BaySCAN Financial Services Network -- News #9

Bay Area STC Partnerships, through BaySCAN, have successfully initiated a media partnership with CBS/KPIX Channel 5. The television campaign will focus on news stories about students, teachers and community members impacted through positive STC experiences. CBS will also work with BaySCAN and the Bay Area Council to gain commitments from companies to fund the production and airing of commercials about each company's involvement. Working with the Southern CA Marketing Collaborative and the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, we will also have access to a series of Public Service Announcements featuring Governor Gray Davis, directly supporting STC. This partnership will launch widespread exposure and awareness of STC by the general public. BaySCAN also hopes to use this unique partnership to drive events such as Groundhog Job Shadow day and California Intern Summer.

__1.2 Mini Grants

Region IX of the US Department of Education will award mini grants to teams of teachers to develop career-related curricula in the Humanities linked to career pathways and state and national standards in the subject area. Integrating the humanities-literature, history, philosophy, art, economics into career pathways is essential to creating a rigorous and relevant curriculum. It is also key to convincing educators and partners that School-to-Work can provide "a good classical education" by supporting high academic achievement in the humanities and is more than just technical or vocational education.

A 1998 study found that few existing curricula explicitly link high-quality academic work in the humanities with workplace learning in career pathways. With these mini-grants, Region IX hopes to learn about existing curricula that can be shared, and also encourage educators to create such curricula that help students learn to high standards within career pathways.

Selected and tested curricula and lesson plans will be posted on the web as technical assistance for school-to-work systems all over the country. For more information on the mini-grants, please contact Dan Bernal at 415-556-4066.

2 ISSUES & BEST PRACTICES:

__2.1 CCSF Embeds SCANS

City College of San Francisco is currently in its fifth year of a project to infuse SCANS into its curriculum. In the fall semester staff are recruited to undergo training and begin the planning process. Usually 10 or 12 instructors act as mentors to two colleagues each. During the semester participants have an opportunity to observe class that have infused SCANS and reflect on ways they can infuse SCANS into their own classes. During the spring semester, the new participants are expected to implement changes to at least one class and reflect the changes in their syllabus. They also participate in evaluations of their own results and the effectiveness of the program. In the spirit of partnership, this year CCSF is including teachers for SF Unified in their program.

During a recent monthly meeting, two instructors described ways that they infused SCANS into their classes. The librarian also shared resources available to support teachers that are infusing the information competencies into their classes. The group also discussed strategies for infusing the systems competency. Some strategies that were shared included 1) in history, emphasize how an event is usually the result of the inter-relations between various groups and is a predictable outcome because of the particular dynamics of that "system." 2) view organizations and its internal dynamics as a system. And 3) in ESL classes, investigate tasks such as obtaining a driverís license from a system perspective and flowchart the steps including the systemís efficiencies and inefficiencies. Generally, by explicitly connecting what you are teaching to the whole you are teaching the systems competency.

CCSF has had wonderful success with this program. Besides the fact that students are taking charge of their learning and preparing for the future, staff have been reinvigorated and opportunities for cross departmental collaboration have been created. Staff has been invited to share their work at various conferences and Columbia University is studying the program. I think this great program is also transferable to secondary schools and could be used as a way to transition to student-centered models espoused by STC and WASC. More details to follow in future editions.

__2.2 SF STC Partnership Supports PBL

The San Francisco STC Partnership recently completed an all day workshop designed to help teachers develop projects in the "Business and Finance" career path. The workshop continued work started in the summer and focused on project implementation issues. The partnership is providing various forms of support to the teachers including a $500 stipend for the best project. The partnership will be publishing the projects. If you are interested in getting more information you can contact Kelley Karandjeff, of the SF partnership, at . BaySCAN provided technical assistance for this workshop and is available to work with Network member organizations.

3 RESOURCES:

__3.1 Teaching Leadership

"A Leader's Eye View of Leadership," is a NY Times Special Section that discusses topics like Leaving a Legacy, Attracting and Retaining Talent, Risks and Allowing Failures, Managing Change at Internet Speed, Dealing With the Street and Growing the Business, A New Economy and Old Brands, Personifying the Company, Executive Compensation, Issues in Washington, Balancing the Personal and the Professional Life. The article and links are at http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/sunday/101099leader-index.html.

__3.2 "Beyond Glass-Steagall"

The financial services industry is about to undergo radical change. This NY Times Special Section includes articles and links that describes new legislation and looks at some important implications. You can access the site at http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/index-glass-steagall.html.

__3.3 "The Crash of ë29"

Glass-Steagall was a reaction to the stock market crash of 1929. This NY Times Special Section includes actual news articles from the Times immediately after the crash for about a week. This is a great primary source for studying this important event. The site can be accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/index-1929-crash.html.

__3.4 Homefair.com

This web site provides several useful consumers guides on topics like choosing the best mortgage, buying your first home, and choosing where to live. They also provide tools to help you calculate the income necessary to support the purchase price of a home and calculate the difference in the cost of living in different communities. This site also includes links to many other sites with information relevant to personal financial planning. (Homefair.com)