College and Career Readiness for Today’s Schools - Held Virtually

College and Career Readiness for Today’s Schools - Held Virtually

Sunday, Sept. 29

7:00 AM - 3:00 PM

A 30 minute lunch break

$30 Support Staff (non-licensed)

$50 NASA Members

$75 Non-NASA Members

Dr. Jill Pittman

Educator and Administrator

Dr. Jill Pittman is a distinguished educator and administrator with a deep commitment to enhancing workforce readiness through career and technical education. Her rich educational background spans kindergarten through post-secondary levels across Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. With 18 years as an Executive Principal in Nashville, TN, Dr. Pittman effectively led diverse student populations, including significant immigrant and English Learner groups. She has been instrumental in developing and leading two International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programs, and she played a pivotal role in advancing her schools to achieve national and international recognition as model institutions for both Career Academies and the Cambridge programs.

Dr. Pittman's expertise in career-oriented education is further highlighted by her recognition as an America Achieves Fellow and a Collaborative Fellow with the National Career Academy Coalition. Her leadership skills have earned her the title of Academy Principal of the Year by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, an accolade awarded during her tenure in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. She is also a noted presenter for Ford Next Generation Learning, focusing on preparing students for a competitive global economy. This extensive experience underscores her profound influence on educational leadership and her commitment to preparing students for successful careers.

Workshop Description:

Work.  It’s the common denominator for a prosperous society.  With national attention on career readiness as a focus for students, schools can turn to evidence-based models shown to improve engagement and postsecondary persistence for all types of learners.  This workshop will provide a framework and step-by-step guide for establishing career-themed smaller learning communities.  Participants will learn systems and structures that bring teachers of all grade levels and content areas, counselors, administrators, and business partners together to support students in connecting the dots between academics and the world of work.

Desired Outcomes:  By the end of this course, participants will:

• Understand how the SLC model integrates CTE with core instruction and experiential learning
• Recognize the data trends and forces pushing schools towards workforce readiness initiatives
• Identify behaviors of highly effective teams for interventions and engagement
• Determine how the model provides for distributed leadership opportunities
• Conceptualize how whole-school models can support SLCs for optimal results
• Review research and results from practicing urban, rural, and suburban districts
• Evaluate structures needed to sustain identity and impact in core academics and career study
• Anticipate implementation challenges and generate alternatives and solutions per unique school
• Develop an SLC prototype design per school reflective of local context and workforce drivers
• Generate potential community, higher ed, industry partner teams to support a career theme
• Create a through-line content anchor for cross-content collaboration
• Differentiate post-secondary off-ramps for students within an SLC

Direct Relationship to Student Achievement and Outcomes: This course correlates with improved student achievement, behavior, and continuous improvement outcomes by:

• Providing all PreK-12 teams with evidence-based models of school design frameworks that are shown to improve engagement and post-secondary persistence among diverse student groups by ensuring that every student is known and that every class has a tie to real-world contexts.
• Extending connections for students beyond the school and into the broader community through experiential learning that reflects local culture and workforce development needs.
• Creating opportunities for distributed student and teacher leadership through SLC implementation

Target Audience:

Designed for all PreK-12 educators who would benefit from exploring a school reform model that can be adopted incrementally or full scale to unify students and staff in career-themed experiences designed to launch students’ next steps with the skills employers value most.  As we strive to close the achievement gaps at all levels, participants will be helping all students see the connections of what they are learning today to how it will be applied in their future endeavors and support their individual goals and opportunities.

ALL are welcome, including anyone in a non-administrative position!

Participants will earn .5 credit (7.5 hours) toward license renewal!

This workshop ALSO counts for step advancement in Clark, Washoe and most Nevada School Districts!

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In CCSD, those in non-administrative licensed positions may count this workshop for license renewal AND ALSO 2.5 CUs - THOSE IN NON-ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS EARN BOTH!

In CCSD, administrators and professional-technical administrators may count this workshop for license renewal OR 2.5 hours toward step-advancement - not both for administrators.

Washoe County participants will be required to also register for this course in "MyPGS" in order to receive in-service credit toward salary advancement.

Washoe County School District (WCSD) participants are required to submit a 300-word essay on how they will implement this professional learning to increase student achievement before a certificate is issued.