ROP News

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O'CONNELL ANNOUNCES NEW PILOT PROGRAM TO HELP HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPLORE FUTURE PATHS

November 12, 2008

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today hit the road to Fresno to announce a new pilot program designed to help high school students find their paths in life.

"I am happy to announce the California Department of Education has partnered with the founders of Roadtrip Nation, an organization dedicated to helping young people find their path in life, to create a 'Roadtrip Nation Curriculum,' which is being piloted in the Fresno area. Roadtrip Nation's programs enable students to explore on their own and to interview individuals they find of interest. Now they are working with high schools so more students can use this process to find their passion and career potential," said O'Connell.

Currently 1,000 students in the Fresno area are participating in the pilot program: 500 students in the Fresno Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program and 500 students in the Fresno Regional Occupational Program (ROP) program. Both programs are designed to introduce students to college or career options.

The concept of Roadtrip Nation was developed by Mike Marriner, Brian McAllister, and Nathan Gebhard. After graduating from college, the three discovered that they didn't know what they wanted to do next so they decided to take a road trip to figure out their place in the world. They looked for and interviewed people around the country who were passionate about their work and asked them how they found their paths, how they turned what they loved to do into a job, a career, a business, a foundation, even a multinational corporation.

For three months, the trio traveled across the country in a green RV covering 17,000 miles. In that time, they interviewed 85 individuals, including Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks; Craig Venter, the scientist who decoded the human genome; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; the director of Saturday Night Live, and many others. The three men came to realize that young people across America needed more exposure to the world, and that perhaps they could provide a process to help drive that spirit of exploration.

So Marriner, McAllister, and Gebhard developed "Roadtrip Nation," an organization dedicated to helping individuals define their own lives. The Roadtrip Nation (RTN) philosophy is shared in a PBS television series, three books, an online community, and a college student network in more than 350 campuses internationally.

Every year, in the fall and spring, Roadtrip Nation's fleet of three green RVs tour college campuses across the country holding grassroots events, film screenings, and recruiting sessions to empower other students to hit the road on their own road trips and discover their own paths in life.

"After a few years of developing RTN on college campuses, we came to realize that college was actually too late for many students," said Michael Marriner. "So last summer, we went to State Superintendent O'Connell and talked to him about our ideas of bringing the concept of RTN to our high school students. With his support, we are here today with the green RV meeting with the first students participating in the Roadtrip Nation pilot program."

"The Roadtrip Nation curriculum is designed to open the window to the world for our students so they can clearly see the opportunities that await them after graduation from school," said O'Connell. "I know this program will change the lives of many young people and help make what they learn in high school more relevant and meaningful."

Students participating in the pilot program began their journey by exploring online at where they can view hundreds of RTN interviews with experts and industry leaders who talk about how they got to where they are today. These inspiring videos are grouped into various interest clusters so that students can explore potential career paths based on their interests. After exploring the RTN video archive, students then begin to build their own local Roadtrip experience by interviewing people within the Fresno community.

Leaders in the Fresno community who have already been interviewed by RTN students include Darryl Rogers, a former National Football League coach, and Dr. Floyd B. Buchanan, the first superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District.

"One thing that RTN has learned over the years is that the impact from the road is not about the miles you travel but the people you meet along the way," said Marriner. "Students need not travel all the way to New York City to find inspiring people. They can simply look right in their own backyards to find a wealth of experiences and inspiration that can catapult them on their own life's journey."

CareerGPS 2009 "Where Students Can Navigate Their Future"

Cal Expo - Sacramento
1600 Exposition Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95815

Thursday, March 19 - 7th and 8th Grade

Friday, March 20 - 10th Grade
Saturday, March 21 - Open Community Day
Each day 9:00 am - 1:30 pm

Please see the attached flier for information and to register for the upcoming CareerGPS 2009.

A BRAND-NEW, HANDS-ON CAREER
EXPLORATION EVENT is coming to the Sacramento
region, providing middle school and high school students the opportunity to position their academic careers within the context of a job or career that suits their individual dreams, goals, interests and talents.
CareerGPS 2009 will enable students to "navigate" career opportunities in five general industry segments (Healthcare, Infrastructure, Technology, Public Service, Small Business/Entrepreneur), introduce them to professionals from private and public sector employers, and provide valuable interaction with new technologies.
Students will leave the event with a better understanding of the necessary skills, training and education requirements for their field of interest, as well as information on working conditions, job market outlooks, life skills training
and summer jobs.

CareerGPS registration form

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O'CONNELL ANNOUNCES NEW FUNDING TO BUILD AND IMPROVE CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION FACILITIES

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced the State Allocation Board has approved for the first time, $198 million Proposition 1D funds for the new construction or modernization of 174 career technical education facilities projects throughout California. The list of projects is attached.

"As a member of the State Allocation Board, I am proud to play a role in the first-ever approval of funding to build and improve career technical education facilities," said O'Connell. "California must prepare all students for success in the competitive global economy, whether they plan to go straight into a career or to college after graduating from high school. By improving and expanding career technical education options for students, we will help keep them motivated, in school, and better prepared for their future."

The California Department of Education (CDE) developed the grant criteria in cooperation with the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and business and industry groups. CDE reviewed all applications to ensure equity in the distribution of the funds and to make sure that funded projects had relevance to industry needs. CDE also worked to make sure funded projects expanded partnerships between career technical education programs in the K-12 system and California's system of higher education. CDE scored the program and facilities elements of the project applications. The highest scores out of a total of 170 points received approval for the Proposition 1D funding.

