| Teen
Web - Project Summary
With the dearth of graduates - at both the high school and college
level - with sufficient coursework and proficiency in math and science,
our country faces an acute shortage of qualified workers in the
burgeoning fields of healthcare, biotechnology, engineering, aerospace,
and information technology.
Our quality
of life, economic health, and global leadership all critically depend
on our ability to ensure the intellectual competency and productive
capacity of the next generation. Millions of teens are drifting
aimlessly through what should be the most important, foundation-building,
learning experiences of their lives. Most believe that if they just
show up enough days to receive a diploma, life will be theirs for
the taking.
Teen
Web -A Component of Achievement Counts
The Maryland Business Roundtable for Education (MBRT), and its State
partners in education, economic development and the business community,
have developed a program that reaches thousands of middle and high
school students in Maryland and has the potential of reaching millions
across the country. The Achievement Counts
campaign delivers to students the information they need to understand
the connection between achievement in school and success in the
workplace; and the motivation they need to prepare themselves for
a lifetime of opportunity.
The Achievement
Counts Teen Website will engage students in exploring exciting
careers and motivate them to take - and excel in - rigorous courses
of study that will allow them to pursue careers in engineering,
information technology, aerospace, healthcare, and biotechnology.
To ensure
the website will attract - and retain the interest of - teens, students
play an important role in the planning/design/implementation/marketing
phases of the project. Not only is it important for us to hear and
heed the student "voice," but participating students gain invaluable
technology learning experiences in the process.
The initial
launch of the Teen Website will highlight and profile careers in
Health, Finance, and Information Technology/Aerospace. Partners
in these career fields have been identified and are being established
to help develop content materials and to provide young workers in
these careers to profile. To date, NASA and the Lockheed Martin
Corporation are our major partners for the Information Technology/Aerospace
section of the website. CitiFinancial sponsors the financial career
section. Health partners include the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, and
the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
The benefits
for Maryland students will be broad, making the connection with
skills, academics and careers, and helping them see the pathways
for success in higher education and the workplace. The benefits
for Maryland itself will be substantial, creating a more skilled
and motivated future workforce.
Teen
Web - Feasibility
The
absolute proof of concept will be our ability to attract and engage
teens and, ultimately improve academic performance. We must gather
substantial information from and about teenagers:
how they use the Internet; what drives or attracts them to a website;
what keeps them on a site or makes them want to revisit; what kinds
of information do they currently have about careers; what information
would they find useful; what kind of language or visuals appeal
to them; what are their current formal and informal channels of
information. Focus groups with students will be conducted to answer
these questions, and existing research on teens will be reviewed,
including substantive experience and research conducted on student
voice by the Partnership for Kentucky
Schools. And a special Student Advisory Committee is involved
in policy conversations and will help guide the development and
implementation phases. Special attention will be paid to what will
work for typically underserved populations – i.e. females,
African American males, students in poverty, students with disabilities.
Student input is also be used during the design phase of the project.
In the fall of 2003, a concept prototype model will be tested with
students to determine if modifications are necessary.
We believe
the emphasis on the student voice is paramount not only to the success
of the website but to the education reform movement in general.
Too often, without intending it, adults in school systems and in
school policy positions have missed out on a powerful source of
energy for academic improvement – students’ desire and
ability to be responsible partners in their own learning. Our intention
here is to conduct systematic research with students, create ways
for students to participate in policy conversations, cultivate students’
own abilities to conduct research on the student experience, and
empower students to be more directly engaged in guiding their learning
and shaping their future.
Teen
Web - Marketing
It will be
critical to determine the best ways to ensure that students find
out about and visit the website. Student input will be especially
valuable in planning this activity. High school guidance counselors,
teachers, and library/media specialists will play a key role, as
will MBRT’s more than 700 speakers. We will need to investigate
other means to get the word out, including through community libraries
and organizations, faith-based partnerships, radio and TV spots.
A comprehensive Marketing Plan is being developed to consider the
various channels available (i.e. link exchange programs, paid link
placements, advertising, discount via partnering organizations,
and promotional giveaways to entice critical user feedback and participation).
Teen
Web - Evaluation
In order
to determine the effectiveness of the project, short-term and long-term
evaluation components will be identified and designed. Some evaluation
techniques to be explored are: on-line survey of site users, data
electronically gathered by the site itself, polling of high school
students, focus groups among users and non-users. Again, promotional
elements of the Marketing Plan will drive user feedback. Analysis
of web server activity and referral link paths will also provide
insight on the site’s effectiveness. Long-term residual effects
can be monitored through MBRT’s Workforce
Needs Survey and MSDE’s student attendance and performance
data.
Teen
Web - Project Partners and Funders
As
of September 2003
Partners
include:
- Johns
Hopkins Health System
- Johns
Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
- NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center
- University
of Maryland, Baltimore
- Maryland
State Department of Education
- Lockheed
Martin Corporation
- CitiFinancial
- Kaiser
Permanente
- and
more than 60 statewide and local government, education, business
and community groups.
Funders
include:
- Citigroup
Foundation
- Kaiser
Permanente
- Lockheed
Martin Corporation
- Macht
Philanthropic Fund - The Associated: Jewish Community Foundation
- Maryland
State Department of Education
We invite
partners in education, economic development, community development
and business to support this groundbreaking initiative. Investment
in the Teen Website will help to:
- Show thousands
of students - in an exciting format - the wide variety of career
options in science, engineering and technology
- Increase
the number of students taking - and passing - more rigorous science
and math courses
- Increase
the number of high school and college graduates choosing careers
in science, engineering and technology
- Support
the President's education initiative, the State Scholars (Maryland
awarded in March 2003)
- Enable
the creation of a state model in Maryland, with potential for
a national scale up
The benefits
for Maryland students will be broad, making the connection with
skills, academics and careers, and helping them see the pathways
for success in higher education and the workplace. The benefits
for Maryland itself will be substantial, creating a more skilled
and motivated future workforce.
For
information about the project, please contact:
Will Anderson, Project Director
at will@mbrt.org
or 410-727-0448
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