By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist
The most recent community conversation that I held addressed the topic of College and Career Readiness. Our state Department of Education and state Board of Education have taken the lead with two specific initiatives that are focused on improved readiness of students for the 21st Century workforce.
I explained those two initiatives during the presentation and thought our readers might be interested in understanding how the student experience will change as a result of implementation.
This article is the first in a three-part series. Here, I will focus on the graduate profile, a commitment that we have made to our community.
In the next column, I will focus on the first initiative from the state to address graduation/life readiness: The graduation pathways. These pathways are the new requirement for graduation beginning with students in the Class of 2023 who are current eighth-graders.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Finally, the third column in the series will outline the second initiative from the state, the IDOE’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) Strategic Plan.
During our Ready Schools work during school year 2017-2018 we made a commitment to our community that all Brown County High School graduates will have an action-oriented plan that is ready for deployment the day after they walk across the stage at graduation.
This commitment was made because we realized that far too many students were graduating from Brown County Schools without the skills necessary to be college and career ready.
We have committed to focusing our resources towards equipping our students with not just knowledge, but also real-world experiences so they can graduate with a serious plan for career and/or college pursuits.
One of the components of our Ready Schools grant was the development of the Brown County Schools graduate profile. This profile extends a commitment to our school community that all students graduating from Brown County High School will be given the opportunity to be intentionally taught and supported in five unique domains.
These domains were identified by our community as skills and dispositions necessary for future success during over 100 interviews led by our Ready Schools Coordinator, Christy Wrightsman.
Those domains are outlined below.
The first domain is a commitment to ensuring that all students graduate from Brown County High School being socially, emotionally and physically well.
This domain is the rationale behind the implementation of social emotional learning curriculum for students in all grades, using the Second Steps or Botvin Life Skills program. These curricula intentionally teach pro-social behaviors that include anti-bullying behavior, emotion management and situational awareness. All of this is conducted with the understanding that when social/emotional needs are met, student achievement and student health are both positively impacted.
The second domain is that students communicate effectively.
Industry and post-secondary educational institutions have told us that it is imperative for K-12 systems to prepare students to be effective communicators through both verbal and written applications. We are growing increasingly concerned that students are so connected to their phones that many times holding a conversation in person can be challenging.
Additionally, 21st Century careers are indicating a strong need for employees to be effective in their display of written communication skills. For students to display mastery of written and verbal communication, we need to practice these skills with an increased frequency throughout the K-12 experience. With highly effective communication skills, our students will be well prepared for a successful post-secondary experience.
The third domain is students engage in curricular and co-curricular opportunities.
This domain is based on the simple premise that when a student is engaged in curricular and co-curricular options at school, the student is more apt to enjoy the experience of coming to school.
We are working to redefine the classroom experience into one where students apply content knowledge in inquiry and problem-based activities. Additionally, we are working to ensure that all students are engaged in at least one co-curricular school experience because we know that connection with at least one activity translates into increased student achievement and overall satisfaction.
The fourth domain is students prepare for success in a 21st century workforce.
This domain responds to our community and regional employers indicating that students graduating from high schools need “soft skills” in order to be successful in the modern work environment. Such skills include critical thinking and problem-solving skills, teamwork, punctuality, giving a good handshake, maintaining eye contact and passing a drug screen. Through intentional teaching of these behaviors, we will graduate students who are career and life ready.
Finally, the last domain is that the student seeks to innovate. Employers and post-secondary institutions are thirsty for graduates who are willing to engage in the creation of innovative thinking and design.
To do this, we are in the process of creating spaces for students to be creative and collaborative in their innovation through “Maker-Spaces” and collaborative learning environments. Traditional classrooms with rows of individual desks will be transforming into learning spaces where students are invited to work together and be innovative in their thinking.
The Brown County Schools graduate profile is one that serves as the foundation of the work that we are doing to modernize the experience of our learners.
We recognize that one of our primary responsibilities is to positively impact the economic prosperity of our community and our region by graduating learners who have the skills and dispositions to be ready for the 21st century workforce. We will be working very hard to intentionally prepare our graduates for the five dispositions included within the graduate profile to meet that responsibility.
I look forward to connecting these dispositions in my next two columns with both the IDOE’s STEM Strategic Plan and the state Board of Education’s graduation pathways.
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
