Pure Academy Classes Why and How?

Erin FenderCollege & Career Academy Support Network (CCASN),

UC Berkeley, Graduate School of Education

Produced for presentation at the National Career Academy Coalition Annual Conference

Phoenix, AZ October 2013

Erin Fender

Former whitewater rafting guide Former high school science teacher Former Assistant Principal Former Small Learning Community Project

Director With CCASN for 5 years

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Who is in the Room?

Name Where from Role

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Formed in 1998 by a group of practitioners and researchers

A secondary school reform center based at UC, Berkeley & Irvine

Promotes researched-based practice to improve students’ preparation for college and careers through direct technical support to states, districts, schools and teachers

Conducts practice-based research and documentation

Informs local, state and national policy

Worked in over 20 states

About CCASN

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– Over 20 implementation guides

– National repository with 650+ lesson plans, units and projects that link academic disciplines to specific industry sectors

– Research reports

– National directory of academies

– Toolbox of downloadable materials

– Videos, and more

http://casn.berkeley.edu

Currently revising CCASN Master Scheduling Guide

On the CCASN website– casn.berkeley.edu

Resources tab Guides, articles,

presentations Academy Design

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What do we mean by “pure” classes?

Where 100% of the students are scheduled into the same classes as a cohort

Students have at least 3 of the same classes – ideally blocked together

I have to go play on the soccer team now. See you in the 5th inning.

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Why Pure Academy Classes Matter

Integrated Projects Study/Field trips – decreases disruption to

other teachers Creates a cohesive family atmosphere Students can lean on each other for help and

to figure out what they missed if absent Teachers know who students have for other

classes

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Why Pure Academy Classes Matter

Teachers know when students have tests, projects, other big assignments in other classes

What can you add to this list?

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How many periods do you have to work with?

The more the better.

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As always – start with the end in mind

Master Schedule considerations: Program of Study Cohort size Cohort structure Coding of courses Coding of students

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Design a Program of Study to:

Avoid tracking

Provide the full complement of options for acceleration and remediation

Promote student interest

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To Avoid Tracking

Take stock of what levels of courses do you currently offer? “Regular” English College-prep English Honors English AP Language AP Literature Expository Writing English Language Development Levels 1,2,3 4 Academy themed English

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What about Advanced Placement ?

The big hiccup is English and social studies Embedded Honors/AP with zero period and/or

afterschool support The amazing teacher that can do AP and embed a

career theme Double up – kids take both the themed and AP

version Online courses – Apex, Straighterline, etc. What else?

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What about International Baccalaureate (IB)?

New IB Career-related Certificate (IBCC) Built around three interconnected elements:– at least two Diploma Programme courses– an IBCC core that includes approaches to learning,

community and service, language development and a reflective project

– an approved career-related study.

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Brain Research says…

When people learn in an applied context they access many more neural networks, hooking new knowledge more deeply into existing schema.

Translation – students learn more and it sticks when learning is connected and applied in authentic contexts.

Newmann, F.M. Smith, B, & Allensworth, E (2001) Instructional program coherence: what is it and why it should guide school improvement policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23/4 (297-321) .

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Think about the prior slide in context of ELL

Level 1 students need ELD courses outside the academy-themed courses

Level 2 & 3 students will benefit from learning English in context and with increased relevancy, may need additional support

Level 4 and up should be in all academy classes

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Integration of CTE and Academic Courses

UC Integration Institute Courses provides a 2 for 1 in the Master Schedule

Check out the UCCI Course Catalog on the web

Allows acceleration and/or remediation courses in a students schedule

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Cohort Size and Structure

Let’s examine the effect of the number of students in an academy/cohort and the effect of the master schedule structure on the academy/cohort.

