Educating For Careers Conference March 2 - March 5, 2011

The Counselor’s Rolein Building a Successful

California Partnership Academy

Who We AreWho We AreRuth Kwake

12 years as Counselor

Work with grades 9-12, alpha section of student body + HEAL + students in the Severe/multiple handicap program

RN for 27 years, Pediatrics, public health, job corps, and 10 years as School Nurse

HEAL liaison to CVEP

PSTA Site Rep

Deborah Applebaum

13 years as Counselor

Work with grades 9-12, alpha section of student body + DATA & ACE

CCHS counselor representative to local CCC

2 years as a Special Education Teacher

12 years as Desktop Publisher of a biweekly shopper

3 years as a civil service test constructor and job analyst

Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

• Introductions

• Outreach and Recruitment

• Master Scheduling

• Academic Advising

• Career Advising

• Data Collection

• Resources

HEAL Defined• Health and Environmental health Academy of Learning• Dual strand: Healthcare and Environmental Health Science• Began as SSP, so students enter in grade 9; 3rd year CPA; maintain

grade 9 program with support from CDE Health Science Education Initiative Enhancement Grant

• Grades 9-11: English, Science & Math classes + HEAL elective; and Grade 12: English & HEAL elective

• Accommodate at-risk and high performing students with 2 levels for each academic subject at each grade; heterogeneous cross-curricular activities, grade level projects and off-campus activities

• GR 9: introduction to and exploration of career interests and options; 21st Century Skills and Academic Success Skills

• GR 10: Environmental health science; Salton Sea Study• GR 11: Leadership skills, HOSA based curriculum; job shadow; CERT

training, CPR & First Aid certification• GR 12: Internships; college & scholarship applications; health issue

research project; community health fair.• HOSA membership & competition at state & national leadership

conferences.

DATA Defined• Digital Arts Technology Academy• Dual strand, combines career focus on both Journalism (Digital

Storytelling) and Digital Imaging• Began as SSP ten years ago; had a demonstration grant for several

years; 4th year CPA• Students share English, Social Studies, & Math classes & DATA

elective grades 10-11; English & DATA elective grade 12• 2 academic levels for three academic subjects at tenth grade to

accommodate at-risk and high performing students; students heterogeneous in CTE elective, cross-curricular activities, grade level project and off-campus activities

• GR 10: Students focus on Apple iLife and Adobe CS5 Design Suite applications

• GR 11: Full time in-class mentor with the journalism strand, job shadow with business partners at the Desert Sun, KPSP2 news, Morris Desert Media; El Paso Fashion Week, Palm Springs International Film Festival student screening day and volunteering,

• GR 12: Using CSU Expository Reading and Writing curriculum; internships; college & scholarship applications

• Skills, USA membership & competition at state & national leadership conferences

Differences and Similarities

Differences and Similarities

Both CPA’s Counselors have personal interest &

knowledge related to career area of Academy

Counselors have student caseload and department responsibilities outside Academy

Counselors are members of Academy Leadership Team

Counselors are responsible for master schedule

Counselors provide classroom and individual career/college guidance

Counselors plan and participate in off-campus activities

DATA is grades 10-12

HEAL is grades 9-12

DATA has strong emphasis on technical aspects of career areas as elective each year

HEAL has broad based CTE related elective class at each grade level

Academy CounselorAcademy Counselor

• Sees the “Big Picture”

• Expert on graduation requirements

• Expertise on post-secondary educational programs and eligibility requirements (a-g list)

• Expertise on career exploration process

• Works with scheduling and data collection

• Link between parents, faculty and students

Outreach to Middle School

• DATA uses Perkins Funds to pay for bus and subs once per year to visit AME industry-related sites for middle school and 9th grade recruitment.

• DATA assists middle school digital arts recruitment by working with elementary students to create videos and digital art projects.

