A series of interactive papers that provides specific guidance regarding the adoption of higher standards and quality assessments focusing on the shift to personal digital learning. aD at ehT ihS tf uF nding rpmI oiv ng aB apkc skc : rF o m utS denst , Condiit ons Porat lb e Cooh rst ot itpO ons , and and Careers : Reoc rds Coepm et nyc ihcA eev em nt oH w lB ended 5 1 0 2 & eL arner eL arning Proif les Can rpmI oev eht eT aihc ng Proef ssion nO line lB ended amS r t eS ries Personalizing sU ing Prizes eL arning : eL arning Guide ot and Guiding and Pull shtyM , Real yt lpmI eem nat it on dE et hc College eM ahc nissm & Proim se Guide 0.3 Prouc reem nt & Career ot oB os t Readiness eL arning PRE GNI Z I L A N O S D N A GGNI D I U CGEL L O E & CRA RE RSS E N I D A E Originally published as “Core and More: Guiding and Personalizing College & Career Readiness” in May 2014, updated and re-released Summer 2015. Authors: Mary Ryerse Carri Schneider Tom Vander Ark JOIN THE CONVERSATION DigitalLearningNow @DigLearningNow Facebook.com/DigitalLearningNow Getting Smart @Getting_Smart Facebook.com/GettingSmart @maryryerse @CarriSchneider @TVanderark #DigLN #SmartSeries All content and graphics are licensed CC BY-NC / Attribution-NonCommerical by the Foundation for Excellence in Education. This license lets others use and build upon this work for non-commercial uses, but only with proper attribution to the original source. Those wishing to use content or graphics must acknowledge and link to the original report or infographic with credit to the Foundation for Excellence in Education and the paper’s authors. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 3 Exhibit 1: Key Defnitions ....................................................................................................................4 Why Now? ..........................................................................................................................................6 Functions of Student Guidance .........................................................................................................7 Exhibit 2: Student Guidance Functions ..............................................................................................8 BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND .................................................12 Getting Goals Right ..........................................................................................................................13 Developing a Strong Culture ............................................................................................................13 GUIDANCE FOR COLLEGE ...................................................................15 Building Awareness in Elementary & Middle Years ..........................................................................16 Guiding the Process in High School Years: Planning & Achieving ...................................................17 Exhibit 3: Naviance ...........................................................................................................................18 Apps and Digital Resources to Support College Guidance ..............................................................19 Improving Access ............................................................................................................................19 GUIDANCE FOR CAREER ....................................................................21 Building Awareness ..........................................................................................................................22 Gaining Experience ..........................................................................................................................23 Leveraging Student Strengths ..........................................................................................................24 ADVISORY STRUCTURES ....................................................................25 A New Vision of Advisory ..................................................................................................................26 Unifying Strategies ...........................................................................................................................27 DISTRICT & STATE POLICIES AND INVESTMENTS ............................29 District and State Policies .................................................................................................................30 Investments ......................................................................................................................................31 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................32 AUTHORS’ BIOS ..................................................................................35 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................36 DISCLOSURES .....................................................................................36 ENDNOTES ...........................................................................................36 Implementing higher and clearer common expectations in core subjects is a EXECUTIVE big step forward for American education. Blended and online learning offer the complementary potential of stronger engagement, customized pathways and SUMMARY equalized opportunities.1 But helping more students reach higher standards will take more than updated core academic programs; it will require more robust guidance and support services as well. In a culture where coffee orders and cell phones are customized, there is an emerging opportunity to better support individual students’ success through: » Motivation—building sustained relationships with students, exploring areas of interest and related careers, addressing barriers to school attendance; » Customization—helping students set short and long term goals, track progress, and experience success in class, in job settings and in community services; and » Equalization—broadening exposure to college and career options, providing high touch/high tech decision support for postsecondary planning for all students. The intent of this paper is to clarify the central mission of student guidance systems, sketch the architecture of information systems and encourage aggregated demand that we hope will lead to more investment and innovation in next-generation guidance systems. Better student guidance isn’t a fx all for all problems, nor will it fulfll all the readiness keys described or guarantee that all students meet rigorous standards. However, strong guidance systems will take on a more integrated and comprehensive role in supporting academic and career readiness. Thousands of purpose-built secondary schools have been developed in the last 15 years that have incorporated teacher-led advisory systems and distributed guidance services. Combined with stronger relationships, these structures and services are central to why these schools generally have much higher graduation rates than traditional high schools. However, these practices and structures have not become the norm, in part, because of a lack of curriculum and information systems. Most teachers were not trained to participate in distributed guidance and many teachers introduced to advisory structures fnd the multiple missions and lack of support systems confusing and frustrating. In many high schools, the shuffe of a discipline-based, big-catalog master schedule can lead to a lack of sustained relationships and increased risks for students to fall through the cracks. Important outcomes get little attention with the lack of an advisory spine. Strong advisory structures, however, allow for college guidance, career guidance, homework help, academic monitoring and other guidance functions to be delivered in an integrated manner. 