Akron Public Schools’ leaders are ready to expand their college and career academy model to elementary schools, a process that is expected to begin later this spring.
The expansion to pre-K through fifth grade would make Akron one of the first districts in the country to transform its entire system to using the program, which exposes students to job opportunities from young grades and teaches them based on their interests, said Marcie Ebright, Akron’s director of college and career academies.
She said Thursday the district had gotten the go-ahead from its partner, Ford Next Generation Learning, to expand the program. The Akron Board of Education will need to approve the planned expansion.
Akron in Action conference
The announcement came at the Akron in Action conference, which brought about 300 school leaders to the district from across the country to see APS’ progress in transforming education.
Over three days, the attendees visited schools and listened to presentations about Akron’s efforts to focus education on job paths and career readiness. The college and career academy model is intended to engage high school students in topics they’re interested in across all subjects by focusing learning on a pathway they student has chosen. In earlier grades, it’s meant to expose them to volunteer and other experiences to help them be involved in the place they live.
When Chris Scott arrived in Ohio Tuesday, the North Carolina high school principal was hoping to learn about APS partnerships with community organizations through its college and career academies.
By Thursday, Scott knew exactly what he had to do to replicate those relationships when he got home to Greensboro.
“It’s been amazing,” Scott said. “Akron is doing amazing things. They’re creating proximity for the community to be closer to students.”
Doing so lets students engage with the place where they live, Scott said. And while it’s often the case that people who make decisions have distance from those who are affected by them, Akron’s model of engagement between students and stakeholders brings those groups closer together.
It lets students learn about problems in the community, he said, but that’s just the beginning.
“It’s creating problem solvers around that,” Scott said.
Guaranteed experiences introduce all students to outside ideas
Some conference attendees this week saw what an expanded program might look like for students when they followed Windemere Community Learning Center fourth graders around the Akron Art Museum and participated in one of the district’s guaranteed experiences.
Unlike field trips, where students can be held back if their grades are suffering, the guaranteed experiences are meant to ensure every student is introduced to ideas outside the classroom. Instead of visiting the museum just to show students art, the classes are made to think about invention, collaboration and creation, as well as what other opportunities there might be for them to work in a museum.
Fourth graders LeAnder Morris and Paige Yuschak collaborated with another student on The Wreck of the Hotel, a piece of work they made at the museum about two ships that used to be friends but became enemies. They disagreed about direction at the beginning of their collaboration, LeAnder said, but soon found common ground on the materials they would use and how they would tell the story.
At the end of their time, they filled out a sheet listing the artists’ names, the materials their piece was made of, the work’s title and a description of their art, which helped them learn about the role of a curator.
“I’m actually happy with our project,” Paige said.
It also impressed adults like James Harris, a Hampton, Virginia, chief academic officer who brought several school principals with him to see how partnerships like those with the art museum worked. The hands-on work the students were doing, he said, was better than having them just read about it.
“This is a memorable, fun experience,” Harris said. “This is really eye-opening.”
Paul Essian, a principal in Romeo, Michigan, said after a classroom visit that it was interesting to see how a different group of students continued to learn from the art museum experience weeks after their visit.
That group made fairy houses at the museum, he said. Later, they wrote about what they would see if they walked in the doors of the houses — something that wouldn’t be visible in their artwork. The written exercise, he said, was a nice continuation of the art museum experience.
Others marveled at the pride student ambassadors showed in their buildings and the effort it took to ensure every student had access to the same opportunities. Harris said his Virginia district has some elements of the program, but what they do is more fragmented. Akron’s version is clearly defined.
“You want kids to have the same experience,” Harris said.
‘Exemplar’ Akron program praised by conference attendees
Alicia Jones, the director of student supports in Knox County, Tennessee, said she appreciated the coherence around Akron’s programs. Everyone is speaking the same language, she said, both inside and outside the school system. Jones said she was wowed by the level of community support and engagement in the schools.
It was a sentiment echoed by Shameka Montgomery, the director of career education and academies in Little Rock, Arkansas. Montgomery praised Akron’s ability to create and follow through on its strategic plan. She said Akron Public Schools’ leaders appear to be both vigilant in their approach and willing to admit when they’re off-track.
“It’s very hard because change is hard. Transformation is scary,” she said. “The conference planners did a really good job of being authentic. They’re admitting they’re still making adjustments. It’s been very worthwhile. I’m glad I came.”
Changing the way students learn often comes with pushback. But Val Brown, director of the future of learning for the Carnegie Foundation, said she was “deeply moved” by the support Akron has received from the Akron Community Foundation and others. She called the city an “exemplar” for its work.
The entire community is invested in developing Akron’s young people, she said. After watching eighth graders give speeches about topics that they’re passionate about, like how improving self-esteem can help make people less susceptible to human trafficking, Brown said she wants to come back to Akron to see how students continue to develop.
“They’re ready to take some action to help their community. You can’t really ask for much else from young people, I don’t think,” Brown said. “It’s a model way to go about transformation.”
