How Sage Oak Prepares Students and Families for the High School Transition

Transitioning From Middle to High School: A Roadmap to Success at Sage Oak

We discuss the transition of students from middle school to high school with Sage Oak educators Mary Hizon-Barry, VLA Coordinator, Nicole Case, Regional Mentor, and Kerry Cody, HS Assistant Principal. The team addresses the common concerns and fears of parents and students centered around this significant shift in their academic life. The episode highlights how Sage Oak is creating a supportive transition system for students with events like 'High School Preview Week' to give parents and students a hands-on experience. The panel also discusses the National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society programs which have been aligned to support this transition. The importance of Parents' roles in high school decision-making was also shared. Finally, they share information about a special event taking place on March 7th - a Career Fair at Goldie Lewis in Rancho Cucamonga that offers information on high school courses, pathways, and career possibilities to students, along with opportunities for interactions with professionals.

00:14 Introduction to the Episode
00:17 Understanding the Transition from Middle School to High School
00:43 Introducing the Panelists
02:39 Addressing the Attrition Rate and Knowledge Gap
03:21 Supporting Middle School Teachers and Students
04:01 Understanding the High School Transition
04:41 Addressing Concerns in the Personalized Learning Academy Program
05:39 Addressing Concerns in the Virtual Learning Academy Program
07:09 The Role of Parents in the Transition
07:09 Introducing the High School Jumpstart Program
13:42 Supporting High Achieving Students
15:36 Upcoming In-Person Event and Career Fair
18:21 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

For more information, visit www.sageoak.education.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster. And today we are talking all about the transition of students from those middle school years and the middle school program into our high school program. And I know that can be a very sticky transition. It can feel overwhelming, but today these ladies are here to help. Put you at ease and provide a little bit more information as to how Sage Oak is really helping to prepare our students and families for this transition. Mary, would you go ahead and introduce yourself to any of our listeners that might not be familiar with you and your role here at Sage Oak? Sure, I'm currently the Virtual Learning Academy Coordinator, but a few years back, I was an Education Advisor so I am familiar with the high school program as well in that capacity, but I work with our Virtual Learning Academy, which is TK through eight coordinating and supporting teachers in our program. Awesome. So great. We appreciate you so much and all the work that you're doing over there at VLA. Nicole Case, welcome to the podcast. Introduce yourself and tell us about your role here. Thanks, Tiffiny. I am currently the PLA Coordinator, so I get the privilege of working alongside our TK through eight. I have the joy and privilege of actually working hand in hand with a lot of our middle school students and supporting those teachers. I completely understand that unknown transition from middle school to high school, and it's a joy to be able to help them get ready for those next steps. We appreciate that and cannot wait to dig into this conversation today because I think you're going to be able to put a lot of our students and families at ease. So looking forward to that. And Kerry before we get going, please take a minute to introduce yourself too. Yeah. Hi Tiffiny. So I am one of the High School Assistant Principals here at Sage Oak. And I'm really excited about this today because I actually started at Sage Oak teaching middle school. So I was a PLA teacher last year and got to experience all of the things that we're talking about when it comes to transitioning eighth graders to the high school. So in my role this year I've really focused on what can we do to continue supporting that transition and really taking a hard look at things that we can improve and change. to aid our families and get them excited about our awesome program that we have. So happy to be here today. So tell us, Kerry, a little bit about how did this program come about and tell us some of the questions that were coming up, some of the concerns that you were hearing from our students and parents about this transition. Yeah, so you know, it really started with, okay, let's look at how many of our students are actually continuing on to our high school. We want to address this because we want to keep our families. We have such amazing families. The other thing was just identifying that there seems to be maybe a little bit of a knowledge gap there with what we do and what we offer in the high school. So a couple facets of that would be one, we were looking at like our middle school teachers, you know, is there something we can do to support our middle school teachers so that they understand our high school program more, they can be that like first line of defence to answering questions for their families And we want our middle school teachers to feel very confident and competent. to answer those questions or point them in the direction of the resources that we have, right? So that was one thing that we wanted to address, just because we know questions come up. all year long about high school. You know, what does this look like? This transition, it's a big one. Just like when you go from elementary to middle school, when you go from middle school to high school, it's a big transition. And, you know, when you get to high school, it's , we're looking at diploma, right? We're looking at having to earn credits for high school classes. And so just to ease our family's mind with regards to what we offer we really wanted to beef up our program that we are offering to aid them in that transition. So we have a lot of different activities planned this semester to really help that so that we can highlight the fact that we are a personalized high school program and they get excited about that transition. Nicole, What are some of the concerns that you are hearing from some of our families in the Personalized Learning Academy program when it comes to like their fears or worries about the high school years? One thing, which Kerry hit on is just kind of a lack of knowledge and understanding. Another area that we really are looking to grow in is really connecting our middle schoolers in paths that lead them directly and easily to high school. And so we've looked at ways that we can almost start them on this path that easily transitions to high school, whether it's clubs or programs Things that they can participate in classes they can take where it's like you started in