College and Career Readiness...

I am reposting the below blog entry that I had originally posted in August, 2018, for those that did not get an opportunity to read it, and then I am providing an update, as the College and Career Readiness Committee has played, and will continue to play, a key role for the District for years to come.

In the Fall of 2017 we created the College and Career Readiness Committee with a clear focus to identify and continuously work to strengthen the pathways our students can select that will best prepare them for their future following their graduation from Paul V. Moore High School. The committee, consisting of over 150 staff, parents, students, local business owners/workers, business partners, college admissions staff, and other interested community members, met several times throughout the 2017-2018 school year and were extremely successful in accomplishing goal number one, which was to identify the attributes/competencies that we want all Central Square learners not only to possess, but also excel in. Students enter at the Pre-Kindergarten level and before you know it, they are entering high school, and we need to make sure that we have done our very best job in preparing them all for college and/or career following their graduation from PVM High School. To better accomplish this, we are taking a systematic approach to strengthen the consistency of our Pre-Kindergarten-12th grade program. The following list of attributes/competencies is the result of many hours of collaboration between the Committee and administration: 
https://tinyurl.com/Attributes-Competencies-CS  

Besides identifying these essential attributes/competencies, the Committee had several guest speakers, some of whom were former graduates from Central Square, that spoke about the pathway they had selected while at PVM and how the courses they selected at PVM and/or CiTi BOCES greatly prepared them for life after high school.  They also provided feedback and suggestions on other courses we should offer that would further strengthen our pathway options. The goal of the College and Career Readiness Committee for 2018-2019 is to not only continue to strengthen our pathways through rigorous course offerings, as well as requiring all students to meet with their school counselor a minimum of twice each year, but by the end of this school year, we will identify the best approach to provide students with systematic opportunities to develop each of the attributes/competencies according to their grade level.  We fully recognize that being an effective communicator and collaborator, innovative and critical thinker, emotionally intelligent, and a contributing citizen will look different at the primary, intermediate, middle school, and high school levels. 

We are extremely excited about the opportunity to provide students with valuable information regarding their individual areas of strength and the possible careers that would best match their abilities.  We are having all 10th grade students take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, better known as the ASVAB.  I am sure many parents will be initially concerned about the ASVAB as many parents do not want their child being recruited for the military and may think this is a recruiting ploy. I assure you it is not, and every parent must provide consent if they want the military to get the results.  In speaking with different branches of the military, they fully understand that the majority of parents check the box that prohibits the military's use of this data and they cannot even attempt to contact students. They understand that most utilize the ASVAB to help students identify which career pathway would be the best fit.  However, Central Square has a proud contingent of alumni that are active and veterans in the United States Armed Forces and providing students with the opportunity to take the ASVAB at no cost as many times as they wish absolutely benefits those students looking to enlist after PVM or attend college on an ROTC scholarship and then enter the military.  The reason why this is huge for those students looking to enter the military (any branch) is because if students go to a recruiter to take the ASVAB (as it is a requirement to enter the military) the students can only take it once and that score literally dictates which type of program they can enter, which essentially leads to a career closely associated with the work performed in that type of program.  If a school district administers the ASVAB, the students can take it as many times as they want starting in their junior year and only their highest score counts, which greatly benefits the students. The ASVAB is an aptitude assessment consisting of four parts: Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, and Mathematical Knowledge. Take a look at a very quick video clip: https://youtu.be/S_c588QTR2s  

Our goal with having all 10th graders take the ASVAB is to provide the them with valuable information regarding the connection between their strengths and possible career pathways, but also to provide them with time to take the right courses for them according to their desired pathway. This information will add to the meaningful conversations between the school counselors, students, and parents/guardians. While we are planning to have all 10th graders take this exam, we are still providing the opportunity for any 11th-12th grade students if they are interested,which will be completely optional, and again, at no cost. The high school administration, district office administration, and school counselors will have evening information sessions in September about the ASVAB for any students and parents/guardians that are interested.  

As I mention above, in what seems to be a blink of an eye, students enter the ninth grade and then are graduating, and we need to provide students with not only rigorous course offerings but we also need to provide each of them with as much information regarding their individual areas of strength that most students go through high school never realizing. We feel that the ASVAB (whether or not you allow the military to get the results) will be a huge leap forward in assisting students with the career pathway that best suits them. More to come..

If you are interested in joining our College and Career Readiness Committee, we would love to have you! We meet from 6pm-7:30pm in the PVM High School Cafeteria on the September 19, 2018, November 13, 2018, January 16, 2019, March 14, 2019, and May 15, 2019. If you are interested in joining, please email Pearl Horn at phorn@cssd.org and please write "College and Career Readiness Committee" in the subject line.  Hope to see you on September 19.

