Posted by
Grace Suh in
I’m a former English major who happens to love math. I find elegance – and some solace – in an ever-complex world when I discover a cadence or logic in nature, such as the Fibonacci sequence in broccoli or the patterns of a snowflake. And as someone working to improve STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), I know that it’s critical for young people to master mathematical concepts so they’ll be prepared for both college and career.
One way to bring math to life for young people is to teach them about those great thinkers who found mathematical elegance in the complexities of the world around them. One resource is Minds of Modern Mathematics, a free iPad app from IBM that illustrates the impact of math on culture and society. In the same way that science and engineering can help us connect mathematical principles to practical applications, an examination of the history of mathematical ideas can help us contextualize them in our world.
Another way to engender students’ love of math is through hands-on learning. Sites like Teachers TryScience, which provide teachers with engaging and informative project-based lessons, integrated with pedagogical and practical resources to teach them effectively, require students to apply math skills as they build a wind turbine or determine the amount of carbon stored in a tree.
Most jobs today require a knowledge of math. And high-demand, high-paying careers need young women and men from all backgrounds who can perform complex mathematics. Even “no math” jobs require people who can think in mathematical ways. For example, a lawyer uses skills that enable her to reason logically and methodically – the same skills that she began mastering while studying algebra.
Grace Suh is a Senior Program Manager with IBM Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs.
Download the free Minds of Modern Mathematics iPad app
Read the IBM Research announcement about the app
Related Resources:
Presentation: What Is STEM Learning?
Posted by
Julie Arthofer in
In observation of National Engineers Week, IBM mentors reunited with their protégés from New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) for a day of learning and fun. Below, IBM mentor Julie Arthofer writes about her continuing relationship with her P-TECH protégé, and the school’s recent E-Week celebration activities.
It is often hard to filter through hundreds of emails a day, and there is always a fear that one will be missed or accidently deleted. Luckily this was not the case when I received an email about becoming a mentor at New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). Mentoring is something I have been involved in since high school, and I had been looking for another mentoring opportunity since. I responded instantly and was thrilled when I was selected as a mentor for P-TECH.
IT'S ROCKET SCIENCE: At Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) in Brooklyn, N.Y., student Taylor Clark Jones (left), IBM consultant Ksenia Gutsol (middle) and student Nicole Murray (right) build a balloon rocket as part of a National Engineer’s Week activity on Friday, March 30, 2012. IBM employees volunteer as P-TECH student mentors at the new school, which offers a grades 9 through 14 curriculum focusing on technology and essential workplace skills such as collaboration and communication.
P-TECH is unique in that it offers students the opportunity to graduate with an Associate degree in technology after just six years of schooling. Today, P-TECH serves as a model for similar schools to come, and I am proud to be working for the company that helped make this school a reality.
The kick-off event for mentors and protégés not only gave us an opportunity to meet the students and get a feel for their learning environment, but also gave us a chance to meet the teachers who would be helping shape their education. We also were fortunate to meet Principal Rashid Ferrod Davis who demonstrated his commitment to his students and to
P-TECH’s mission with a moving speech.
Following the short presentations, the room became a bit chaotic as we split up to find our protégés. Once I paired up with my protégé, Jenyce, we sat down in a classroom and went through a list of “break the ice” questions to get to know each other better. We did not quite make it through the entire list of questions, as we easily got sidetracked by other topics ranging from our most embarrassing moments to debates over which pop star is better.
As the event wrapped up, Jenyce and I had to cut our meeting short, but we were both very excited for the mentoring program to officially start. Jenyce and I now correspond weekly on the IBM MentorPlace website, where activities are posted to stimulate our conversations and usually relate to what the students are learning in school. There is also a discussion board where we can touch base and check in with one another in a more informal way. Recently, P-TECH students were given an assignment to write a biographical sketch about a social innovator, and mentors were asked to provide feedback. It was extremely rewarding to read Jenyce’s initial draft and see how she incorporated the suggestions I had given her, and to see the immense improvements in her writing and her growth as a student.
I have also become involved with P-TECH outside of the weekly MentorPlace activities.