middle school and look at this is going to be an easy transition to high school. So I think those were a couple of the gaps and roadblocks we have identified and are actively seeking to overcome this year for our middle school students and families. Mary, tell me what are some of the fears that you're hearing from the VLA students or just not necessarily fears, but concerns about making that transition in the high school years? I think for a lot of families, they're very comfortable in our Virtual Academy Program they know when classes are, they have either one or two teachers. And they kind of know what it's going to look like day to day. And I think a lot of what their concern is what does it look like in high school? Because they know that there's certain requirements they have to meet. But what does that look like on the day to day? What do the live classes look like? Can they still continue taking everything virtual? Like they have been really comfortable with in our program. And so knowing what the options are that they can pick and choose what courses they're going to do, which way is really enticing to a lot of families, but they don't necessarily know right off the bat what that looks like. So one of the ways that we're really trying to close that knowledge gap is have our High School Student Success Coordinator, Brenda Ramirez, come to one of our upcoming middle school assemblies. So these are assemblies that our Virtual Academy students attend every month. So she's going to come in and speak to our middle school students to be able to kind of highlight, Hey, you're in the virtual program right now. This is what it can look like if you're really comfortable in this setting for high school. And really just try and paint that better picture for them of what the opportunities would be available to them if they stayed in our program for high school. I think that's so smart to bring her in and really talk to the students because she is so knowledgeable about the programs and as you mentioned, all the different ways that students can take courses in the high school program. Kerry, I'm going to go back to you then, now that we have kind of established what the need is, you have honed in on some of the gaps in the questions that are coming up, creatively finding ways to address those gaps and concerns. How did that lead to this high school jumpstart program? And I know I'm not saying the name of the program right. So we last year, we had the Jump Start to High School. We hosted some live webinars for families. So we're taking that concept, but we're revamping it. So what we're doing is One, we're going to have an entire high school preview week. So essentially this will encompass families or eighth grade families being able to hop into live classes at the high school experience what goes on in our classes and what do they look like, which we've never done before, and we think that will be really great. So they can kind of get that hands on experience. And then during that same week, we have the high school preview day, which coincides with our career fair. And so our high school preview day is really to just highlight all of the amazing programs that we offer in the high school, you know, our CT pathways, AVID, our leadership opportunities, high school social life. We'll have our counselor there to answer any questions that families have. So it's a really great in person opportunity to come down, meet some of our students and talk to all the high school folks. So we're super excited about that. And we've never done that before. And then we're going to host Friday Q and A's. So starting in February, for about three months, we're actually going to offer Q and A's that families can jump in on to get some of their burning specific questions answered, right? And this usually, typically happens around courses and curriculum and things like that, you know? There's a lot of different ways that students can take courses and use curriculum that does narrow some in high school. And there is a reason, and that's. That's what parents need to understand is we are now in a high school program. We have to earn credits. We have to have highly qualified teachers that are overseeing these courses and grading the coursework. We still offer a variety of ways in which students can take those courses either in house, right, with our digital courses, our syllabus courses, if students want more of a textbook experience. And then they can also do online with community providers or in person community providers. So I think that there is a little bit of a misunderstanding that, oh no, if I go to the high school, am I only going to be online all day, every day? No, not necessarily. You know, you can look at all the other options that we have, or for maybe VLA students who love that experience of taking their courses online. We have that in house. Then finally, to culminate our Jump Start to High School, we're actually putting together a Canvas course for our eighth grade families that they will have access to that house all the information. I love that you are going to be housing that all in one place. I think that's gonna be super convenient for parents and students to find and access all of that information. I also love all the different layers to this program so that it really can be accessible to students in different ways, giving them that chance to really peer into a classroom setting and seeing what it looks like and feels like to be in our independent study high school program. I think that's a great idea. Nicole, you've probably seen this, that there's some questions probably coming up from parents. Some that maybe really want to continue to be involved in their child's education as they have been maybe in those younger years in a PLA program, but also to maybe some that are ready to like, let a teacher take over some of those high school courses and some of that high school content. So let me ask you about that. What are you hearing from parents in the PLA program? Definitely. I definitely see that need and that as students get older and the topics get deeper and more advanced and there are certain things that we are just as parents ready to put it in the hands of somebody a little more highly qualified, right? Those hqt. Yes. And they can just reach our students with a different voice in a different way. You know, in our Oak school class, they might take a math class through Oakschool, it's twice a week, they're getting instruction from a teacher, they're getting used to that and now in middle school, we've prepped them for that live instruction totally coming from their high school teacher and how they offer that. So it's been an exciting year to see those pathways really develop and create that community that can take them to a new place, but with a little familiarity that brings a little bit of comfort and ease as they transition. I