• HEAL uses enhancement grant funds to pay for bus and subs for 8th grade Career Exploration Tours to local hospitals; two per year for each feeder middle school

• JUMP (Junior Upcoming Medical Professionals) club at each feeder middle school. CAL-HOSA is just beginning this, and we are part of this new outreach

• Counselor Fall presentation introduces high school programs including DATA, HEAL, AVID, etc with student testimonials

• Counselor Spring presentation to parents and students provides detailed descriptions and flyers and discussion of entry level classes for 9th graders

HEAL Recruitment

• Describe HEAL and distribute applications and brochures at 8th grade parent orientation night

• Applications also distributed during 8th grade registration presentation and available in middle school counselor office

• Middle school counselor collects applications and provides recruitment data: grades, CST’s, attendance, behavior

• Create spreadsheet of student data for review by team before and after interviews.

• Applicants are interviewed at the middle school by HEAL faculty/student teams.

• Applicants accepted based on creating 2 sections at each grade level; balancing high level and at-risk students to create honors & CP level classes for English, math & science. Equal number of students from each feeder middle school

High School Outreach

• Spring counselor presentation for grades 9-11, by grade level, includes information about all pathways & Academies; Applications are distributed to interested students

• Teachers, counselors, and other school staff refer students to Academy counselors

• Word of mouth from current Academy students creates interest among friends and classmates, to speak with Academy counselor about program

• Both programs are open to new students for 2nd semester; limited numbers; no new recruitment of 12th graders

DATA Specific Recruitment

• Many students are enrolled in an introductory feeder class, Contemporary Media, open only to 9th graders who are not enrolled in other specialized programs, i.e., AVID, Band, HEAL, or ACE

• All visual arts students are targeted via a multimedia presentation; students are brought to DATA classroom each period for a presentation and opportunity to meet CTE instructors and Counselor

• Applications are distributed, students sign interest list• Applications are collected & spreadsheet created by Counselor • Interviews are done by teams of teachers & students. Applicants

are given questions in advance. After interview, applicants are given a form to obtain teacher recommendation

• Acceptance or rejection letters sent. Accepted students & their parents are invited to an evening orientation meeting in May

HEAL Specific Recruitment

• Limited numbers of spaces are available for current 9th & 10th grade students each year, based on number of students who leave or are dropped from the program

• Students complete same application form and interview process as middle school students

• Counselor creates student spreadsheet for team review before interviews

Timeline – RecruitmentSemester 1

• September– HEAL schedules hospital tours with CVEP partners– DATA schedules AME industry tours for February (when CPA budget permits)

• October– Fall presentation to all 8th grade students in 2 feeder middle schools (JWMS &

NNC) by CCHS Counselors– HOSA Advisor, student officers and HEAL counselor meet with JUMP club

members at middle schools; HOSA members assist JUMP advisor with monthly activities

• November– HEAL hospital career exploration tours begin– DATA begins recruitment for DigiCom Club– DATA begins set up for 8th graders student shadowing at CCHS

• December– DATA prepares February trip paperwork– HEAL continue hospital tours– Update brochures and application forms

• January– Evaluate potential openings for semester 2 and give applications to interested

students (DATA-grades 10-11; HEAL-grades 9-11)

•February–Send forms and brochures to be printed

•March–High school presentations to all students by CCHS Counseling team; applications distributed to grade 9 & 10 students.–DATA teams interviews at CCHS–Both academies present at evening middle school parent & student orientation sessions; HEAL applications distributed

•April–Middle school presentations & registration includes information about academies. –HEAL interviews at middle schools–HEAL team reviews CCHS student applications, schedules interviews.–HEAL & DATA acceptance letters sent last week of April

•May–DATA new student orientation meeting

•June–DATA team sets recruitment dates for next school year.

Timeline – RecruitmentSemester 2

Faculty Recruitment• Presentation at CCHS Faculty meeting • Word of mouth• Seek faculty based on academic and CTE subject areas• Clearly define roles and responsibilities both inside and outside

the classroom, i.e.– a commitment to working closely with students, monitoring success,

providing support– flexibility related to changes in teaching assignments– additional staff meetings– off campus activities– attending professional development events– integrating academic and CTE standards in lesson planning and

integrated projects

• Use care in recruiting faculty with appropriate credentials• keep the team small and utilize looping whenever possible

– for example using the same English teacher in more than one grade level

Master Scheduling• The challenge is to create a student-driven master

schedule that meets CPA requirements and fits into the school master schedule.

