Showcasing students work...Is it time to rethink the focus of schools?

Once again this summer, I am blessed to have the opportunity to travel to a couple of national conventions/conferences.  As such, the wheels of thought are spinning as I have had the opportunity to engage in great conversation with our schools leaders as well as witness some presentations and showcases that humble me in my own work as an educator.  I am eternally grateful to the #CozadMakers schools system for believing in my work and investing in my professional development, so that I can work to enrich the experience our students have at Cozad Community Schools

The first of these conference has been the Skills USA National convention in Louisville Kentucky.  Sixteen thousand attendees have gathered to watch students engage in an authentic showcasing of their technical skills across the spectrum of vocational, technical, and academic areas.  Students from high school and post-secondary institutions across the country have earned the right to compete and showcase their skills in every competition from industrial technology to robotics to health care and beyond under one roof at the Kentucky Exposition Center.  A national champion will be crowned in every competition, scholarships and prize winnings will follow, along with job offers from America's leaders in every industry as they jockey to secure the next Michael Jordan of their field.

Don't be fooled that these vocational competitions are for the 'other' kids.  These are the best and brightest in schools across the United States.  The worlds demand for workers with the skills to apply the theory they learn in academic settings is insatiable.  The world  needs people who can perform.  Their earning potential in many cases is higher than those who work in what are typically seen as the 'prestigious' jobs in America.

Unfortunately today, schools and our society seem to think that career and technical education is the 'ugly duckling' of education.  These STEM opportunities, may be receiving a great deal of press due to the buzzword phenomenon, but few schools are taking the leap to make these new programs the common occurrence as opposed to being the rarity in new program implementation.

So why is that so?  Why are schools so remiss in putting these CTE classes and programs as their flagship?  Why are we resistant to the experiences that are driving growth and innovation in the world?  Tom Whitby (@TomWhitby), an educational leader, blogger and 34 year veteran of education published a blog today, where he proposed an answer to all these questions: Because innovation is change, and we are afraid of change.  

To focus on career and technical education, in the same way we focus on the core areas, would be to change from what we have done for decades in education.  It would be to resist the forces that are mandating standardization and quantification in education.  It would require that we admit education can be done differently and it can be better.

After this week at Skills USA National Convention, I can assure you that I will be bringing some new ideas back to my alma mater where I work.  A few of the thoughts and questions I will work on finding answers to are:

• Lets rethink the course offerings we have as a school.  They nearly identical to the classes we offered 20 years ago when I was a student.
• Can we envision a school where we tap into the hidden genius in EVERY student?
• What opportunities can we offer our students by partnering with our business community that engage students in real world learning and application of skills and knowledge?
• If we believe that the word FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning, then lets not be afraid to try something new and Bobbi, thanks for the reply. The booking reference is one that I ready a few years ago and I agree it's a great book. Your question at the end of what you do to turn those teachers around her still reluctant to change, in my opinion focuses on the concept of creating the shared vision. Once you have that  thanks for the reply. The booking reference is one that I ready a few years ago and I agree it's a great book. Your question at the end of what you do to turn those teachers around her still reluctant to change, in my opinion focuses on the concept of creating the shared vision. Once you have that 

It is easy to sit behind the keys of a blog and post these thoughts.  It is another to delve into the muddy waters and work to find a solution.  I can assure you, that I am vested in what is best for our students.  I can assure you, that I will never be satisfied with good enough.  I can assure you that as I watched the best and brightest in the nation competing here at Skills USA, I was pompous enough to believe that our students could be on this national stage.  I was confident enough in our teachers to believe with a focused and shared vision, we could be the best in the nation.

I am excited to head out to ISTE in Philadelphia Saturday and continue my journey to answer the existential call to improve the great education our students at Cozad receive.  I look forward to once again learning with my fellow #CozadMakers teachers.  I look forward to the great ideas that arise, the hard questions we will have to ask ourselves that will follow, and heart and soul of work that it will take to make things great.

There are two quotes I think about often.  The first one is one that is also a favorite of great friend Jed Droge (@ibejed)

The second one is a quote I use while with athletes as a coach.


I am excited to see the #CozadMakers teachers, students and community join me in moving from good to great and making our better best!

