A couple years ago my daughter and I visited the Old Salem village in Winston-Salem. Old Salem is a historical museum portraying the day-to-day life of early Moravian settlers in North Carolina. One of the first things we learned about the inhabitants of this village is that they had an average life span that was several years longer than the national average at that time.

Hmmm…I couldn’t help but wonder why. Surely, the quality of their lifestyle had something to do with it. But what were they doing that was so different from other communities?

My conclusions are far from scientific–perhaps based more on the musings of a mother and educator who would like more for her children and grandchildren. But I suspect these people made it easier for their offspring to succeed by doing three things:

1. Surrounding them with a caring community that was completely committed to helping them find their way toward responsible adulthood
2. Equipping them with a solid education that emphasized both academic and practical life skills
3. Providing real world training opportunities that empowered them to survive and thrive on their own with marketable skills

In other words, they provided the ultimate “leave no child behind” experience—without the end-of-grade tests!

One of the most powerful examples of this premise was evident in the Single Brother’s House. By the age of 14, the village’s young boys were brought here to begin a seven year apprenticeship. Essentially, this is where they learned to be men, where they learned how to be productive, contributing members of their society, and where they learned to how to make a good living.  Master craftsmen shared their expertise to help prepare a new (and highly skilled) generation of tailors, joiners, clockmakers, shoemakers, tinsmiths, and other viable trades.

And, get this…

There were equal educational opportunities for girls! Quite a radical concept for the late 1700s.  Girls received the same offering of well-rounded academics, arts, and music! Their training differed in that, instead of official apprenticeships, they were trained in crafts more associated with home-making such as weaving, fine needlework, and laundry. But prior to marriage, they too were offered opportunities to put these skills to work as teachers and workers in the Single Sister’s weaving shop, laundry, and other enterprises.

The common denominator for both girls and boys was this–nobody was pushed out of the nest before they were ready to fly!

Fast forward to the 21^st century where one in four public school children drop out before they finish high school.  According to the recently released Building a  Grad Nation report, that’s 1.3 million students a year — one every 26 seconds, 7,000 every school day, folks! To add insult to injury, those students who do graduate and complete college often face staggering student loan debt and stagnant employment opportunities.

Really?

Surely, we can do better than this.  The future—ours and theirs—depends on it.

• transform teaching and learning
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Their world class curriculum integrates  “academic rigor and standards-based content with realistic application in areas such as design and product development, information systems, environmental sustainability, global economics, and personal finance.”  Heavy on STEM, infused with real world learning, and supported with professional development and community partnership opportunities,  Ford PAS is shaking things up in exciting ways all across the country.

Find out more at http://www.fordnglc.com and http://www.fordpas.com.

My email box quickly filled with promising replies from young professionals looking to exert some social media muscle. The candidates were impressive.

First came Yoonmi, an enthusiastic go-getter with a background in PR.  Rachel, a recent UNC graduate and young marketing professional, came prepared with a list of terrific marketing ideas!  Dylan was next, a journalism school student, fresh from a summer course in social media marketing.

It was a promising mix of talent and potential.  The makings of a social media dream team.

The search for one intern became a multi-faceted team project. Four teams were formed—marketing, publicity, new business development, and product development—and a profit-sharing agreement sealed the deal.

Rounding out the teams with fresh talent (nearly all discovered via additional Craigslist ads):  Susan, an up-and-coming graphic designer, Carmen, an experienced writer with terrific New York City credentials, and social-media savvy Bill, executive director of Lemonade International, a youth-oriented nonprofit organization.

Their goal? Use social media marketing tools to put Bright Futures Press on the map.

Now the interns are back in school leaving me with a fresh new website, a Twitter page, a Facebook, and this blog. Here’s hoping we find online ‘friends’ who want to help young people find bright futures as much as we do!

Diane Reeves
Author and Publisher, Bright Futures Press

(co-author, The CareerAcademy Toolkit)

Democrats are in the process of realigning educational reform to their beliefs. Their main goal is to move students out of schools which are failing students and which parents would not willing send their children. However, the real challenge for Democrats will be not to bow to political pressure to do things the way they have always been done, especially in Washington.

