Is it what you know, or who you know in school?
Note: This is the fourth article in a series from NCS about Community Based Accountability & Challenge Teams
Many of us can think of a time when a personal or professional connection led to a new opportunity. We might recall when someone else moved ahead of us because of his or her relationships. Opportunity is social and who we know matters! As noted in the book Who You Know by Julia Freeland Fisher, “over half of all job placements result from a personal connection.” Even with this reality, most schools ignore the question of whom we know. Many students leave high school with a network that resembles the one they inherited at birth. This begs the question: do schools have an ethical obligation to ensure graduates have strong networks as they transition to adult life?
For the last twenty-three years, my career has demonstrated that we do. Prior to working for Nelson County Schools, I served as principal of an Area Technology Center and worked at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) as the Associate Commissioner for the Office of Career and Technical Education. In these roles, I collaborated with local and state-wide employers to create college and career pathways aligned to the future of work. Employers often vocalized the need for greater partnerships between school and work and the need for increased opportunities to connect students with industry professionals.
Fortunately, the KDE listened to employers which led to the development of additional postsecondary readiness indicators in our state accountability system in 2018. These measures moved beyond the traditional ACT indicators to include successful completion of dual credit coursework and industry certifications. This was a step in the right direction creating student choice based on pathway(s) of interest but did little to ensure strong occupational networks for students. Finally, that is changing across the state.
In the Nelson County Schools, we have embraced the reality that life success means ensuring community and occupational networks for all students. Recently, the Kentucky Board of Education revised state accountability in a way that mirrors our beliefs. This academic year, a revised policy will go into effect recognizing work-based learning experiences as a successful measure of transition readiness for our graduates. This change in accountability is due to the pioneering vision of district’s that have chosen to go beyond the compliance of traditional accountability and put students first. To this end, we chose to embrace the transformational benefits of strong community partnerships long before the state decided to make it a measure in the state accountability system. This is how real change happens for students!
Our education accountability systems often encourage schools to get better at delivering and measuring what students know. In turn, undervaluing a child’s access to networks and pathways of interest, which leads to gaps in access to mentors, supportive adults, and industry experts. The Bardstown - Nelson County community, like many places in our state and nation, provides an abundance of human capital across business and industry. Our local chamber of commerce prides itself on building strong networks that unite people and places across our community. It’s clear to nearly everyone that occupational and social networks are deeply important to the growth and well-being of a community. Embracing this reality for our students, the Nelson County Schools is committed to ensuring every student graduates with stronger connections with community professionals through profession-based experiences. Our community based accountability process is leading us to share our overall success with the community three times a year.
Since 2019 we have united 1300 students with 150 employers. While some may only view this as “students going to work,” it is so much more. Through authentic work experiences, our students are contributing to our community by applying their academic knowledge and skills in a real-world setting while building and expanding social networks. While schools have the best intentions focusing strictly on academic achievement gaps believing it will impact social mobility, we tend to ignore the opportunity gap that truly divides our graduates. With everyone talking about what our students do and don’t know, we often become blind to asking whom do they know, leaving their ability to develop networks by random luck. The luck of whom their parents know, where they were born, and friendships they developed while in school.
A component of our accountability system will focus on community and professional networks. We will monitor the number of connections students make yearly through an individualized Student Success Plan. The plan will include data related to professional connections, work-based learning, career exploration as well as monitoring academic growth and demonstration of 21st century skills. We will also connect with one, three and five year graduates on an annual basis to monitor successful transition to adult life. This will include knowing if our graduates are enrolled in postsecondary education, working and/or enlisted in the military.
The future success of our community will be built by local educators, students and employers uniting together to create the future. Through the development of our localized Community Based Accountability Model we will measure student connections and celebrate the successful transitions of graduates as they become our Next Generation community leaders and professionals! Our district is now positioned to not only prioritize what our students know, but also whom they know because the reality is who we know matters!
Learn more about NCS Community Based Accountability at https://www.nelson.kyschools.us/next.
