How Junction City High School Integrated Xello into Its Ambitious College and Career-Planning Curriculum – Even During a Pandemic
The Challenge
When students step into Junction City High School (JCHS), they quickly learn that the future is not so far off—and it’s up to each individual to start shaping the career of their dreams.
With an ambitious curriculum structured around the 16 nationally recognized career clusters, JCHS is the last stop for all students in the USD 475 district in east central Kansas. The educational experience is centered on preparing for post-secondary life.
“Our goal is to ultimately create productive citizens out of our graduates. We want them to have a livable wage. We want them to be able to contribute to society economically in service-based professions,” said Becky Hickert, interim Business Information Technology Academy principal and post-secondary coordinator.
“We want them to be able to have business opportunities and contribute to our community as spenders, investors, and civically engaged adults. All of those things are important to us, so we prepare them for whatever they want to do next.”
The initial outbreak of COVID-19 came during the district’s spring break, which afforded administrators and educators two weeks to put together a plan. Universal access to technology gave them a leg up.
“We’re blessed to be a one-to-one device district, and so everybody from kindergarten through senior year has their own device checked out to them. That was key in facilitating our distance learning,” said Hickert.
Despite the technological advances, the upheaval of transitioning an entire student body to remote learning had its risks. Hickert and her team did not want students at any grade level to lose momentum when it came to course – and future – planning.
School
Location
Problem
Solution
The Solution
Xello was one of only four platforms the district used to make distance learning possible in the Spring of 2020.
“The two middle schools and the high school continued to use Xello to assist with our enrollment process and some career development activities through our advisory,” said Hickert.
She used Xello with her intern students who weren’t able to continue their work-based learning sites due to the pandemic.
“We did things like further career research, assessed how their personality results related to a potential career, and drilled down which post-secondary schools they were considering.”
In addition to online learning, the counseling team made regular phone calls home to seniors to ensure they were on track to graduate. They also talked to all of the sophomores and juniors to ensure they hadn’t changed their minds on any of the following year’s course selections. Hickert said Xello was a helpful tool to ensure everyone had the same information.
The JCHS counselors also used Xello when they called home and conducted a 20-minute enrollment appointment with each student and their parents.
“They pulled up Xello’s course planner so everyone was looking at the same screen and could discuss plans in a very specific way,” said Hickert.
Hickert says she also saw students use Xello to research entry-level careers that they could work at throughout a possible gap year.
“That’s been convenient for our kids. It’s kind of like a one-stop-shop for all the things you want to know about career and college.”
The Results
Whether they’re learning in-person or remotely, in USD 475, 8th graders create a pathway through high school using Xello’s Course Planner. When they get to JCHS, they take their plans to the next level.
“Our 9th graders use Xello as part of what we call Success 101. It’s a curriculum that integrates with Xello that helps students build a 10-year-plan. Their original four-year course plan is part of it, and they complete lessons and inventories, really diving into, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to be?’, ‘What problems do I want to solve?’, ‘How do I want to contribute to society?’” said Hickert.
The 10th- through 12th-graders have career cluster-based advisories which lay out a year of scope and sequence for every grade level. Each one has a weekly activity that either involves a Xello lesson, a field trip, or other career exploration.
“Throughout the course of those three years, students complete all that Xello has to offer for them, including the lessons, course planner, and portfolio building.”
During online learning, Hickert observed that students and their parents were more engaged as they created plans in Xello’s course planner.
That was Junction City High School’s success story—now it’s time to write yours. Learn how Xello can help students at your district get college and career ready. Book My Demo
About the School
About the Educator
