Student 2 Student plans to enhance
college, career, and life readiness 2016 National Training Seminar Student 2 Student Summit SPECIAL TOPIC
unning concurrently with the 2016 National Training Seminar and funded primarily through a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Student 2 Student (S2S) Summit was a gathering of 67 students from 21 highly successful S2S programs. Through an interactive and collaborative process, the students were tasked to:
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• identify the barriers to college and career readiness for transitional students; • share strategies for overcoming these hurdles; and • assist in the development of resources, campus action plans, and recommendations for their schools and other students, parents, and school professionals. Given their vital role in student achievement, 22 faculty sponsors accompanied their students and provided support throughout the Summit. In a series of three challenges, students were encouraged to create fun, interactive, and practical solutions to the hurdles they face in their quest to be college, career and life ready. The school sponsors were invited to support students and work with them to create and refine the strategies, resources, and recommendations. The expectation is that S2S members return to their campuses to share their experiences and learnings with their peers and that the sponsors include their experiences in their campus-level Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).
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Post-summit, the MCEC is offering support for sustainment as teams implement the strategies and actions they developed. The outcomes will be shared with MCEC stakeholders, and MCEC will utilize and aggregate the students’ voices and feedback to develop tools and resources to reduce or eliminate barriers to access educational opportunity, as well as inform policy and education leaders.
Participating Schools:
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Belton High School, Belton, Texas Rutherford High School, Panama City, Florida Hayfield Secondary School, Alexandria, Virginia Enterprise High School, Enterprise, Alabama Port of Los Angeles High School, Los Angeles, California Clover Park High School, Tacoma, Washington James I. O’Neill High School, West Point, New York Stacey Jr/Sr High School, San Antonio, Texas Falcon High School, Peyton, Colorado Pinecrest High School, Pinehurst, North Carolina Airline High School, Bossier City, Louisiana
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Robert M. Shoemaker High School, Fort Hood, Texas Parkway High School, Bossier City, Louisiana Alamogordo High School, Alamogordo, New Mexico Guam High School, Yigo, Guam Daegu High School, Daegu, South Korea Union Pines High School, Vass, North Carolina Fountain-Fort Carson High School, Fountain, Colorado Kellam High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia Clovis High School, Clovis, New Mexico Freshman Academy Robert G. Cole Middle/High School, San Antonio, Texas > Steilacoom High School, Steilacoom, Washington MCEC Special Topic
Student Summit
Power Challenges
“T he Student Summit inspired our group to amplify our voice at school.”
Challenge
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Challenge
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Lucy Fitch, senior vice president and chief communications officer, SAIC, encouraged the students with a background story about how she overcame defeat in her career. She stressed how that failure prompted her to help SAIC accept risk in its quest to change its work culture through acceptance of new ideas and an eye toward progress. Using key points from her talk, students were challenged to create a product that shows how an S2S team can overcome a barrier, fulfill a need or a gap, or revitalize an aspect of a current S2S program. Students developed creative ideas for their program that could easily be implemented into any S2S program, not just their own. The ideas were all applicable to college, career, and life readiness such as communicating effectively, overcoming adversity, using team work to achieve common goals, thinking creatively, and more. They also developed recommendations to help students become college, career, and life ready through these programs. The challenge required students to demonstrate capabilities to overcome barriers and minimize obstacles to success. SAIC is a longtime sponsor of MCEC and the National Training Seminar.
Deloitte developed and presented a scenario and challenge for the students. They were required to work within their mixed-school table groups to develop an afterschool program that tackles the largest challenges facing students at their schools and benefits the whole community – parents, students, teachers, and administrators. Since each table group included students from various locations around the world, the students were faced with several immediate hurdles, replicating those that students will face in their schools, in college, and in careers: 1. They had to address the challenges in their communities that could be helped through a strong after school program. 2. They had to listen and then communicate clearly with each other in order to convince others that their ideas were worth consideration. 3. They had to reach a decision in a short period of time. During the activity, students were alerted to a mystery box challenge, a complication in the afterschool program development process. Teams had to address the challenge found in their mystery box and adjust their after school programming accordingly. After the exercise, Deloitte coaches debriefed the students on lessons learned as related to interpersonal skills and college readiness. Deloitte is a longtime sponsor of MCEC and the National Training Seminar.
