Education Week - August 5, 2015 - 7

Career-Preparation Programs Take Root in Middle Schools

Mentors, internships
hone students' focus

They think kids don't
really know about
careers yet. ... Part of
what we have to do is
educate business folks
that these are your
potential leaders."

By Caralee J. Adams

Zeroing In on Careers
Because so many students get off
track in the transition to high school,
it's critical to provide some early
sense of career options, said Mr. Cascarino. About 90 percent of the 3,200
students who have participated in
Spark programs have entered high
school on track (attending regularly,
exhibiting positive behavior, and
not failing math or English), compared with an average of 70 percent
of their peers in the districts with
which Spark partners. Students are
recommended by their teachers to
the program because they have exhibited behaviors that put them at
risk and must opt in to participate.
Middle schools are moving beyond
just hosting a career day to creating
programs year-round that are woven
into the curriculum, said Dru Tomlin, the director of middle-level ser-

DRU TOMLIN
Emile Wamsteker for Education Week

In 7th grade, Andrew X. Castillo
was paired with an architect in an
apprenticeship program through his
school to learn the basics of design
and how a firm operates.
"It helped shape who I am today
and decide what I wanted to learn
for sure," said the now 16-year-old
rising senior at Olga Mohan High
School in Los Angeles. He is now
applying to several selective schools
and wants to become an architect
and the first in his family to graduate from college.
Middle schools are increasingly
looking for ways to expose students
to careers so they understand the
relevance of what they are learning and stay on track. The hope is
that with a goal in mind, they will
be inspired to take rigorous classes,
be engaged in learning, and increase
the likelihood that they will be prepared for college.
To be sure, there are hurdles. Unlike high school students, middle
schoolers can't drive to an office.
And employers sometimes believe
younger adolescents are too immature to benefit from a work-site
experience. But nonprofit organizations and colleges are investing in
mentoring and job-shadowing programs to get students ready to enter
high school focused on their future.
Andrew's apprenticeship was
coordinated by Spark, a nonprofit
that partners with schools to match
underserved 7th and 8th graders
with professionals. The organization began in San Francisco over a
decade ago and has expanded to Los
Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; Chicago;
and Philadelphia.
"Nobody knows what to do with
these kids. Developmentally, it's a
challenging age," said Jason A. Cascarino, the chief executive officer
of Spark. "We need to meet middle
school kids where they are. They
are going through the process of
identity formation and finding their
place in the world."

Sixteen-year-old Andrew Castillo, left, meets with architect Marco Marraccini, who became his mentor during a
career internship in middle school. Andrew says the experience helped shape his ambitions for his future.

vices for the Association for Middle
Level Education, based in Westerville, Ohio.
Getting more businesses involved means countering misconceptions that many adults have
about middle school students.
"They think kids don't really know
about careers yet, that they are
maladjusted," said Mr. Tomlin.
"Part of what we have to do is educate business folks that these are
your potential leaders."
Newer career-focused initiatives
aimed at middle school students
are often part of broader middle
school improvement initiatives,
such as the United Way's Middle
Grade Success Challenge. The project gave $50,000 grants to each of
nine communities that matched
the funds to promote deeper student engagement.
As the organization works to cut
in half by 2018 the number of students who drop out, research shows
that waiting until high school to
intervene is too late, said Ayeloa
Fortune, the director of the United
Way education team in Alexandria,
Va. "Although young people physically drop out in high school, they
mentally disengage in middle school.
That's where we lose them," she said.
Studies by ACT Inc. underscore
the importance of students' making a successful transition from
middle school to high school if they
are going to make it in college. In
its "Forgotten Middle" study in
2008 and its 2014 follow-up report,
ACT found students who enter high
school lacking basic math and reading skills rarely ever catch up.
Research is more limited on
career exploration in the middle
years, but such efforts are most
effective when they are "dynamic"
rather than one-way, said Becky
Bobek, a principal research scientist at ACT, based in Iowa City,
Iowa. Mentors can be an important source of information and
support, allowing students to
explore careers that reflect their

personal interests and encourage
early postsecondary education
planning, Ms. Bobek said.

Mentors Expand Options
A mentoring program for 6th graders in Pittsburgh, which received a
United Way challenge grant, connects students with caring adults
who share their real-life experience
and encourage them to think about
career options. Business volunteers
are trained to understand how to
work with this age group and follow
a curriculum in their weekly meeting with students over the course of
a year, according to Damon T. Bethea
who coordinates the effort for United
Way of Allegheny County.
In his fourth year as a mentor with
the program, Carl Benjamin said he
has learned how to describe his work
as an IT manager at Alcoa Inc., in a

way that doesn't sound too boring. He
highlights his travel, explains that
he talks to people in China at night
because it's daytime there, and describes products his company makes.
He knows not to expect instant
results: "It's not like in a couple
of weeks you are going to be tight
buddies and turn their whole life
around." But between meeting with
the students at school and hosting
them at his office, the program
tries to give students direction as
they enter high school. "We are
opening up their minds to thinking they can be somebody big or
move somewhere else," said Mr.
Benjamin.
The United Way's mentoring
program in Pittsburgh has grown
from eight to 16 schools since it was
launched in 2009.
In Santa Monica, Calif., Perry
Wallack, the chief financial offi-

Association for Middle Level Education
Westerville, Ohio

cer at Cornerstone OnDemand, a
workforce-management group, said
his office is a "buzz" of energy when
it is filled with as many as 75 kids
working alongside their mentors in
the open work environment. For the
eight-week apprenticeship, mentees
learn about the company and craft
business plans, and get free snacks
in the cafeteria and play in the arcade. "It's like a breath of fresh air,"
Mr. Wallack said. After recruiting
hundreds of mentors in his company
over the past four years, now he is
trying to get other business leaders
involved and work with Spark as it
considers new ways of delivering its
programs to reach more students.
Andrew Castillo said the apprenticeship helped him become more
confident and makes him feel that
he had something to contribute.
"[My mentor] got me out of my comfort zone," said the young man, who
is still in touch with his 7th grade
mentor and recently consulted with
him on his college application. "He
helped me focus more on the future
and what my next step should be."
The HIGH SCHOOL & BEYOND blog tracks
news and trends on this issue.
www.edweek.org/go/highschoolandbeyond

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Education Week - August 5, 2015

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