 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
|
You
are here: Learning in the Mall
by Susan Byers
Over the last several years, the Seattle School District has transformed the state of public education in our city and extended to young people an unprecedented number and variety of opportunities. The most recent of these is an innovative new program that will be housed at the Northgate Mall and will tap the talent and expertise of working professionals.
The Northgate Mall Education Resource Center -- or the Mall Academy -- will open in January 2001, thanks to a unique partnership between Seattle Public Schools and the Simon Youth Foundation, a not-for-profit organization designed to provide educational and career development opportunities for youth.
"Academic achievement for every student in every school is the mission of the Seattle School District," said Superintendent Joseph Olchefske. "We are delighted to find partners like the Simon Youth Foundation that share the hopes and high expectations we have for every student in our city."
The school district has already made remarkable progress on behalf of Seattle's students -- instituting rigorous academic standards for all children; strengthening ties to parents; giving principals the freedom to shape their schools to best meet the needs of students; and building strong new partnerships throughout our community.
Educating our youth, and helping them to fulfill their hopes and dreams, is everyone's responsibility. No one person or organization can do it alone. Not parents. Not schools. Not churches. There is no magic formula – no single way to get the job done. We don't live in a one-size-fits-all world. What's important is not how a student meets a particular academic standard or reaches a particular goal, or even when. What's important is that, in the end, students get where they need to be -- and that we work collectively to help them and ensure that every young person is prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century and lead a full and productive life.
"Providing local students with educational and career development opportunities supports Simon's commitment to serve as a trusted partner in the Seattle community," said Arny Bereson, Executive Director of the Simon Youth Foundation. ``Through the establishment of the Northgate Mall Educational Resource Center, we have the opportunity to provide local students with the personalized attention they need to achieve academic success."
The new Educational Resource Center will serve between 75 and 100 high school students, ages 16 to 21, who want to earn their high school diploma and build essential career skills in a nontraditional school environment. It will provide a comprehensive high school program that makes use of advanced technological tools and places a strong emphasis on career skills. The curriculum will be aligned with the district's academic standards and will include the following components:
Middle College. The Educational Resource Center will become part of the highly successful "Middle College" concept, in which Seattle Public School students attend classes at the University of Washington and at the Central, North and South campuses of the Seattle Community College system. Students attending the Mall Academy will take high school courses while fulfilling the program's internship requirement.
Applied Health Occupations. The Educational Resource Center will serve students who are interested in a variety of health occupations and are assigned to district high schools. There will be a Health/Medical Exploratory Program taught by vocationally certified, registered and licensed medical instructors. Students will attend classes for three hours per day. The program includes 540 hours of instruction in the health/medical curriculum, training and internship experience.
Career Ladders. Vocationally certified school-to-work instructors will teach a Career/Employment Skills Exploratory Program at the Academy. It will be open to Ballard, Hale, Roosevelt, Ingraham, and Marshall high school students, who will attend classes at the Educational Resource Center for three hours a day. The program includes 540 hours of instruction in employment skills and transition planning, training, and internship experience. The internships will be focused in the areas of arts, business and marketing.
Marketing on the Mall. The Mall Academy will offer a Marketing Program, taught by college and school-to-work faculty, beginning in September 2001. The program will be open to high school and possibly college students.
The Educational Resource Center also will be used during the evening hours, when it will provide learning opportunities -- through Seattle and Antioch universities -- that meet the needs of the broader community. Seattle University will offer a Family Health Clinic graduate-level program and Antioch University will offer BA completion programs for undergraduate students.
Most of all, the Education Resource Center will serve as a catalyst for partnerships between educators and employers and will benefit the mall, its stores, and the students it serves. Junior Achievement of Seattle and Community in Schools are just two of the additional partners who have already committed to provide services and resources to support the students. Young people will receive instruction and on-the-job training for careers in retailing, and there will be management track employment opportunities at the mall for graduates of the retail-training program.
"This is a tremendous program, not only for our students, but for the City of Seattle," said schools Superintendent Joseph Olchefske. "It represents the kind of innovative, out-of-the-box thinking that is so essential if we are to deliver on the dream of academic achievement for every student in every school."
Susan M. Byers is the Director of Special Projects for the Seattle School District. She can be reached via email at: SBYERS@seattleschools.org
Copyright © October 2000 New Horizons for Learning, all rights reserved.
http://www.newhorizons.org
E-mail: info@newhorizons.orgFor permission to redistribute, please go to:
New Horizons for Learning Copyright and Permission Information