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Julie Coffey, Community Liaison, Military Child Education Coalition, spoke to the students about the barriers of bias, judging people by surface factors, maintaining one’s own values, and 100% acceptance of others, a key component of S2S. Using key points from her discussion and all NTS keynote speeches on leadership, college and career readiness, and acceptance, students were assigned to create and demonstrate an activity, event, or marketing piece related to real life S2S program challenges. They addressed the problem, action, opportunity, risk, and resources.
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what did we
learn?
Through each of the three Challenge exercises, the students identified college and career ready skills required for them to successfully transition from high school to postsecondary programs. They also identified multiple barriers to readiness that affect highly mobile military students. By virtue of the collaborative decision-making process, the students were able to develop solutions by which they and their classmates can overcome these barriers. These solutions can not only help to encourage college and career readiness for their own campuses but also others across the country.
Solutions Developed During Student Work Group Collaboration Create a tiered organizational chart for school clubs – include communications & leadership skills and opportunities. Use social media to promote College & Career Readiness by posting volunteer opportunities, scholarships, etc. and to encourage life skills critical for success. Example: #confidence
#putyourselfoutthere
Plan a college/career day (or College Week). Create an elementary school activity related to college acceptance and career decisions and share with the local elementary schools. Create activities for new students: GPS, 3D Map, Provide
scavenger hunt.
“free flow” after school programs in fine arts, physical exercise, and academics.
Create program with guest career and/or college courses
speakers and alumni to talk about aspects of their Start an
Develop a “Generation to Generation” Program – a combination of activities to include tutoring, job shadowing, service, and “fun, facts & food” (e.g., teaching older adults social media skills, etc.).
outdoor club.
Organize a community food drive. Start a program with career mentors, which will give students a chance to
pair with someone in a field of interest. Organize a CAREER READINESS FAIR.
school radio station
Use the to promote college & career readiness (schools without a radio station can use the announcements).
Organize an
“It’s Not Rocket Science” Program
(a tutoring/ homework program).
games or maps
Create to help new students discover the school’s college & career readiness resources.
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MCEC Special Topic
College & Career Ready Skills Identified by Students > Academic proficiency
> Adaptability
> Skills proficiency
> Positive reaction to change
> Perseverance/Tenacity
> Acceptance of others
> Communication – Written & Oral
> Money management
> Time management
> Teamwork
> Self-motivation (overcoming procrastination)
> Organizational skills
> Collaboration
> Pride in community
> Study skills > Leadership skills
> Planning and coordinating > Strategic planning > Creative thinking
Barriers Identified By Students > Lack of preparedness for college application process or financial aid application > Communication gaps due to varying sources of information during frequent transitions > Lack of faculty/coaches/counselors to write recommendations > Lack of faculty/coaches/counselors to advocate for or advise transitional students > Limited relationships with peers and faculty > Feeling overwhelmed with changes > Constant struggle to be accepted and included in a school > Loss of time in developing college/career plans and taking steps to reach goals > Inequity of academic standards and/or opportunities from one school district to another
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An added bonus to the Summit was the opportunity for each student to complete the VIA Character Strengths Survey, a tool designed to measure an individual’s positive personality traits for thinking, feeling, and behaving in ways that are beneficial. Based on their responses to the survey questions, each student was given insight to their signature (highest ranking) strengths and their lowest-ranking strengths, those that may need some attention. Dr. Robert McGrath of Farleigh Dickinson University and Senior Scientist at the VIA Institute on Character, asked faculty advisors to act as observers during each of the team-based challenge exercises. The observers rated the frequency with which each student utilized behaviors that reflected their identified strengths. He was then able to share the overall results of these observations with the NTS participants in a workshop. For more information on VIA character strengths, please go to the VIA Institute on Character: www.viacharacter.org/www