Diversified Agriculture Certificate Opportunity at Cozad High School

Are you interested in an Ag related career after high school?  Do you want to earn college credit while still in high school?  Better yet, would you like to earn college credits in high school for FREE?  If this is you, then you will be interested to learn about a new exciting opportunity for Cozad High School students.

Over the past few months, Cozad High School has partnered with the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) in Curtis to increase our offerings in our Career and Technical Education area.  The latest partnership to emerge is the offering of a career academy which will lead to earning a certificate in diversified agriculture.  Students who complete this academy will not only be exposed to career relevant experiences, but have a skill set which prepares them for a high demand career field.  After graduation, it would take a student roughly a year finish the coursework for an associates degree of applied science in Diversified Agriculture.

The Diversified Agriculture Career Academy will be offered to students through a variety of methods.  Some of the courses will be traditionally taught courses by Cozad High School teachers who have articulated their courses with NCTA and are serving as adjunct instructors.  Other courses in the program will taught through distance learning by professors at NCTA.  The courses taught by NCTA staff will be college level courses that may very well include other college students.  A third delivery method of coursework may be through online independent study.  The specific details of each of the course delivery methods is still being finalized.

It is important that both the students and their parents understand that by enrolling into the Career Academy, they are in essence, becoming a college student who is working towards earning an associates degree.  If a student completes the program, the student, upon graduation from Cozad High School, will also be awarded an associates degree in Diversified Agriculture from NCTA.  Since this is a college level experience, it will require that students are of the ability to do and benefit from college coursework before they will be allowed to enroll.

One of the greatest benefits to Cozad High School and the students who enroll in this program is the cost savings.  Through the generosity and forward thinking initiatives of Dr. Scott Mickelson, the associate dean at NCTA, the students at Cozad High School will be able to earn this degree with little to no out of pocket expense.  Students who enroll in the Diversified Agriculture Career Academy will apply for the ACE scholarship.  Those students are not awarded an ACE scholarship will then be granted scholarship aid from NCTA.  This will allow the students to enroll in the these courses without paying tuition.

In order to be eligible to apply to this academy, a student must be at least a sophomore at the start of the 2015-2016 school year.  The application process will be determined once the initial interest is measured.  Interest in the academy does not guarantee admission.  Academic records, attendance, maturity, career interests, and ability to benefit will all be part of the selection process.

The coursework will total 30 college credits.  Below is the initial course framework that NCTA has outlined for this academy.

Students completing 30 credits, as outlined below, will be awarded an NCTA Certificate in Diversified Agriculture.

Plan of Study
Course #	Course Name	Credits	Semester
AIT 1092	Intro to Spreadsheets	2	Soph – Fall (1st)
SPC 1103	Sales Communication	3	Soph - Spring (2nd)
ASI 1302	Animal Management	3	Soph - Spring (2nd)
HSL 1053	Landscape Appreciation	3	Jr - Fall (3rd)
AGR 1103	Crop Science	3	Jr - Fall (3rd)
AGR 1213	Natural Resource Management	3	Jr - Spring (4th)
HSL 1073	Landscape Plants 1	3	Jr - Spring (4th)
ASI 1253	Nutrition, Livestock	3	Sr – Fall (5th)
MTH 1503	College Algebra	3	Sr – Fall (5th)
ECN 1203	Microeconomics	3	Sr – Spring (6th)
AEQ 2301 AGR 2201	Pesticide Certification OR OR Commercial Ag Carrier (CDL)	1 1	Sr – Spring (6th)
	TOTAL	30 credits

The actual memorandum of understanding between NCTA and Cozad Community Schools can be found by clicking here

This program is ideal for students who are interested in continuing their education after high school at the post-secondary level in an ag related field.  Because of the affiliation of NCTA with the University of Nebraska system, the transferability of these course is very high to both UNL and to Chadron State College.  The specifics of transferability are determined on a program by program basis. 

Specific questions about the program can directed to Dustin Favinger, high school counselor, via email dustin.favinger@cozadschools.net or via phone 308.784.2744

Cozad Community Schools would like to thank the efforts of NCTA for their continued commitment to helping the students of Cozad High School reach their career goals and enriching academic experiences.  

