Tony Simmons, High School for Recording Arts, is a frequent presenter and advocate for alternative accountability policies and practices that his school embraces.  Last year, he described how HSRA uses recording albums, student workshops, group study advisories and other methods to demonstrate mastery of state standards without being limited by seat time.   This year, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton kicked off the statewide  “GEAR UP” week at Tony’s school in recognition of the urgent need to help low-income and underrepresented students prepare for a postsecondary education.   Read about his school’s impact on state policy in the article below.
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http://www.insightnews.com/education/14132-governor-dayton-wants-high-school-students-to-gear-up

This year's Alternative Accountability Policy Forum will include six Conversation Sessions to build on our guests' expectations of collaboration and networking with in-house expertise.  To ensure the success of this endeavor, Conversation Sessions are led by conveners with recognized national expertise.  Conversation sessions reverse the timelines of traditional sessions with a few minutes for context and at least 45 minutes for back and forth among attendees.
 
We are excited to announce that Utah State Journalism Professor Matt LaPlante and Speak Up Survey developer Julie Evans will host a conversation on how to address the challenge of maintaining contact with graduates of at-risk student schools and programs.  The most common accountability question for schools serving "at promise" students is, "What do your students do after they leave you?"  But unlike students with stable homes and traditional trajectories, our students can be difficult to follow.  Share your strategies and learn from others about how to build long-term engagement for facilitating accountability and sharing success.

The Honorable Eduardo Garcia, Member of the California State Assembly, will provide the 2015 Keynote Address for the Alternative Accountability Policy Forum. Assembly Member Garcia has been working on California's WIOA conformity statute. He is strongly committed to reengaging youth and ensuring that all young men and women have an opportunity to earn living wages, job skills, and diplomas. 
 
Assembly Member Garcia represents the 56th Assembly District, which includes the Coachella Valley, where he grew up and is raising his family.  He speaks boldly of his family's work in agriculture, and of the pride in being the first in his family to attend college.  He earned a Bachelor's degree from UC Riverside, a Masters Degree from the University of Southern California, and completed a program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  He understands the challenges of poverty and the importance of combining a diploma with job skills.
 
Garcia is committed to bringing jobs and education to impoverished communities throughout California.  He has authored legislation to expand the impact of the Workforce Investment Boards and One-Stop Centers.  He serves as Chairman of the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy.  Garcia's leadership in that Committee has earned him the respect and confidence of his colleagues. He also serves as a member of the Latino Caucus and of the Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color.
 
Assembly Member Garcia will be speaking on November 16, 8 a.m. at the Marriott Coronado Island.  RAPSA is proud to welcome Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia to the 2015 AAPF.  Join us by registering below!
 
 
 REGISTER TODAY

​Last year, Susan Miller (State University of New York), presented with a team of experts about finding meaningful accountability measures for over-age under-credit students.  As the article below explains, that work is impacting  students’ lives today.
http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2015/09/28/for-charter-schools-serving-overage-or-homeless-students-typical-metrics-dont-add-up/#.VgrYp3nJAdW
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This year, leaders of that effort will present at the 2015 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum in San Diego  by answering the question, What Key School Design Elements Effectively Support Off-Track Youth?
Leslie Talbot, Aretha Miller and Robert Clark will lead a Conversation Session that includes a “gallery walk” of perspectives and collaboration to learn from each other, determine how the Pathways to Opportunity Project findings may fit other school systems, synthesize the information, and garner consensus.  

The 2015 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum will include 6 conversation sessions intended to build on attendee’s expectations of collaboration and networking by providing a modicum of structure which builds on the in-house expertise.  Conversation sessions are led by education leaders with recognized national expertise in the Conversation Session topics and experience in convening veteran practitioners.   The Policy Forum also includes 24 presentation sessions on topics ranging from Understanding Trauma Exposure to WIOA Implementation.

​If you haven’t registered for the Nation’s leading conference about policies and practices supporting off-track youth, join us today!

Be sure to check the 2014 Event Materials page - located under "Agenda" in the website navigation - to access presentation files and other resources provided by the event speakers.

Each attendee will receive a printed version of the full policy forum booklet at the event. However, if you aren't able to join us you can click here to download an electronic copy of the booklet. 

