This presentation reviews Sourcewell’s cohort model approach to supporting career and college readiness programming in Minnesota’s Region 5 schools. We’ll explore two common questions within high school career readiness programming: “How can schools create equitable opportunities for students and where should we prioritize our time to maximize impact?” Specifically, schoolwide course mapping, engagement of local workforce, and data-informed action planning.
Sourcewell is a service cooperative created by the Minnesota legislature as a local unit of government and is governed by local elected municipal officials and school board members. Central to Sourcwell’s mission is its Education Solutions arm which works closely with Region 5 school districts. The career pathways program, now in its 4th year, is a cohort-based support with 8 career pathways specialists who visit a combined 18 high schools weekly throughout the school year to support administrators, teachers, and counselors achieve their career and college readiness goals.
The School Superintendents Association’s (AASA) “Redefining Ready!” is a research-based metrics program that tracks and aligns the ongoing work high school’s implement to better prepare students for post-secondary opportunities.1 This session will share how regional programming, guided by Redefining Ready!, utilizes SchooLinks, data protocols, and coursework design supports school partners in their work towards equitable progress in career and college readiness.
In this session, Sourcewell consultants will provide an overview of how to leverage SchooLinks to engage students in career and college exploration. The development of meaningful student portfolios (Personal Learning Plans), Course Planner features, and Experience Tracker data analysis will be shared. Additionally, the SchooLinks platform will highlight the process for efficiently engaging business connections.
School Districts participating in the cohort explore and share their career readiness impact data to create a community of transparency and accountability. The Redefining Readiness metrics serve as “North Stars”. The data protocol section will address how to orient schools in the beginning of the school year towards data goals, how data informs early school year actions, and the conversations and troubleshooting needed for continuous improvement. Closing out, communication strategies and our year-end data protocol will be shared with the group.
Lastly, this presentation highlights the ways the cohort supports schools to creatively reconfigure high school pathway course offerings. This includes opportunities through Youth Skills Training to provide coursework opportunities in both Healthcare and Agriculture through a collaborative, multi-district effort. Integration of the core subject areas within each pathway will be addressed.
The Career Pathways Program and the cohort of school professionals work closely together throughout a school year to share best practices, celebrate accomplishments, and increase the opportunities available to Region 5 students. Pivotal in this work is the deployment of SchooLinks, collaboration on coursework design and schedule, and accountability through reliable career and college readiness data. The cohort model allows schools to share methods and lessons learned with the belief that shared engagement leads to continuous improvement and growth.
1 Redefining Ready. (2024). National college and career readiness indicators. Redefining Ready. Retrieved from https://www.redefiningready.org/career-ready
You'll learn:- How to get creative with the master schedule to provide more opportunities for students
- Ideas for how to maximize the use of SchooLinks in your district
- Strategies for data collaboration and examination
