Presented by Boston Collegiate Charter School at the 2014 NPEA conference on April 24-25, 2014.

1. Boston Collegiate Charter School:
Career Readiness, Grades 5-12
April 25, 2014

2. P2
Consensus-gram
# Descriptor
4 Strongly Agree
3 Agree
2 Disagree
1 Strongly Disagree
A) All students should go to college.
B) High school students have a clear
idea about what their likes and
dislikes are.
C) The connection of college-to-
career is absolutely critical to
stress in order to develop a
college-going atmosphere.

3. P3
Goals
• YWBAT reflect on career readiness best practices from Boston
Collegiate
• YWBAT consider the applicability of career readiness strategies in
your own school setting

4. P4
Agenda
1. Consensus-gram
2. Who we are
3. Best Practices
4. Lessons Learned
5. What’s applicable?
6. Q and A

5. P5
Who We Are: Our Mission
• The mission of Boston Collegiate Charter School is to prepare each
student for college.
• We do this through:
1. Maintaining a Community Where Students are Known As Individuals
2. Balancing Strict Structures with Positive Reinforcement
3. Ensuring Rigorous College Preparatory Academics
4. Using Data to Identify and Fill Gaps in Knowledge and Skills
5. Explicitly Teaching and Coaching Students Towards College-Readiness
6. Hiring Smart, Outstanding People and Encouraging Them to Stay at
BCCS… because “Without Great Teachers, Nothing Else Matters.”
• As a result…
– 100% of our graduating seniors have been accepted
to college since 2004.

6. P6
Who We Are: Building Toward Proficiency
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Math English Science
5th 6th 7th 8th 9th/10th
2013 MCAS Advanced and Proficient Scores

7. P7
Who We Are: College Persistence
• 50% of the class of 2004– our first high school graduates–
received a college degree
• Of the class of 2010, which was the first class with which we
focused on college persistence and alumni programming, 87% are
still enrolled in college (80% 4 year, 7% 2 year)
• 98% of our alumni note that BCCS prepared or over-prepared
them academically for college (52% say “over-prepared”!)

8. P8
Who we are: College-Going Culture
“BCCS has made me realize my strengths and my weaknesses. It has made me think that I want to
be successful and possibly pursue a career in engineering.” –Jillian Arroyo Mark
“BCCS has helped me think about my future career because I’ve been writing about stuff inside
and outside of school that inspires me to create movies; I want to be a director.” –Jacob Curley
“BCCS has helped me by making me realize that I’m not just some dumb kid who gets by on luck
and miracles. They have helped me realize that I truly can do whatever I want and they have
inspired me to be curious and teach myself new things.” –Robert McCann
What kind of culture is needed at a school to elicit
these responses?

9. P9
Best Practices: Bridges to Success
Grade Partner School
5 Curry College
6 MIT
7 Babson
8 Tufts University
9 Boston University
10 Massachusetts College of
Art/Wentworth
11 Alumni Campuses
12 UMASS Boston

10. P10
Best Practices: Career Fair
Grades 5 and 6
•Career Fair
•15 professionals
•Musical Tables
•Career exposure and exploration
•Role of Higher Education

11. P11
Best Practices: HS Transition Portfolios
• 8th
-to-9th
Interview Process
• Focus on identification of strengths and weaknesses
• Explore majors of initial interest, important facts, and connected careers
Student Work:

12. P12
Best Practices: Collegiate Skills
9-12 Collegiate Skills Course Sequence
Grade Collegiate Skills Course
9 CS 9: Collegiate Bootcamp
10 CS 10: My Paths
11 CS 11: Junior Seminar
12 CS 12: Senior Seminar

13. P13
Best Practices: CS 10
• Personality and Career Inventories
• Job Shadow Day
• Guest Speakers
• Internship Prep
• My Paths Project

14. P14
Best Practices: CS 11
Career Symposium
•40+ professionals
•Mingling and network event with students
•Internship leads
•Art of small talk

15. P15
Best Practices: CS 11
Internship Prep
•Mock interviews with local professionals
•Resume writing
•Networking
•Business etiquette

16. P16
Best Practices: CS 11
Internship
•2-weeks off-site
•Local businesses, organizations, and partners
Sample Internship Sites
New England Aquarium
Boston Medical Center
National Center for Time and Learning
BPD/Domestic Violence Unit
Life is Good
Red Sox Marketing Department
Liberty Mutual

17. P17
Best Practices: CS 12
Reality 101 Programming
•2nd
half of senior year
•Alumni guest speakers
•Financial Literacy course

18. P18
Best Practices: Alumni Internships
Director of Alumni Programming
•Next big focus: ensuring alumni are placed in competitive internships

19. P19
Lessons Learned
1. Be intentional across all grades
2. Use local resources
3. Involve your development office; great opportunity for volunteers and donors
4. High School Internship needs to be in junior year
5. Actively connect and support Alumni with internships

20. P20
What’s applicable?
• Think across grade levels: what already exists?
• What can be enhanced?
• What can you add that you are not currently doing?
• Develop an action plan: 2 months/summer/next year

21. P21
Questions and Answers