EMITT College and Career Readiness Council

October 21, 2015

4:30 – 6:30

Rock Valley College – Woodward Technology Center – Room 119/120

Purpose: Communicate successes and address needs and barriers of Academy Teams and Academy Support Teams

Present: Earl Wilsey, Jim Emerson, Don Williams, June Hazzard, Bridget French, Katy Haun, Holli Kearns, Keri Nelson, Gina Caronna, Paul Stewart, Doug Waldier, Denise Anderson, Dan Bawinkel, Vance Havans, Allen Noland, Sara Nielsen, Lindsey Nielson, Jay Larson, Jennifer Carson, Amy Cusimano, Judy Gustafson, Tyrone Fambro, John Rossato, Jill Jennings, Bruce Kramer, Mark Anderson, David Carson, Sheila Schmitt

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  1. Update from Executive Director of College and Career Readiness
  1. Thank you to everyone who supported and participated in the EXPO on Oct. 15. We feel like it was a positive experience for all involved. Your feedback is always welcome. A group will be getting together in the next couple weeks to go over the survey results and comments. These results will help the committee to plan for next year’s EXPO.
  2. On Oct. 19 & 20 Alignment Rockford and RPS hosted the first “Alignment Institute for the Midwest Region”. There were 6 communities from KY, MN, and IL that participated. They are interested in the possibility of academies in their community. They came to learn how Rockford got started and how all the agencies work together to make this possible for our students. They also toured either Guilford or Jefferson to see it in action. This was a great experience for all involved.
  3. On Oct. 20 Rockford was recognized as the nation’s third Ford Next Generation Learning Model Community for developing and implementing high school career academies. Part of what this means is that like Nashville is available for Rockford to talk to, Rockford will be available for those that are getting started in the Midwest Region. One of the comments from Ford NGL was that Rockford has come a long way in a short period of time, but there are many more things that we can be doing. Through the district and community working together these things will happen.
  4. National Career Academy Coalition(NCAC) is Nov 5 – 7. RPS and Alignment Rockford will be sending a total of 17 people to present and participate. The next thing that we will be working toward within NCAC will be model status for each academy. This conference will allow us to learn about what are the requirements for this status.
  1. Review CCRC/AST Structure

College and Career Readiness Council (CCRC) – each of the 4 academies has a CCRC which serves as an advisory board district wide.

Academy Support Team (AST) – each academy in each school has an AST which meets with the teachers and is there to support them in any way they can. They work on project and curriculum ideas, along with be in the classroom to work with students if needed.

  1. National Standards of Practice (for Career Academies) #6 & #8 Review

National Standards of Practice (NSOP) are standards that each academy at each high school needs to meet the Exemplary level in order to receive “Model Status”. The academies can reach this status individually.

There are 10 areas that will be evaluated. A complete list will be sent to CCRC/AST members for their review. Number 6 and 8 are what pertains to these groups. These will be discussed at the Jan meeting to see where we are and how to strive for the next level.

Jefferson EMITT Academy will be evaluated in the late spring to see where they are and what is needed to get the Model Status.

  1. Identify Action Steps

Katy Haun, from Alignment Rockford has created a CCRC/AST Handbook. Within it is an explanation of the structure and job description of CCRC and AST members.

Katy has also created a “Needs Form”, a “Successes Form” and a “Volunteer Survey”. These links are listed in the Handbook.

Needs and Successes are for the schools to input items, once it has gone through the process, which they would to share with community members. These lists will be reviewed at each of the council meetings to see how we can help and also share in the successes of the academies.

Volunteer form is for those that are interested in helping with the academies, but are not sure how they can help. The form will guide someone with a variety of areas that will help Alignment Rockford connect them with a need.

  1. Other
  • Guilford Needs – Lumber Supply – Paul from Onsite Woodwork should be able to help all schools with wood needs, Civil Engineers, Locations for Site VisitsTrainings on CNC – will submit details on new form,
  • Guilford Successes – Project Lead the Way additional courses, Additional Shops this year, plans are progressing for building the Habitat for Humanity House. Students will build a mini model of the complete house, and then they will work on pre fab, Next spring they will build a complete house (except the roof).
  • Jefferson Needs – Wood, Automotive Tech as an AST. Suggested Anderson Automotive, Park District, and Heartland Church as contacts. JHS Student Advisory Board is looking for a service project based around EMITT outside of school hours. They would like something that they can design, build, etc. from beginning to end. Possibility that they can help Habitat for Humanity with something for their houses.
  • East Needs – Bruce is working with Steiner Electric with various needs.
  • Auburn Needs – Wood – Students are working on cleaning up the Atrium area and want to make raised flower/garden boxes along with picnic tables.
  • Auburn is having a student led Explorer Trades Event.
  • Roosevelt also needs supplies for raise gardens. They want to grow their own food as a way of encouraging students to eat healthier.
  • Energy Expo will be Nov 5 from 9:00am – 2:30pm at RVC. JL Clark is donating a set of 10 tickets for students. There will be vendors, speakers, RVC panel on what happens at RVC.
  • Onsite Woodwork is looking for internships. Person must be 18 or older. What is the process?
  • Is it possible to have one central location to coordinate trips to training centers?
  • Schools are looking for a list of “Trades Colleges”. School will contact them for information. This would help keeping students informed of all possibilities.
  • Discussion on pre-apprentice programs to help prepare a student for an apprenticeship. How do we get post-secondary, apprenticeship information to students earlier?
  • Manufacturing Day was Oct 1. All schools visited 2 companies. Approximately 450 students and 23 companies were involved.
  • RVC hosting an Engineering Week in Feb
  • Is it possible to have a “Job Board”? A place where jobs, internships, apprenticeships, etc. can be posted in one location.
  • RVC instructors can come to the high schools to teach,
  • Thumb Drives are needed at various locations
  • Math and Physics Application (MAPA) is something that RVC can host. It would be an 8-9 hour active workshop. Teachers would work on a project (could be trades oriented). It would be hands on experience for teachers to see how everything works together. Lead teachers can discuss in team meetings to see if any are interested. This could happen the 1st Thursday of April.
  • Jan meeting will review the Needs and Successes forms. Will also take a deeper look into NSOP.
  1. Adjourn

Thank you all for attending and the great discussion!