As part of a NYC Community Service committee that holds monthly events, I was able to organize an event at P-TECH – “Engineering Week (E-Week) that P-Tech got involved with this year. E-Week is a program devoted to promoting engineering at schools around the nation, and organizes hands-on activities related to engineering to get the students involved. For P-TECH’s E-Week activity, the students built a rocket ship using a straw, balloons, and one small cup. The goal was for the students to launch the ship up an eight-foot fishing line carrying the highest number of washers. We also had a speaker with an extensive engineering background attend the event to explain the lessons to be learned from the activity.
I was very excited for this opportunity to see the students at P-TECH once again. In this world of technology and constant communication via the Internet, it is always great to put a face with the name every now and then!
Julie Arthofer is an IBM Global Business Services Strategy and Information Consultant.
Related Articles:
P-TECH Celebrates Engineers Week: One Mentor’s Story
Posted by
Eric Estey in
In observation of National Engineers Week, IBM mentors reunited with their protégés from New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) for a day of learning and fun. Below, IBM Global Business Services consultant (and engineer) Eric Estey reflects on his experience as a P-TECH mentor.
If you read this blog on a regular basis, by now you have probably heard about an IBM partnership with the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program in Brooklyn, NY. As a mentor to one of the students in P-TECH’s inaugural class, I was excited to participate in this revolutionary initiative.
I first met my protégé, Edward, at the school during the kickoff event in October 2011. He and I built upon our initial interactions over the following months via MentorPlace, but the distance imposed by conflicting work and school obligations made it impossible for mentors and students to repeat that first successful in-person meeting.
During that time, I learned of the Engineers Week program. One aspect of the E-Week program involves sending volunteers to local schools to educate students on the engineering profession and its impact on the world around us – while of course having a little fun in the process.
Towards the end of 2011, I heard that initial efforts were underway to organize an E-Week event at the school. I teamed up with Julie Arthofer, another IBM mentor and Consulting by Degrees colleague, and with the help of the P-TECH program managers we were able to spearhead the coordination for this event. Given P-TECH’s stated focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), it seemed like a perfect opportunity for IBM’s mentors to volunteer their time towards a noble cause while also interacting further with their protégés. I had graduated college with a degree in Civil Engineering, which only motivated me more to promote this event. I hope to encourage some of these high school students to choose a field of study that I have found fascinating and extremely relevant to life in our modern society.
Today’s event will bring approximately 35 IBM volunteers, 103 students, and P-TECH teachers and staff together to design, build and test “rocket ships” made of balloons. Nineteen student teams will compete to see whose rocket ship design can carry the most weight up to a certain height. I’m looking forward to watching these students use their imagination to turn tape, straws, paper clips and balloons into an unlimited number of creative designs.
Because we made a special effort to pair P-TECH mentors with their protégé’s team, I will have the opportunity to work with Edward again. I hope to get updates on his efforts to learn programming, as well as his latest basketball moves. This event will give us the opportunity to catch up on recent events in each other’s lives, and with any luck our team will win too!
Eric Estey is a Strategy & Change Internal Practice consultant with IBM Global Business Services.
Related Articles:
A Continuing Relationship: One Mentor’s Story
Posted by
Margaret Honey in
Policymakers, educators and other stakeholders agree that all students – no matter where they live, what educational path they pursue, or in which field they choose to work – need to be science literate if they are to drive future innovation and to contribute to the rapidly changing global economy. To meet this charge, schools have been challenged to redefine mathematics and science education to support multiple strands of inquiry and exploration across the curriculum. The challenge is to offer tools that help students experience excitement, motivation and interest with respect to the natural and built world; develop and use scientific explanations, concepts and models; generate scientific evidence to understand issues; reflect on science as a way of knowing; participate in science practices (e.g., presenting their findings); and identify themselves as science learners capable of doing science.
For this transformation to occur, the Carnegie Corporation’s Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education argues we must move away from the current system of “telling” students about science to one that helps students gain critical problem-solving and inquiry skills in the context of relevant, real-world, interdisciplinary problems. While it’s clear from the Commission’s research that young people care deeply about contemporary STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) problems and are motivated to solve them (e.g., health and global warming), many teachers see such investigations as daunting to implement. Furthermore, with rapid advances in science and technology, schools often have limited access to up-to-date resources, strategies and pedagogical supports to bring such relevant content into the classroom creatively.
