Ramos, Reif, Wood, Yahl 1

Rationale

We are developing this curriculum because we have noticed a deficit in the

amount and the ways that educators discuss college and career readiness. In the

current system, students feel tracked or forced into different paths, largely based on

their racial and socioeconomic status. We want to change this by combatting the

negative tracking thats happening today and by providing alternative options, especially

for students who arent typically exposed to a variety of post-secondary choices. We

also believe that our curriculum will actively engage students in the learning process

with skills that apply to their actual lives and teach students the empathy to recognize

the strengths of all other students.

In our current system, tracking is causing minority students to feel inadequate

and incapable of the same post-secondary options provided to their peers. This is most

problematic for urban high school students who are less likely to experience many of

the compositional, institutional, and climatic characteristics of high school that have

been linked to positive student outcomes (Cooper, 50). In particular, excessive

discipline, as described in The School to Prison Pipeline, implies that certain

minorities, especially black males, do not have any future opportunities outside of a

prison cell. There is also a growing demographic imbalance between teachers and

students, which is further aggravating the minority student belief that people like them

cant have a good future (Dixon and Seriki, 74). Other minorities, the so-called model

minority, are made to feel inadequate if they fail to achieve the stereotypical version of

success. As Brydolf points out, describing any community as the model does a

disservice to everyone (Brydolf, 106). Instead of these negative implicit messages, we

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will fill our curriculum with positive images which demonstrate potential of success for all

students.

When we exclude our students from opportunities for success, we not only inhibit

their educational experience but also their lifelong futures. Instead, we plan to improve

the current discussion of college and career readiness by expanding the options. We

believe that providing a variety of valid post-secondary choices for all students will

increase their confidence and, thus, their potential to actually choose one of these

options. We believe this is best accomplished by presenting all options-from plumber to

professor- as equally valued and important. Alfred Tatum, author of Teaching Reading

to Black Adolescent Males, accomplished this by widening his students view of what

college can do, explaining that, when I speak of college, I am not speaking of

credential; I am speaking of college in a broader sense, as an institution where a wide

body of knowledge is accessible (Tatum, 73). By reframing the goal of post-secondary

life as the acquisition of knowledge and skills rather than money or fame, Tatum

increased the number of options his students would consider taking. We believe that the

attitude of our curriculum can accomplish this as well.

In addition to increasing the potential for post-secondary success, we believe our

curriculum will engage students in school by directly connecting their academic and

extracurricular lives. After all, students who are emotionally, socially, and or

academically disengaged from the learning process upon entering high school... are

most likely to drop out as early as the end of the ninth grade (Cooper, 50). We hope to

combat this by explicitly connecting school to post-secondary life, as well as students

own cultural capital. This speaks to the definition of culturally relevant pedagogy, which
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is a pedagogical approach for increasing achievement while encouraging students

critical examination of the world around them (Dixon and Seriki, 73). Utilizing culturally

relevant pedagogy will not only encourage students to invest in their academic futures,

but it will also teach students to have empathy for peers who may select different life

paths than they chose. By placing equal emphasis on a variety of paths, we encourage

students to support their friends regardless of what their future holds. Overall, we

believe our curriculum project will not only better prepare our students for their post-

secondary realities but also encourage them to consider new options and find the best

fit for them.

Curriculum Description

The curriculum that we have designed has a large emphasis on achievement,

but not in the sense that all students are going to college, rather that achievement can

be reached regardless of post-secondary choice. We emphasized our curriculum to get

students ready for whatever post-secondary choice they make, whether that be

attending a four-year college, joining the workforce, entering the military, or attending a

technical school. We also designed this curriculum to be based on Project Based

Learning (PBL). The main way we will implement this is with the freshman and

sophomore student-led career fair. This will be explained more in depth later in this

paper.

Through projects, assemblies, and field experiences, all of our students will

receive equal networking opportunities with a variety of local organizations,

businessmen/women, college representatives, and/or local leaders, all of which can

influence a choice that a student could make for their future. We do not believe in
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tracking, as it can have vastly differing effects on the student who is being tracked. If a

student is being tracked on a college prep track, but that student wants to go into the

family business which does not require a college degree, the student should not be

pressed to do something that they are not interested in. That leads into our next couple

of points, being that we are aiming for the student to direct their learning, within state

standards.

We want activities and projects that the students do to be grounded in a topic

that they are genuinely interested in, not just assigned to them. We believe that all of

these factors added together will provide the best learning experience and let the

students decide what to do with their future and not being pushed into a choice or

decision that they do not want to pursue.

Now I will go into the day we have set aside for the monthly class meeting. The

Freshman and Sophomore class will be working on the student-led career fair. Students

will be divided into 60 groups, consisting of five members each, given that the average

class size consists of 150 students. During the last two weeks of school, the groups will

present their research on the career they were assigned in a career fair format and

middle school students will be invited to walk through the fair. This allows them to be

exposed to a wide variety of opportunities that they will later have access to in their high

school years. The careers will be randomly assigned to not give a student preference in

a group, lest they take over the project and do it all themselves.