Strengthening the 'Community' in Cozad Community Schools

A couple of years ago our district changed its name from Cozad City Schools to Cozad Community Schools.  This was prompted by the closing of our rural schools whose attendance had declined.  For those of us who have always worked in the city (I use that term loosely as our population is just over 4000), we didn't notice much change other than the name.  However, this year many of the new initiatives we are unveiling are touching on this theme of putting the 'Community' into our school.

It is an exciting time to work in our district.  We have always had a very strong educational system here that has been well supported by our community.  In my tenure here, we had not been proactive in forming new partnerships to increase educational opportunities for students.  Maybe this was due to the standards and assessment movement gaining steam or from complacency.  Neither of which are good reasons.  As the winds of change  have began to blow, our school started to realize that we had student needs that were going unmet.  Not in the traditional academic way, but in the real world skill sets they would be required to demonstrate after graduation.  Some of those skill sets are soft skills, and others are the certifications and connections they will need to have a leg up on the competition in this global economy.

Enter the 'Community' in our school.  This fall we began discussions about ways to improve the relations with our community to gain support for new projects.  The logical conclusion was to invite the community into the schools to share with them what we are doing and ask for some feedback of what we could do better.  Through this process of engaging some of our community members, we made the decision to look into partnering with businesses to help us prepare our kids for the real world with more than just a diploma.  For the backstory on the declining value of a high school diploma, see my previous blog post by clicking here.

The first step
The first partnership was to approach the Cozad Community Health System and Central Community College to be able to offer a Certified Nursing Assistant class to our students.  Lyle Davis, the hospital administrator and Central Community College have always been very willing partners and have offered great support to Cozad Community Schools.  With a little legwork, several phone calls and a couple of meetings, I am proud to say that we have twelve students who are working through the CNA course and will earn their state certification this semester.

This first win, helped us overcome the inertia of complacency.  Our next partnership was with the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, part of the University of Nebraska System.  Utilizing our Dawson Area Development coordinator, who was previously an employee at NCTA, we brainstormed a 'wish list' of ideas and then approached NCTA about entering into a conversation about ways we could make that list of dreams a list of realities.  Our first meeting involved our high school administration and our career and technical education staff at the college and several of their administration and team members.   From this meeting I can tell you that, Ron Rosati, the Dean at NCTA, is a progressive forward thinking man.  Long story short, no obstacle too big, no challenge too hard.  Our next meeting is scheduled for February 6th, 2014 and will be to begin working out the logistics of how this partnership will work.  To sum up what this partnership will offer is this: NCTA wants our students taking their classes through synchronous and/or asynchronous methods utilizing adjunct instructors.  The best part of this is that much of these college classes and certifications will be offered to our students free of cost and the potential exists for our students to earn nearly an associates degree and several industry level certifications prior to graduation.  This is exciting to say the least!

While the ball was rolling, it just so happened that we were approached by a large cattle feeding operation here in our area to explore the opportunities that may exist in the area of agriculture.  After part of a day touring their 'high tech' facility we began to brainstorm some ideas of how we might be able to work together to provide greater leadership skill experiences, technical skill set attainment, and skills in applying academic concepts to the real world in the agriculture industry. We were quite impressed with their operation and willingness to engage us in conversation.  We are looking forward to these talks continuing. I won't name the operation directly because these talks are still in the preliminary stages, but to say the least, we are excited to dream about how this partnership could bring yet another great experience to the students of Cozad Community Schools.

Whats next?
As we continue to steamroll through this school year, we are already looking to expand these partnerships in our community and surrounding area.  Each month our high school's 'Ed Tech' team meets with the executive board of the Cozad Development Corporation.  Robyn Geiser and her team have been instrumental in helping us connect with other 'movers and shakers' who are looking make a difference in the next generation of our citizens.  Our plans include the placement of twenty five high skill students into meaningful work experiences next school year.  Our three year goal is that every student in our senior class is matched up with a business mentor where they can gain some real world skills and networks to potentially bring back our best and brightest after graduation.  Other plans include the beefing up of our CNA class so that next year students will also attain their Medical Assisting (CMA) and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certifications as well.  We are looking at several technical certifications and partnerships where students could CISCO, A+, Windows, and other technology related certifications.  We are also tentatively looking into the logistics of offering a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) program and Pesticide Applicator Licensing to our students. For the sake of space I will omit the other twenty-some ideas we are mulling over as well.

