Hamilton Southeastern School District is in the middle of a multiyear national program designed to better prepare students for whatever career path they choose to take.
The HSE Board of Education heard an update from Director of K-12 Initiatives Steve Loser about the Ford Next Generation Learning program process during the board’s mid-month work session April 24.
Loser said the program is a five-year process that results in a master plan to transform education. The district is about halfway through that process, which includes input from educators, students, parents and other community members. The most recent community-input meeting was in February.
“One of the things of note is we increased student attendance at this event,” he said. “Student voice has been a major component as we’ve gone through this process. We want to ensure that what we are creating has that student voice forefront, so we often open and close those days hearing from students.”
During those meetings, participants came up with a “transformational statement,” which Loser read to the board.
“Through ongoing collaboration with our community, HSE schools strives to develop each student’s passion, ensure future readiness, provide every student with diverse and personalized learning experiences and create a culture for authentic relevant learning,” he said. ”This is the commitment that all the people in that room committed to as to how we’re going to go about transforming the student experience through this process.”
Teams have been formed to work on different concepts toward building a master plan for the school district. Those concepts include future-focused experiences and environments, professional development practices, work-based learning and post-secondary coursework, community connections and empowering students.
Additional meetings are planned in the next couple of months to continue the process.
Loser said the result of those meetings will be a master plan that HSE Schools will submit in June to the Indiana Department of Education. The plan will include a three-year implementation framework and a process for assessing progress.
The Ford NGL education model includes interest-themed “academies” that focus students on specific career paths.
“Ford NGL recognizes that most skilled employment now requires a foundation of academic, 21st century and technical knowledge and skills that must be mastered in high school, as well as additional education beyond high school,” the Ford NGL website states. “We believe that the most successful approach for high schools is one that infuses the high expectations and academic rigor of college preparatory academic programs with the real-world relevance and rigor of CTE. Such an integrated approach also promotes, supports and accelerates a smooth transition to postsecondary education.”
In an email exchange after the meeting, Loser said the process was funded through an Indiana Department of Education grant awarded to HSE through the Central Indiana Education Services Center.
“HSE Schools received a little over $630,000 to work with Ford Next Generation Learning to complete two years of a five-year transformation process with our community,” Loser stated. “Six other school districts also benefited from this grant – some rural, some urban and some suburban. The entire grant for all seven districts to engage with Ford NGL totaled $3,931,800.”
For more about the national program, visit fordngl.com.
