Metro South School to Career Partnership
Brockton, Massachusetts
Contact:
Maureen S. Murray
Director
60 School Street
Brockton, MA 02401
Phone: 508-580-8558
Fax: 508-427-0561
Email: stc@ziplink.net
Website: www.cyberworks.org
Mission
The mission of the Partnership is to establish a career development system for all youth. The Partnership seeks to build one system and to provide the necessary supports to ensure that ALL youth can access that system.
The vision of the Metro South School to Career Partnership is that ALL youth in the Brockton region will possess the knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to make meaningful career choices, and to be productive in the work place. Our educational institutions, employers, and community will work together to ensure that school-based learning is systematically connected and integrated with work-based learning.
Organization
Organization Type: Education Agency - Regional or Intermediate; Rehabilitation Agency - Regional; Parent Organization; Business - 500+ businesses in database offering work-based learning opportunities to students.
Geographical Area: Metropolitan Area
Primary Setting: Middle or junior high school, High School
Funding: External funding source - State School-to-Work Implementation Grant and UMass/DMR Grant
Consumers
Target Population: Secondary education students with and without disabilities; Teachers or faculty - Secondary education
Disability Areas: Mental retardation, Specific learning disability
NTA Framework Categories
Description
The career development system developed for the metro south region by the Metro South School to Career Partnership is built on a strong foundation of career guidance and establishes a sequence of activities in identified career pathways. The activities begin with an awareness component that assists students in identifying career interests by means of an interest inventory, generally the Harrington O’Shea CDM survey. In Brockton, all eighth grade students, including students with disabilities, take the interest inventory and complete a series of related activities.
In freshman year at Brockton High School, all students take an economics unit in their social studies class that introduces the six career clusters chosen by the Partnership. The students complete a variety of projects related to a cluster of interest (as identified on the interest inventory). For example, one activity allows students to choose an occupation within the cluster area. With the assistance of the Division of Employment and Training, lists of jobs within each cluster area have been generated. Jobs are broken down into 3 levels according to training required: high school diploma; two years of training; four plus years training/college. Students determine earning potential of a job of interest and compare that amount to the amount they have calculated in looking at yearly expenses. The purpose of the activity is to emphasize the connection between education, and earning potential.
The final component of the freshman unit is a series of activities in English class that culminates in a job shadow. Placement is made based again on the results of the interest inventory and it is not job specific. At this age, students have limited knowledge of job opportunities and the goal is to broaden that knowledge.
All 9th grade students at Brockton High School participate in the inventory, economics unit and job shadow, and special educators provide support where necessary to ensure success in these activities. During the 1997-1998 school year, 650 freshmen participated in the job shadows. Two hundred of those participants are students with special needs.
In the suburban towns, activities similar to those occurring in Brockton have been developed. The Partnership has worked closely with providers of services for youth with disabilities, particularly North River Collaborative, which serves the region around Brockton. The Partnership designed a program with the Collaborative, which allows students with disabilities to participate in the same career development activities as their non-disabled peers. Professional development helps educators provide meaningful school-based and work-based experiences, introduces them to various adult agencies and teaches them how to create a vocational profile. Job coaches are utilized at worksites to ensure a successful experience and to gather information for the vocational profile that will inform the process of identifying appropriate future sites for work experience.
The School to Career Partnership has built a database of over 500 businesses willing to participate in various activities. The database is used to match students with a host in an area of interest for job shadows and other work-based learning opportunities.
The Partnership has begun to increase the intensity and number of work-based learning opportunities for students as they progress through their academic careers. As part of the work experience, a work-based learning plan is used to identify skills related to tasks in a specific job. This tool assists students in articulating the transferable skills learned on any job. It also encourages employers to expose students to a wide variety of tasks that can address identified skills.
The higher end of the career development system addresses postsecondary connections. Bringing adult agencies into the process at the junior high/middle school level is beginning to foster the building of relationships. This, coupled with the experiences offered to students, is beginning to have some positive impact on the successful transitions of youth with disabilities.
Evidence of Success
Success Story
Dan is a student in the Brockton Public Schools in Brockton, Massachusetts. Since junior high school, Dan has been involved in experiences both at school and in the workplace to better prepare him for transition from school to adult life. During his years at the junior high, Dan participated in a number of job rotations in the community, experiences that allowed him to see various types of jobs and allowed his teachers and other support staff to observe him in different settings. During his high school years, Dan had additional work experiences to help him gain additional skills. Dan is now working in a paid position at Home Goods, and really enjoys his job which he will keep when he leaves the high school in June. His duties include: stocking shelves; bringing in carriages; store maintenance.
In addition to participating in work experience, Dan learned to use the public transportation system in Brockton. Travel training is part of the school curriculum, and Dan has learned to travel on the Brockton Area Transit (BAT) system to and from work, and home from school on days that he doesn’t work. For recreation, Dan enjoys activities with his family and also bowls on a mixed doubles adult team.
Dan has an interest in computers, and last summer he took a computer course at the community college. He recently participated in a project-based activity with a business education class in which students produced a newsletter to inform parents and the community about student activities.
Dan’s interests and perseverance, combined with the support of his family and school staff, have enabled him to work at a job he enjoys and to spend his leisure time doing things he values.