Carrick High School's Proposal
USING THE INTERNET FOR CAREER EDUCATION:
A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO
COMMON KNOWLEDGE: PITTSBURGH
FOR SECOND YEAR SITE
SUBMITTED BY CARRICK HIGH SCHOOL
Mary Lou Ruttle
Cheryl Dofner
Pat Greaser
Diane Hughes
Brent Johnson
Ginny Norkus
DECEMBER 15, 1993
SUMMARY
The Carrick High School Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh Curriculum
Project is devised to connect students in the tenth grade with as many
different career resources as possible; the emphasis will be on each
student's connection with an individual or individuals in a career of
interest to the student. Internet "conversations" will occur throughout
the year; the initial contacts will allow students to eliminate or further
consider certain career clusters; as students complete research for career
portfolios, students will ask more specific questions that will help them
focus on particular careers.
In the first year of the project, the number of students involved
will depend on the number of mentors who agree to participate. Teachers
of Social Studies and English who teach in the humanities block of the
pilot restructuring program will work directly with students to help them
develop their portfolios. The librarian, co-op work experience teacher,
tenth grade career counselor, teacher of Business Education, and parents
will play important roles in the development and supervision of the
project.
The planning process will involve training staff members at the
school and developing the database of contact individuals for students.
It will also involve setting up the gopher of mentors.
The evaluation process will be determined by teachers involved in
the planning process, students involved in the program and their parents,
and individuals who agree to be part of the database of contacts for
students. The expected outcome for students involved in the program will
be a portfolio of career information developed throughout the year that
includes research completed, as well as journal entries about all of the
activities in which the students participate including Internet
conversations, field trips to job sites, service learning experiences, and
career plans.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
One of the most serious problems students face in high school is
the lack of adequate counseling for and knowledge about possible careers
after high school; this results in the limited scope of their search for
appropriate post-secondary educational programs, a general disregard for
their high school experience, and often years of frustration as graduates
search for a productive place in society. The severity of this problem is
reflected in the fact that one of the Chapter 5 Academic Goals adopted
recently for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania states that each student
shall explore varied career options and develop the skills and work habits
needed to be a productive, contributing member of society and the
understanding that lifelong learning is necessary to maintain those
behaviors, skills and attitudes.
Despite participation in numerous research activities in which
students use books, cd-rom programs, pamphlets, and audiovisuals, these
students seldom have a real sense of what it is involved in identifying
and planning for a specific career choice; furthermore, they are often
unable to relate their own academic and social choices to future career
plans.
As faculty members in a restructuring school, the staff at Carrick
High School is committed to broadening the career outlook for all of our
students. We are limited ourselves, however, by our own lack of knowledge
about emerging careers in a rapidly changing world and by the lack of
career resources that address the real concerns of our students. We
believe that students who make connections with individuals in specific
careers will make more informed choices about their education and about
their career choices.
Since the second year of implementation of the restructuring
initiative underway at Carrick High School will focus on career
exploration, an Internet project in which students communicate with
individuals in specific professions will provide an important component to
other career activities.
The focus for evaluation at Carrick High School is changing from
time spent on task to outcomes; this project will be no exception. In
fact, the outcomes for this project coincide with the Chapter 5 outcomes
for career education and work and for communications. Students involved
in the program will be expected to develop a career portfolio throughout
their tenth grade year. The portfolio will be tailored to each student's
individual needs, but will always include a career plan developed in
conjunction with the career counselor, parents or guardians, and a teacher
in the humanities block; research using traditional resources as well as
Internet resources and other career-related activities; and a journal
detailing conversations on Internet with a career mentor. This year-long
project will be reviewed periodically; in the 1994--1995 school year, it
will be a special project required of all or some of the students in the
humanities block of the pilot program; it will involve at least
twenty-five students, and possibly as many as 90 students. The career
portfolio will become a permanent part of the data collected by students
to determine their high school plan of studies and to develop appropriate
strategies for participating in internships, applying to schools for
post-secondary education, and availing themselves of opportunities for
financial aid and scholarships.
THE CURRICULUM PROJECT
Curriculum activities will be introduced in the humanities block
for the tenth grade; training will take place during Social Studies
classes. In subsequent years, the basic training for Internet will take
place in the Computer Applications class or the Introductory Word
Processing class which all ninth graders take. The students' individual
work will be structured as an independent project that the student may
work on during elective classes or during the students' own time;
monitoring will be provided by the Social Studies teachers. The
independent project activities will include exploration of a career or
careers using traditional resources, as well as conversations via Internet
and access to Internet career resources. Throughout the school year,
students will be expected to complete an independent project using
traditional resources in school and community libraries to formulate
specific questions about at least one career. They will also be required
to ask these questions through a connection made on Internet.
Carrick High School graduates and retired staff members, as well
as parents and community members, will be encouraged to participate in
this project by using personal computers in their work places and homes
and personal computers available at community centers and at branches of
the Carnegie Library. Ken Kaleida, K.A.R.E. (Kids At Risk Effort)
coordinator for Outreach South, has already made a commitment to begin
identifying individuals in a variety of technical and professional
positions who are willing to participate in the project. Jim Cusimano,
Associate Director of Strategic Planning and Development, has agreed to
present the need for such mentors and the access to computers with modems
for these mentors to the Allegheny Policy Council.