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has just released a summary of the key provisions of the newly enacted Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.  The paper provides an overview of WIOA’s provisions and a platform for developing your own strategies and partnerships.  One of the paper's co-authors, Kisha Bird, will be a speaker at the 3rd Annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum.

Federal law now requires that at a minimum 75% of available state-wide and local are funds be spent on workforce investment services for out-of-school youth.  Federal law also expands and improves eligibility for youth services.  Title I now reflects the full range of “opportunity youth” from 16 to 24.  

The Alternative Accountability Policy Forum will include workshops on WIOA and new opportunities for schools serving opportunity youth.  Now’s the time to fully understand WIOA provisions as the Department prepares to develop implementing regulations.  

Experts available at the Policy Forum include CLASP's Senior Policy Analyst Kisha Bird; Opportunity Nation’s Director of Government Affairs Melanie Anderson; and the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy Jessica Cardichon.  

All of these experts worked with Congress on the development of WIOA and will provide an insider’s view of it provisions and potential.

View the CLASP report, "New Opportunities to Improve Economic and Career Success for Low-Income Youth and Adults: Key Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)."

SIATech and RAPSA are proud to announce the latest additions to the agenda of the 3rd Annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum.

This session will share innovative strategies that have been adopted to encourage communities to serve older students. You will learn about Ohio's new initiative to provide funding for a limited number of over-age and under-credited students to earn a high school diploma, particularly students who have aged out of the charter school environment.
 
The Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, a nonprofit statewide charter school authorizer in Ohio, has been working with the Department of Education's initiative to support over-age students outside of a charter contract. This recently enacted law has generated plans and rules to take effect January 1, 2015. 
 
This session will be facilitated by Jennifer Robison of the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation. 

Research shows that Social Emotional Learning is a critical component found in three of California's Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) priorities: increasing student engagement, positive school climate, and academic achievement.
 
Through this highly interactive and engaging session, participants will learn the science of why students need Social Emotional Learning to be successful in their interactions at school, in their work toward Common Core State Standards, and in the workforce. Learn how school staff can bolster their own social emotional learning competencies to better navigate the dynamic world of education, meet the needs of their students, and prevent burnout. This workshop will present both the research and strategies that can be effectively incorporated into alternative education settings. 
 
The workshop is provided by Joelle Hood, Riverside County Office of Education.

Research on the developmental impact of chronic and severe traumatic stress on children has begun to link violence exposure, poverty, maltreatment  and cognitive functioning.

How should schools serving at promise youth address this issue?  Engage in a dialogue with Dr. Amy Lansing who researches neurobehavioral underpinnings of high-risk behaviors in underserved and vulnerable youth.  

Dr. Lansing is the director of the Cognitive and Neurobehavioral Studies in Aggression, Coping, Trauma and Stress (CNS-Acts) research program at UCSD. Her research program is dedicated to understanding the neurobehavioral underpinnings of high-risk behaviors and functional impairment in underserved and vulnerable populations, such as juvenile delinquents and maltreated youth.  

This program integrates neuroscience technologies, cognitive rehabilitation, mental health services, neuropsychology, criminology, social justice and public policy issues.   Support for her research comes from the National Institute of Child and Human Development and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

"While it is critical to instill a sense of personal responsibility, persistently delinquent youth disproportionately have severe trauma exposure, serious mental health issues, neurological problems and cognitive deficits. These youth also disproportionately come from underperforming school systems, impoverished communities and unstable home environments. There really are very few choices available to them.  While the issues are very complex, this should not prevent us from moving forward and working together to improve the lives and living conditions of the most vulnerable portions of our society."

Dr. Lansing is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides direct mental health and cognitive rehabilitation service delivery to incarcerated youth in San Diego County. Her work includes a focus on academic issues, cognitive deficits, and unmet mental health needs of youth who are Wards of the Juvenile Court (Child Welfare and Delinquency). 

Dr. Lansing is also a founding member of Humane Smarts, a non-profit organization that seeks to enrich the minds of young people in San Diego County through a variety of community engagement, artistic, and academic experiences. Dr. Lansing was awarded the CANCER inCYTES Scholar Spotlight Award specifically for her contribution to public health and social justice.