Gallagher Middle School was awarded a grant in the amount $4995 to support career exploration. The grant is provided by the RI Department of Education in conjunction with PrepareRI, an initiative that aims to prepare all Rhode Island youth for high-demand jobs. One of PrepareRI's goals is that 100% of middle schools in Rhode Island will offer career awareness and exploration programming by 2020.
With the help of this grant, teams of teachers and school counselors from Gallagher Middle School will create the following:
Group Guidance Curriculum - All students in grades 7 and 8 participate in a semester-long group guidance class. Through this curriculum, students will learn about career clusters, identify their top cluster based on personal interests and strengths, and then investigate career choices.
Advisory Curriculum - All students in grades 6-8 participate in Advisory one time per week. Although career exploration will be the focus of the grade 6 advisory curriculum, students in grades 7 and 8 will continue to build upon their work in grade 6.
Content Area Curriculum Map - Teams of teachers will meet to incorporate Naviance, the district's new K-12 college and career readiness tool, into current courses. The team will create a curriculum map highlighting the career exploration activities that will be incorporated into each middle school course.
The group guidance and advisory programs will be developed this summer and implemented this fall. The team from Gallagher Middle School will present their program at the Spring 2020 PrepareRI Summit.