The Charter Your Pathway to Success Consortium will provide the
following services and strategies to foster positive student outcomes:
following services and strategies to foster positive student outcomes:
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WORK-BASED LEARNING will provide students with the opportunity engage in common core and career learning while participating in real application by connecting career pathway instruction to hands-on workplace learning. Experiences will include, but are not limited to, apprenticeships, career fairs, field studies, guest speakers, job shadowing, and paid and unpaid internships.
SUPPORT SERVICES will include: career counseling; developing scholarship opportunities; tutoring; ELL services including use of SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) strategies; mental health counseling; transportation (bus tokens); and job placement assistance. TRANSITION SERVICES will focus on ensuring students are able to transition through the career pathways programs to post-secondary and employment opportunities with minimal barriers. Students with special needs, including special education students, will be assigned a case manager to ensure these students needs do not fall through the cracks. One-on-one personalized attention will be provided to students with special needs including transporting students to events such as financial workshops, application registration for post-secondary education, tutoring for test and test analysis to assist with passing competencies. The program will also ensure students have advantages of summer bridge college events such as experiencing college life, and first time college student workshops. INTEGRATED ACADEMIC/CAREER BASED COURSES: Students will experience cross curricular instruction focusing on common core standards with real application strategies that focus on the work world. In conjunction with the goals of the Common Core Standards to create College & Career ready graduates, career connections will be established and reinforced throughout program course sequences. These goals will be introduced and reinforced in English reading and writing tasks including journals, research projects, and literature with career themes. Student Civics and Career Training coursework will include volunteer and job-shadowing requirements. Student Mathematics coursework will incorporate explicit career problem-solving scenarios for all students. CAREER EXPLORATION AND PLANNING: Students grades 6-12 will explore career assessments and be counseled regarding their results. Students in grades 3-12 will be exposed to career surveys to formulate various careers they may consider in adulthood. Students will also explore these careers through integrated common core and career-based curriculum. K-12 students will experience Career Exploration opportunities through guided technology-based instruction centering on the various Career Technical Education (CTE) career paths. Career Exploration will include awareness through career research, post-secondary requirements, awareness and planning, field trips, career days with professionals from various business and community practitioners, and job shadowing opportunities. Student in grades 4-12 will use Eureka software to explore career and college planning. Students in grades 9-12 will be required to take a career exploration class before graduation as part of their graduation requirements. INDUSTRY SECTOR SKILLS ANALYSIS: Students will be exposed to current industry standards by using the latest technologies to research industry sector skills. Courses will be related to industry skills required to obtain certificate level promotion and or post-secondary degree. In addition students will be assessed to ensure skill level competencies are met. Students will research latest labor market trends and standards using the LIRN online library and other sources, e.g., business journals in their career pathways such as updates to industry sector information. A “roundtable” council will be formed for each career pathway; roundtable members will be comprised of business community members with occupations relevant to the career pathway. The goal is to assist students by providing current and relevant industry sector information from the perspective of small business, sole proprietorships, LLCs, and corporations local to the valley. DUAL ENROLLMENT/EARLY ADMISSION INTO POSTSECONDARY PROGRAMS: Students enrolled in career pathways will have the opportunity to earn dual credit though Fresno City College, and Agape College of Business and Science. Students will earn credit through their high schools and also through Fresno City College so that when they graduate and move to the post-secondary level they will already have college credit. Classes through Agape College of Business and Science will earn students dual credit and certifications including earning an AAS degree. PAID/UNPAID INTERNSHIPS: Fresno Career Development Institute (FCDI) is our Business partner. FCDI has expertise in employment and training programs including $3 million in large government contracts through the Department of Labor as well as state grants through WIA, of which all have been completed successfully. Due to FCDI’s past experience, the Career Pathways program will be successful in developing paid/unpaid internships. The Black, and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce will each provide access to their membership database through e-blasts and regular mail to advertise and connect with their business memberships, build capacity and develop paid and unpaid internships. Each chamber of commerce have agreed to assist in building paid and unpaid internships with their business partners. EMPLOYMENT/APPRENTICESHIPS: FCDI will work with their job developers to create feasible employment opportunities in career pathway areas. Students will also take a soft skills course on pre-employment and work maturity skills. FCDI will also work with our local WIB to assist with any summer funded opportunities that allows student employment. FCDI job developers and case managers will prepare students to successfully look for work and obtain employment. Job placement assistance will also be available. MENTORING programs will be developed through schools and also through partnering with the West Fresno Boys and Girls Clubs. Each student will be assessed for their individual needs to determine the most appropriate business mentor in their career pathway field. In most cases, mentoring will be provided by each employer during student internships and apprenticeships. |
ADVISORY GROUP PARTICIPATION: Advisory roundtables will be created in each career pathway. The advisory roundtables will meet quarterly to discuss industry trends, review program data, and give input on industry skill sets needed in the field. The roundtables will be comprised of business community members from each career pathway discipline.