Design-based teaching and learning can help teachers and students address the challenges of science literacy and offer a new and effective approach to STEM engagement. Design is a process by which people from diverse fields make decisions about the form, function, and use of materials to create artifacts, systems and tools that solve a range of problems, large and small. By focusing on design, one learns how to identify a problem or need, how to consider design options and constraints, and how to plan, model, test and iterate solutions to vexing problems, making higher-order thinking skills tangible and visible. Design-based activities can be intrinsically motivating to teachers and students because they engage the desire to make things and learn how things work. Design also responds to the interdisciplinary complexity of life, requiring that multiple areas of expertise be brought to bear on real-world problems, making it a natural approach for integrating STEM into all subject areas.
Teachers TryScience is a resource, developed by IBM in partnership with the New York Hall of Science and others, that is intended to help teachers introduce design-based science practices into their classrooms. The site contains engaging lesson plans; media assets, such as videos and podcasts that provide “how-to” tips and strategies for teachers; and collaboration tools that foster discussion and a sense of community.
Engaging in activities such as designing solar cars, creating water filtration systems and exploring possibilities for alternative energy sources all help learners develop a deep conceptual understanding of the knowledge and principles of a domain, and support the development of self-guided inquiry skills that are often difficult to teach. To teach STEM effectively through design, teachers need to experience the excitement of how design can be used to address 21st-century challenges, learn how to guide and facilitate such investigations with students, and gain strategies and resources that help them integrate design-based STEM teaching in the classroom. Doing this work while engaging with a larger and like-minded community of educators is exactly what Teachers TryScience supports.
Margaret Honey, Ph.D., is President and CEO of the New York Hall of Science.
Related Article:
IBM’s donation of 45 Young Explorer™ computer learning centers to the Early Childhood Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) and 13 additional City University of New York (CUNY) campus child care centers is helping 3- to 7-year olds get
a leg up on math and science while their parents complete their college degrees. The CUNY grant is part of IBM’s $4.3 million initiative to provide more than 1,700 computer learning centers and teaching curricula to schools and nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide services to disadvantaged students.
Standing, L to R: CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, CUNY Director of Child Care Betty Pearsall, BMCC Board Chair Dr. Emily Anderson. Kneeling: IBM Foundation President Stanley S. Litow.
With U.S. community college graduation rates averaging only 26 percent – 28 percent for New York City – affordable, high-quality child care is essential to parents pursuing postsecondary education. Thirty percent of CUNY students work more than 20 hours per week in addition to attending college, so programs such as BMCC’s Early Childhood Center can be critical to their earning a degree. The availability of affordable child care and Young Explorer™ technology enables BMCC students to train for tomorrow’s careers while their children explore math and science concepts on the same campus.
Throughout the CUNY system, thousands of young children are having fun and learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) concepts thanks to the bilingual (English and Spanish) software that’s part of IBM’s Young Explorer™ donation. Each Young Explorer™ is a computer housed in brightly-colored, child-friendly Little Tikes™ furniture, and is equipped with award-winning educational software. In addition, the nearly 100 teachers at CUNY’s child care centers have access to online resources through IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning website.
The collaboration between CUNY and KidSmart delivers a host of social and economic benefits. Young children get an early start developing the skills they’ll need for future success. Struggling parents get the support they need to help finish their education, participate more fully in the economy, and contribute more to their communities. And teachers get access to a leading-edge educational tool to help build and sharpen their skills. It’s a smarter approach to education to help build a smarter city.
Doris González is Senior Program Manager, IBM Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs and leads KidSmart and Reading Companion – two of IBM’s global early learning and literacy initiatives.
Related Resources:
Giving Kids the Right Start with Science and Math
Improving the Technology of Learning to Help Close the Digital Divide
Posted by
Michael A. Nutter in
On March 15, 2012, IBM selected 33 cities worldwide to receive IBM Smarter Cities Challenge (#smartercities) grants during 2012.
Launched in 2011, this three-year, 100-city US$50 million program, IBM’s single-largest philanthropic initiative, funds in-person engagements staffed by teams of top IBM experts, who study and then make detailed recommendations addressing locally important urban issues.
With the announcement of the 2012 IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners — and as part of a series of Citizen IBM articles from the mayors of previous winners — Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter reflects on his city’s Smarter Cities Challenge experience as Philadelphia focuses on improving workforce development with its Digital On-Ramps initiative.
