Boston Collegiate Charter School:

Career Readiness, Grades 5-12

April 25, 2014

P2

Consensus-gram

# Descriptor

4 Strongly Agree

3 Agree

2 Disagree

1 Strongly Disagree

A) All students should go to college.

B) High school students have a clear idea about what their likes and dislikes are.

C) The connection of college-to-career is absolutely critical to stress in order to develop a college-going atmosphere.

P3

Goals

•YWBAT reflect on career readiness best practices from Boston Collegiate

•YWBAT consider the applicability of career readiness strategies in your own school setting

P4

Agenda

1. Consensus-gram

2. Who we are

3. Best Practices

4. Lessons Learned

5. What’s applicable?

6. Q and A

P5

Who We Are: Our Mission• The mission of Boston Collegiate Charter School is to

prepare each student for college.

• We do this through:1. Maintaining a Community Where Students are Known

As Individuals2. Balancing Strict Structures with Positive

Reinforcement3. Ensuring Rigorous College Preparatory Academics4. Using Data to Identify and Fill Gaps in Knowledge

and Skills5. Explicitly Teaching and Coaching Students Towards

College-Readiness 6. Hiring Smart, Outstanding People and Encouraging

Them to Stay at BCCS… because “Without Great Teachers, Nothing Else Matters.”

• As a result…– 100% of our graduating seniors have

been accepted to college since 2004.

P6

Who We Are: Building Toward Proficiency

0102030405060708090100

Math English Science

5th 6th 7th 8th 9th/10th

2013 MCAS Advanced and Proficient Scores

P7

Who We Are: College Persistence

• 50% of the class of 2004– our first high school graduates– received a college degree

• Of the class of 2010, which was the first class with which we focused on college persistence and alumni programming, 87% are still enrolled in college (80% 4 year, 7% 2 year)

• 98% of our alumni note that BCCS prepared or over-prepared them academically for college (52% say “over-prepared”!)

P8

Who we are: College-Going Culture

“BCCS has made me realize my strengths and my weaknesses.  It has made me think that I want to be successful and possibly pursue a career in engineering.” –Jillian Arroyo Mark

“BCCS has helped me think about my future career because I’ve been writing about stuff inside and outside of school that inspires me to create movies; I want to be a director.” –Jacob Curley

“BCCS has helped me by making me realize that I’m not just some dumb kid who gets by on luck and miracles. They have helped me realize that I truly can do whatever I want and they have inspired me to be curious and teach myself new things.” –Robert McCann

What kind of culture is needed at a school to elicit

these responses?

P9

Best Practices: Bridges to Success

Grade Partner School

5 Curry College

6 MIT

7 Babson

8 Tufts University

9 Boston University

10 Massachusetts College of Art/Wentworth

11 Alumni Campuses

12 UMASS Boston

P10

Best Practices: Career Fair

Grades 5 and 6

•Career Fair•15 professionals•Musical Tables•Career exposure and exploration•Role of Higher Education

P11

Best Practices: HS Transition Portfolios

• 8th-to-9th Interview Process• Focus on identification of strengths and weaknesses• Explore majors of initial interest, important facts, and connected

careersStudent Work:

P12

Best Practices: Collegiate Skills

9-12 Collegiate Skills Course Sequence

Grade Collegiate Skills Course

9 CS 9: Collegiate Bootcamp

10 CS 10: My Paths

11 CS 11: Junior Seminar

12 CS 12: Senior Seminar

P13

Best Practices: CS 10

• Personality and Career Inventories

• Job Shadow Day

• Guest Speakers

• Internship Prep

• My Paths Project

P14

Best Practices: CS 11

Career Symposium

•40+ professionals

•Mingling and network event with students

•Internship leads

•Art of small talk

P15

Best Practices: CS 11

Internship Prep

•Mock interviews with local professionals

•Resume writing

•Networking

•Business etiquette

P16

Best Practices: CS 11

Internship•2-weeks off-site•Local businesses, organizations, and partners

Sample Internship Sites

New England AquariumBoston Medical Center

National Center for Time and LearningBPD/Domestic Violence Unit

Life is GoodRed Sox Marketing Department

Liberty Mutual

P17

Best Practices: CS 12

Reality 101 Programming•2nd half of senior year•Alumni guest speakers•Financial Literacy course

P18

Best Practices: Alumni Internships

Director of Alumni Programming•Next big focus: ensuring alumni are placed in competitive internships

P19

Lessons Learned

1. Be intentional across all grades

2. Use local resources

3. Involve your development office; great opportunity for volunteers and donors

4. High School Internship needs to be in junior year

5. Actively connect and support Alumni with internships

P20

What’s applicable?

• Think across grade levels: what already exists?

• What can be enhanced?

• What can you add that you are not currently doing?

• Develop an action plan: 2 months/summer/next year

P21

Questions and Answers