• Counselors are uniquely equipped to look at the broad picture– Work regularly with the scheduling and student

information system– Understands the needs of the entire student body

with regards to other programs, e.g. AVID, other SLC’s, AP, special ed, ELL, electives, remediation, sports, ROP, class size issues

•CPA Requirements–Pure classes of academy student –Class sizes of 30–Blocking two or more subjects together–Common team planning period

•Student Needs:–Planning courses that will keep students on a college preparatory pathway while meeting needs of at-risk students–Scheduling academic classes in morning is preferred

•School-wide Needs–Conflicting prep periods–Small class sizes impacts teacher loads outside of academy and can create animosity–Fitting academy courses into department needs–Need to create separate course numbers for academy classes to facilitate data entry and computer based course loading by the student information system scheduler

•Scheduling tips:–Create career plans in your student information system scheduling module if possible to allow for more efficient and effective input of courses–Plan early and bring requests to department chairs and representatives of other programs in advance of presentation of academy master schedule to site administrator–Create multiple academy schedule plans to allow for flexibility

Sample Career Plan for Student Information System

Academic Advising

• Parent Orientation• Forms• Testing

– Collegeboard– ACT

• Summer enrichment programs• Volunteering• Assist seniors with college, scholarship and FAFSA applications• Career cruising website• California Colleges website

Academic Advising

Counselors conduct regular guidance lessons, college & career exploration using computer resources either in the classroom or library computer lab

•9th Grade: HEAL & Contemporary Media students create Career Cruising account, use matchmaker and explore careers. Semester 2 begins transcript review and 4 year plan. CM creates California Colleges account and enters transcript into high school planner.

•10th grade: DATA & HEAL- schedule full class period lessons using careercruising and californiacolleges; students sign-up for PSAT

•11th grade: DATA & HEAL update information in Career Cruising and California Colleges; create Collegeboard account and register for SAT tests; begin preparation for scholarships.

•12th grade: DATA & HEAL update information on websites and personal portfolios, complete online applications for colleges, FAFSA, scholarships

Career Exploration• Career Cruising or similar career exploration package

– helps counselor & Academy Coordinator to track and monitor students’ developing career interests and goals.

– Guidance lesson assists students in researching career and post secondary education options

• College and industry partner trips– Involved in planning for college & industry field trips and

act as chaperone (no sub costs involved for us)• Job Shadowing

– Assist with outreach to community to help recruit partners for job shadowing

– Assist with transporting/chaperoning students in community

• Mentor program– Assist to develop community contacts, plan and participate

in activities to help connect students & mentors• Internships

– Assist in recruiting community partners, planning activities

Data Collection– Annual report– Credits towards graduation– GPA– Attendance– CAHSEE– CST– At risk categories– Work with district IT to pull data– Industry partners information– Work with coordinator to write narratives– Data entry

• Monitor Current Students– Provide progress period grade reports to team for review and

recommendation for remediation, or other action– Follow-up with students and parents

• New applicant data – Compile grade reports and transcripts, attendance and discipline– Create spreadsheet for team to review after interviews

ResourcesCareer Cruising: Access needs to purchased by school

www.careercruising.com California Colleges: Search public (including community colleges) and

independent schoolswww.californiacolleges.eduCalifornia State University: www.csumentor.eduUniversity of California:

www.ucop.edu campus information, COSMOS www.ucop.edu/doorways for a-g list information and updates, including CTE approved courseswww.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions

College Board: for SAT test information, registration and links www.collegeboard.com

FastWeb: for scholarships www.fastweb.com

FAFSA: for financial aid www.fafsa.ed.gov

ASSIST: to explore college majors and locate campus sites with those majors www.assist.org

Contact Information

Ruth Kwake

rkwake@psusd.us

760-770-0126

Deborah Applebaum

dapplebaum@psusd.us

760-770-0124

Cathedral City High School69250 Dinah Shore DriveCathedral City, CA 92234

760-770-0100Fax: 760-770-0149