I believe Philadelphia is a great city with infinite potential. As Mayor, it’s my duty to find ways to capitalize on that potential. To do that, we have to be honest about the challenges ahead.
For Philadelphia, the major challenges center on education, literacy and workforce development. It is estimated that by 2030, approximately 600,000 Philadelphians will lack the basic skills required to compete in the global economy. Currently, two-thirds of the jobs in our city require high-literacy skills, but only one-third of our residents have the skills needed for these jobs. Unless we change this trend, many Philadelphians and their children will remain trapped in a cycle of underemployment and unemployment, working low-skill, low-wage jobs. This will have an impact on the kinds of jobs and companies that we attract to Philadelphia, limiting the potential growth for our local economy.
The lack of a skilled workforce is not unique to Philadelphia; sadly, it’s an American problem. There are nearly three million technical positions unfilled due to the skills gap. To address this problem, Philadelphia needs to transform its entire workforce development system. We need to rethink the training we provide to our job seekers. We need to implement a coordinated plan to streamline all of our workforce development organizations and programs. We need to encourage the business community to work with the City to find innovative ways to get Philadelphians working, the local economy growing, and new companies coming to the region. And, all of these changes must be cost-efficient.
After being selected as an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant winner in 2011, we welcomed a team of IBMers to the City of Philadelphia. They worked with City officials, employees and non-profit leaders to pinpoint the weaknesses in our workforce development system and create a roadmap to transform our human capital development system. In the end, our partnered effort with IBM resulted in the decision to strengthen the Digital On-Ramps initiative, a city-wide collaborative aimed at providing “anytime, anywhere” learning and workforce development.
The goal of the new Digital On-Ramps model is to be a digital learning portal: one-stop, easily accessible from anywhere and simple to navigate. This portal will connect Philadelphians to learning tools and other learners in a digital learning community. Here, we will foster collaboration and peer involvement, skills assessments, and we will provide up-to-date information on learning and training programs and resources. Over a four-year period, we aim to serve 175,000 youth and adults already enrolled in the Philadelphia learning community with the Digital On-Ramps initiative. Our goal is to create a more skilled, more prepared workforce with better employment options.
There is an old saying, “Never waste a crisis.” With the support and recommendations of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team, Philadelphia will turn the struggling residents into the skilled, 21st century-ready workforce of the future.
The Honorable Michael A. Nutter, the 98th mayor of Philadelphia, has set a course for America’s fifth largest city aimed at growing the regional economy in a sustainable manner, dramatically improving public safety and investing in education and workforce development.
Related Resources:
IBM Names Worldwide Recipients of 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge Grants
Mayor Stephen Mandel: Building a Smarter Edmonton
Smarter Cities Challenge Team: Building a Smarter Philadelphia
Many companies value the importance of skills development, education and training.
Yet, few companies have made the type of commitment that IBM has.
Instead of nibbling around the edge, IBM is working to restructure the education system to better align education, work-based learning experiences and career pathways. Through the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) model – a grades nine through 14 school where students earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree – IBM is preparing students to succeed in the global economy.
By joining with Skills for America’s Future – a public-private initiative connecting businesses with community colleges to train students with the skills they need to get and keep good jobs – IBM can provide the blueprint for a replicable and impactful partnership between employers and schools.
At Skills forAmerica’s Future, we know that aligning education with employer-driven training is a surefire way to build a solid workforce pipeline. Public-private partnerships between employers and educational institutions represent a strategy to accomplish this goal. Community colleges are a key partner, since these institutions currently educate 44 percent ofAmerica’s undergraduates.
But there is also the need to bridge the gap between high school, community college and employment. This gap has been a topic of concern in the education world for some time, and continues to be an important focus for improving workforce development.
It’s no wonder that IBM’s P-TECH model has created such buzz around the country.
P-TECH confers not only a high school diploma, but a two-year associate’s degree as well. Upon graduation, students will have the academic skills and workplace experience either to enter the workforce directly or pursue a four-year degree. Most notably, students graduate with specific skills that employers value, and for which they hire. For that reason alone, the grades nine through 14 model that IBM has developed is clearly an idea worth spreading.
