Big Picture Learning (BPL) is partnering with American Student Assistance (ASA), a national nonprofit that helps to foster students’ understanding of postsecondary education and career pathways, to increase and accelerate its internship opportunities for more than 30,000 high school students in 150 locations across the United States, with an initial focus on California. This will be accomplished by providing professional development to more than 450 educators and school leaders as well as access to ImBlaze, Big Picture Learning’s proprietary internship management system app.
Principal Robert Fung of the San Diego Met High School, one of the beneficiaries of this expansion, expresses his delight and appreciation in seeing the work of interest-based education and internships expanding across the state: “We have witnessed how Big Picture Learning and ImBlaze empowers students to take ownership of their search for internships. This agency and motivation breeds confidence and resilience, so I’m pleased to learn that even more students and educators will get to be part of the growing collection of success stories that we ourselves have benefitted from.”
HR Technology News: Pluribus Technologies Inc. Acquires Pathways Training & ELearning Inc.
Community-based learning has long been core to BPL’s practice, and the development of ImBlaze makes it possible for students and educators to access curated databases of internship opportunities. Educators connect with students to explore potential internship sites hosted by adults who wish to serve as mentors. When complemented with educator professional development, ImBlaze has proven highly successful in helping students explore their interests and passions, both in schools and in their communities.
“We at Big Picture Learning have seen the impact that connecting with mentors who share their interests can have on young people. We know that it is particularly important to create opportunities for young people to develop connections to supportive mentors who can play vitally important roles in their lives. It’s precisely this kind of social capital development that can be transformational for students while strengthening entire communities,” said BPL’s Co-Executive Director Andrew Frishman. “We are thrilled to partner with American Student Assistance in ways that will enable us to spread and scale the practice of interest-driven real-world learning experiences for so many more young people.”
HR Technology News: Archer Expands Business Leadership Team, Hiring Tosha Perkins As Chief People Officer And Andy Missan As Chief Legal Officer
According to the ASA and Burning Glass Technologies report, “The View from the Schoolhouse: How Middle and High School Educators See the Skills Shaping the Modern Economy,” which analyzed teacher attitudes – prior to and since the start of the pandemic – toward incorporating high-demand workforce skills into school curriculum, only a quarter of educators (25%) believe that their school is doing an excellent job at preparing students for job opportunities. Key to unlocking more of these opportunities is increasing access to professional development.
“ASA and Big Picture Learning have a shared commitment to creating work-based learning opportunities among students and career-focused professional development for educators,” said ASA’s Chief Strategy Officer Annabel Cellini. “By expanding access to career exploration tools, technologies, and online resources, BPL’s LTI program will drive long-term student success outcomes, build skills that foster employability, and encourage postsecondary education success, including access to non-college pathways.”
HR Technology News: Office Is Optional For BenchSci Employees As Hypergrowth Machine Learning Startup Embraces Being Remote-First