Classroom at the Workplace

Workplace Learning as an Alternative Model for Student Engagement

Making the Workplace aLearning Place

Boston Public Schools + Employers

Pair academic learning and MCAS remediation with professional skills development to reinforce the connections between academic and workplace success.

Partnership RolesThe PIC… Recruits, trains, and mediates

relationships among program participants (employers, BPS teachers, BPS students yet to pass MCAS)

Coordinates program logistics and funding

Employers… Hire and supervise students Provide paid release time and

classroom space

Partnership Roles (cont.)Boston Public Schools… BPS teachers teach daily (Mon-Fri) 90-minute

math or English/language arts (ELA) classes at the worksite

Teachers Attend trainings and bi-weekly debriefings

BPS helps identify, enroll, and make students job-ready

BPS students yet to pass MCAS… Work fulltime for an employer for real wages Attend 90-minute class every week day Develop academic competencies and professional

skills simultaneously, connecting academic and workplace success.

Key Components: Model Students earn real wages Comprehensive student support

network 1½ hours per day, 5 days per

week, 7 weeks: 52.5 learning hours.

Mutual reinforcement of professional and academic skills

Exposure and experience

Key Components: Curricula

Age Appropriate Incorporates Technology Sectional pre and post tests Test item analyses

Classroom CurriculaEnglish/Language Arts

Reading is FAME: Mastery of Meaning

Expand vocabulary and comprehension through activities using higher order thinking skills.

Reader’s & Writer’s Workshop

Emphasizes process and ownership of opinions and expression

Individualized student-teacher conferences and open discussion.

Mathematics Summit Educational Group’s

MCAS Mathematics Course Book A

Five MCAS content areas: Number Sense & Operations; Patterns, Relations, and Algebra; Geometry; Measurement; and Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability.

MCAS Test Item Analyses for each student

Assess students’ strengths and weaknesses within these five content areas.

Key Components: Measurement Academic:

Pre and post test scores Track MCAS scores and passing rates Program attendance rates (High school graduation and college-

going rates) Attitudinal and Professional:

Work-based learning plans Survey students, teachers, employers on

Classroom at the Workplace and employment experience.

Preliminary Results: Program Attendance Rates

800 students have participated in Classroom at the Workplace over 5 years

81% average student attendance rate.

Over 73% of students had an 80% attendance rate or higher.

Preliminary Results: Pre and Post Tests

Test Score Increase

20.2

37.347.7

81.1

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.0

Pre Test Post Test Pre Test Post Test

Math ELA

Subject Test

Sc

ore

Pre and Post Tests

Average of 17 percentage point increase from math pre to post tests

Average of 33 percentage point increase from ELA pre to post tests

Preliminary Results: MCAS Passing Rates

MCAS Passing Rates

Over the past 5 years, over 73% of Classroom at the Workplace students passed both MCAS tests, earning their competency requirement