Above was the blog from August, and here is the update on our College and Career Readiness focus, including our pathways that we continue to strengthen for ALL of our students so they are "empowered to excel as citizens in a changing world." 

Wednesday, October 31st, our 10th graders will be taking the ASVAB assessment that will provide them with clear strengths that they individually possess, which will be important information for students to have as they look at potential careers upon graduation from PVM, a vocational school, a 2 or 4 year college/university, or post graduate higher ed programs. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, our counselors at PVM High School will meet with every student a minimum of twice per school year.  I am thrilled to frequently walk passed their offices and see students consistently talking with the counselors. The 10th graders' ASVAB results will be part of those conversations, as the counselors will continue to align students' individual interests, their strengths, and the courses that we provide at PVM and CiTi BOCES.  Anyone can take the ASVAB, except for 9th graders, and that is because they will not be exposed to some of the mathematics content until 10th grade. Even though our primary use of the ASVAB is for career exploration and NOT a military recruitment tool, our District has a rich history of military service, and it benefits those students looking to enlist into a branch of the armed forces upon their PVM graduation to take the ASVAB multiple times.  The military cannot even receive the ASVAB results from those students interested in entering the armed forces until 11th grade, but if a student in 11th or 12th grade takes the ASVAB (which is a requirement to determine which program within their chosen branch prior to enlistment) at a recruiter's office then the student can only take the ASVAB once and has to live with that score and that particular program/job in the military, but the student can take the ASVAB as many times as he or she wants if it is administered in a school, and the highest score is the one that counts. The majority of our graduating students each year would use the ASVAB results strictly for career exploration purposes and that is fantastic to graduate informed students, but we also graduate 10-12 students each year that enlist in the armed forces as well, and allowing them to take the ASVAB for free multiple times is great for them.  

More on College and Career Readiness...

Now that we have identified the attributes/competencies of a Central Square learner (https://tinyurl.com/Attributes-Competencies-CS) ...now what???  All 6 schools in our District have a School Action Plan that supports the District's Mission in Action Statements seen on this visual https://tinyurl.com/CS-Mission-Statements  This year, each school is responsible for not only becoming familiar with the four categories of attributes/competencies of a Central Square learner, they are also planning their daily lessons to make sure they are providing students with ongoing opportunities to strengthen these attributes/competencies.  Another HUGE GOAL for the College and Career Readiness Committee is to greatly increase and enhance our job shadowing and internship opportunities for our students.  The Committee will be tasked with connecting with local businesses as well as businesses in Onondaga County so we can have ample opportunities for our students to actually go to a job site and receive first hand knowledge whether or not they truly want to pursue that career.  This will greatly benefit all of our students to have these experiences prior to graduating from high school and spending a tremendous amount of money (or their parent's hard earned money) to pursue a career that they could have realized was not for them before going into debt. 

If you are interested in joining the College and Career Readiness Committee, please email Pearl Horn at phorn@cssd.org. Our next meeting is approaching on November 13 at 6 pm-7:30pm in the PVM large cafeteria.  Hope to see you there.    

Homecoming Festivities...

This year's Homecoming at Paul V. Moore High School (Friday October 5) has grown significantly from previous years and includes more community groups, which we absolutely love opportunities for the District to connect with our community partners. While the actual parade starts at 5:30 pm, all of the participants with start getting lined up at 4:20 pm. This event should be fun for the entire family, so please come out and support our students! 

Safety Upgrades at Redhawk Stadium 

For safety purposes beginning October 5, 2018, backpacks will no longer be allowed in the Redhawk Stadium.  We have had backpacks left in the aisles of the bleachers and in the grassy areas, which are a safety hazard.  We have had situations where students brought in electronic cigarettes and other illegal paraphernalia in their backpacks, which is another reason to not allow backpacks into the stadium.  We recognize that there are students that normally come from their own sports or band practices and have a backpack with equipment or an instrument with them, and we will be able to accommodate those students by allowing them to keep their backpack and/or instrument in a locked room in the stadium.  Another safety measure taken , we will no longer allow students to congregate on the grass areas unless they are accompanied by a parent/guardian.  Students without a guardian will be instructed to sit on the bleachers.  If we have a contest and our bleachers exceed capacity, we will allow students to sit on the hill but we will use ample supervision in those situations on the grassy areas.  Another safety measure we have taken is that we are no longer allowing spectators  to throw balls or any other objects during the game.  If students are throwing objects around, they will be confiscated.  Also, if students leave the stadium during the contest, they will not be allowed to re-enter the stadium.  We do not want students to come to the stadium where there is supervision and then leave the stadium to go to parts of the school grounds or off school grounds where there is no supervision and then re-enter the stadium, while their parents/guardians are left to believe that their students are in the stadium the entire time.  These are safety measures that we have been discussing for several months, and we feel that it is important to implement them at this time.  Thank you for your support and continuing to keep our students safe.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.