Reach Higher - Massachusetts Bob Bardwell February 18, 2015

Partnering organizations  MA Secondary Principals  MA School Superintendents  MA School Counselors  MA Student Financial Aid Administrators  MA Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education  MA Department of Higher Education  MA Business Education Alliance & Future Ready  School counselor educators  MA Teachers Association  AFT- MA  Rennie Center  MICCR  MA legislature Joint Committee on Education  Mass Insight  uAspire  Jobs For the Future  NE Association for College Admission Counseling  ACT  College Board  MA Executive Office of Education  Elementary School Principals Association  MA Educational Opportunities Association  MA Association of School Committees

Goal From San Diego Leverage the time and resources necessary for school counselors to lead implementation of quality college and career readiness programs and activities  Provide school counselors with access to their school’s summative CCR data  Provide school counselors with quality professional development  Advocate for a change in the school counselor role  Collaborate with MSSAA, MASCA, DESE, MICCR and others to engage schools in creating a CCR PLC and provide PD  Advocate with new Governor to educate him about how CCR is critical to our economic success and well-being

Commitments will come from  School districts  School counseling departments  School and district leaders  Partnering organizations (i.e.: MASCA)  Universities  Admissions  School counselor preparation programs  State agencies  College access organizations  Commitments can be made at  g2ovwlvxcpeGd0lpM4vlWVTGg6NxI/viewform g2ovwlvxcpeGd0lpM4vlWVTGg6NxI/viewform

Future Goals To create state Steering Committee to oversee the Reach Higher initiative To create working groups to drill down, study, discuss and work to secure commitments from the following topics  #1 – School counselor and non-profit organization pre-service training and ongoing professional development  #2 – Higher education & admission  #3 – Financing higher education  #4 – Statewide and local policy review and development

Next Steps February 18 – San Diego work team conference call March 19 – Statewide meeting of partnering organizations & interested folks Spring 2015 – Hiring of part-time assistant to coordinate mailings and track commitments Summer 2015 – Presentations at principal and superintendent association conferences Fall – Education and commitment phase

For more information or to continue the discussion Bob Bardwell School Counselor & Director of School Counseling Monson Innovation High School 55 Margaret Street Monson, MA x (fax) bardwellr