By the junior year of high school, students will be encouraged to
use strategies similar to those developed in the tenth grade to develop a
plan for learning about post-secondary educational opportunities for a
specific career path. Part of this learning will involve establishing
Internet connections with students at selected technical schools,
colleges, and universities.
As with other projects started through Carrick's restructuring
initiative, plans are to begin small, refine the activities to eliminate
problems, and gradually expand to the entire tenth grade class. The
initial group of students will include all or some of those who are
currently involved in the pre-pilot and pilot activities for ninth graders
at Carrick--between 25 and 90 students. The exact number of students
involved will depend upon the number of adult mentors who are willing and
able to devote time to this activity.
The project can be started by adding only a few additional resources at
Carrick High School. Terminals with modems are available in the library,
in an English classroom, in a computer lab, in a math lab, and in the
Co-op work experience teacher's office. In addition, the PUMP math lab
will shortly be equipped with 24 computers with Ethernet cards; only a
server and modem will be necessary to provide the connection for an entire
class of students at once. An additional computer with a modem is already
available in the library; a phone line must be added to utilize to utilize
that computer for the project. A modem must be added to a computer in the
Business Education classrooms for use by the mentor liaison, and a
computer with a modem should be added to a Social Studies classroom. Up
to ten additional modems for existing computers--one in the career center
and others in classrooms with computers--will expand existing school-based
opportunities for students to work on the project. In order to make
connections with career mentors as easy as possible for the mentors and
the students, it is suggested that branches of the Carnegie Library and
community centers serving the Carrick High School community be equipped
with either modems for existing computers or computers with modems.
(Please note that the project can be implemented without these additional
computers now; however, they will be needed in order to expand the project
as envisioned in future years.)
In addition to the hardware needs detailed above, support will be
necessary to train teachers, students, and mentors. Construction of the
gopher through which students will select mentors for career clusters and
specific careers will be necessary to provide easy access for students.
Network resources already available include the career gopher on
Internet, professional association bulletin boards from which mentors may
be recruited, and databases providing occupational information.
Students identified for the project will be expected to complete,
by the end of the 1994--1995 school year, a portfolio containing those
pieces determined by the committee of teachers, mentors, parents,
students, and employers who write the guidelines during the planning
process. This committee will also be expected to arrange to have
duplicated or provided the necessary papers and folders for students.
Teachers in the humanities block involved in the project will be expected
to identify appropriate students for the project, with an emphasis on
those most at risk for dropping out and/or failing to plan appropriately
for a career; to monitor the progress of the students involved as a duty
assignment; to access career resources on Internet themselves so they can
answer questions; and to suggest ways to improve and expand the project in
future years. The liaison teacher will be expected to monitor the number
of mentors involved and notify teachers when additional students can
become involved.
The planning process will be evaluated by determining the number
of mentors identified and trained, the completeness of the portfolio
design, and the number of teachers trained on the Internet.
Implementation will begin as soon as mentors are identified for at
least five of the career clusters. Although student projects will be
monitored regularly, there will also be due dates for specific pieces
identified by the committee of teachers. At each of these benchmarks,
formative evaluation will take place to determine the problems students,
teachers, and mentors are experiencing. Such evaluation will occur
through conversations with students, teachers, and parents; e-mail to and
from mentors; and analysis of the material included in portfolios.
The first summative evaluation will occur at the end of the
1994--1995 school year. This evaluation will consider the number of
students who have successfully developed a career portfolio, the number of
students who follow plans established through the portfolio process, the
number of mentors who have committed to and actually participated in the
program, and the feedback from students, parents, mentors, counselors, and
teachers about the experience. As the project develops in future years
and as the students move through their high school experience, evaluation
can involve determining the number of students who actually make and
implement definitive career plans. Students who complete the activities
will be asked to become mentors upon graduation, thus ensuring a
continuous pool of mentors to add to the database.
PLANNING PROCESS
February: Staff members already identified will be trained to use
Internet resources.
March--May: Social Studies teachers who will be working with the pilot
program will meet with others to outline the portfolio and
the expected outcomes. Trained teachers will practice using
Internet career resources.
The mentor liaison, with the help of community members, parents, graduates,
and teachers will begin to develop database of individuals who will
serve as mentors.
June--July: Teachers writing restructuring curricula will use outlines
to write the career project, portfolio guidelines, and expected outcomes.
The planning period will be managed by Mary Lou Ruttle who will
serve as project coordinator. Suggestions for specific Internet
activities will be suggested to the teachers who will be involved in the
project so that they can familiarize themselves with the network. In
addition, elective teachers who normally schedule career research in their
classes will be invited to explore the use of Internet and provide
feedback about the project.
CK:P staff will provide initial training to staff members and
mentors, will serve as resource people on the curriculum committee, will
develop a plan for training students, and will construct the set-up of the
gopher of career mentors.