1 New tools and structures will not only provide better information to students and parents, they will hold the potential to: » Create within students a stronger sense of purpose for school; » Give students more supported responsibility for setting goals and tracking progress toward college and career readiness; » Provide a better early warning system and stronger academic and social safety net; » Support better choices during and after high school; » Better prepare students for 21st century careers; » Facilitate better home-to-school partnerships; and » Equalize opportunity in order to provide access for all students. In practice, the best student guidance systems are blended (leveraging technology and in-person instruction and services), distributed (leveraging staff in addition to school counselors), and scheduled (utilizing an advisory period) to ensure effective implementation and attainment of outcomes. They must connect academic preparation, thought patterns, interests and learning to students’ college and career aspirations. “Personalizing and Guiding College & Career Readiness” begins with an introduction that establishes key defnitions, describes the functions of student guidance and explains why now is the time to investigate the role of technology in creating a next-generation system of student guidance and support. The section entitled Beginning with the End in Mind establishes the importance of getting goals right and builds the case for creating a strong culture in support of student guidance. The report then moves through two comprehensive sections—Guidance for College and Guidance for Career—that each offer details on process, existing tools and current examples of best practice. The section on Advisory Structures describes a new vision for advisory, provides school and district examples and describes unifying strategies necessary to ensure impact and success. The authors conclude with an acknowledgement of both the opportunities and challenges, explaining that more robust guidance systems can play a critical role in tracking progress, boosting college and career readiness and empowering better choices. With rapidly expanding online choices, better guidance systems will be critical to ensuring that self-blends and customized pathways add up to better preparation—a key to equity and excellence, and a necessity if we are to graduate a new generation of students equipped to thrive in college and career. 2 INTRODUCTION EXHIBIT 1: KEY DEFINITIONS Before delving specifcally into the role of guidance to help students achieve standards and become college and career ready, let’s be sure to use common language: s Learning Standards. States, districts, schools and teachers are consistently reviewing and revising standards to ensure clarity on what students ought to know and be able to do. Beyond identifcation of knowledge and skills, many are also outlining dispositions and experiences students ought to gain. College and Career Readiness. A go-to expert on these topics is David Conley, r author of “Getting Ready for College, Careers, and the Common Core,” and founder of the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC). Conley’s working defnition of college and career readiness: College and career readiness refers to the content knowledge, skills, and habits that students must possess to be successful in postsecondary education or training that leads to a sustaining career. A student who is ready for college and career can qualify for and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing college courses without the need for remedial or developmental coursework.6 Further, Conley describes four keys to college and career readiness: key cognitive strategies (THINK), key content knowledge (KNOW), key learning skills and techniques (ACT), and key transition knowledge and skills (GO). These are important to know because student guidance can and SHOULD contribute to all four keys—for example, intentionally teach about academic mindset (THINK) and monitor academic progress (KNOW). Student Guidance. At the broadest level, guidance is advice or information g aimed at resolving a problem.7 As we look at guidance in the context of college and career readiness, the “problem”—or opportunity—is that of navigating through school and life into college and career. This paper refers to student guidance in a broadest sense: Guidance is an articulated process that provides information, experiences and support to students as they pursue current and future academic and career opportunities. p Personalized Learning. According to the National Education Technology Plan, “personalized learning” is paced to student needs, tailored to learning preferences and customized to the specifc interest of different learners. We believe personalized learning also includes daily engagement with powerful learning experiences, fexibility in path and pace and the application of data to inform the individual learning trajectory of each student. 