Integrated Learning Conference: The School-to-Career Connection Break Out Session Friday, November 6, :45-9:45 a.m.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania AIU 3 Presented by: Rhonda Bielawski Shannon Connor Diane Feliciani Bryan Kiggins Erica Zinsser

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 North Allegheny School District is an attractive community (pop. 45,000+) located twelve miles north of Pittsburgh consisting of 48 square miles.  Much of the District is suburban-residential.  North Allegheny is the largest suburban school district in Allegheny County. The District is also one of the largest employers in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, employing over 1,000 people.

The North Allegheny facilities consist of:  7 Elementary Schools (K-5) 3,484 students 8 counselors  3 Middle Schools (CMS, IMS, MMS 6-8) 1,971 students 6 counselors  2 High Schools (NAI 9-10, NASH 11-12) 2,712 students 10 counselors

Cumulative Quality Point Average for the Class of 2016 First tenth (top 10%)… …………………………………… First fifth (top 20%)………………………………………… Second fifth (top 40%) Third fifth (top 60%) Fourth fifth (top 80%) North Allegheny offers 23 AP courses and 51 Honors Level courses for students. 90% of the class of 2015 planned to attend a 2 or 4 year college.

 Define council purpose (start with the end in mind)  Develop core team  Create membership list  Decide structure of council (use of domains)  Solicit administrative support  Determine logistics  Generate agenda  Send out invitations with RSVP

 Budget  Administrative Support  Stakeholder Availability  Stakeholder Interest/Support  Counseling Department Numbers  Time

 Two Meetings per Year (2 hours - breakfast or lunch while networking )  Fall Meeting - October/November each year  Spring Meeting - April/May each year  Locations  On site  Local colleges, career center, businesses  Stakeholders ( stakeholders typically attend)  24 Counselors  Teachers  3-6 Administrators  Parents  5-8 Former and Current Students  5-8 College Representatives  5-8 Business Owners  1-2 Board Members Meetings :

 Breakfast/Lunch Networking Time  Department Updates  Future Initiatives  Presentations on Topics of Interest by Core Team  Group Work  Reports/Findings from Group Work  Goal Setting  Guest Speakers  Wrap Up  Follow Up with Notes

 Stakeholders were unaware of the role of the school counselor  Stakeholders are interested and supportive  Career counseling is important to our stakeholders  Counseling department needs to stay current with trends and evolve  Goal setting and planning drive our program What We Have Learned :

 Base goals around purpose  Use stakeholder feedback/input to guide the development of goals  Ensure they are SMART goals (specific, measureable, achievable, results focused, time bound)  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t reach goal  Revise as you go  Focus on successes!

 Career Domain - Job Shadowing Opportunities ▪ Stakeholders showed great interest ▪ Legal obstacles ▪ Using outside resources  Academic Domain - Finding Sparks and Connecting Those with Career Clusters ▪ Elementary career lessons focus on finding sparks and career clusters ▪ Integrate Career Cluster document with scheduling process ▪ Change focus from specific careers to personal interests and abilities  Personal/Social Domain - Mental Health Initiatives ▪ In-serviced Pupil Services Team (psychologists, counselors, nurses, social workers, student assistance coordinators) about mental health trends ▪ Mental health experts presented to the council ▪ Informational brochure about mental health disorders created and distributed to staff at senior high school Goals Derived From Council :

The goal was to increase the percentage of 11 th grade students who have completed a job shadow experience from 16% to 25%. ▪ Introduced the importance of job shadowing for students (Fall 2013) ▪ Developed a goal mandating job shadowing for all juniors. Stakeholders were passionate about this goal (Fall 2013-Spring 2014) ▪ Surveyed all juniors for baseline data (Spring 2014) ▪ Investigated possibilities of a mandatory job shadow experience for all juniors in the district (Summer 2014) ▪ Road blocks to implementation (Summer 2014) ▪ Despite roadblocks, stakeholders still showed an interest (Fall 2014) ▪ Modified goal to increase number of junior shadow study opportunities (Fall 2014) ▪ Surveyed all juniors to gather data to determine if we reached our goal (Spring 2015) ▪ Local IU Career Education and Academic Events Coordinator presented to Advisory Council (Spring 2015) ▪ Exploring integration of job shadowing during School Counseling Curriculum Review (Fall 2015) Sample Timeline of Goal :

 Examined program and established K-12 consistency with a cohesive developmental program  Helped to establish K-12 department goals focusing on Personal/Social, Academic and Career domains  Assisted our counseling program to become more data driven to justify department needs and wants to our stakeholders  Networked with board members, parents and community members to highlight counseling program and educate them about our department and student needs  Became more transparent and accountable to our stakeholders Making our K-12 Counseling Team Stronger :

 Discover impact on School Counseling Curriculum Review process  Continue having 2 meetings a year  Revise and evaluate goals through input from our stakeholders in line with ASCA and trends  Build stronger ties with businesses and colleges  Solicit ongoing support from department, administration, faculty Advisory Council Future :