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Student Summit
Campus Action Plans
On the third day of the National Training Seminar, the students and sponsors met within their own school groups and worked to create campus-specific plans to enhance college, career, and life readiness for the students in their schools. Each S2S team developed a specific set of objectives that fit the campus they represented, addressing campus needs, culture, and long-term goals. They were guided in the development of strategies and actions to meet those objectives. Teams began by committing to implement three College and Career Readiness goals into their S2S programs. Each goal addressed at least one of the five core value of S2S: > Academics
> Finding the Way
> Service
> Relationships
> Leadership
“T his summit was super motivational and it will all be brought back to the club”
Examples of Campus Action Goals: Kellam High School, Virginia Beach, VA
1. To increase enrollment at meetings and improve leadership positions for members to serve specific roles 2. To work with the community as volunteers with service: Wounded Warriors/Navy SEAL Foundation 3. To collaborate with the National Honor Society to build the peer tutoring program, ensuring all new students are aware of this service, and to help with the college admissions process
Port of Los Angeles High School, Los Angeles, CA 1. To discuss college and career pathways during orientation 2. To enroll anyone in S2S in a Khan Academy account 3. To share the free military studying opportunities through tutor.com
Students identified a range of skills needed to implement these goals including:
Stacey Junior/Senior High School, San Antonio, TX 1. To set up a career cruising account for new students and work through it with them 2. To create a binder – also put on e-backpack – with helpful information including resume writing instructions, organizational year, activity suggestions each year, recommendation letters, and more 3. To share student outreach opportunities like summer programs, college programs, and other pertinent information through bulletin boards and social media
In addition to skills needed, students identified possible barriers they may face including:
> Technology
> Listening
> Time
> Lack of resources
> Social awareness
> Negotiation
> Competition
> Lack of involvement
> Communication
> Focus
> Buy-in
> Schedules
> Planning
> Acceptance
> Availability
> Limited technical knowledge
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MCEC Special Topic
After students outlined their goals, skills, and possible obstacles, they began determining timelines for their goals, resources needed to succeed, and marketing techniques. Students then developed measures to evaluate their successes such as surveys and reporting that aided in establishing sustainment of their goals.
What’s Next
The work of the Student Summit did not end with the close of the National Training Seminar on June 29. Each of the 21 schools is expected to implement change at their campuses, focused on enhancing the college and career readiness of all students, especially highly mobile military students. Throughout the academic year, the MCEC will work with the schools to encourage them through emails, these changes through emails, teleconferences and webinars. Additionally, the MCEC will use the aggregated results of the Summit to inform education and policy leaders of the student outcomes and to develop tools and resources that can help reduce barriers to access educational opportunity.
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Student 2 Student (S2S) Summit
Working together to create campus-specific S2S plans to enhance college, career, and life readiness for military-connected and civilian children.
Students’ Knowledge & Growth According to 66 students who attended the Summit, recommendations to overcome barriers for College and Career Readiness were practical and beneficial on the following scale: Practical Extremely Practical – 8% Very Practical – 65% Practical – 22% Somewhat Practical - 5% Not at All Practical - 0%
Beneficial Extremely Beneficial - 37% Very Beneficial - 40% Beneficial - 11% Somewhat Beneficial - 9% Not at All Beneficial – 3%
8+65+225z 37+40+1193z
How students felt about the S2S Summit: “It supplied us with tools to become college & career ready that we can share with our school and program.”
“Expanded our thought process.”
“I think this has helped me as a civilian to better understand what military kids go through and how to accommodate their needs.” “MCEC has the best leadership and character building conferences/training i have ever attended. I always leave feeling ready to change the world.”
“Learning more effective ways to work and communicate with each other and our new students.”
Additional Funding Provided by: AT&T • Microsoft • Penny Braeuer • Union State Bank Manuel D. & Rhonda Mayerson Foundation Military Child Education Coalition® 909 Mountain Lion Circle Harker Heights, TX 76548
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