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From 74% to 96%: How Tuscaloosa Built a K-12 Career Plan That Actually Works
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What really happens to students after they graduate? Does a diploma equal a plan?
In this episode, Daniel Rock and Susan Simpson sit down with the innovative College and Career Readiness team from Tuscaloosa City Schools to find out how they answered their superintendent's single, powerful question: "How do we know they're ready?"
The answer was a comprehensive, K-12 plan built on three E's (Exposure, Exploration, and Engagement) and a simple, guiding question for every student: "What's Your E?" (Enroll, Enlist, or Employ).
Learn how the TCS team—John Walker, Kelly Norstrom and Andrea Markham—used data, career coaches and powerful community partnerships to drive a 22% increase in students graduating with a college and career readiness indicator and ensure that 85% of their graduates are still on that confirmed path one year later.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- The "What's Your E?" Framework: How TCS ensures every student graduates with a confirmed post-secondary plan to Enroll, Enlist, or be Employed.
- Key Structures That Work: Why dedicated Career Coaches are essential and how they serve as "boots on the ground" to guide students.
- The 3 E's: How to build a K-12 pipeline that starts with Exposure in elementary school (like the "Mini-WOW" program), moves to Exploration in middle school, and culminates in Engagement in high school.
- Data-Driven Strategies: How the team used transcript audits to discover that students were "hopping in and out" of pathways and how they fixed it.
- The Power of Partnerships: How TCS gets industry leaders out of their silos and into the schools to build relevant curriculum.
- The Impressive Results: Hear the hard data, including a jump from 74% to 96.3% of students graduating with a CCR indicator and the metrics they use to track graduates one year after they leave the system.
Guests
- Kelly Norstrom: Director of College and Career Readiness for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
- John Walker: Coordinator of Testing and former Instructional Specialist for CTE.
- Andrea Markham: Data Analyst and Counseling Administrator for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with states and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce.
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By SREBSend us a text
What really happens to students after they graduate? Does a diploma equal a plan?
In this episode, Daniel Rock and Susan Simpson sit down with the innovative College and Career Readiness team from Tuscaloosa City Schools to find out how they answered their superintendent's single, powerful question: "How do we know they're ready?"
The answer was a comprehensive, K-12 plan built on three E's (Exposure, Exploration, and Engagement) and a simple, guiding question for every student: "What's Your E?" (Enroll, Enlist, or Employ).
Learn how the TCS team—John Walker, Kelly Norstrom and Andrea Markham—used data, career coaches and powerful community partnerships to drive a 22% increase in students graduating with a college and career readiness indicator and ensure that 85% of their graduates are still on that confirmed path one year later.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- The "What's Your E?" Framework: How TCS ensures every student graduates with a confirmed post-secondary plan to Enroll, Enlist, or be Employed.
- Key Structures That Work: Why dedicated Career Coaches are essential and how they serve as "boots on the ground" to guide students.
- The 3 E's: How to build a K-12 pipeline that starts with Exposure in elementary school (like the "Mini-WOW" program), moves to Exploration in middle school, and culminates in Engagement in high school.
- Data-Driven Strategies: How the team used transcript audits to discover that students were "hopping in and out" of pathways and how they fixed it.
- The Power of Partnerships: How TCS gets industry leaders out of their silos and into the schools to build relevant curriculum.
- The Impressive Results: Hear the hard data, including a jump from 74% to 96.3% of students graduating with a CCR indicator and the metrics they use to track graduates one year after they leave the system.
Guests
- Kelly Norstrom: Director of College and Career Readiness for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
- John Walker: Coordinator of Testing and former Instructional Specialist for CTE.
- Andrea Markham: Data Analyst and Counseling Administrator for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
The Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with states and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce.
Follow Us on Social:
- X