love that. I think that's really important and I think it's something that really means so much to our families because we do value our families as educational partners. And we know that in this independent study model, they play a huge role, even if they aren't the main instructor, and that begins to kind of go into the hands of some of our really qualified staff, as you mentioned, they still have a important role. Mary, I'm just going to ask you that. Where do you see the role of parents for students of the VLA middle school students and what are some of their questions as far as their role as they continue to kind of shift their students from the middle school years to the high school years? I think it really is about kind of giving students the confidence to be able to start making decisions about what they are passionate about and what areas they want to pursue. We have had some high school representatives from the department come to our socials to talk to parents specifically so that parents can kind of get an idea of well, what are the options if my student is really passionate about art? Or what are my options if a student wants to go down a certain pathway? And so I think just having parents know what the options are and be able to support students and making those decisions for themselves as they get older and kind of take on more responsibilities of what those classes will look like is really helpful. And making sure that parents feel confident that their student will be able to go down a certain road and continue with a passion that maybe they've developed. How about our high achieving students, Nicole? How do we continue to support our high achieving students through this transition from middle school years to high school years? The National Honor Society, we call it the NHS and the National Junior Honor Society is the NJHS. Okay. And so it is just a prestigious honor society that recognize students in the areas of scholarship, character, leadership, and service. So it's kind of like this whole student, but our high achieving students really kind of fit that mold. And so with this program. starting it in the middle school years. And so if we get them involved in NJHS, not only are they working on those academics, meeting those high achieving standards, but they're creating community and they're meeting with other students. And they're working on things together. They're serving together. They're growing together and they're developing. And so that takes them into their ninth grade year. They continue with that group. And then they pass from ninth grade, they pass onto the NHS, the National Honor Society, which starts in 10th grade. And it's just this seamless. transition where they're already plugged in. They're already ready and working and their needs are being met. So it's an exciting program that we are really working to develop and grow this year. I think having a robust honor society program is really important to those students and to those families and could be a factor in their decision of where they want their students to attend high school because they want to make sure that their students are getting those opportunities to continue achieving, continue to be challenged. And I think the fact that Sage Oak is answering that and I'm creating this more robust program and continuing to innovate and grow and have more offerings and do it in a way that continues to be super personalized to the students and what they're passionate about and what they're interested in learning is just so incredible. All right. I know we have an exciting event coming up in person where our families and our students can actually meet some of these staff members, see these programs see different parts of the equipment or curriculum that they will be learning from, tell us, Kerry, a little bit about where can our families go to get a little bit more of this in person interaction with the high school programs? Yeah, so on March 7th, so mark the date, March 7th it is in person at the Goldie Lewis Center. And we're going to have tables booth set up again, that highlight all of our amazing high school programs. For example we launched our child development program this year, and it has just taken off. I mean, it's just so exciting. I know you've interviewed Crista before on the show, but I mean, students could actually see a student in a pregnancy suit if they come that in person day and talk to the teacher and meet some of the students in that program. And so that just kind of gives you a little bit of a glimpse of what we're aiming for. And really just to be present. be able to answer questions for families and get them excited about the opportunities that we have in high school. I love that there is something about seeing something in person. It's tangible. It really makes the whole thing feel real. And high school is an exciting time. We want our students and our families to be excited about what's to come. So this is a great way to do it. Nicole, tell us a little bit about on the career front of things. What can they expect at that event? So on the career side, our our teachers are reaching out to all those different professionals out there. And we really want to just showcase the different jobs that are available to people as our students grow up, as they kind of find their passions or find things that they love, where could that lead them in life? I think in one of our areas, there is a mortician coming. What does that look like? What does that involve? So allow our students to, to meet these professionals, ask them questions and kind of just interact with them to see. What? What could I be when I grow up? Where could that be? And what I love about Sage Oak, we do we serve students TK through 12. And it's set up in a way where there's something for our TK through fifth graders, our little guys, there's something for our middle schoolers, there's something for our high schoolers. So you can come as a family, you can meet all the different needs and meet those different professionals, ask questions and have fun with them. So Sage News and sageoak.education for all the latest information, dates, times, especially those Q and A's. I think those are going to be great. Those online Q and A's that you're going to have as well. Thank you so much to all three of you for joining me on the podcast today. I really think this program is incredible. I think that you are continuing to do great things for our students and our families, and you are really being thoughtful and so supportive as we help, bridge the gap between the middle school years and the high school years and really make that transition really easy for students and families. So thanks so much for all you do. Thanks for being on the podcast. If you have any new information, be sure to let us know. Thank you, Tiffiny. All right. Have a good one. We'll see you on the next episode.