After witnessing the success of a P-TECH school in New York, the City of Chicago has announced plans to integrate the grades nine through 14 model into select parts of its education system. With the leadership of IBM and other key business partners, students will be trained for jobs in Chicago’s growth industries – all through one program that connects high school, community college, and employment.
The expansion of IBM’s P-TECH model is not only evidence that this works, but that it’s easy to reproduce in the hands of other willing participants. That’s why this model has the potential to be replicated around the country.
To provide information about the successful elements of the model, IBM has developed a playbook that can pave the way for other companies to coalesce around this model and partner with high schools and community colleges. This playbook can help guide other companies develop strategies to bridge the gap between education and job opportunities, and invest in their communities to create similar substantial connections.
As a national network of employers and community colleges dedicated to reforming skills training and workforce development, Skills forAmerica’s Future is an ideal partner to help IBM share this information with the stakeholders who need it most.
In this economy, it is clear that we need smart, forward-thinking solutions to meet our nation’s skills challenges. IBM’s P-TECH model provides one such a solution. That’s why at Skills for America’s Future we look forward to highlighting what works and sharing the best practices with other committed employers across the country.
Karen Elzey is Director of Skills for America’s Future, a policy initiative at the Aspen Institute.
Related Resources:
Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide
Posted by
Stanley S. Litow in
Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.
– John Dewey
In my latest op-ed in U.S. News & World Report, I write that only since the end of the Second World War has high school attendance been mandatory. Back in 1945, we understood that while college could be important, finishing high school wasn’t optional – it was essential. But in 2012, the stakes and requirements are much higher. To gain access to 21st Century careers, workers must be significantly better educated than in generations past. And to prepare our children to participate in the global economy, our schools must do a better job of connecting education to employment.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has just announced his city’s intention to do just that. Following the Roadmap for Career and Technical Education developed in collaboration with an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team — and working out of IBM’s playbook, the STEM Pathways to College and Careers School Guide — Chicago plans to open five grades 9 through 14 schools this fall. Each school will be a public-private partnership among the Chicago Public Schools, the City Colleges of Chicago, and a corporate sponsor. Their mission: to connect education to jobs.
Read my full article in U.S. News & World Report. Then follow the links below to read a variety of perspectives on how civic leaders, educators, parents, students and private industry are working together to improve American public education.
Related Resources:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Building the Pipeline to Tomorrow’s Jobs: Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago
Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago: Contributing Expertise to Build Sustainable Value
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet
8:10
IBM Enterprise Content Management Brand Specialist and Chicagoan Donna Mueller
was part of the seven-member Smarter Cities Challenge team that worked with the
City of Chicago’s civic and education leaders to develop a strategic plan to connect public education to employment. Below, Donna shares her thoughts about contributing her expertise to help improve Chicago’s schools.
My time on the Smarter Cities Chicago project was probably the most enriching experience I’ve had during my 32 years with IBM. It was unbelievably gratifying to use my background as an educator and my IBM expertise to learn about and potentially improve a school system in my own backyard.
One of the most interesting aspects to the project was learning about the vast network of organizations and agencies that independently support career and technical learning in the city. From the mind-bending activities offered to kids at the Chicago Public Library’s You Media (my personal favorite); to the much loved After School Matters program; to the passion and drive of the educators at Chicago Career Tech, who help people develop the technical skills they need for new careers; the number and quality of these organizations was hugely positive “new news” me.
The Smarter Cities team was able to interview the leadership at many of these organizations, and quickly recognized the value of the offerings and the reach they provided in support of our mutually-held objective of improving career and technical education. Chicago has a rich ecosystem of career and technical education services – some of it being capitalized on, some not enough. One of our team’s recommendations was for the city to reach across its diverse portfolio of services to help these various entities work together better.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the level of effort the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has dedicated to the wide swath of students formerly pigeonholed into “Vocational Ed.” CPS is now tracking these students into Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs designed to prepare them for 21st Century careers.
The reinvention underway at the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) – which is revamping its information technology (IT) curriculum – also is impressive. However, the Smarter Cities team’s observation was that CCC was revising its curriculum in parallel with efforts by CPS, rather than in collaboration with them. One of our recommendations to the city was that CCC and CPS coordinate resources to develop an integrated and more broadly-based approach to IT skills training. I felt that the CPS leadership was very open to the suggestions of the Smarter Cities team, and that some dramatic changes may be on the horizon.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel clearly has put a lot of thought into strengthening the city’s economy by attracting new employers in search of a highly-skilled workforce. I applaud the Mayor’s efforts to maintain the vibrancy and competitiveness of the wonderful city where I was born and raised. I’m proud to have played a very small part in helping to make that happen, and I’m proud to work for a company that has given me the opportunity to contribute.
