Albemarle County Public Schools have developed Lifelong Learner Competencies (LLC) that ensure students are college, career, and citizenship ready by the time they graduate. These competencies reflect the real-world skills and habits that all people need to be positive contributors to their community.
We measure these competencies through classroom learning walks. In the 2016-17 academic year, 75% of high school, 71% of middle school, and 89% of elementary school learning walks showed evidence of students working on a LLC. Students were regularly exposed to the rigors and realities of the world post K-12 education.
We believe offering a suite of authentic Work-Based Learning (WBL) opportunities enhances the high school experience and better prepares students for citizenship, post-secondary education, and workforce entry.
Career and Technical Education teachers began in 2015-16 strategically establishing Work Based Learning opportunities, such as Mentorship and Job Shadowing, as a guaranteed opportunity for children enrolled in the course, with support from the Career Specialists.
Transportation and DART worked together to survey schools on the number and type of field trips and fieldwork experiences that took place. It was discovered that each school used different methodology to request and track these experiences. During the 2015-16 school year, school-based career counselors tracked all forms of WBL during the school year through Power School. WBL data was also collected during the summer of 2016; based on the updated definitions and implementation and data collection system.
A School Board work session on Work Based Learning is planned for the late fall/early winter. As part of the Field Trip survey, school staff were asked to identify one strategy they and / or the school system will implement over the coming school year to improve the number and type of field trip and work experiences for their students. Strategies included: working with teachers on field trips available within walking distance of the school; sharing field trip experiences among PLC’s and vertical teams; and researching “virtual” field trip options.
During the 2016-17 school year, ACPS students gained valuable learning opportunities as a result of grant funding. For example, ACPS continued to serve as the lead agency on a $3.5 million U.S. DOE Investing in Innovation (i3) grant. County high school students learned design thinking, and gained entrepreneurial experience, during a three-week project-based summer school program called Design, Make, Launch, which was the result of $15,000 of support from Google and MakerEd.org. ACPS was also a key partner in the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project with Indiana University “MAKER: Studying the Role of Failure in Design and Making,” which researches how failure plays an important role for youth and educators engaging in and facilitating Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities. Additionally, ACPS received $7,500 from BAMA Works to support Culturally Responsive Teaching, and $40,000 from the University of Virginia Health System to implement simulation lab technology at Monticello High School’s Health & Medical Sciences Academy. Our teachers were also awarded $13,000 in total grant funding from the Shannon Foundation for innovative classroom projects.
With respect to business partnerships, the Chamber of Commerce has offered numerous opportunities for ACPS to interface with other organizations, and many of these conversations have developed into opportunities for our students. For example, the Environmental Studies Academy hosted the Agri-business Roundtable at its new facility, creating numerous industry contacts to serve as a resource for the Academy’s director. The Chamber has also gone to lengths to publicly support CTE efforts, including CATEC’s Food Truck initiative. Student interns from Monticello High School last year worked with WTJU, the University of Virginia’s radio station. Engaging with the station’s PR and marketing efforts, as well as the production of audio pieces and production of live sound for concerts, one MOHS student was so taken by the experience that she has continued to work with WTJU as an undergraduate student.
