Learn how two teachers at Great Path Academy in Connecticut developed a college and career readiness program tailored to support all students by leveraging Defined's platforms equipping students for diverse post-secondary paths through future-ready skill development, exposure to career opportunities, and more.

Welcome to our five-part series “Bridging the Gap”, where we’re sharing our journey of developing an innovative college and career readiness course at Great Path Academy. As educators, we faced a critical challenge: how to prepare ALL of our students for various post-secondary paths. In this series, we’ll walk you through our process from identifying needs to implementing solutions, showing you how we used Defined’s tools to create meaningful learning experiences for all our students. Whether you’re looking to enhance your own career readiness program or are simply interested in our approach, we hope our experiences provide valuable insights for your educational setting.

Great Path Academy is a Hartford Public School magnet and is a middle college high school located on the campus of CT State Manchester, a community college. The student population is composed of students who live in Hartford and 32 surrounding towns. With a total student population of just over 300, there is a wide range of interests and needs. 

Some notable demographic information:

• Many of our students will be first-generation college students.
• 100% of students receive free breakfast and lunch
• 9% ELL population
• 33.4% chronically absent
• 22.8% suspension rate
• 14% students with disabilities
• 89.5% non-white students
• 55.3% of 11th and 12th graders are demonstrating post-secondary readiness 
• 73% of college-bound graduates continue on for a second year of college

Our students are bused to school from their sending town and have the opportunity to take college classes during the school day. Students also have the opportunity to take courses with varied modalities such as online, hybrid, and late start amongst traditional courses. The last way students can earn credits is with our College Career Pathways (CCP) courses in which students have the opportunity to earn credits while in their high school classrooms. The CCP program is a good gateway for many students because they are able to access the materials in a familiar setting. Instructors also enjoy the climate of the classroom and the rigor it offers beyond the traditional curriculum. 

Based on our post-graduation data, we know that our students have a variety of paths after graduation. Some stay and go to CT State, others go to a four-year college, some are heading for training in a skilled trade, and some students will enter the workforce or military. As educators, we are charged with the task of preparing them for all of these journeys, as well as appealing to individual interests. Students should be supported in a way that sets them up for success along whichever path they choose, while also satisfying all high school graduation requirements. Additionally, we need to fill the gaps in student understanding around potential career opportunities since many students have limited exposure.

A course committee was selected by the Principal to decide our goals and design our approach in a way that aligns with our Mission and Vision. A realization came about that our students were not as successful as we wanted in their college classes. Our dual enrollment students were lacking key skills that allowed them to sustain multiple semesters. After staff attended an introductory training in Defined Careers, it was evident that this would be the catalyst for our work. 

It was decided to design a high school course modeled after a similar course offered at the college that many of our students take as their first course. The new course would be tailored to meet the needs of our students and would become a graduation requirement for all students at our school. In time, the course would be articulated with the college, offering college credits to all students in our programs. This plan would meet the needs of individual students, strengthen our partnership with the college, and would operate within the confines of our space and resources. A few educators invested in this work were selected to focus on the development and design with the intention of circling back to the stakeholders along the way for input and eventual implementation. 

We analyzed the model course offered at the college through a lens focused on eventual articulation of college credit. We wanted to keep the intent of the course as much as possible, but supplement it with specific learning that would provide much-needed support for our students. For example, the college course begins with a unit aimed at ensuring student proficiency with digital learning tools such as Blackboard. The high school version of the course, however, would instead focus on proficiency in Google tools. As we started down this road, we knew that we would need some substantial support, and that Defined was going to be pivotal to our success. With our plan in place, we began the deeper work of designing detailed learning experiences that would provide meaningful opportunities for students while meeting our larger goals. 

In our next post, we’ll dive into the structure and design of our course. We’ll share how we adapted college-level expectations into an accessible high school curriculum, including our pacing guide and specific learning activities that proved to be most effective for our students. The development process taught us valuable lessons about meeting students where they are while preparing them for where they need to go. We hope you’ll continue following our series as we unpack the various components that made this initiative successful at Great Path Academy.

About the Authors:

Laura Gray is an educator at Great Path Academy in Manchester, CT. During her tenure with Hartford Public Schools, she has served as a Music Educator and Teacher Leader supporting Arts and Wellness. She has been instrumental in the design and implementation of student-centered curriculum, as well as providing professional learning that supports quality teaching and learning for 19,000 students in the capital district. Working to support new teachers, Gray serves as a Mentor and Lead Facilitator in the Hartford Public Schools, and at the state level as an Evaluator for candidates pursuing certification through Connecticut’s Alternate Route to Certification.

Jennifer Sherman is a full-time faculty member in the Business and Professional Studies department at CT State Manchester. Prior to this position, she served as an educator at Great Path Academy in Manchester, CT. During her 13 years at Great Path, she led the Unified Arts Department, supported new teachers as a TEAM Mentor, developed College and Career Pathways, and spearheaded Dual Enrollment programs. Her instruction in Culinary and Baking and Pastry Arts enabled students to earn college credits through practical application in an on-site cafe. She also created and taught courses in Personal Finance and Small Business Management and is a certified Project-Based Learning coach.