Phil’s Master Schedule Team Calculator(show excel table)

•A 6 period student day•Faculty that teach 5 periods per day•An academy/cohort with 120 students•An academy with 4 teachers•A class size of 30 students•The 120 students are divided into 4 groupings of 30 each: A, B, C, D

Let’s look at an academy with the following:

Per 1 Per 2 Per 3 Per 4 Per 5 Per 6

Course 1 PREP A B C DCourse 2 PREP B C D ACourse 3 PREP C D A BCourse 4 PREP D A B C

Pathway with 120 students(Each Letter Represents a Group of 30 Students in this Pathway)

ABCD

AB

CD

Aspects of this structure:• Common prep• Teachers teach one

period out of the academy

• Students take 4 classes in academy and 2 out

• Students in academy can go out for classes during period 1 & 6

• Academy field trips complicated by 6th period outside class (students in academy periods 3-6 improves the ability to take field trips) Now let’s see what happens with 30 more

students

Per 1 Per 2 Per 3 Per 4 Per 5 Per 6

Course 1 PREP A B C D ECourse 2 PREP B C D E ACourse 3 PREP C D E A BCourse 4 PREP D E A B C

Pathway with 150 students(Each Letter Represents a Group of 30 Students in this Pathway)

BA

DC

A

E

BC

DE

Aspects of this structure:

• Common prep• Teachers teach all 5

periods in the academy

• Students take 4 classes in academy and 2 out

• Students in academy can go out for classes during any period 1 – 6 (a student can change group to go out any period)

• Academy field trips complicated by students taking classes outside of the academy during all periods of the day Now let’s see what happens with 300 students

The 300 Student Model

The 300 student model on the next page has the following attributes:• 8 teachers all with common prep• Teachers teach all 5 periods in the academy• Each teacher teaches 150 of the 300 students – internal rotation of

classes will allow all teachers to work with all students• Students take 4 classes in academy and 2 out• Students in academy can go out for classes during any period 1 – 6

(a student can change group to go out any period)• Academy field trips complicated by students taking classes outside

of the academy during all periods of the day

Now we will take a look at this model and follow a band student in group A who also takes Algebra 2

Per 1 Per 2 Per 3 Per 4 Per 5 Per 6

English Prep A B C D EEnglish Prep F G H I JHistory Prep B C D E FHistory Prep G H I J AScience Prep C D E F GScience Prep H I J A B

Tech Prep D E F G HTech Prep I J A B C

Pathway with 300 students(Each Letter Represents a Group of 30 Students in this Pathway)

All Out E & J A & F B & G C & H D & I

Band Alg 1Alg 2Geom

ChemPhysics

Alg 2

AP CourseWorld

Language

AP CourseWorld

Language

AP CourseWorld

Language

Coding Courses in your SIS

Set up separate course codes for each academy course

Example English 11 Engineering = E11ENG English 11 Health – E11HEL English 11 Hospitality – E11HOS

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Course Selection Sheets

Pre-program so students make the fewest choices possible– Example - A student bubbles choice of academy

this automatically triggers your SIS to enroll them in the academy cohort courses

– Example – Students are forced to choose from a limited menu

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Coding Students

Students should be “tagged” by Academy in the SIS

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Communication b/t Academy and Counselor

Collaborate to figure it out together when students need to move courses for any number of reasons – Beginning of year balancing– Not a fit for student interest– Not a fit for student needs

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Strategies to keep purity to avoid/when students fail courses

Communication with families/students Standards-based grading Afterschool options Summer School Independent Study Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Community College courses Stand alone make-up courses during the school year

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Communication with Families

As an academy you have an increased ability to communicate and with your students and their families when students are falling short and heading toward a D or F grade – divide and conquer

Provide support structures so students don’t fail– Afterschool tutoring– (Peer) Mentoring– Revision and redemption

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Standards-based grading

Students pass benchmarks aligned to the standards.

If a student fails a benchmark they are given a chance to remediate during the school year for that particular standard(s)

If students need to continue to work on a standard during summer school or through independent study they only have to show they have learned the specific standard(s) – not an entire semester that may or may not line up with what they failed.

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Online Coursework

BYU, Apex (AP), OdysseyWare, Pearson, etc.

Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs)– Udemy– iTunes U– Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Duke, Harvard, UCLA,

Yale, Carnegie Mellon

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Q & A

Thank you

Erin Fender efender@berkeley.edu

http://casn.berkeley.edu

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