For the first half of this designated day, the groups will do research, gathering

information about all the different aspects that go into obtaining and pursuing their

assigned career. After lunch, the classes will, depending on the day, go to a
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presentation from a positive role model from the community. This community member

will talk to students about career and job opportunities, general life skills: cooking,

cleaning, hygiene, money skills, etc. and/or present information about any local

organizations that students could be involved in. On these days, the upperclassmen will

be doing their own thing. Juniors will be visiting different field opportunities depending

on their preference. Ideally, juniors will be placed in field experiences that they have not

mentioned being interested in, or have intentions of pursuing, so they may receive

experience in a variety of occupations and options. The seniors on these days will be

participating in an internship/ job shadowing opportunity that coincides with their

selected interests while partnering with model community members. Students with

severe disabilities will be in their own seminar during these days to teach them skills

that they need, including everything from basic hygiene skills and simple cooking. We

believe that these experiences will help shape the students thinking to encompass

different careers and other post-secondary options that were not previously considered.

Curriculum Example

On the first week of school students will have an assembly covering the

expectations of the school year. During this assembly, we will inform students about the

yearlong project and the expectations for the assignment. These types of assemblies

happen every year and are pre-planned so students won't be missing any instruction.

The yearlong project contains four parts; the career fair, guest speakers, field

trips, and internships. A different part will be designated to each grade level. Freshmen

and Sophomore students will take part in creating and presenting at the career fair,
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which Middle School students and other freshmen and sophomores will attend. They

will also listen to a variety of guest speakers and attend life skill classes. The juniors will

go on field trips to different job sites and organizations, while seniors will be involved in

an internship.

During the assembly, the freshmen and sophomores will be told what group they

will be assigned to and what topic they will be responsible for researching. During the

assembly, we will also tell students the amount of time they have to gather their

information and create their presentation posters, which is 8 days, one day a month.

Students will not be permitted to use non-peer-reviewed information on their projects,

however, they may use information from someone who has the job they are

researching.

There will be 60 groups consisting of five students each, given the freshmen and

sophomore classes have 150 students each. The groups will be randomly assigned with

little to no input from teachers. The groups are random so that students build

relationships and network with peers that they may not typically associate with.

To begin, for the first part of the day, the freshmen and sophomores will work in

their groups to gather all the information needed for the project and for building their

poster. For the second half of the day, students will hear a few guest speakers talk

about their specific job. After the guest speakers, the students will go to their life skill

class to learn life skills such as, budgeting, finding and getting a job, living skills, and

most skills students will need for adult life. In two years, the students will hear different

speakers because the classes will be mixed between freshmen and sophomores. The

speakers will be from all types of jobs and organizations so students can learn what is
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offered in the real-world, rather than just hearing about the handful of jobs they may

already know about.

The presentation will contain three main parts, the career description, annual

salary, and the schooling needed for that career. The career description must contain

an up to date definition of the career. The schooling needed section must contain the

type of schooling, college or technical school, and what type of degree needed. The

annual salary must be up to date as well. This is not the only information that will be on

the poster boards the students will make, the poster should also contain information

about promotions, health benefits, and retirement benefits that career has.

The career fair is geared to help students learn about different careers and how

to obtain those careers. This way students will have the knowledge and the steps on

how to not only research careers, but also how to pursue them.

Curriculum Assessment

Our curriculums assessment will center around student success. The ways we

look to measure this is through maintaining contact with students after they graduate

and ensuring that they are pursuing post-secondary options that give them the feeling of

success for themselves, no matter what these decisions may look like for each

individual.

In order to preserve relationships with our graduates, we encourage our teachers

to maintain professional contact with students they had in class and continue to network

with their students, as a great portion of our curriculum focused on. We also look to hire

an individual whose sole occupation revolves around contacting students who have left

our schools. This person will begin contacting students one year after they graduate and
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will inquire about their latest achievements, career or schooling choices, and how their

high school may or may not have helped them to make that decision. This individual

may send out surveys about students post-secondary lives, conduct interviews about

students success, organize alumni nights, and collect statistics about our graduates.

It is important to us that all students can achieve in our school. In order to ensure

this, our assessment must analyze what portion of our student body is or is not

graduating and/or finding success after high school. Statistics that are gathered by our

hired personnel will be broken down by race and gender, ensuring that one group of

students is not repeatedly and disproportionately excelling while another continues to

fail. If there is a trend, it is our duty to see it, acknowledge it, and then change it.

Our curriculum assessment and ultimate success is based off of the success of

our students. For each student this idea of success will look different, making our main

concern that our students see themselves as successful, contributing citizens.