October Meeting

Notes I took from the October PSLP meeting for myself and anyone else who is trying to work through this process and develop a good PSLP program:

Kuder:
1. Contacted Kuder about having a button on our portal page to change the language from English to Spanish for those parents who can only speak and read Spanish.

2. Our guidance counselors and teachers need to have a faster way for the students to take the self-assessments. Right now it takes three periods (their career shop periods) to get the students logged in to Kuder and to take one self-assessment. That's about 120 minutes total.

3. Organize a freshman orientation (not done for 2009-2010 freshmen). They could log into Kuder on that day and take a self-assessment.

4. Delsea pre-labeled index cards with the students log-in information and printed out directions for reference. Definitely doing this for next year. Counselors and/or advisors will keep copies of the cards in case students lose their log-in information.

Advisory:
1. We are going to schedule an advisory period for next year. Teachers will follow same students from 9 - 12 grade. Phys. Ed teachers will be involved in advisory as well.

2. Some schools have an advisory period every day for 20 minutes. Some schools have an advisory period three days a week. I think for this year, we're looking at once a month.

3. Pair counselors with advisors.

4. Volunteer advisors first?

Miscellaneous:
1. I designed the brochure for the parents and teachers; once the program is running, have a contest for students to design the brochure and logo for our S.U.C.C.E.S.S. program.

2. Rutgers is going to visit the school to interview the principal, two teachers, and two counselors.

3. Possibly put something on the local cable channel talking about the PSLP program for next year. Have some of the Video/TV Production students design this?

4. Brochure written in Spanish as well as English.

Parent Involvement:
1. One school had a drivers - ed program -- if students wanted to drive to school, the parent/guardian/caring adult had to attend a nighttime drivers ed workshop -- Director of NJ Highway Traffic Safety came to speak to the parents and students. Those students who attended with a parent/guardian/caring adult were able to drive to school and park on campus.

2. CCTS has a new childcare program -- could we use the students in the program to offer babysitting services to parents who come to nighttime events?

3. At community cultural events -- have a booth to get information out about our programs to the prospective students and parents.

Challenges

There are a lot of challenges in education. So after sixteen years in education, challenges should be nothing new to me, especially when starting a new program. One of the big challenges is that our teachers do not have a contract and have not had one for two years. Scheduling any after school meetings or trainings or asking them to do anything new is very difficult this year. Some of the elements of the project the team needs to accomplish are:

1) Get the students onto the Kuder Navigator system - it's been slow getting all the students onto the site because we have close to 500 students in our freshmen class. The guidance counselors have been working hard since we started using Kuder at the beginning of October. The personality tests take about 20 minutes each, so the students use at least one period to input their information and then to take one of the tests. This process is something we'll have to work out - do we have the students take the tests with the guidance counselors, during their phys. ed classes (which are two periods, two days per week) or do they take them at home?

2) Student-led conferences -- at the NJASCD PSLP workshop in September the team saw a video of student led conferences. Wow! What a powerful tool for the students. I loved how the students took ownership of their education. So I'll have to meet with the principal on our team and figure out how this can be done. It may not happen this year - but hey, the pilot program is two years.

3) Advisory period -- a key component in the student-led conferences is having advisors for the students. Setting up an advisory period or periods is going to prove challenging because when do we work it into the schedule, are we going to have to negotiate this with the union (and can we even do that) first or do we just make it part of the schedule once a month? I get energized and exhausted at the same time by all the ideas and things that could be with this PSLP program.

4) E-portfolios -- this is an element of the PSLP program I've discussed with the freshmen English teachers, but need to educate the teachers on these so the portfolios don't become a dumping ground for just anything. The e-portfolios could and should also be used as part of the student-led conferences.

I'm sure other challenges will come up along the way -- it wouldn't be education or life if there weren't challenges.

NJ ASCD and CSSR Workshop

On Sept. 22nd the first workshop for Personalized Student Learning Plans was held at NJPSA/FEA and it was called: Creating Student-Centered Learning Through Personalized Student Learning Plans.