President Obama’s education initiative, Race to the Top, with a $100 billion increase in general federal aid to education, has been accepted by both parties all across the nation. His top two conditions for Race to the Top funding are charter schools (could be career academies at the high school level) and teacher merit pay. In fact, Arne Duncan, was probably chosen as Secretary of Education, because in Chicago he opened numerous charter schools.

These charter schools at the high school level, if they are structured as career academies, advocate thoughtful action for social justice, encourage parental choice, decrease the high school drop out rate, and endorse accountability by producing more students who are both ready for career and college. All of these initiatives that Democrats favor can be found in the current career academies.

The first initiative is advocating thoughtful action for social justice. All students should have equal opportunities in their education, but the space between the have and have-nots is ever-widening, even in schools. Career academies have both policies and teachers who care about all students along with a structure and curriculum in place that promotes student engagement, both in school and in the community. (For curriculum, read Sticky Learning, another book co-authored by Sandy Mittelsteadt.)

Parental choice is the second initiative. Because career academies are a school-within-a-school with a specific career theme or focus, academies must compete for students and make their program both attractive to students and parents in order for a student to elect to attend a particular academy. Competing academies have both improved the educational experiences and broadened the opportunities for their students.

Not dropping out of high school is another advantage of students who attend an academy. A more positive way to state this is that academy students are more apt to graduate from high school. Students in academies attend high school more often, probably because students elect to be in an academy, so they are more agreeable to attend school. The more students stay in class, the more they are motivated to learn. The more motivated students are, they more they are engaged in learning. The more engaged students are, the more they learn. This, them, becomes a circle: the more they learn, the more they are motivated to learn more. Students who graduate from high school are generally encouraged to attend college or post-secondary learning. This brings us to the next initiative.

The fourth initiative is that career academies endorse accountability by producing more students who are both ready for career and college. Students who feel they are college ready make an effort to attend college or receive post-secondary learning. Students who immediately go to work are more ready to learn and comply with company policy and any additional training that the company supplies.

Because career academies work is the major reason Democrats like career academies! They may require more time and resources in order to be successful, but Democrats feel career academies are well worth the effort. They are a time-tested strategy that results in more students who are successful in the real world.

If you are interested in learning more about career academies, contact Sandy Mittelsteadt at sandra.mittelsteadt or 661.900.8922. Sandy had been working with career academies from the local community level to the national level. She knows all aspects of career academy development, along with curriculum that produces learning.

Reason Number Two: Your school wants to connect the rigor of college-prep courses with the relevancy of the “real” world. If the “real” world context is embedded in the classroom, students are motivated to learn.

Reason Number Three: Your school wants to consider high school reform efforts that are inclusive of all students including high achievers and those at–risk for failure. Schools should not be tracking students. All students are smart in some way, so teachers need to help students figure out how they are smart and can succeed with the “smarts” they have.

Reason Number Four: Your school wants to find proven methods of increasing attendance and graduation rates. Academies support students and make them feel welcome and valued. Of course, students who feel wanted stay in school.

Reason Number Five: Your school wants to build partnerships among educators, employers, parents, and community leaders. Most business leaders don’t know to “get their arms around” a high school, but, these same leaders know how to connect with a health academy or an engineering academy.

Reason Number Six: Your school wants to implement strategies that increase teacher job satisfaction and effectiveness. Teaching can be a lonely profession when a teacher closes the classroom door. Most teachers love being part of a team and sharing ideas and strategies with other teachers.

Reason Number Seven: Your school wants to build a sense of belonging and well-being among its students. Think of the career academy as a gang – except this is a positive gang. Why do students join a gang? The answer is to belong and be accepted.

Reason Number Eight: Your school wants to find proactive ways to decrease discipline problems and prevent violence. Again, students who feel welcome and accepted don’t need to cause discipline problems to be noticed.

Reason Number Nine: Your school wants to challenge students to perform at their full potential. Because career academies are a school within a school, teachers know each individual student and can challenge students to a higher level of achievement.

Reason Number Ten: You want to do all that you can to prepare your students to succeed in the workplace and to assume roles of responsible citizenship. Teachers in a career academy generally have more autonomy and can accomplish more than the regular high school teacher or counselor or administrator.

