"Jumpstart to Success" Summer Academy

Summer Academy for High School Freshman

Frederick Douglass High School

Some Atlanta Public School (APS) students will be ready for school even before the 2009-2010 school year officially begins. APS is offering a High School readiness program to incoming Freshman. "Jumpstart to Success" Summer Academy is being held July 20-31, 2009 at the district's high school and small learning communities.

Frederick Douglass HS Social Studies Teacher, Daryl Hardnett

Students who attend the Summer Academy get to preview the High School experience by meeting administrators and teachers, learning the physical layout of the campus, taking core courses and gaining tips on effective study habits. Students will also find information about extra-curricular activities, High School graduation requirements and career options.


View Atlanta Public Schools Press Release

Thank you to Kimberly Willis Green, APS Communications Officer, for providing story information and photographs for this blog post.

Champions at Work: Student Success Through SkillsUSA

Students Ready for the Workplace

Buses pull up in front of the building. Students unload and move to their classroom, ready for a day of learning and tests. Sounds familiar, but this day in mid-April, 2009, is designed to be a different kind of learning experience.

The ten buses are chartered, the buildings are not schools but businesses and convention centers in Metro Atlanta, and the students are there to show off their workplace skills in competition with their peers. This is Georgia's SkillsUSA state competition. Representing 130-140 Georgia schools, the students enter the real world work place environment designed by business and industry partners to be as true to life as possible. Students dress to industry standards on the day of competition whether it be automotive, construction, electrical or broadcast just to name a few careers represented. Winners in each category at this level move onto the national competition.

The Broadcast competition was held in the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting. Six teams of high school students competed in the Television News category in team of four: 2 Anchors (red jackets), a Director and a Floor Director. Two teams made up the Radio News event. Both groups were responsible for researching, writing and producing their stories.




The Teams came from the following High Schools:
Grayson Technical High School
Rockdale Career Academy
Salem High School
Lovejoy High School
Miller Grove High School
Centennial High School

View the slide show to see all the students who competed at GPB.


For more information, contact:
Gayle Silvey, State Director
SkillsUSA Georgia
73 Price Quarters Road #129
McDonough, GA 30253
770.914.6288
gsilvey@skillsusageorgia.org

Thank you to Mike Nixon for the photograph taken at the Automotive Work Station.

Parent Involvement for Student Success

It Takes A Parent

The school year is over and the local news is filled with stories about the results of standardized tests results. Parents are eager to know how their children did and where their school ranks in terms of creating success for students.

Parents can take a pro-active approach to those questions even before the new school year begins. Georgia Appleseed has created a training video and workshop for parents to enable them to act as full, participating partners in their child's school. It Takes a Parent: Strengthening Effective Parent Involvement is available as a 5-minute promotional video and as an online video workshop. The most effective use of the video is to use it as part of a facilitated workshop.

The information for parents in this video is based upon the parent involvement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law, the Georgia A+ Reform Act and the SE Association for Colleges and Schools (SACS). The more effective the Parent-School relationship the more productive the schools become.

View the Promotional Video.

The Parent Training Video and Workshop promote parent involvement by providing more information, access to data and training on how to use it. For more information, contact:
Georgia Appleseed
404.685.6750
www.gaappleseed.org

View It Takes a Parent: Strengthening Effective Parent Involvement.

Investing in Education in Georgia

ARCHE Report Quantifies the Benefits of Investing in Education

The number of years a student remains in school has a direct correlation to a wide range of factors that influence that student's quality of life. The same correlation also affects job success and other measures of prosperity for Georgia citizens (higher salaries, home ownership, children who tend to do better in school, etc.) and for society as a whole (more talented workforce, higher tax revenues, lower spending for prisons & public assistance and healthier citizens). These are the issues examined in a newly published report by the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE).

Higher Return: How Investing in Education Pays Off For Georgia was sponsored in part by the Georgia Power Foundation and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The report analyzes data from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey and other federal and state government data sources. Human Capitol Research Corporation compiles and analyzed the data for ARCHE.

The report contains 20 charts that provide a graphic understanding of the benefits of staying in school and completing an education that matches a student's personal and career goals.

One of those charts compares the salary for a high school graduate with the salary of a college graduate in 26 job categories. Example: full time Food Service Manager with HS diploma ($32,120) vs. Food Service Manager with college degree ($55,445)

Again from the study: People with college degrees average higher personal incomes and are less likely to be unemployed.

View the full report online on the ARCHE website.

Thank you to Beth Day for sharing the press release that provided the background and web link on the study.

A Guide to Engineering for Girls

Engineer Your Life

Engineer Your Life (ELY) is a message, a campaign and a web site designed to encourage high schools girls, along with their families, teachers and advisors, to learn more about what life and work are like for engineers. The ELY website features reasons to become an engineer, video of inspiring women engineers, descriptions of dream jobs and resources for further decision making.

Engineer Girl! is a website for girls in middle school who are exploring career options in engineering. This website also includes suggested high school classes to take to plan for an engineering career.

Jazz Residency for HS and MS Students

Atlanta Public School Students Participate in Julliard Summer Jazz Residency

The partnership between APS and Julliard, the performing arts school in New York City, is in its second year. In mid-June, Middle and High School Students attended master classes, private, ensemble and theory lessons along with viewing and listening sessions in a week long residency held at North Atlanta's Center for the Arts. The culminating activity of the week was a recital held at Jackson ES.

View the Atlanta Public Schools press release for complete details, pictures and student quotes.



ContactL David Lee Simmons
APS Print and Digital Writer
404.802.2849
dsimmons@atlantapublicschools.us

HS Students Intern in Area Law Firms

Atlanta Bar Association Offers Summer Internships to Area Students

The Foundation for the Atlanta Bar Association offers a range of programs, including the Summer Law Intern Program. This opportunity allows high school students to experience a 6-week internship in local law firms, government agencies or corporations.

Thirteen current and graduating students from the Therrell High School of Law, Government & Public Policy were joined by students from Southwest DeKalb HS, Pebblebrook HS, Druid Hills HS and Eagle's Landing Christian Academy for the 2009 Internship.

In an Atlanta Public Schools press release, goals for the interns were listed as:
* Provide a valuable work experience
* Further the students' understanding of the law
* Provide a mentor relationship for the students

Road Trip Rolls Out the Final Episodes in a Popular Series

New Episodes Available for Students & Educators from this Award Winning Series

The producers of Road Trip, the award winning program with the tag line “staying in school is worth the ride” have completed episodes #11 and #12 of the 12 episode series. It is now available on GPB broadcast schedules and on the web for streaming.

In this new episode (#11), All That Matters, Daniel encounters a female student's bubbly, self-confident aunt, who insists that since she dropped out as a teen, her niece should consider it too.

Featured Road Trips

Tour of Moultrie Technical College's HS Horticulture and Construction programs

Tour of Sandersville Technical College's Commercial Truck Driving and Welding programs

Tour of Bainbridge Technical College's Industrial Maintenance program

In the new episode (#12), Home Again, a teen, overwhelmed by choices, is troubled by what to do after his fast approaching graduation from high school.

Featured Road Trips
Tour of East Central Technical College's Telecommunications Technology and Recreation Vehicle Technology programs

Tour of West Georgia Technical College's Digital Video Production and Sports and Fitness Management programs


Created by the Technical College System of Georgia in partnership with Georgia Public Broadcasting and in association with the national Stay-in-School initiative, Road Trip is now an official hit in the world of educational programs and is among winners that represent the best work in the industry.