Proposition 1D was passed by 56.5 percent of the vote in the November 2006 election. The measure allowed the state to sell $10.4 billion in general obligation bonds to fund repair projects and upgrade public schools, including kindergarten through grade twelve, community colleges, and state universities. One billion dollars of Proposition 1D funds are reserved for funding career technical education facilities.

The State Allocation Board is responsible for allocating the Proposition 1D funds for career technical education facilities as well as funds for the new construction and modernization of local public school facilities. Of the 174 projects approved, 92 are modernization projects, eight are equipment only projects to be placed in existing facilities, and 74 are new construction.

Career Technical Education Projects Approved

Schoolwork in Oregon now includes class about real work

Monday, April 30, 2007

STEVEN CARTER
The Oregonian

Kathryn Marxen crouches behind her tripod, focusing on the next scene.

"Can you walk this way again?" she shouts to Adam Grishman, 50 yards down the path. "OK, go ahead!" The apprentice trainer at Guide Dogs for the Blind leads Binny, a 14-month-old yellow Lab, toward the camcorder.

Marxen, 17, is making a how-to video for community volunteers interested in providing basic training to guide dogs. Today, she is shooting background scenes at Guide Dogs' Oregon headquarters in Boring. Most of the video will feature her demonstrating commands with one of the guide dog puppies she has raised herself.

Marxen's video is her career project at Oregon City High School, something she needs for graduation.

Under a little-known state mandate, Marxen and some 43,000 other Oregon public high school seniors must complete an extended career-related project that brings relevance to what students have learned in the classroom.

"It gives students a way to explore careers and life after high school," said Theresa Levy, career learning specialist with the Oregon Department of Education.

Levy said some high schools are better prepared than others for the new requirements. The Oregon Board of Education adopted them in 2002, but some schools put off planning, knowing that they weren't required until this year.

Portland Public Schools didn't really get moving on the requirements until early 2005, when former Reynolds High School Principal Steve Olczak was hired to develop career programs in the high schools. Some are further along than others, he said, and the district's complete career-related learning program won't be available until the class of 2009.

Elsewhere, seniors are responding with a wide range of projects. Zyan Silver of Brookings-Harbor High School raised 120 two-spot octopuses in his garage, selling them to cephalopod lovers all over the United States.

Chris Jacobs, Devin Daniel and Wesley Imlay, seniors at the Center for Advanced Learning in Gresham, developed a prototype tool to speed production and diminish chances of workplace injuries at the nearby Pella Window & Door plant.

Erika Roney, 17, and Bailey Blake, 18, Marxen's classmates at Oregon City High, put on a horse show in December, raising $4,800 for the school equestrian club and school district's college scholarship fund.

Tiny Adrian High School in Malheur County - 85 students - has required seniors to do career-related activities for graduation for at least six years. They do job shadows, a community project and a research paper, and their projects must be good enough to pass muster with a judging panel made up of community members.

The high school has forged ties with businesses and professionals as far away as Ontario and Vale to give students access to mentors and chances to explore careers. But students are expected to take most of the responsibility to seek out opportunities.

The new career-related learning standards are in addition to the traditional academic requirements for graduation.

High school students, with advice from counselors and teachers, must create an education plan that guides their path through high school with an eye toward their postgraduate goal, whether college or work.

Students must complete one or more career-related learning experiences, which can range from attending a job fair to interning in a workplace. They must show they have gained some career-related skills, such as time management, teamwork, résumé-writing and the like. And they must do something called an extended application, which at Oregon City High School is the senior project.

Oregon City High was another school that jumped on the bandwagon late, said Kitsie Parkinson, senior projects coordinator. With 480 seniors, school officials realized they would have to establish a class that would give students a framework to meet the requirements.

The centerpiece of the class is the senior project, for which the teacher acts as adviser, guide and judge to make sure the projects have sufficient depth and breadth.

"The No. 1 lessons kids learn in this process is how bad a habit procrastination is," said Jamie Lee, a health teacher who leads a senior projects class. "It also gets them outside of the school, and it teaches them responsibility in and pride of owning a project."

Marxen hopes her video will be good enough to be used by Guide Dogs for the Blind as a training tool for the volunteers who give the puppies instruction in obedience and socialization.

Marxen has raised three guide dog puppies herself and knows the training regime well. She has put 30 hours into her video so far, writing a 25-page script and consulting a videographer to help her learn the basics of filming. It's the biggest project she has done in high school.

Her mother, Debra, said Kathryn has tackled her senior project with purpose because it involves something she loves - animals.

The chance to work on a real-world problem at Pella motivated Chris Jacobs and his classmates at the Center for Advanced Learning.

"It was more than just reading the textbooks or creating a poster," he said. "It meant something."

Steven Carter: 503-221-8521

©2007 The Oregonian

Level 1 DS Credential Courses On Demand

Any ROP Teacher who needs to complete either Level 1 or Level 2 Dedignated Subjects Credential courses can now do so via online distance learning. Courses are offered on demand and can be started at any time. See information posted at:

ROP And Career Choices

"ROP gave me the opportunity to explore a career choice that led to establishing a business with my wife and my brother, who are also former ROP students."

- Garrison Hartman, former ROP Auto Mechanics Student