):
should see it that way.
It's not just, oh, they're CTE.
No, no, no.
It's they're they're districtstudents, they're all our
students, and we definitely needto make sure that we look at
those programs to see how wemight better equip our students
that when they come out, theyare ready to be, they're
workforce ready, and they candefinitely dive in.
So definitely excited about thework there.
(44:13):
And obviously, you know, as youcontinue to grow within YeZ,
definitely would love to haveyou back in a couple of months
and so on, and just to see uh,you know, talking more about
career technology and uh, youknow, it'd be fantastic to have
you back.
So thank you so much.
But before we wrap up, Joey,uh, or I should say Dr.
Mendoza, and let me just do afull disclaimer here.
(44:35):
We are definitely not related.
We yes, we have the last samelast name, but we are not
related.
I just wanted to throw that inthere because some people might
say, Hey, I wonder if they'rerelated.
You've had Dr.
Mendoza and Dr.
Mendoza on the show today.
Yes, not related.
Um not related, but but stilljust a great friendship that has
(44:55):
grown.
But thank you so much.
But let's go ahead and go withquestion number one here.
So, as we know, every superherohas a pain point or a weakness.
So for Superman, Kryptonite washis weakness.
So I want to ask you, Joey, inyour experience through all the
multiple facets of educationthat you've been in, what would
(45:15):
you say currently would be youredu kryptonite?
That's a tough one.
Dr. Joey Mendoza (45:22):
But I I tell you one thing that I I don't
know if it's a kryptonite, butone thing that I'm consistently
trying to get better at becauseI don't think I'm that is is
data.
Like just because there's somuch, right?
And like knowing what data tofocus on and like draw from and
things like that, and thenturning that data into something
(45:44):
actionable.
I'm not where I'm I don't knowif it's a cryptonet, but I'm not
where I want to be at when itcomes to that.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (45:50):
Well, no, no, that's perfectly great
answer because like for me now,you know, transitioning into
this role where I'm working withdata, it's almost like, all
right, like I have all of this,but what what story am I gonna
tell or do I need to tell tomake sure that we're making the
right decisions?
And for me, like just being anoverthinker, it's like I just
want to put everything in there.
(46:10):
Yes, but yes, no, no, I totallyget you.
All right.
Question number two, Joe, is ifyou could have a billboard
right smack in the middle ofCorpus Christi, and it's your
old billboard, what would yourbillboard say and why?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (46:27):
Yeah, I was thinking about that one when you
asked me.
Uh, so there's I don't I'm sureyou've been to Corpus a couple
of times, and so there's ahighway that we call Crosstown
Expressway, and so there's anold building like on the
northwest side of CorpusChristi, and oh, I'm sure
somebody lives there, but it's atwo-story house, I should say,
(46:50):
building, and at the very top,and like fading, you can tell,
is like a 1950s building thatsays education is free.
And so I would redesign thatbillboard to say that, right?
Just because education hasgiven me an unlimited
opportunity, it's taking me toplaces that I thought I never
(47:14):
would go, right, as a SouthTexas boy, and I mean the people
I meet, right, like this, it'sall because of education, right?
Through the people that I'vemet, through my educational
experiences in the classroom,outside of the classroom,
university, all that stuff.
So education is freedom.
I love it.
(47:34):
I love it.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (47:35):
No, and it's so true.
I mean, I yeah, like, you know,that's one thing that I have
been grateful for in these last19 years in education.
And mind you, I always say,like, I fell into education and
and I grew up never wanting tobe an educator, but once I fell
into it, like I absolutely fellin love with everything.
I mean, it it's just and likeyou said, the opportunities that
(47:58):
it has afforded me and to beable to see things I never
thought I'd be able to see orconnect with people who I never
thought I'd be connecting withand having conversations with.
I think it's fantastic.
And I think that thatbillboard, definitely a great
one.
So great answer, thank you.
And the last question, Joey, isif you can trade places with a
single person for a day, whowould that be and why?
Dr. Joey Mendoza (48:21):
My wife.
Because her brain works likethe way we describe with date,
like a computer, and I was like,God dang, I don't know how you
do that.
And obviously, you're you're ina day computer.
I hope our daughter gets yourbrain, because God, yeah, just
the way she breaks up data andlike tells a story with it, it
(48:42):
it's it's impressive.
Um, but that's to her hard workand all that good stuff.
But yeah, my wife and True seethe world through her eyes and
the way she breaks it down, andvery analytical.
Dr. Alfonso Mendoza (48:55):
So love it.
That is fantastic.
Well, that is a great answer,and Joey.
Again, Dr.
Mendoza, it was an honor.
It was an honor to have youhere on the show.
Thank you so much for uh justagain connecting on LinkedIn.
Thank you so much for likeengaging with the content too
and getting to meet you inperson was an absolute pleasure.
And you know, knowing thatwe're just a couple of hours
(49:17):
away is also great.
So maybe someday we candefinitely make a plan just to
meet up, you know, for breakfastin a chat or something, lunch
in a chat or whatever.
But definitely, but thank youso much for being on the show
and again just being part ofthis journey.
And I always love to highlightjust wonderful educators like
yourself that are here today andjust amplify the work that
(49:39):
you're doing, what you havedone, and then just to see where
it is that you're going.
It's something that is what oneof the main things here of our
show.
So, again, thank you for todayand being part and being here
today, episode 344 of My Ed TechLive.
So, 344 today.
So, for all our audiencemembers checking out this
(50:01):
episode, please make sure youvisit our website at
myedtech.life where you cancheck out this amazing episode
and other wonderful episodeswhere I promise you you will
find some knowledge nuggets thatyou can sprinkle on to what you
are already doing.
Great.
And again, as always, thank youso much to our amazing
sponsors, Book Creator, EduAid,Yellow Dig, and Peelback
Education.
(50:22):
We really appreciate all thelove and support that you bring
us each and every week so we cancontinue to bring you amazing
conversations week after weekwhere we can continue to grow
professionally and personally aswell.
So, again, my friends, you willfind all of Dr.
Mendoza's uh links in the shownotes.
So make sure you connect withuh Dr.
(50:43):
Mendoza on LinkedIn.
Make sure that you follow him,make sure that you check out
Yeizy.
We're gonna put that in theshow notes as well.
And my friends, until nexttime, don't forget, stay techie!
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