The Virginia College Access Network (VCAN) conference is an annual convening of educators including school counselors, college access professionals, university college and career readiness counselors, and leaders from schools and school districts who came together to share and learn about postsecondary transition best practices.
The Virginia College Access Network (VCAN) conference is an annual convening of educators including school counselors, college access professionals, university college and career readiness counselors, and leaders from schools and school districts who came together to share and learn about postsecondary transition best practices.
This virtual training webinar will be the first of a three-part series on strengthening the transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. The webinar will focus on postsecondary knowledge including strategies that support student and family understanding of the expectations and norms of postsecondary education and training, and expose students and families to career paths.
Battelle for Kids and the National Rural Education Association (NREA) hosted their annual forum to advance 21st century education outcomes for rural students. On October 24, REL AP staff provided a short presentation at the plenary session to build conference attendees' awareness about the REL program.
REL AP staff presented a workshop and plenary session on postsecondary transitions and Academic and Career Plans (ACPs) for ten K—12 districts at Generating Pathways to Success, a conference hosted by Hamblen County Schools.
REL AP staff shared tools and resources on preparing students with social emotional skills for successful postsecondary transitions. The session provided research-based strategies for building school culture, growth mindset, and self-efficacy for all educators including teachers, principals, school counselors, leaders from schools and school districts, university college and career readiness counselors, and career and technical education (CTE) staff.
REL AP staff shard tools and resources on nonacademic strategies to support students' postsecondary transitions at the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Peer Group Conference. The VCCS Peer Group Conference is an annual convening for VCCS practitioner groups. REL AP staff presented the workshop, Building Bridges to College and Career: Supporting Self-Efficacy to VCCS career coaches who provide postsecondary transition services to high school students. The workshop shared research on the link between postsecondary transitions and social emotional skills and provided evidence-based strategies for developing self-efficacy, a social emotional skill that supports successful transition.
The NCAN conference is the premiere convening of professionals in the field of postsecondary access and success for underrepresented student groups. REL AP staff convened with college access leaders and professionals with the common goal of improving the postsecondary outcomes of all students. REL AP presented during a breakfast at NCAN for funders and districts interested in rural college readiness/transitions.
The Virginia Department of Education and REL AP partnered to co-design and support an evaluation of Virtual Virginia, a state-funded program offering online courses for middle and high school students. During our session at STATS-DC, presenters shared approaches developed through this work for collecting new sources of implementation and cost data, and integrating them with studies of a program's outcomes to inform decisions of policy and practice. Participants learned ways to strengthen evaluation rigor using extant data, strategies to improve survey response rates, and methods to understand local cost that state education agencies can implement.
This virtual discussion focused on supporting students in their transition to postsecondary. Attendees learned about and discussed an evidence-based summer counseling strategy designed to support students during the challenging transition between high school graduation and fall college enrollment. Participants discussed practical considerations for local adoption of summer counseling and heard from practitioners who have had success implementing transition supports.
The Rural College Access and Success Summit brought together teachers, principals, superintendents, legislators, non-profit leaders and many others to share ideas and strategies for ensuring that rural youth have the opportunity to successfully transition from high school to college and to career. REL Appalachia staff presented the session Mapping Our Way to Academic Success for More Students to share our work partnering with Kentucky teachers to develop Innovation Configuration (IC) Maps. IC Maps are a tool to help teachers improve their practice and boost academic success.
This half-day workshop was an opportunity for secondary and postsecondary educators and program leaders to network and discuss strategies for engaging families. The event shared evidence-based resources and build awareness of the supports that educators and other professionals can provide families in the region as students explore opportunities after high school and prepare for the realities of postsecondary education.
This workshop was an opportunity for secondary and postsecondary practitioners to discuss strategies that can help students transition smoothly from high school to postsecondary education and training programs. Participants learned about evidence-based practices and build awareness of the supports that educators and other professionals can provide students in the region during this important transition.
The
Rural College and Career Readiness partnership hosted a virtual professional learning opportunity to discuss the role of families in postsecondary planning and to learn about how research can be used to support identification and implementation of strategies that work. The webinar built on the previous workshop in the series
Family Engagement for Successful Student Transition.
The
Improving Postsecondary Transitions partnership presented this interactive session at the Virginia College Access Network Conference. The presenters discussed the evidence levels included in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) and facilitated activities to apply ESSA evidence levels to an intervention. Participants learned about REL Appalachia projects and provided input on project design to better address stakeholder needs.
This interactive training event discussed the importance of family engagement in postsecondary pursuits and strategies for schools and districts to strengthen family engagement. Presenters shared information about the REL Appalachia Rural College and Career Readiness partnership and opportunities for future support.
This half-day workshop was a unique opportunity for educators to network and discuss strategies that can help students transition smoothly from high school to postsecondary education and training programs. Participants learned about evidence-based practices and built awareness of the supports that educators and other professionals can provide students in the region during this important transition.
The Rural College and Career Readiness partnership met to review their partnership logic model, research agenda, and data catalog; identify which research agenda questions can be answered using the currently available data and which would require additional data; and discuss next steps for the partnership in implementing the research agenda.
The SWVA Economic Forum engages participants through a shared vision of regional collaboration, growth, and innovation for all of Southwest Virginia. REL AP staff convened with leaders in business, government, and community and economic development organizations with the common goal of improving the economic growth and diversification of the region. REL AP shared our work in promoting the success of traditionally underserved students in postsecondary education and careers through their partnership with education stakeholders in the region.
REL Appalachia hosted a session presenting data on the employment and financial benefits of postsecondary education and training and sharing research-based perspectives on rural students' participation in college. Facilitators guided participants through interactive activities to reflect on their own experiences as educators and advisors and consider research-based approaches to helping more students pursue postsecondary education as a pathway towards achieving their career dreams.
REL staff met with members of the Virginia Postsecondary Transitions partnership to co-develop a research agenda to guide the partnership's work.
REL staff met with school and district leaders and data specialists in the Kentucky Rural College Readiness Partnership to identify the data needed to answer research questions identified in the partnership's research agenda.
The event, hosted simultaneously at three of the community colleges in southwest Virginia, was an interactive, engaging day designed to increase secondary administrative and instructional leaders' awareness of the benefits of postsecondary education and training, the primary barriers to access, and the opportunities available in the region.