Announcements

GEAR UP Youth Leadership Summit — All GEAR UP students who will have completed the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade by the end of the 2010 academic year are encouraged to apply. For more information and to download an application, please click here.

GEAR UP Youth Venture — Seed grants of up to $1,000 to teams of students who have identified a problem in their community and want to create a community-benefiting venture. For more information and to download an application, please click here.

Parent Leadership Award — NCCEP will recognize five GEAR UP parents and/or family leaders who have made a significant contribution to a GEAR UP program. For more information and to download an application, please click here.

Pathways to Success staff attend the National GEAR UP Conference in Washington, D.C.

August 17, 2010

Washington, D.C. — Five members of the Pathways to Success team attended the annual National Council for Community and Education Partnerships/GEAR UP Conference in July and four of them were accepted to present.

Pathways to Success instructional coaches, Stacy Cohen and LaVonne Holmgren visit Washington, D.C., to present at the Annual NCCEP/GEAR UP Conference.


Project Coordinator, Bill Towns, and Telementor Coordinator, Linda Un, presented on the success of the Telementoring Program in Topeka, Kansas.


Two instructional coaches, Stacy Cohen from Topeka West high school and LaVonne Holmgren from Capital City School presented on the use of instructional coaching in Topeka high schools — instructional coaching is one thing that makes Pathways to Success unique from other GEAR UP programs.


Cohen and Holmgren's presentation, Reaching the Target: Aligning Unit Objectives and Assessments, focused on the Formative Assessment part of The Big Four, an idea created by Jim Knight.


"Our group was very engaged, which was surprising since we were at the very end of the day and people get tired from information overload," Holmgren said. "We tried to make [the presentation] more of an interactive workshop, which I think went really well."


Presenters were also able to attend sessions. Members of the Pathways to Success team said they enjoyed some of the keynote presenters most, such as Ruby Payne, Chad Foster and Juan Williams.


Cohen said one of the more inspiring presentations was from a group of students from Santa Fe Community College, which focused on closing the achievement gap.


"The students ran the whole presentation," Cohen said. " It was amazing to see the students speaking so well and interacting with adults on such a high level. I kept hearing people in the session saying, 'we should bring our students to D.C. next year' and 'we should be teaching those skills to our students.' I think it's great for adults to hear from the actual kids in the GEAR UP programs and not only do the students learn social skills, they get to see the Nation's capital, which most never have the opportunity to do. I hope we can do something similar this year in Topeka."


Holmgren said she thinks opportunities like the GEAR UP conference are important because there is both formal and informal learning.


"You get formal learning from going to the conference sessions and hearing about what other schools around the country are trying," Holmgren said. "And then there is informal learning that comes from just having conversations with people during lunches."


Both Cohen and Holmgren recommended that others in the Pathways to Success program attend the conference next year.


"It was nice to be able to go because I got to see that there are all of these people doing work that is helping others help themselves."