When you are ready to start a career academy, go online to www.brightfuturespress.com and order a copy of the definitive how-to guide: Career Academy Toolkit: A Think It Through, Get It Going, Make It Happen Planning Guide for Career Academies and Other Types of High School Small Learning Communities by Sandy Mittelsteadt and Diane Lindsey Reeves.

Research increasingly supports the idea that bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to educating teenagers (or people of any age for that matter). The simple truth is that too many students are now attending “super-sized” high schools and they become lost in the mast of students. This trend promotes students being isolated, alienated, and disengaged. This, in turn, leads to school becoming boring, meaningless, and frustrating. There is no connection between what the students learn in school and what they experience in the “real” world. And this is just as likely to be true for potentially high-achieving students as it is for those at-risk of failure.

Compounding these trends is that quite often the school structure, focus, and curriculum are just as outdated as the school size. In fact, the typical American high school looks a lot like it did when the parents of today’s teens went to school: same schedule, same grading scale, same subjects, and same calendar. This system worked fine during the industrial era when one-third of students went on to college, another third found well paying jobs with a high school diploma, and even drop-outs and low achievers stood a chance of finding gainful employment.

However, that’s not the case today. It’s a new world out there. Powered by ever-changing, mind-boggling technology, today’s students enter a workplace where information is power, where jobs require highly technical skills and knowledge, where a solid education is the key to getting anywhere. Now, more than ever before, education must prepare lifelong learners who are ready to succeed in the workforce.

The good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the entire educational system to enjoy the benefits (and there are many) of career academies. It’s more a matter of redefining the high school experience. Starting right where you are, using resources you already have, and common sense ideas about the way education should be.

Thus, career academies are an idea whose time has come. In career academies across this nation, we see students who want to come to school; teachers who want to teach; and communities and employers who reap the benefits of well-prepared graduates ready to take on the world.

That’s the big deal about career academies!

To address the high school drop out rate and improve the number of students graduating from high school, educators, policymakers and community business leaders are supporting the strategy of career academies in high schools. Career academies are not the latest fad; they have been around for at least forty years. Career academy experts know what works and what doesn’t. The Career Academy Toolkit is a book that describes the process of creating and establishing a career academy in great detail.

So what are the benefits of these career academies? They are that students have improved high school attendance, additional earned credits, higher grade point averages and graduation rates, and are more career and college ready.

The first benefit of career academies is improved high school attendance: Because students elect to be in an academy, they are more apt to attend school. The more students stay in class, the more they are motivated to learn. The more motivated students are, they more they are engaged in learning. The more engaged students are, the more they learn. This, them, becomes a circle: the more they learn, the more they are motivated to learn more.

Motivation is one of the major keys to the success of academies. Academies do several motivation strategies, such as integration of the curriculum between both academic and technical courses. Now students not only learn the knowledge, but they have the opportunity to apply it. We, at Bright Futures Press, call this “Sticky Learning.” Because academies have partnerships between the academy and the community, students can then go into the “real world” to see how their learning truly fits there. This is exciting for students and reinforces the classroom learning.

Additional earned credits by students in a career academy is the second benefit. Based on benefit number one, students who stay in school tend to earn more high school credits and the more high school credits students earn; the more they are apt to graduate.

Another benefit is higher grade point averages. Students need credits to graduate and students who stay in school earn the credits to graduate. Students on the path to graduation have more self esteem and have improved motivation to learn more, which increases their grade point averages. Students who graduate from high school are generally encouraged to attend college or post-secondary learning.

The fourth benefit is that students are more career and college ready. Students who feel they are college ready make an effort to attend college or receive post-secondary learning. Students who immediately go to work are more readily to receive company policy and any additional training that the company supplies.

Now let’s discuss the cons of career academies. There are three major cons to career academies. One is that they are more expensive to establish and implement. The second is that they are difficult to schedule, and lastly, they require partnerships between education and the community.

Career academies work! They require more time and resources in order to be successful, but they are well worth the effort. They are a time-tested strategy that results in more students who graduate on time ready both/or for a career or college. If you are more interested in career academies, contact Sandy Mittelsteadt at sandra.mittelsteadt or 661.900.8922. Sandy had been working with career academies from the local community level to the national level. She knows all aspects of career academy development.