Project SOAR: Success Opportunities through Articulated Resources is a Tech Prep project designed by Crooked Oak, Millwood, and Oklahoma City Public Schools; Metro Tech; Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City (OSU-OKC) campus; Central State University (CSU); and Oklahoma State University (OSU). The three-year goal is to implement a 4+2+2 Tech Prep program, which provides academic and vocational education in which students may articulate into the next level or be prepared to enter the job market at any exit point. More students will be encouraged to enter technical training and become better prepared employees, thus contributing to vocational education.
An effective system will be established to recruit students into the program; provide awareness, assessment, and guidance activities; offer applied academic courses; institute 2+2 vocational education in at least four skill areas leading to an associate's degree; and develop articulation into a baccalaureate program.
Committees have been established to manage and plan the project, develop curricula, evaluate the project, and disseminate information. Strong guidance and evaluation components are included. Parents and community representatives have key roles. Special populations and special needs students are given extra consideration. Inservice activities involve all staff. Plans have been developed for dissemination and continued expansion of the program.
Funding is necessary because of the low socioeconomic and high minority population served. The consortium members are contributing over 50% of the cost of the program in addition to the $150,000 requested for the first year of the grant.
At the middle school level, students begin an intensive program of career guidance. Career Resource Centers are located in all middle school libraries. Middle school teachers serve as advisors to students and begin the process of integrating academic skills with job-related skills. Middle school counselors conduct a five-day seminar to prepare students for planning their six-year plan of study and to work with parents. Middle school students will have an opportunity to shadow a person in their chosen career field. Some middle school students may have a mentor who will assist them with interpersonal skills and or academic skills. The 6th-grade students complete a learning styles inventory and each teacher is provided a copy of the individual as well as a class profile. The middle school teacher then incorporates teaching methodologies to meet the needs of the students.
Counselors will work with students who have a difficult time working in groups, following instructions, and cooperating. The 7th-grade students complete a study skills seminar which provides the students with the skills necessary to be successful in academic courses. This seminar may be conducted by counselors and/or teachers. The 8th-grade students complete career assessments (COPS, CAPS, and COPES). After receiving their individual results, students will begin a program of exploration, preparation, and planning.
Eighth graders share their career assessment results, career choices, and educational options with their parents. Then their parents will attend a parent meeting to discuss any or all information, to ask questions, and to sign the plans of study.
At the high school level, students begin the preparation stage of the Career Guidance and Counseling Program. Several high schools have career focuses such as health, aviation, manufacturing, communication, transportation, and fine arts. Students apply to the high school which offers a program of study that will best prepare them to continue their education and to pursue their career choice. For high school students who have career interests which are not included in the focus areas, they must prepare to continue their education and to enter the workplace through the Career Resource Center. As is true in the middle schools, all Oklahoma City High Schools have a Career Resource Center. Students research career and educational information through the centers. Students can determine the high school courses needed to prepare for graduation, college admission, and job readiness. Students then will have a mentor to assure that each is prepared to graduate, continue their education, and enter the workplace.
Typical Day: High school students are scheduled to come to the Career Resource Center through an academic teacher (English or social studies). Ms. English Teacher has assigned the student a research project.
Students will report to the Career Resource Center, which is located in the Media Center of the school. Each student will have a career folder which contains a learning style inventory, a career assessment, a plan of study, and any information on a career field that a student has previously researched. A student will be asked to identify a career of his or her choice and then to research particular items of information on that career using a variety of media--for example, software (Career Search), printed materials, videos, and so on.
Students may also be asked to interview a person who is employed in his or her chosen career field or the student may be asked to shadow a person for a day in a chosen career field. Students will learn from either the interview or the shadowing experience what role education plays in that particular career field. Students will also learn about specific skills required to become employable in that field. Employment opportunities, as well as supply and demand information, will be gathered. The student will then transfer the supply and demand information to the social studies class (economics) and there will learn how supply and demand for workers relates to the supply and demand of products and services. Not only will the student learn that there are thousands of jobs, but that jobs are created or become obsolete due to the changes in the area's economy.
After studying supply and demand and completing the research for career information, students will write up their findings in a report form to be graded by the English and the social studies teachers. This report will become a part of the student's portfolio.
1. Assisting Students/Clients To Achieve Career Development Competencies
The National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) were used to conduct a needs assessment of students, teachers, and parents. From the results of the needs assessments a plan for career guidance was created by a committee of teachers, students, parents, administrators, and community members. As a part of the Career Guidance and Counseling Program, the career assessment COPS, CAPS, and COPES was selected and has been utilized for three years. All 8th- and 10th-grade students are provided an opportunity to take the career assessment in the language in which they are the most proficient. In the 1993-1994 school year, 2,283 8th-grade students were assessed by recruiters from Metro Tech and Oklahoma City School's personnel. Accommodations are made for special needs students. After receiving the results from the career assessment, a student will begin the process of meeting the NCDG.
1.1 Assist Students/Clients To Increase Self-Knowledge and Self-Advocacy.
In the Career Resource Center are activities that teachers can use to increase the self-knowledge and self-advocacy of students. These activities meet the NCDG as well as the Priority Academic Student School (PASS) skills for the state of Oklahoma.