To highlight some of the information:

• Event was sponsored by NJ ASCD and the Center for Secondary School Redesign, Inc.(http://www.cssr.us/index.htm -- as we all know secondary education in New Jersey is undergoing changes and the PSLP pilot program is part of that change (to see those changes check out the NJ DOE Power Points on the subject: http://www.state.nj.us/education/ser/over/).
• The workshop was research based.
• The presenters offered a basic template for how to organize a team to work on PSLPs (finding a team hasn't been problematic for us; it is being able to coordinate everyone's schedules to attend meetings, workshops etc... that has proved challenging).
• The presenters showed video of students conducting student conferences - this was terrific and an idea I really want to pursue. The video was Navigator 101, the name of the PSLP program in Washington.
• The presenters also showed video created by a high school in Washington about their PSLP program. Creating a video about the PSLP program is something my team would like to do in the future, and being a technical school with a tv studio, we should be able to do this and the students will be able to be the producers -- great real world practice!
• Advisory time was also discussed -- my team needs to talk about these and how we can implement this into our school year.

Whenever I attend these workshops, I get energized about the pilot program, but at the same time overwhelmed. My head was filled with all these great things to enhance our program -- student-led conferences, advisory periods, e-portfolios, -- and I started to have doubts about how we would accomplish everything. I am glad this is a two-year PILOT PROGRAM, so mistakes and missteps are part of the process.

While at the workshop I saw a few books that I've ordered for myself to preview to see if they will be valuable to the program and my team. The titles are:

The Advisory Guide: Designing and Implementing Effective Advisory Programs in Secondary Schools by Rachel A. Poliner and Carol Miller Lieber

Personalized Learning: Preparing High School Students to Create Their Futures by Joseph DiMartino, John Clarke and Denise Wolk

The Portfolio Organizer: Succeeding with Portfolios in Your Classroom by Carol Rolheiser, Barbara Bower, and Laurie Stevahn

A book I wanted to order but won in a drawing at the end of the workshop -- Personalizing the High School Experience for Each Student by Joseph DiMartino and John Clarke

I'll keep everyone updated at to the topics in these books and how well they helped us shape our PSLP program.

Webinar

One of the tools NJDOE used for the PSLP program is a webinar. I have never used one so it was an interesting experience. Besides feeling like a telemarketer with my headset and built-in microphone on, the program was pretty easy to use once I found the link in my email and joined the discussion. NJ DOE used the web-based program, Elluminate, which was easy to navigate once I clicked on the link in my email.

The webinar is also available to us if we want to listen to the session a second time - I hate my voice on tape so one listen was enough! This was helpful because I missed a few things participants had said about the advisory periods and I am very interested in the idea of establishing an advisory period in our schools. One comment I did notice was that the advisory period had become a union issue in one district. That will be a challenge -- how to we establish an advisory period without it becoming a union issue? Some of the ideas thrown around by my team were: extended homeroom, an activity period in place of 9th period once a month (but then we'd have to flip flop classes so the students didn't always miss their 9th period class), taking time off classes to have an activity period once a month.

If anyone has any suggestions for an advisory period or would share how they handled advisory periods, I'd love to hear from you.

My team also talked about pairing up a career teacher w/ one or two academic teachers and splitting the career classes into smaller groups for each teacher to advise, that way the career teacher doesn't have his/her entire career program to advise, which can be up to 70+ students. We also talked about having this year's freshmen class eventually becoming student advisors their senior year to the incoming freshmen, helping to turnkey some things. This would give the students more ownership and responsibility because they would be teaching the freshmen so they would have to become experts at the PSLPs.

After the webinar, my head was swimming. I'm glad we have two years to work out the kinks for this pilot program, although there are some days when I think two years is not enough time.

There are so many things to think about, like how can the students use webinars . . .

Guidance Program

As part of our PSLP program, we've decided to go with a student guidance management system through a company called Kuder. There are a few other schools involved in the PSLP pilot program who are also going to use Kuder.

One of the main features we like about Kuder (because they were all similar in the features they offered to students and parents and schools) is that we can customize the pages to fit our needs and our look.

We're going to customize the first page with the same banner and colors of our district web page and we've decided to use the name of our PSLP in the name of our customized site. The name of our customized site will be: S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Career and College Navigator.

