In Laconia Schools: A vertical plan to prepare students for the next step in their lives

New Hampshire Senate Bill 276 was written to support the economic balance of New Hampshire's workforce by ensuring that 65% of graduating high school students will have the opportunity for immediate post-secondary qualifications, from certificates and industry-recognized credentials to advanced degrees by 2025. Referred to as “The Drive to 65,” the focus of the legislation is on reducing education and training costs to both students and employers, providing easier access and entry into the workforce by creating ways for New Hampshire high school students to earn career-ready credentials. To meet the needs of SB 276 and the needs of a future in which careers and opportunities will be constantly changing, Laconia High School has created a vertical plan for learning that is a commitment to helping our students realize their futures. This four-year vertical plan includes a future learning pathway system of rich, cohesive, and relevant learning experiences purposefully designed to have a transformative impact in preparing students for life readiness. The plan is the next step in an ongoing framework built to support student life-readiness.

In 2017-2018, Laconia began its journey to identify skills that were most important in making students career- and college-ready. Known then as work-study practices or “soft-skills,” the school district worked closely with parents and guardians, local businesses, and community leaders to develop what is now known as the Laconia Portrait of a Graduate. The six attributes that make up the portrait — communication, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, self direction, and perseverance — are taught and assessed in all classrooms across the district, and serve as the framework by which all teachers plan learning experiences. Now, with students across the district beginning to realize and internalize the Portrait of a Graduate, the district’s logical next steps are to provide students with opportunities to actualize these attributes. Laconia High School’s four-year vertical plan incorporates experiences that do just that, while also focusing on developing student relationships, enriching student interests, and enhancing executive functioning and social emotional learning skills. During their four years at Laconia High School, the vertical plan ensures that all students can choose to engage in innovative learning experiences that are integrated and connected and give a clear sense of purpose to what students are learning while helping them create and execute a plan for future-readiness.

What does it mean to be career and life ready? The National Center for College and Career Transitions defines career and life readiness as having the knowledge and skills necessary for successful employability, economic viability, and personal and civic effectiveness in the 21st century. This includes the application of academic knowledge to career-specific skills, social emotional skills that promote effective relationship building, a mindset to be civically and financially responsible, and executive functioning skills that support transition to a post-secondary life that includes college or career opportunities. Using the 21st-century skills and attributes of the Portrait of a Graduate as its framework, the Laconia High School vertical plan is designed to create learning experiences that encourage students to understand their individual skills and interests and become proactive in their life choices. Recently developed interdisciplinary coursework like “Communiversity” and “Formula 1,” as well as courses like “Math in Motion” and the recently-adopted “Senior Sachem [Graduation] Experience” offer innovative ways for students to connect to their learning, making it relevant to them. Even credit recovery programs like the 45-hour “Summer Learning'' program have been redesigned as interdisciplinary, project-based learning opportunities that individualize student learning while also connecting students to the community at large. Supported by a strong model of advising and counseling, the vertical plan integrates the components of career- and life-readiness with a robust future learning pathway system of internal and external academic and career learning experiences for all students.

Developed to ensure equity and fidelity in the delivery of its core competencies to all students, the Laconia High School vertical plan aligns each academic year to a stated objective and an essential question to guide understanding. For example, in answering the essential question “What makes me unique?” the objective for fist-year students is the development of a positive identity through self-exploration. Lessons on self-advocacy, study skills and styles, personality styles, exploring personal interests, as well as career exploration and the factors that affect it are embedded in first-year coursework using the Xello College and Career Readiness software platform. Students in grade 10 begin to focus on social competencies and empowerment with opportunities to develop their future learning pathways through connections to the community, goal setting, and portfolio building. They also explore civic and financial literacy in English and social studies. In grades 11 and 12, students begin to actualize their future learning pathways with internal and external opportunities to engage in more independent experiences such as Extended Learning Opportunities, Huot Tech Center courses, eStart, Work-Based Learning, dual enrollment opportunities, job shadows, and internships. Working with the school counseling department, students will structure these opportunities, along with existing core and elective courses at Laconia High School, to create a defined career pathways system that will lead them to the realization of a career and life readiness plan upon graduation including a digital portfolio of artifacts and the opportunity to explore at least one career credential upon graduation.

The world we live in is rapidly changing and the availability of options for our students continues to grow exponentially. Engagement with technology, smart devices, and social media are factors that have contributed to changes in the cognitive development of children, and have had a significant impact on traditional models of teaching and learning. The Laconia High School four-year vertical plan is a proactive response toward redesigning learning experiences while also addressing social emotional and executive functioning adaptations. This plan, along with a strong future learning pathways system devoted to creating efficient and effective paths toward career and life readiness, is a necessary shift in education if we expect to move our children along in our 21st-century world.

Lisa Hinds, 6-12 academic coordinator for teaching and learning, Laconia School District