1.2 Assist Students/Clients in Educational and Occupational Exploration.
Students also use the resources located in the Career Resource Centers to explore occupational information and to determine educational requirements for careers. Students use software, videos, and printed materials to research career information. They also attend industry hosted job fairs such as Enterprise Square. During this activity, guest speakers from businesses and industries addressed economics and career opportunities to over 2,000 7th-grade students.
1.3 Assist Students/Clients in Career Planning, Preparation, and Transition.
After exploring career information and determining educational requirements, the students will begin the career planning process. Eighth-grade students will complete a four-year plan of study in the spring, and will add to that plan the two years of postsecondary education or training during the sophomore year. Students will participate in school-based and work-based learning during the final two years of high school and the following two years of postsecondary education and training. Other activities include college nights, college campus tours, business and industry tours, vocational campus tours, and mentor shadowing in industry. Students have access to business and computer technology, heating ventilation and air conditioning, electronics, electronic publishing, aviation maintenance technology, and computer-aided drafting with OSU-OKC and Oklahoma City Community College.
2. Addressing the Needs of Diverse student Populations
We define special populations in the following ways:
Our efforts to meet the needs of special populations include the following:
In order to ensure access and appropriate placement, we need to address the following:
3. Program Support Services
Support services include the following:
1. Family/Parental Involvement Support
2. Faculty/Staff Involvement in Career Guidance and Counseling Program
3. Intra- and Interagency Collaboration
3.1 Intra-Agency
3.2 Interagency
4. Business and Industry Collaboration
1. Institutional Support
Project SOAR is a consortium involving public education, vocational training, and higher education. It has combined administrative support from Millwood, Crooked Oak, and Oklahoma City Public Schools; Metro Tech vocational center; and OSU-OKC campus.
In the Oklahoma City Public Schools, Troy Vincent, director of middle schools, and Dick Vrooman, director of high schools, have endorsed career guidance and exploration by direct input through memos and verbal correspondence. Anita Walker, counseling specialist, has helped in the development of the six-year plan in the middle and high schools as well as organizing and chairing committees to design materials and processes to be used in the Career Guidance and Counseling Program.
Also supporting the consortium is the Oklahoma Department of Vocational Technical Education from Stillwater. Belinda McCharen, state guidance coordinator, and Linda Thompson, state school-to-work coordinator have given their full support to our efforts.
2. Facilities
Career Resource Centers are located in each middle and high school within the library. Each center has a minimum of four computers. Some centers have as many as 22 computers and printers. Reference materials in the form of software, print, and video are available for use by the teachers, counselors, and volunteers. Equipment includes televisions, VCRs, LCD panels, printers, and video cameras. Each center has tables available for group discussions. Physical conditions and areas meet the North Central Evaluation Guidelines.
3. Financial Support
Costs include equipment, salaries, assessments, inservice activities, and materials:
| Equipment | $150,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Careers Materials | 10,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assessments | 25,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inservice | 14,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Salaries | 61,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All of the above listed money is federal Perkins funding.
Donations from industry and the community include the following:
Total donations exceed $70,000.
4. Guidance Personnel Qualifications
All school counselors by state law must have certified state qualifications in addition to three years of experience in education. Several counselors have met the requirements and are Licensed Professional Counselors.
At each of the ten high schools in the Oklahoma City School District, there are two or three guidance counselors who will serve all grade levels. Anita Walker is the administrator who coordinates the counseling program for Oklahoma City Public Schools. There are also two counselors in each of the ten middle schools. At Metro Tech AVTS there are two counselors at the South Bryant Campus and one counselor at each of the other four campuses. There are also three vocational advisors to serve all of the sending public schools.
5. Professional Development
Professional development activities include Summer Vocational Conference; Monthly Joint Counselor Meetings; Summer Tour for Counselors and Teachers; Business/Industry Teacher Exchange Program; Career Assessment Training; Learning Styles Training; state School-to-Work Conference; Quarterly Tech Prep Meetings; Career Search Workshops; Applied Academic Workshops; NCRVE retreats; Career Resource Center usage; administration and interpretation of COPS, CAPS, and COPES; and various other inservice activities as requested.
6. Program Evaluation
The evaluations of this program have been conducted by NCRVE and the Oklahoma Department of Vocational Education. This program has also been critiqued by several administrators and educator groups from other local school districts, which include Mid-Del, Moore, Edmond, Choctaw, Putnam City, Guthrie, Bethany, Westem Heights, and others. We have also had groups of parents, educators, and administrators visit from other states such as Arkansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, as well as others. All of the people visiting are amazed and take home with them either materials or ideas for implementation at their locations. Parents are asking the question, "Why didn't they have this program when I was in school?" Our region's assistant to the Secretary of Education also visited our program and was very complimentary toward the activities offered to the students and toward the student participation in our program.
7. Follow-Up of Program Completors and Noncompletors
On vocational students, the following information is collected:
The information is collected by personal interview and recorded on the correct form, by the student, or by Management Information Services (MIS). This information is collected from students by teachers, counselors, and other professional staff. The information is forwarded to the Oklahoma Department of Vocational Education, the State Department of Education, the Regents for Higher Education, and the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. The results of this information is used to improve the quality of the program, to update equipment and curriculum, and to be used for planning purposes.