Disengagement of high school seniors, is a common phenomenon at many high schools across America. This workshop features proven strategies to increase rigor, infuse relevance, and build relationships to create a capstone year that helps seniors transition successfully to the world beyond high school. Participants will learn about highly successful programs that engage seniors in challenging academic studies and promote leadership, service learning, and self-directed projects. Senior seminars, the Senior Institute, senior projects, and the Senior Instructional Leadership Corps are some of the engaging capstone initiatives that will be introduced. Finally, the presenters provide a comprehensive process for conducting a needs assessment, designing programs, implementing initiatives, and assessing a program’s effectiveness. The workshop is based on the International Center’s resource kit Making Grade 12 Meaningful.

Objectives

• Learn strategies being employed by model schools
• Identify the planning questions that school leaders should consider
• Identify the transition strengths and areas needing improvement in their own schools
• Develop an action plan to begin planning for a meaningful 12th grade year

Related Resources

• Making Grade 12 Meaningful
• Leading Change in High Schools
• America’s Most Successful High Schools — Case Studies and Resources on Best Practices