As our partnerships mature and our 'Community' is more fully integrated into our schools, I am sure that I will report on those successes.  Until then however, we will continue to dream big, think outside the box, and welcome the ideas and input of our community.

Dustin Favinger

The Declining Value of Diplomas

As the school year begins students, teachers, parents and the community are filled with excitement and a willingness to try new things.  A new year is a new opportunity for success.
As the year starts, students and teachers are motivated to make the most of this opportunity on their way to earning their diploma.  Recently for me, this has begged  the questions of "How can we make the most of this opportunity while earning a diploma" and "What is the value of high school diploma?" 

Is a high school diploma worth anything?  Now, before you react viscerally, humor me for minute to consider if it really prepares kids to function in a global society where skills are key rather than knowledge.  Times have shifted where the knowledge we possess is only as good as our ability to translate that to action through our skills.  

Last week at our first in-service day, our new superintendent addressed the staff and spoke about his past experiences which have prepared him to lead our district in this very dynamic time in public education.  Mr. Applegate has a very diverse background that will be a tremendous asset to our district.  During his in-service address he posed the rhetorical questions of "What does a diploma allow a kid to do?   What does it qualify them to do? "  Now, we as educational masses have always responded with "It gives you the skills to be a functioning member of society,"  or "It will allow you to secure a job where you can live a comfortable life".  Recently I have started thinking that these may not be sufficient answers anymore.

Just last week President Obama initiated a conversation centered around skyrocketing college costs and how to control those.   As college student invest tens of thousands of dollars (and sometimes more) into a college degree, they have a sense of entitlement to higher paying jobs to justify the cost of a post-secondary education.  I can empathize with that entitlement, but the reality of the situation is that many times even a college education is not enough to equip them with the skills they need to earn those large salaries.  Employers want kids with certifications, skills, and competencies specific to their industry.  Employers are often forced to make large investments in new employees to bridge that gap between formal education and the real world skills they need to function in the working world.

Here is where I believe schools have a golden opportunity to serve students better.   For many years we have known that in order to work your way up the proverbial promotion ladder, it is imperative you obtain more education or higher certifications.  As school systems, why can't we use our Career and Technical Education programs to do just this?  How can we personalize these programs to the needs of our students to provide an opportunity to earn industry specific certifications prior to leaving high school?  

A logical step in that direction will be to partner with business and industry stakeholders to bring the experts in those fields into the process of preparing kids for life beyond K-12 education.  For far too long, we as schools, have been forced by the circumstances of the standards, assessments, and accountability policies to close the doors to local stakeholders with respect to real world problem- based learning because of the time demands of the aforementioned policies.  The time has come for us realize that this has not been positive for our students, schools, or communities.   Education is a diverse endeavor where the 'product' we produce is not truly quantifiable.  We produce a qualitative 'product' to meet the demands of the world.  This standards movement is founded upon lower level thinking skills and facts that are 'Googleable'.  I believe that by reconnecting education to the real world we can make our 'product' quality higher by giving students skill sets and credentials to be better prepared to enter the real world.  

This idea of partnering with local stakeholders and leaders can be a powerful tool to engage kids in learning content and skills.  This past week I initiated a conversation with Central Community College and our hospital administrator about the possibility of offering CNA/CMA (Certified Nursing Assistant/Certified Medical Assistant) classes to our school and community.  During that conversation Lyle Davis from Cozad Community Health System welcomed this idea and will be a key player in this idea coming to fruition.  While this partnership may be in the infancy stage, we hope that this will become the model for a number of other partnerships we will look to forge in the coming months.  In just a few moments of conversation with our Superintendent, we have already identified the possible certification/partnerships for several areas in which we have potential resources and experts in our community. Some of these certifications will be for those who will directly enter the workforce after graduation, while others will be geared toward students who may go onto earn advanced degrees from a post-secondary institution.  Our tentative plan is to bring together many of these industry and community stakeholders in the fall to determine what partnerships are possible to best serve and prepare our students for the real world. 

It is an exciting time to be a Haymaker.  It is even more exciting to consider the possibility of bringing local support and ownership of educational ventures back to our school and community.  We owe it to our students to work together to do everything within our power to fully prepare
them for the world beyond K-12 education.  I have little doubt in my mind that our stakeholders will be tremendous assets in these future endeavors.

Dustin Favinger
9-12 School Counselor
Cozad Senior High School