Sean C. Morgan
This year’s sophomores will have new career-oriented requirements imposed to complete graduation in 2007.
Sweet Home Counselor Chuck Thompson outlined what those requirements, imposed statewide, will look like Monday night to the District 55 School Board.
SHHS started working with the sophomores last year. This year, the high school worked with freshmen and eighth-grade students. Next year, it will begin working with the seventh grade.
All Oregon graduates will complete four requirements, Thompson told the board. The first is to complete a career exploration plan. In grades seven through 10, students will be involved in interest and skills inventories and explore career pathways that interest them.
Computer software provides tests to help students match their interests and skills to potential occupations.
In the 10th grade, students will select one of six career pathways that interest them, including natural resources, health services, business and management, human resources, arts and communications and industrial and engineering systems.
That decision will guide their selection of “certificate of advanced mastery” (CAM) courses.
“Students get lots of information about things they are interested in and how that’s connected to an occupation,” Thompson said.
In the 11th grade, the students will reflect on the pathway they selected.
“We ask them to stop and think about whether this is what they’re interested in,” Thompson said. The junior year is a good time for personal reflection, and the student might find it’s time to change pathways.
In the 12th grade, the student and staff members try to set up some timelines for activities after high school, such as applying for colleges or financial aid, whatever applies to what a student plans to do following high school.
The activities get students thinking about potential occupations as early as the seventh grade, Thompson said.
The second graduation requirement will be meeting career-related standards. Students will need to meet a standard in personal management, problem solving, communication, teamwork, employment foundations and career development.
Staff members will check off students off in each of these areas as they demonstrate they have met the standard.
Third, students must take on at least two projects or problems related to their career interests, demonstrate their work; create a written, verbal or visual presentation; and reflect on the outcome of the project.
The final requirement is the extended application of academic and technical knowledge within their career interest.
The state did not define the requirement much, Thompson said. Students can probably expand their previous projects, but it must be something where they move beyond repetitive tasks, a real challenge.
“We’ve got students who can do this on their own without ever having a class,” Thompson said. “And we have other students you have to shepherd through every step of the way in order to achieve this.”
Exactly what this requirement will look like remains under development. Staff will continue planning for this requirement during the Class of 2007’s junior year.
Each student has different skill levels and abilities, Thompson said. “We have to be careful that we don’t try to hold everybody at the same level of accomplishment.”
The good part is that students get to do this project within their areas of interest, Thompson said.
“I moved to Oregon because of this,” Supt. Larry Horton said. “Learning would become relevant, and kids will be learning things because they want to not because they have to.”
In other business, the School Board:
— Learned that People Involved in Education (PIE) applied to form a charter school in District 55. PIE operates Sand Ridge Charter School in the Lebanon School District. PIE applied last year but was too late for the application to be considered.
Supt. Horton hired the Oregon State School Boards Association to assist in processing the application. The application was certified last week.
The district is applying to the Oregon Department of Education for a waiver from the 60-day requirement for the application to move to public hearing.
Sand Ridge is under investigation for issues involving “separation of church and state,” Supt. Horton said. He would like to hold off on the public hearing until the matter investigation is complete.
The proposed school also includes a budget that assumes the district has a building available, Supt. Horton said. PIE will need to identify a third-party site for the school.
PIE had proposed using the old Pleasant Valley Kindergarten last year. That building is now being leased by Little Promises.