Finally, the single greatest part of my experience was working on this real world social problem with an incomparable team of dedicated IBM experts. I learned so much from each member of the team. And for someone with a penchant for lifelong learning, that is the most important takeaway from the experience.
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook.
Download the Grades 9-14 Chicago and IBM School Partnership fact sheet.
Related Resources:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Building the Pipeline to Tomorrow’s Jobs: Smarter Cities Challenge, Chicago
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Posted by
Rashid Ferrod Davis in
When I look back at the first 100 days of P-TECH – the Pathways in Technology Early College High School – it becomes clear that rigor, roadmaps, and role models have been essential to our success. The P-TECH grades nine through 14 model is a forward-thinking example of what can happen when public educators and the private sector work together toward our children’s success. P-TECH also represents new paradigms in American education – a public-private partnership that blazes a pathway from high school through college to careers, a hybrid of high school and college that enables the creation of that pathway, and a repeatable model that any community can follow to connect education to employment. Following our example, Chicago will open five grades nine through 14 schools this fall, and Mayor Bloomberg recently announced plans for three more schools in New York.
P-TECH students – a self-selected group from acrossNew York’s five boroughs – will earn both the high school diploma and an associate degree in technology following a rigorous, six-year program. To accomplish this, our students (and their parents) have had to accept the challenges posed by 90-minute classes and a longer school day. They have had to be ready to tackle Workplace Learning in addition to their core academic curriculum. With help from a dedicated faculty and from the IBM mentors assigned to each pupil, our students have had to rise to the challenge of pushing themselves academically while acquiring the cultural orientation of industry professionals.
P-TECH students come from several cohorts with historically low high school attendance and graduation rates. Sixteen percent of our entering students have Individualized Education Plans, 15 percent are two years older than the average ninth grader, 14 percent are present or former English Language Learners, and 67 percent are non-white males. But as of this writing, they are succeeding brilliantly.
- Of the 35 students whose Lexile Scores were in the bottom third of their class, 23 have increased their scores by at least one grade level. Twelve students have increased their scores by two grade levels, and seven students have increased their scores by three grade levels or more – all after just one term at P-TECH.
- Prior to entering P-TECH, 21 percent of our students had yearly attendance rates of less than 90 percent. But over our first 100 days, 94 percent of our students have maintained an attendance rate of 90 percent or higher.
- Black Males represent P-TECH’s largest subgroup, and throughout America’s high schools, young men of color have the lowest promotion rates and highest drop-out rates. Prior to matriculation at P-TECH, 16 percent of these young men had yearly attendance rates below 90 percent. But after the first 100 days, 96 percent of these students have an attendance rate of 96 percent or higher.
- Finally, after only one term of high school, 89 percent of P-TECH students already meet New York City standards for promotion to 10th grade.
How has this happened? For starters, P-TECH faculty and staff serve as role models for their students. In what I call the “angel adoption program,” each teacher and guidance counselor works with a group of fewer than 10 students to ensure their successful transition to high school. And in addition to learning about industry from their IBM mentors, students have access to college role models from the Black Male Initiative and Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) – two New York City College of Technology groups that work closely with P-TECH.
Our school prepares students for meaningful careers in the growing field of information technology, but similar grades nine through 14 schools will prepare graduates for careers in health care, transportation & logistics, advanced manufacturing, hospitality, and other growth areas. In each instance and in each locale, the school system, the community college system, and industry partners will work together to ensure that students learn marketable skills that lead to sustainable careers. As we can see from the remarkable commitments (and remarkable progress!) made by P-TECH’s students and their families, our communities are hungry for these opportunities and anxious to succeed. It’s only been 100 days, but our future looks bright.
Rashid Ferrod Davis is the founding principal of New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School.
Additional Resources:
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
Student Perspective: Switching to a Grades 9-14 School
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Chicago’s Plans to Open Five Grades 9-14 Schools
U.S. News & World Report: Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Download the “STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide” playbook