IMPLEMENTATION SCENARIO
The project is intended to provide students broader and more
realistic information about careers and the preparation needed to enter
those careers. To implement this project several different activities
will be necessary; they include the following:
1. finding mentors in a wide variety of technical and professional
fields who have access to and use of computers with modems;
2. identifying the most appropriate students with whom to
begin the project;
3. identifying the teachers who will be responsible for monitoring
career portfolios;
4. training students, mentors, and teachers to use Internet;
5. developing the requirements for the career portfolio;
6. explaining the career portfolio requirements to parents and
inviting their input.
7. training students and teachers to use all of the available
resources to access career information;
8. training students to write journal entries about conversations
with career mentors on Internet, about visits to job sites, and
about other related activities;
9. training teachers to monitor career portfolios;
10. training students to develop materials for inclusion in
the career portfolio;
11. evaluating the ongoing process at pre-determined points
during the year;
12. evaluating the entire career portfolio at the end of
the school year;
13. evaluating the program at the end of the school year
to determine plans for students, mentors, teachers, and parents in subsequent
years.
PERSONNEL
Mary Lou Ruttle will be the project coordinator. She is the
librarian and a member of the Design Team for restructuring. She will
oversee the work of the other committee members.
Pat Greaser is a Social Studies teacher who will oversee the work
of the other Social Studies teacher(s) involved. She will coordinate the
training for students during their Social Studies classes. It is possible
that other Social Studies teachers will be involved, but that will depend
on the number of mentors involved and the schedules teachers opt for in
the 1994--1995 school year.
Diane Hughes is the ITL of the English Department and a member of
the Design Team who will coordinate the curriculum development for the
writing assignments. At least one other teacher of English will be
involved in working with students; that teacher will be identified once
schedules are determined for the 1994--1995 school year.
Brent Johnson is the co-op work experience teacher and a member of
the Design Team who will work with Ginny Norkus, the tenth grade Career
Counselor, parents, students, employers, and the teachers involved to
develop the portfolio component of the project.
Cheryl Dofner is a teacher of Business Education; she also is
certified as a librarian. She will serve as the liaison with mentors and
will notify others involved in the project when the inclusion of
additional mentors will permit more students to become involved. She will
also be responsible for notifying other elective teachers about the plan
so they can include activities related to the project when their students
complete career research.
TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE
Computers with modems in existing locations include one in each of
the following: the computer lab (337), a math classroom (800), an English
classroom (338), Brent Johnson's office (112), and Bill Cooper's office
(412); and two in the library (503). Twenty-four computers with Ethernet
cards will soon be available in the Pittsburgh Urban Mathematics Program
(PUMP) lab. These computers are available during certain times each day.
A schedule will be posted so students involved in the project can
determine available times for accessing Internet.
The most fundamental addition to the existing equipment is a
server and a modem for the computers in the PUMP math lab. In addition,
there must be a computer with a modem in a classroom used by teachers of
Social Studies, and a modem must be added to a computer in the word
processing labs for the mentor liaison. Since computers are available in
many of departments of the school, it would be helpful to add modems and
telephone lines to as many of those computers as possible to provide the
largest possible access to students. Finally, because the mentors must
also be able to have easy access to computers with modems and because
students identified for this project will be unlikely to have computers in
their homes, it would be helpful to have computers available at public
libraries and at community centers both in Carrick High School's feeder
pattern and outside of that pattern. Simply put, the more computers with
modems available for both students and mentors, the more mentors and
students can be involved.
APPENDIX
SCHOOL PROFILE
School: Carrick High School
Address: 125 Parkfield Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15210
Telephone: Main Office: 885-7700
Library: 885-7727
Fax: 885-7752
Principal: Dr. Jerry Minsinger
Secretary: Ms. Jan Hasson
Custodian: Mr. Andy Lincoln
Physical Plant: The Carrick High School building is composed of two
buildings--the newer of which is actually almost 30 years old. As
such, the building reflects the electrical limitations of any building of
this time period, although some electrical updating has been done over the
years to accommodate a variety of technical programs. Carrick High School
has the largest enrollment of any high school in the district during the
current school year, and the building capacity is stretched to the limit
to accommodate the needs of students and programs. Virtually every room
is used for classes every period of the day. Despite these shortcomings,
the students and staff welcome technology to the building and have been
both cooperative and inventive in determining uses of existing space to
accommodate new programs.
Student Population: 1449 (October 15, 1993 official enrollment)
Staff: The staff at Carrick High School is extremely stable; individuals who
come to Carrick to work rarely choose to leave. Nearly 70% of the
staff supported the restructuring initiative when the proposal was
submitted. Teachers are generally open to new ideas and are willing to
learn new technology to accommodate new programs. The call to work on
this proposal elicited responses from virtually every department of the
school, and there has been broad-based support for the idea of more
specific and realistic career education.
Teachers with e-mail addresses:
Bill Cooper Rich McNulty
Gary Dropcho Dale Moss
Diane Hughes Tom Puzio
Brent Johnson Mary Lou Ruttle
John Mateka Misty Townsend