FIELD TRIPS/GUEST SPEAKERS: Fields trips will be conducted to enhance program delivery. K-6 students will take monthly field trips within one career pathway according to the month’s theme. Students in grades 7-12 will also participate in field trips according to course objectives. Field trips will include but not be limited to the Planetarium at Fresno State, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Fresno City College, Community Regional Medical Center, and Bautista Medical Group. Students will also participate in hosted College and Career Fairs by two of the charters school that will allow all students from the full consortium to attend. Students will participate by witnessing live simulation of activities in the field. Career days will be conducted at each school and will feature guest speakers from the business and medical industries depending on the theme. JOB SHADOWING: Job shadowing opportunities will be developed by FCDI in each pathway field. Students will spend time with seasoned experts in their career pathway of choice and learn more through live demonstration of what they do on a daily basis. Students will be able to ask questions, which will also have a tie-in with classroom objectives and reflection assignments. VOLUNTEERING: Volunteer opportunities will be sought in mentoring, career fairs, career days, and guest speakers. Students will learn civic duty and volunteer service learning components. Students in the Ag Business Pathway will be a part of a community food drive with organic grown products. Students will volunteer in Farmers Market settings in which members of the community including homeless can enjoy free food. Students will also have job shadowing and volunteer service days with teachers to assist in the classroom. Students will be encouraged not only to attend career and college fairs but also assist in distributing information to the community. CAREER PLANNING & COUNSELING: Career and high school guidance counselors will provide career exploration courses, workshops and web-based resources that will include tools such as Eureka Career Search software, assessments, career portfolios and individualized career plan. The Career Exploration course along with other resources will increase understanding about occupations in demand and career pathways of interest to students. Business Partner Fresno Career Development Institute will provide pre-employment work maturity skills including skill building in resume writing, interviewing, and social networking job search assistance. Generational Changes Community Health Centers (community partner) will provide therapeutic counseling including coping strategies for blending work and education, work with special needs students with disorders that may create barriers to employment. Mentoring will also be provided to students through Boys and Girls Clubs. Students will be matched to a mentor according to program guidelines. Mentors will nurture students, encourage perseverance, and conduct follow-up with students. Business mentors will be provided and established by FCDI through local internships. Business mentors will give direction and advice to students on career goals. ARTICULATION/TRANSITION: State Center Community College District (SCCCD)/ Fresno City College will assist in articulation development to ensure Career Pathway programs are easily accessible. Articulation, including courses and curriculum, will provide integrated career and common core instruction to provide underserved students with college credit opportunities. Seamless articulation across educational institutions for courses, credentials, certificates, and degrees will be provided to students through the pathways offered. The Consortium will provide career pathways that are rigorous, recognizable, and relevant in the labor market. DUAL/CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT & DUAL CREDIT: Students will be able to earn dual credit at the college through articulated ICD coded courses. Dual credit will be given to students at the high school and when appropriate at the postsecondary level. INTERNSHIPS: Consortium business partners will provide students with internships that may be paid or unpaid. Additionally students will be offered job shadowing opportunities, simulations, and team class projects that are assignments inspired by local employers infused by common core career concepts. SOFT SKILLS PREPARATION: The Consortium will ensure each student involved in the career pathways will have access to tutoring, reading programs, writing workshops, and math summer institutes to decrease need for remediation classes at the postsecondary level. The Consortium will increase the ability of students to score high on placement tests by providing preparation workshops for students including ensuring students are pretested on a state approved assessment called Wonderlic. DROPOUT PREVENTION/CASE MANAGEMENT: Because many of the targeted students have a history of truancy, students will receive dropout prevention services including counseling, home visits, and school attendance incentive programs. Students will also receive case management as needed, such as referrals to community resources, childcare assistance, etc. to assure student success and ease of transition. Participating schools will provide transportation services through bus tokens as well as rides courtesy of the electric vehicle purchased with a grant from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution District. Transportation will be provided to students who have difficulty getting to school, and to work sites as needed. Finally, the schools will pool their resources such as a certified school bus to order to share transportation efforts. |