Our guidance director is going to work with Kuder's IT people to customize links for the students, links to college, career and financial aid resources. There will also be a place for students to develop e-portfolios to showcase their best works to show to future employers and college admissions officers.

So Much to Think About

Well, there are days when I think "This isn't so complicated. It will be a breeze for the students, teachers, everyone involved."

Then, on days like today (especially when I just come back from a week at a workshop and several days vacation), I think "Why did I think being part of this pilot program was a good idea?" "As a new supervisor, what was I thinking by taking on this pilot program? I am still trying to get to know my job and this school????"

After a few deep breaths, more coffee, a cookie or three I think I'm okay.

A few things that had me in a panic:

• Information trail (as I'll call it):

Part of the process that is vital is getting the information out to the students and parents. We decided to do this by printing a brochure and creating a wiki. We want to make sure that students and parents are comfortable with this process and don't panic when they hear Personalized Student Learning Plan. Because, really, many of the students and parents have a rough idea of a plan and/or goals already in their heads. The PSLP is just a way to record those goals so they can be more easily visualized and actualized.

Brochure - just a basic overview of the program with the URL address for the wiki to give to parents and students. I thought it would be easy (it's just copying, right?), but it became more involved and expensive than I originally thought.

Wiki - more updated information for the parents and students. We may not need this once we get our student guidance system up and running because it looks as if we can put a lot of information on our customized page. More on that later!

Presentations - A presentation to freshmen and parents and staff and when is the best time to do this (at Freshmen Orientation or Back-to-School Night); a brief presentation to our BOE in September to explain this program and direct them to this blog and the wiki for further information.

• People in the project:

As part of the Information Trail, I have to remember who else is involved in the decision making processes of this project, or at least who has to be "in the know." This sometimes has me in a panic because being a new supervisor/administrator I forget there are other people who need to be involved in the decision making process. I can't just wish for something to happen and it happens. The Action Plan is great for planning and implementation because I can't keep all the goals for this project and the people involved in those goals in my brain or written in the tiny calendar squares of my day planner. A secretary or a personal assistant would really be helpful! In lieu of that - action plan and lots of post-it notes and memo paper!

• Student Guidance System:

One of the components that had me in a panic was the student guidance system we are in the process of choosing. I needed to get more clarification on the customization aspect of the system and why there was such a huge cost difference from what we were originally quoted. After about 45 minutes on the phone, I understand the difference in services and prices. Phew!

I think a system like Naviance or Kuder is a good idea because it can be tied to a school's current guidance system, but also personlized for each student w/a journal component and/or electronic portfolio (e-folio or e-portfolio) component. We want the students to journal about their activities, in and out of school, jobs, interests etc... to help them with college and career choices and resume writing. Sometimes students are part of activities outside of school that they don't think can be put on a resume or college application because it is not "school related." When I was a teacher and taught students resume writing, many of my students asked if babysitting counted as a job. They didn't think babysitting a younger sibling or a cousin counted, but when we discussed how it demonstrated responsibilty etc..., skills necessary in the job market, then they realized babysitting could be included on a resume.

Despite feeling overwhelmed at times, I think I have a handle on this program. Once it moves beyond the planning stages and the students are involved, I'll have a better idea as to where the program is headed. A bulletin board right in front of my desk, a lot of thumb tacks, the Action Plan and a large calendar definitely help!

Starting the Process

Our school is one of fifteen schools piloting a program to develop personalized student learning plans. This blog is part of our plan to chronicle how the teachers help the students develop the plans and the systems the district puts in place to support these plans. This blog can also serve as a model to students on the practice of reflection and how journaling and reflecting can help a person reach his/her goals, realize new goals, become more thoughtful.

Some of the things we may be discussing in this blog:

1) Student course, college, and career planning programs
2) E-folios
3) Troubleshooting issues that arise with developing a new program
4) Evolution of the program

Teachers, students and parents will be able to post comments as well as anyone else interested in sharing in this journey. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions as we help our students become successful lifelong learners.

The motto for our program is:

S.U.C.C.E.S.S.

• Support and
• Understanding of
• Character and
• Career
• Education for
• Student
• Self-actualization