1. THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR OUR COMPREHENSIVE DISTRICT EDUCATION PLANNING TEAM  In response to my Department of Labor 3 week Internship, I have developed an awareness of how important it is to plan for the employability of all students as part of our mission.  Please allow me to share some important facts for you to ponder.  Please begin to think about the infusion of employability skills into daily curriculum at all grade levels  I intend to start at the HS level and work down

2. ARE WE REALLY PREPARING OUR STUDENTS TO OBTAIN MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES? by Michael A. Karp Special Education Teacher Albany High School

3. Why should we be concerned?  Do you know that only 28% of all jobs today, require college degrees?  Do you know that 1/3 of all students currently attending Community and Technical Colleges, already have a Bachelors degree?

4. DO YOU KNOW?

5. HOW WILL I PLAN TO SHARE THE INFORMATION LEARNED FROM THE INTERNSHIP?  I would start with the first four slides of this presentation to our CDEP team and seek comment.  I would then present these slides to our High School Principals.  I would then provide the following outline of my suggested action plan for the high school.

6. WHO NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED AT THE BUILDING LEVEL?  I would need the support of the Principal and each of the House Principals  I would need the support and assistance from the Guidance department  I would need the support and assistance of the FACS teachers  I would need the help and support of the Business teachers.

7. The Principals  Need to be on board in order to get the assistance and cooperation of the other departments  Need to allow for some meeting time in order to get the other resource people together  Need to help promote the discussion

8. The Guidance Department  Needs to be willing to work with us regarding the scheduling of students  Needs to understand and promote the fact that there are many opportunities in the work field which do not require 4 year degrees  Needs to understand what the future workforce skill requirements are

9. The FACS Teachers  Need to help us integrate more employment counseling and job readiness awareness into their curriculum  Need to help us lead the discussion regarding employability skills

10. The Business Teachers  Need to help us integrate more employment counseling and job readiness awareness into their curriculum  Need to help us lead the discussion regarding employability skills

11. Once we come together and work out additional planning, we then need to start the conversations with the rest of the faculty and staff!

12. TIME LINE FOR PLAN  Presentation to CDEP at first available meeting  Discussions with Principals prior to start of this school year  Meet with Guidance by the end of the third week of school or sooner  Meet with FACS and Business teachers after meeting with Guidance  Introduce the subject to Special Education at the first monthly meeting  Introduce to all staff at September House meetings  Initiate a building action plan by November 2008  Present proposed initiative and curriculum to Principals by end of March and request to present to CDEP  Develop final HS curriculum by April 2009

13. Follow up planning  Plan for implementation for Fall 2009  Review implementation monthly, make adjustments  Start working with Middle School and Elementary Principals and staff to create interest in developing appropriate curriculum  Initiate discussion with the Elementary School Principals and staff  Curriculum improvement and update by April 2010  Implement Changes Fall 2010 and continue review

14.  Short Term Goals 1.Begin discussion with district 2.Develop interest in building 3.Collaborate with staff 4.Develop Pilot Curriculum 5.Implement HS Curriculum

15.  Long Term Goals 1.Create district wide teaching of employability skills to our students beginning at an early age 2.Justify the development of specific curriculum to teach these skills 3.To insure that we have students who are best prepared for the jobs of the future 4.To see that Employability skill curriculum is as valued as the core subjects

16. Outcomes For My plan  Implementation of K-12 Employability curriculum  More students graduate  We are not just teaching, students are learning….  More students are able to find long term, meaningful employment upon graduation  All students will benefit from this

17. MATERIALS REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT  Copies of the different materials provided at this training  Create my own binders of information for audience  Power Points from and of our training  Laptop  Projector and speakers, screen, laser pointer  Microphone and Speakers, if large room  Copy of 2 million minutes DVD  A set of the Real Game  A video of Dr. Crow

18. HOW DO WE MEASURE SUCCESS OF MY PLAN?  I succeed if I get the curriculum implemented  I succeed if we begin a longitudinal study regarding the improvement of employment and graduation success of our students and correlate it to our curriculum  I succeed when I see more student engagement and higher grades as a result of our curriculum  I succeed when I see a paradigm shift from an emphasis on teaching what I need to get into college to teaching me the skills I need to be successful in life  I succeed when we not only teach to the mind but to the heart and soul as well