Davante McGill, front left, Ryan Devine, Career Academy Teacher Jefferson LaMountain, Teaching Assistant Rachel Yasko and Treylen Lloyd enjoy the lunch they planned and budgeted for.
Questar III Food Services students.
Questar III BOCES recently launched the first full-day project-based program for juniors and seniors, a collaboration between the Special Education and Career and Technical Education departments. The pilot Career Academy program combines a Career Readiness and a core academic curriculum to prepare students for college and/or careers after graduation.
According to Assistant Superintendent Diana Conroy, this program actualizes Questar III’s Framework for Special Education that allows students to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills, demonstrate mastery of content knowledge and navigate the complexity of life and work environments that require students to work independently and effectively in teams to produce results.
Questar III Students Doug Stott, Davante McGill, Ryan Devine and Treylen Lloyd attend the Introduction to Food Services or Automotive Services Program for half of the day. The other half of the day is devoted to math and informational literacy lessons based on essential questions relating to topics they’re learning in their Career Studies Program. They work on real-life scenario projects that reflect their findings to those questions.
In addition, professionals from the respective fields help define the learning outcomes and competences required to work in the field. Students understand how they are graded so they are aware of what actions they need to take in order to succeed both inside the classroom and in the field.
According to Career Academy teacher Jefferson LaMountain, one of the greatest things about the Career Academy is that the students see and know that they are actually getting career training. Previous lessons only scratched the surface.
“This increases their confidence and gives them the hope of succeeding outside of high school,” said LaMountain.
McGill, who plans to attend ITT Technical Institute after graduation, says he finds the full-day program easier because he actually enjoys what he’s learning. Devine said he really enjoys working on computers and the project-based learning.
According to Rensselaer Academy Principal Karla McDowell, before the advent of this program, the students’ day was divided between the Rensselaer Academy, where they took their core curriculum course work, and the Rensselaer Educational Center (REC) for Career Studies. Now, these students spend their entire day at the REC, eliminating a mid-day transportation expenditure and gaining additional instruction time. In addition, this move has allowed the Rensselaer Academy to provide educational programing for students with disabilities who have been on a waiting list.
The idea for this project began last year when Kathy Schadewald, Questar III CTE Planning and Technical Assistance Administrator, began working with LaMountain to incorporate college and career readiness into his classroom as part of the Regents Reform Agenda and the Common Core Learning Standards.
Using Tech Valley High School as an example, Schadewald introduced LaMountain to project-based learning.
“Before this, the academic environment did not provide enough of what students needed to do to prepare,” said Schadewald. “But then we started to look at careers and developing projects with academics and career readiness.”
Because LaMountain and several students were willing and able to move to the REC, the Career Academy program came to fruition.
Project-based learning, like that found in the Career Academy, is a key element to college and career readiness. According to Questar III Special Education Director Robin Sobol, it is also a key element of Questar III’s framework for special education that focuses on: the opportunity to embrace technology; a less-restrictive, yet supportive environment where students can contribute to their own learning plan; and 21st century skills that gives the students post-graduate options.
According to LaMountain, this program is one of only three of its kind in the entire country. “Academics are taught through many mediums, not just textbooks,” he said. “Questar III is way out in front of the rest of the country as far as implementing a model such as this.”
For example, students will learn how to change wheels and tires during their Automotive Services class. During the other half of the day, students will participate in Math, English and Science projects that incorporate essential questions from the automotive program such as: “What happens when you change wheel and tire sizes on a vehicle?” “How is safety impacted by changes to your car’s wheels and tires?” and “How can you educate drivers about performance and safety issues?”
The students apply their findings to these questions to a project. For this unit, students would create a display to be utilized at a car show. The display would focus on performance, safety and options. Along with the display, students will be asked to prepare an oral presentation and informational handouts for visitors.
A challenge for this full-day program was how to accommodate students for lunch in a school that does not have a lunch program based on the half-day model. LaMountain took on this challenge by turning it into the students’ first project-based learning experience. Students needed to create a nutritious menu for the class, and had to budget for their menus. They were then required to present their menu to the class and answer any questions from the students and teachers.
To ensure a smooth transition for all parties, McDowell not only had to explain the program to students and parents, but also explain to other students why a teacher and some students – not them – were leaving to go to another school.
According to McDowell, Career Academy students must first meet certain requirements. They must demonstrate positive behavior, complete coursework to be considered a junior and must pass state exams.
The students’ transition to the Career Academy was celebrated with speeches and photographs. Principal McDowell used this event as an opportunity to set the tone for sparking interest in which students will set career goals.
“They are representatives, setting the foundation to show what it will take,” said McDowell. “They’ll be coming back to [Rensselaer Academy] to speak about their experience and also give tours of the REC.” She added that this provides additional 21st century skills such as leadership and communication.
Other key players who helped make this program a reality are: Assistant Superintendent Andy DeFeo; REC Principals Anthony DeFazio and Tracy Racicot; Automotive Services Teacher Jason Hallenbeck; Introduction to Food Services Teacher Lisa Phegn; and Teaching Assistants Rachel Yasko and Geraldine Logrillo.
“Everyone has stepped up in different ways,” said LaMountain. “This would have been a huge obstacle if people didn’t step up.”
The program currently has four students and LaMountain said he expects to welcome two more, reaching the capacity of six students per teacher. According to Sobol, even more students have already expressed interest in the program.
“While only a pilot program, if successful it may provide opportunities for more students,” said Conroy.
