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SENIOR MASTERY PROCESS
Henry Ford Academy requires all senior students to pass a work-based learning program called the Senior Mastery Process as part of their core curriculum. This three-part program begins in the students' junior year and involves career exploration, fieldwork, creation of a final assessment product and reflection paper, and a public defense of research findings. Reasons for Practice
The Senior Mastery Process was developed based on the belief that students must have opportunities to link what they are learning in school to the real world. This belief has been a strong conviction of the staff of the Henry Ford Academy (HFA), the nation's first charter school developed jointly by a global corporation, Ford Motor Company; a cultural institution, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village (the Museum); and public education, Wayne County Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA). The foundation partners of the Senior Mastery Process are Ford, the Museum and Wayne RESA. These partners have demonstrated their support in a variety of ways which reflect their individual resources, but which also demonstrate their absolute commitment to improving the educational opportunities for young people in their community. Ford and the Museum assisted with the concept and design of the overall program. They provide direct financial and staff support, participate in the implementation of the program at their sites, offer critical feedback, and facilitate with the evaluation and dissemination of the SMP. Wayne County RESA has assisted with the development and dissemination of the program ideas to local administrators and curriculum directors. In addition, the Senior Mastery Process draws on the diverse opportunities
offered by a large group of partners, which includes members from myriad
career fields and locations in the community. During the program's first
two years, the Academy placed 120 seniors in individual practicum placements
with 75 partners in this group. As developing networking skills is a
requirement for all students, many students bring their adult partners
into the program themselves. Other students work with adult partners
associated with the foundation partners.
All students are expected to participate in the Senior Mastery Process and to meet the high expectations for each stage of the program. These students, with the support of their parents, teachers and adult partners, engage in a series of challenging experiences centered on a specific research focus question and the 75-hour Senior Practicum, enabling them to make informed career and further educational choices. This program stands out as one-of-a-kind because of the full support of the learning community, including the Academy and its partners; its mission to create a challenging senior year as the culminating event in a student's life; its integration into the four-year curricular plan of the Academy; and its connections to research-based methods of teaching and learning. Components of the Senior Mastery Process
The three-part program begins in the students' junior year; each part
lasts for one ten-week quarter.
The primary purpose of the Senior Mastery Process, indeed the entire career preparation curricular elements of Henry Ford Academy, is to encourage students to make personal and significant connections between what they learn in classes and the goals they have for their professional futures. Our goal is to facilitate their development as self-initiating learners as they:
Students are changed in a number of ways by their participation in the SMP. They:
The Senior Mastery Process is clearly aligned to meet the Career Content Standards as well as Michigan's career preparation goals and objectives as defined by the Department of Education. Through a series of authentic projects and experiences throughout the course of the SMP, students are exposed to each of the nine stated standards and are expected to achieve a significant level of mastery of each as a requirement for graduation from the Academy. Students have choice at each stage of the process. Students make their own decisions about the careers on which to focus their investigation and eventual research. They then network to identify an adult partner in a practicum of personal interest, select an individualized manner in which to present their research findings and learning, and choose their defense committee members. Students have identified such diverse practicum placements as modeling, cosmetology, deejaying at a radio station, media production, events planning, counseling, teaching, robotics, engineering, neurosurgery, construction management, fashion design, interior design, culinary arts and restaurant management, to name a few. There are three major outcomes to this program:
Henry Ford Academy knows this program is effective because several companies have hired students for summer positions following the completion of their practicum or have offered others paid internships often reserved for college students. The Academy has had excellent and consistent feedback from its partners about what they liked and what they felt needed to be changed to improve the program. Parents and students have also communicated their positive opinions and constructive criticisms about the SMP overall and their recognition of the individual growth students have experienced with this process. This feedback is especially important since the SMP continues to be a work in progress. Finally, students use their awareness of what employers want, labor market trends, and workplace expectations immediately as they continue their extracurricular jobs and seek out further opportunities in their fields of interest. They also have incorporated their new knowledge and experience into their research for appropriate college and/or university programs, community service opportunities, public service appointments, or immediate employment.
The Henry Ford Academy explicitly considers replication of unique elements of its curriculum to be an inherent part of its mission. The staff at Henry Ford Academy has been actively involved in preparing for the replication of the Senior Mastery Process. Academy staff has developed the specific curriculum materials—Introduction, a Teacher Handbook with lesson plans and master copies for all student materials, and a Student Handbook—and begun defining the potential audience for the program. The Academy has also been working with the Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences (FAMS) program through Ford Motor Company to facilitate their potential adoption of the program as an addition to their curriculum, and with Wayne County RESA to gain an understanding of the needs other schools would have in putting such a program in place. Those discussions have addressed implementing the entire SMP as well as possibly using only the initial phases of the program. Finally, the Academy is exploring grants and other sources of funding, which would help provide staff and resources for the express purpose of helping other teachers and schools adopt the Senior Mastery Process.
Henry Ford Academy: http://www.hfacademy.org/ Senior Mastery Process: http://www.hfacademy.org/academics/smp.asp
Shannon A. Clements Telephone: 313-982-6129
More Highlighted Practices: Community Partnerships
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