College and Career Readiness Assistant
Supporting Middle School Students with Developing Their High School and Beyond Plans
Thank you notes after 8th Grade Field Trip to the UW
' Others' Circumstances
To be an effective CCRA, it was very important for me to cultivate connections with the 8th graders at Olympic Middle School, as I was supporting the counseling team as a source of both academic and personal support. Each day, I was mostly meeting with students individually. Sometimes these meetings could last as long as 45 minutes to an hour, which is a unique opportunity to have meaningful conversation that fostered relationships and were also productive, as it provided me with a good amount of time to talk (practicing effective verbal communication) with students about their lives outside and in school in a close setting.
Intiative
While Dream Project partners with many middle schools and high schools in the region through the CCRA program, what one does with the position differs based on the unique needs of the school. Since the CCRA role is relatively new, there is not a standardized set of responsibilities, but rather a broad set of goals to meet. Taking all of that into consideration, my job required a lot of initiative to create a plan with my co-CCRA to carry out our goals in an efficient manner. While our points of contacts were the counselors at the school, how we utilized at our time at the school was up to us. Furthermore, we were also allowed to create events to reach our goals. For example, creating the first field trip for students from Olympic Middle School to the University of Washington.
Organization
As a part of our strategic plan as CCRA’s, it was vital that we developed a way to keep track of our impact. To measure success, we kept track of the number of High School and Beyond Plans that were completed and the number of College Bound Scholarship sign-ups received, and by the end of the year, we had received about 96% of the paperwork. Since there was two of us working at the same school, it was also integral to make sure that were managing our time and energy well and complementing what the counseling team at Olympic was already doing.
In 2013, the University of Washington Dream Project was awarded a portion of the $40 Million Race to the Top grant and established the College and Career Readiness Assistant (CCRA) program as a means of deepening the work of the Dream Project in its mission to support low income and first generation students attain higher education. This included making a stronger effort to work toward the Community Center for Educational Results’ (CCER) goal of doubling the number of students in the Road Map Region (South King County and South Seattle) on track to graduate from college or earn a career credential by 2020. CCRAs directly work toward CCER’s goal, as the aim of the CCRA program is to increase college and career readiness, and create a larger impact on the college-going culture in both middle and high schools. I was a CCRA at Olympic Middle School in Auburn, Washington during the 2015-2016 school year. Being a CCRA gave a new perspective on the importance of providing personal support to students during their transition from middle school to high school and addressing early warning indicators in student achievement. At the beginning of the year, the counselors gave my co-CCRA and I the broad goal of supporting the 8th grade class (approximately 200 students) in supporting their transition to high school and encouraging College Bound Scholarship sign-ups. With that in mind, I felt like I accomplished that goal by collaborating with my co-CCRA to meet with the majority of 8th graders one-on-one to provide both personal and academic support. In a broader context, CCRA provided me with an opportunity to deepen my impact in the Dream Project’s goal in the Road Map Region and gave me valuable experience to pursue my goal in the field of education.
Olympic Middle School - First Day
Reflection
Some of the biggest challenges as CCRA was trying to pull students out of class since a select number of students had language barriers or special needs that prevented us from communicating, and furthermore, some of the conversations got very personal and were emotionally draining at times. However, being able to get to know students’ stories and learn about their future ambitions was continually inspiring and made my accomplishments as a CCRA particularly meaningful. I attribute my success as a CCRA to my collaboration with my co-CCRA, willingness to be proactive, and having the time to meet with students individually because it allowed me to foster a relationship and sense of mutual trust and support. Overall, all of insights that I gained from being a CCRA deepened my involvement in the Dream Project and provided me with skills that will be applicable to my future involvement in the field of education as a teacher.