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Greetings!
I'd like to share with you an impressive story about the ways in which students are making a difference for incoming freshmen at San Fernando Senior High through support from the Valley Neighborhood Collaborative.
Sincerely,
Peggy Funkhouser
President & CEO
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A New Approach to Freshman Orientation at San Fernando Senior High |
At San Fernando Senior High (SFSH),
sixty-five student mentors guided 600 freshmen through all-day activities in
this year's August orientation. Six hundred freshmen represent two thirds of
the incoming class in a high needs school where 86% of the students receive
free or reduced price lunches. This approach was designed to create connections
with incoming students who might otherwise wander from an interest in school
during this critical transition.
In addition to the excellent
student turnout, 800 family members participated in a parent orientation; the
most outstanding turnout the school has ever held. This evening event presented parents with academic information
about graduation requirements, a slideshow of the student orientation, and a
bar-b-que.
Teachers at SFHS chose upper
classmen who had "non-traditional" leadership skills and had
influence with others, rather than request volunteers. Some were football
players, class clowns, or simply students their peers admire. Student mentors
received leadership training through a weekend retreat, and met throughout the
summer to plan orientation events and prepare materials. A key component for many freshmen was receiving a personalized, hand-made invitation to the orientation events from their student mentor.
Student mentor for Group #3 gives the thumbs up as his freshmen get to know each other.
To accommodate 600 freshmen in a
more personal way, students were organized into three groups based on their
small learning communities. Each group met on a different day and was guided by
student mentors throughout the day. Orientation events lasted from 9 a.m. till
3 p.m. on the high school campus. In addition to the traditional orientation of
getting schedules, books, and lockers, this new approach included an all-day
schedule of events. Student mentors gave tours to smaller groups of freshmen,
and included trivia games about the campus and graduation requirements. Mentors
also conducted team building and communication activities that helped freshmen
get better acquainted with each other. During the day new students met
counselors and staff in the school's resource offices. During a lunch break,
students wandered through a resource fair and learned about clubs and extra
curricular activities.
Student mentors are expected to
check in with their freshmen groups throughout the year about social and
academic progress and problems. To date, they have already reported that feshmen greet them in the hallways and seek them out for advice.
This enhanced, more comprehensive
approach to orientation is the result of the Valley Neighborhood Collaborative
(VNC) which is composed of 26 community partners that collaborate to create
community schools at three different high schools: San Fernando, Sylmar, and
Arleta. Los Angeles Education Partnership is the lead agency for this
collaborative, which was one of ten
recipients of the US Department of Education's Full Service Community Schools
program in 2008.
"This really was a partnership between students, teachers, administrators and community members to develop a strategy that helps freshmen have a successful first year and prevent drop out," said Ellen Pais, Senior Director of L.A. Education Partnership's Connected Communities.
Community partners that made
orientation a success include ProjectGrad LA, which provided information on
their scholarship program, campus resources about college, and prizes for
trivia games; Educare, which provided team building exercises, logistics for
all events, and support for lunches; and Beyond the Bell which trained student
mentors through leadership camp and gave them stipends. Additional community
partners who presented information at the resource fair included Girl Scouts,
Mission College, Pacoima Beautiful, Youth Speak, Youth for Positive Change, El
Nido, and San Fernando Senior High Health Center/Teen Clinic.
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OUR NEW ADDRESS
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1055 W Seventh St. Suite 200
Los Angeles
California
90017
Same phone:
213.622.5237
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Mission Statement
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The Partnership's mission is to help students in high-need schools improve their academic achievement by partnering with educators, parents and the community.
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