Highlights from Real World Learning school tours

On Thursday November 17, 2022, Real World Learning schools opened their doors to more than 200 educators across our region. Host sites and visitors not only shared various strategies and challenges for implementing Market Value Assets, employer engagement, and curriculum alignment, but also saw student-run businesses, micro-schools and other real-world experiences in action. Most importantly, they heard from student ambassadors about how they are directly impacted by real world learning. Below is the recap from each school tour and some of the key takeaways.

Basehor-Linwood High School – Innovation Academy

Area of Focus: Client Connected Projects / Entrepreneurship

The Innovation Academy focuses on client-connected projects and entrepreneurial experiences, and uses design thinking to provide a common language and process.

Basehor-Linwood is a great model for schools in smaller communities that may want to connect with local government and flexible curriculum development.

Basehor-Linwood’s Innovation Academy is AMAZING, tied to core curriculum, and student-driven, allowing students to succeed and fail – both important outcomes.

Laura Harsch, Shawnee Mission School District

Learn more about at the Innovation Academy’s website.

Read the story featured in Forbes by Tom Vander Ark.

Belton

Area of Focus: Academies of Belton, a Ford Next Generation Learning Community

Belton uses a career-focused wall-to-wall academy approach. Tour attendees observed the Freshman Career Fair and met with student ambassadors.

Belton’s Freshman Career Fair highlighted their expertise in activating their local business community (57 employers). Belton’s RWL Coordinator, Chase Nugen is a great resource for relationship building and onboarding partners to ensure they see the ‘big picture’ of Belton’s strategy and that employers are excited about RWL in general.

Learn more about the Academies at Belton.

Blue Valley CAPS

Area of Focus: Client Connected Projects, College Credit

BV CAPS offers courses in 6 strands aligned to high-growth and high-demand jobs in the KC region: Engineering, Medicine/Healthcare, Business, Technology & Media, Bioscience, Human Services, and Food & Entrepreneurship.

BV CAPS has been providing real-world experiences for students for more than a decade. In addition to hearing from students in many of the strands offered on campus and touring their beautiful building, educators were able to connect and discuss the challenges and potential solutions around employer availability, scaling opportunities for all students, and managing CCPs versus internships.

Learn more about Blue Valley CAPS at their website.

Fort Osage – Campus Grounds Student- Run Coffee Shop

Area of Focus: Entrepreneurial Experiences, Internships

Fort Osage’s student-run coffee shop, Common Grounds, gives students real-world experience in running a local business.

Common Grounds is an excellent example of entrepreneurial projects and student-run businesses and models for business and marketing educators.

Watch the video about the launch of Common Grounds at the beginning of the 2021/22 school year.

IdeaSpace at Barstow School

Area of Focus: STEAM Careers (K-12 career exploration, professional development, curriculum support, project review)

IDEA Space provides students in Grades 4-12 with STEAM-based learning connected to core content and real-world experiences during school, after school and during the summer.

They are doing a great job of filling a gap in STEAM education accessibility for their Barstow students, as well as students from public schools in the southland through summer camps, after school clubs/camps, etc.

Christy Collins, North Kansas City School District

Kearney High School

Area of Focus: Agriculture Pathway with IRC and Internship Opportunities

Kearney High School created an agriculture pathway from the ground up in 2015 and has implemented multiple methods for a student to achieve MVAs.

Kearney is an excellent example of how a pathway can make small pivots to implement MVAs. They have focused on what works for them and decided to concentrate on stackable credentials and internships over CCPs as part of the ag pathway. In addition, Kearney has made MVAs a high school graduation requirement starting with the class of 2024.

Read the story about the Ag Program’s ice cream businesses as part of their studies on food science.

Shawnee Mission

Area of Focus: Project Blue Eagle – Law, Public Safety, & Security (Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement)

SMSD’s Project Blue Eagle signature program prepares students for careers as first responders.

Project Blue Eagle is a great resource and model for schools interested in building a Public Safety pathway with credentials.

Learn more about the signature programs that are part of Project Blue Eagle.

Shawnee Mission

Area of Focus: Embedding Entrepreneurship In All Contents and Grade Levels

Global Entrepreneurship Week was the perfect time to chat with student business owners at Shawnee Mission West.

Lessons from Shawnee Mission Wests program are valuable to core-class teachers, business teachers, RWL Coordinators, and schools interested in supporting entrepreneurial projects.

Watch the video “Shawnee Mission West Real World Learning goes to the mall.”

Raymore-Peculiar – CCPs in the Classroom Tour

Area of Focus: Client Connected Projects in Core Course – ELA

Raymore-Peculiar implemented Client Connected Projects to replace PBL capstone projects across all English 4 classes. Attendees heard from teachers and students and observed an English 4 classroom.

Core class teachers, especially ELA teachers, can take a lot away from the structure and curriculum of Ray-Pec’s English 4. 

Our core content teachers haven’t done client connected projects, just CTE. Seeing how they look in English 4 was wonderful, and our teachers needed to see it could and does work.

Nicole Pizzato
KCKPS Work Based Learning Coordinator

Watch the video about Ray-Pec incorporating Real World Learning into English 4 classes.

Raymore-Peculiar – LEAD Center

Area of Focus: Client Connected Projects, IRCs, Internships

Raymore-Peculiar opened the LEAD (Learning, Experiences And Discovery) Center at the beginning of the 2022/23 school year. The center houses the Enterprise and Design micro-school that focuses on CCPs, Grow Your Own Teaching Academy, and electrical and machining programs.

The new LEAD Center blends professional experiences into CTE and includes opportunities for all students, including students with special needs.

Read tips for engaging with business partners from Ray-Pec’s RWL Coordinator Jake Wingo.