The Dallas Independent School District hosted Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s State of Texas P-TECH Advisory Council at Seagoville High School on September 22, 2016. The meeting featured discussion regarding P-TECH design, planning, implementation and partnership development. The P-TECH Advisory Council selected by Lt. Governor Patrick is the first of its kind, in Texas. The Lieutenant Governor first announced the classroom-to-career initiative known as the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) model in February, 2016. The state advisory council is composed of K-12, higher education and industry leaders. The purpose of the advisory council is to identify specific goals and metrics for a P-TECH school in Texas and promote education and business partnerships across the state.

Israel Cordero, Deputy of Chief School Leadership for Dallas ISD, welcomed nearly 50 participants and served on a panel with Dr.Thom Chesney, President of Brookhaven College, Dr. Mary Brumbach, DCCCD Chief Strategy Officer, Eastfield College, DCCCD Administrators and Seagoville P-TECH Industry Partners discussing curriculum and partnership development. Seagoville High School Feeder Pattern Executive Director Stephanie Taylor, Seagoville High Principal Angela West, P-TECH Administrator Gabriel Guerra and Workplace Learning Coordinator Sibu McNeal along with Usamah Rodgers, Dallas ISD Executive Director of Early College Programs also served as panelist and provided an overview of the steps taken to on open the first Pathways to Technology Early College High School in the state of Texas.

The second half of the meeting included a working lunch led by the Greater Houston Partnership, an open forum with the Texas State Technical College Partnership, and powerful testimonies from 3 Seagoville P-TECH Students. The council meeting concluded with a wrap-up on next steps in P-TECH presented by Robin Painovich, Executive Director for Career & Technical Association of Texas; and Marian Wallace, Education Policy Advisor for the Office of the Lt. Governor.

The City of Dallas IT Department serves as the industry partner for the "Great" James Madison High School. The City of Dallas IT Department is led by Chief Information Officer, William "Bill" Finch and IT Manager, Tanishia Dorsey serves as the Madison Collegiate Academy (MCA) Industry Partnership Liaison. Ms. Dorsey visits the campus weekly to collaborate with Madison High School, Principal Marian Willard, Collegiate Academy Administrator, Chantil Goree and Workplace Learning Coordinator, Becky Barker in addition to interacting with students and teachers. This week Tanishia brought members of the IT team to MCA for a site-visit and to begin the process of curriculum mapping in order to design real-world IT learning experiences for students. The MCA students were able to observe the meeting and identify the various workplace learning competencies utilized by the IT team members. MCA is excited about the partnership with the City of Dallas IT Department and the students look forward to the opportunity to interact with IT professionals on a regular basis.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. ~Henry Ford

Students enrolled in the Dallas ISD Collegiate Academies and P-TECH program are offered a new approach to learning by bringing together the best elements of high school, college, and career. Students have the opportunity to receive an industry-recognized associate degree or up to 60 transferable college credit hours along with the skills to succeed in high-growth industries upon graduation.

To start taking college courses and earn credit for them while still in high school can be challenging for both teacher and student. In our training sessions with Tracey Hurst, she emphasized that our Collegiate Academy students must become ‘college ready’ long before they earn a high school diploma; as a matter of fact, they must be college ready when they enter our classrooms. Our Common Instructional Framework includes collaborative group work, writing to learn, literacy groups, questioning, classroom talk, and scaffolding. Each week we will share instructional strategies that support this framework and are designed to accelerate student learning and fully prepare students for the challenging curricula of college-level courses.

Fishbowl Protocol

Purpose: Use the Fisbowl Protocol to create dynamic group involvement and stimulate discussion.

Process:

1. Based on the articles you want students to read, choose a set of questions about the

topic for participants to explore.

2. Before students form the fishbowl, have them read 2-3 short articles or one long article about the topic.

3. Once they have finished reading the article(s), ask students to form two circles, an inner and an outer circle. The inner circle is the discussion group and should consist of at least 4 students. The outer circle is the observation group and contain the rest of the students. Just as people observe fish in a fishbowl, the outer circle observes the inner circle.

4. Ask the inner circle to engage in a discussion about the article or articles they read and the questions that frame reading. Ask the outer circle to listen to the discussion and take notes to clarify and deepen the conversation about the topic.

5. After 10 minutes, ask the participants in the inner circle to become the outer circle and the participants in the outer circle become the inner circle. Have the inner circle use their observations notes to continue the discussion and the outer circle observe and take notes on the inner circle.

6. After 10 minutes, have the inner circle turn and discuss the questions with participants in the outer circle.

7. After 10 minutes, bring the circles together and discuss the main ideas and question that emerged from the fishbowl.

Reflection: What components of the ECHS Common Instructional Framework does the Fish Bowl Protocol support?

Workplace Learning is based upon two conceptual elements — "exposure" and "practice". It is an integral component of the P-TECH model and provides students with hands-on, direct exposure to their chosen field. Workplace Learning is made up of a wide range of experiences and it is designed to "break down" the traditional wall between work and school and provide meaningful exposure to successful professionals in the field.

Workplace Learning comprises coursework that has been specifically designed around the needs of a particular industry. It can also include:

• Field trips

• Site visits

• Speakers

• Mentoring

• Job shadowing

• Service learning projects

• Internships, apprenticeships and co-op experiences

Source: www.p-tech.org

Usamah Rodgers, Executive Director

Jeannette Papadopoulos, Workplace Learning Director

Constance Jawaid, Coordinator

Christine Delgado, Administrative Assistant

Email: chdelgado@dallasisd.org
Website: http://www.dallasisd.org/collegiateacademies
Location: 408 N Haskell Ave, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 972-925-3033
Twitter: @DISDCollegiate