4 2 Less than a third of the students in the United States are college ready —and 3 fewer yet are career ready. Despite more than a decade of advocacy for 21st century skills and better preparation for college and careers, most states continue to focus solely on the 3R’s, and most secondary schools still lack the structures, tools and culture that students need in order to be college and career ready. Even those schools that take a programmatic approach to student guidance often do so separate and segregated from the academic workings of the school. As a result, for many students, high school is a collection of courses with little goal clarity or sense of purposeful direction toward a path to college and career readiness or personal aspirations. A closer look at the issue at hand: Post-Secondary Attainment Issues. Students are not making it. According to the Educational Policy Improvement Center, of 100 middle school students, 93 want to go to college. Of those, 70 graduate from high school. Of the high school graduates, only 44 enroll in college, and just 26 of those enrolled in college will successfully 4 earn a college degree. Contrast that with current data that 81 percent of U.S. jobs are middle- or high-skilled and require at least some postsecondary education, be it a two-year or four-year degree, technical certifcation, apprenticeship or another training program. The remaining low-skilled jobs typically offer lower pay and less 5 job security. App Gaps. A recent Get Schooled report catalogues the growing array of college access apps but identifed three market gaps: » First, there are few sites that target the needs of younger students, despite growing evidence that stresses the importance of early awareness of college options, costs and requirements. » Second, there are few sites that offer end-to-end assistance throughout the college application process that empower and support students directly, without requiring the support of a parent or school. Source: Educational Policy Improvement Center 5 » Third, the most well-designed sites have not yet found their audience. Even well-intentioned programs like the College Knowledge Challenge do not have a marketing or distribution strategy to connect the tools to students who need them most. Segregated Guidance Activities. Too often, guidance and counseling activities exist only in the outdated career center with dusty college brochures and a few old desktop computers—outside of instead of within core academic activities of the school. But guidance is not just about getting in to college and surviving emotional crises—it’s also about supporting academics and cognitive activities and helping young people think about who they want to be and what they want to do. The question then becomes: What type of personalized guidance do students need to graduate ready for college and career? WHY NOW? Guidance has always been important, so why is it worth reconsidering now? There are four reasons this is a timely topic: standards, mindset, blended learning and potential for investment. Evolving Standards. Many school systems are reconsidering and restructuring curriculum, instruction and associated implementation plans. This is the perfect time to refne student guidance outcomes so that they directly contribute to, and go beyond, achievement of identifed standards. In order to meet higher standards, students need stronger guidance and support. Mindset Matters. Amidst disappointing data on college completion rates, there is a growing awareness and body of research on the importance of mindset and habits of success to increase opportunity for success. Mindset is a simple idea regarding the connection of thinking and learning identifed by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck through decades of research on achievement and success. She contrasts the fxed and growth mindsets and urges practitioners and students to adopt practices that foster a growth mindset: In a fxed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fxed traits…. They’re wrong. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually 8 all great people have had these qualities. Many schools, such as San Diego’s Kearny High School of Digital Media & Design offer student-centered projects stressing mindset, habits of mind and perseverance. In an environment that promotes a growth mindset, students understand that learning can feel frustrating at times and are praised for the effort required to persevere. Blended Models. With a rapid increase in the development and adoption of blended school models, the need to re-examine student guidance intensifes. Students need support, and often new skill sets, to meet changing course expectations, 6 technologies, schedules, and learning activities that often require increasing levels of student initiative. New structures and strategies are often required to provide such support. Online Learning. Due to students’ expanded access to part time online learning, even “non-blended” schools that do not widely integrate technology need to provide “blended guidance.” At minimum, schools must be aware of the ballooning number of course choices available and how they align with district policy and graduation requirements. States such as Louisiana are leading the way to allow students to customize their education plans through the Louisiana Course Choice initiative, which increases options for students but also raises the need for additional counseling support to help inform those decisions. Investing in Innovation. Aggregated demand for better tools would boost investment and innovation in student guidance and college and career readiness. By putting technology and innovations directly in the hands of students, the opportunities for personalization, growth and effectiveness are exponential. Boosting Education and Employment. Strong student guidance systems can boost learning and employability. As described in the book Smart Cities That Work for Everyone: 7 Keys to Education and Employment, every person, organization and region needs to get smart – to skill up, learn more and build new capacities faster and cheaper than ever. In the long run, education is the economic development agenda, and good guidance is at the core. FUNCTIONS OF STUDENT GUIDANCE With the context above, student guidance isn’t a fx-all for all problems, nor will it alone fulfll all readiness keys or guarantee that all students meet rigorous standards. However, strong guidance systems will take on a more comprehensive and integrated approach than has been traditional, and they will contribute to all four of the key areas of college and career readiness. In practice, the best student guidance systems are blended (leveraging technology), distributed (leveraging staff in addition to school counselors) and scheduled (utilizing an advisory period) to ensure effective implementation and attainment of outcomes. They must connect academic preparation, thought patterns, interests and learning to students’ college and career aspirations. There are ten guidance functions that are important enough to warrant dedicated time every day, ongoing staff development, strong coordination, an adopted curriculum and personalization tools. Further, since functions are ideally distributed, they necessitate role discussions. Norm Gybers, author of Developing & Managing Your School Guidance & Counseling Programs, emphasizes an all staff approach: A comprehensive, developmental program of guidance is based on the assumption that all school staff are involved. At the same time, it is understood that professionally certifed school counselors are central to the program. School counselors not only provide direct services to students but also work in consultative and collaborative relations with other members of the guidance 9 team, members of the school staff, parents and members of the community. 7