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EDUCATORS

DREAMROADS IS A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF CURRICULUM AND PERSONAL COACHING THAT MAKES LEARNING RELEVANT FOR

MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.

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DreamRoads creates intentional students  by making each student’s educational path---both inside and outside the classroom---personally relevant.  DreamRoads students are Motivated, Directed, Prepared, and Moving toward maximizing their potential and realizing their dreams. 

 

DreamRoads helps each student identify their individual interests, strengths, and goals; and use these to design and execute their personal roadmap to the future they desire. 

Making School Relevant

Relevant - The perception that this content
is something that’s worth knowing for me.
I understand why I need to know this.

Educators agree that making school relevant is critical to students’ success.  Relevant learning means effective learning.  Students need to see content as important to them; it must connect with their interests and goals for their future. 

 

Yet there is no framework in most schools (or homes) to help young people identify their dreams, interests, and strengths, and develop a vision for and roadmap to their desired future. Without this understanding of themselves and a vision for their future, students cannot make the necessary connection between learning and their life.  Therefore many---too many---don’t see school as relevant to them. 

Schools Emphasize Content Accumulation​

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To successfully move down their educational track students need to move down two parallel rails: 1) Content Accumulation and  2) Roadmap to My Life. Understanding the link between “what I’m doing now” and “where I want to be” provides the context and purpose needed to create the intrinsic motivation to learn---necessary for true learning to occur. 


Schools are almost exclusively focused on delivering content.  The second rail is often piecemeal, if not missing altogether.  Without the integral “My Life Rail” many students become “derailed” on their educational track.

Increasingly Personalized Education​

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Education trends increasingly emphasize personalized instruction and activities. The role of the teacher is changing from being a "one size fits all" lecturer to being a guide for each student's self-directed learning.  However, to be personalized, both students and teachers need to know the student---what are his/her dreams, interests, values, goals? Who do they want to be?  What do they want to do? What problem(s) are they excited about solving? 

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Students and parents are increasingly able to put together a completely customized educational path by selecting from a wide array of independent products and experiences, available from many sources. The degree to which schools can cater to the individual interests, strengths, and educational goals of each student is becoming a significant factor in attracting and retaining student enrollments.

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A student’s DreamRoads Profile provides the specific, comprehensive, up-to-date information about each student that can be used by students, teachers, and parents to construct a customized, relevant, student-driven education path for each.

Existing Efforts Are Often Ineffective​

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Though students may have access to strengths surveys, aptitude tests, online career planning tools, etc., and more schools are requiring individualized education and career action plans, these are often done as discrete exercises over a series of semesters.  They’re seen by students as unrelated elements; simply assignments to be completed. As such, once finished they too often go on the shelf.  For these tools to be effective, students need to see how they all tie together, and they need personal adult guidance to help interpret their results and use the information to develop, and then execute, actionable individual plans.  


DreamRoads links together often discrete programs into a unified framework, whose sum is greater than its individual parts.  The DreamRoads curriculum develops all the assets needed for success: academic, emotional, financial, life skills, etc. 


More effective than a unit or class, DreamRoads is an on-going, structured program that becomes integrated into students’ everyday lives, teaching skills useful for a lifetime.

College and Career Readiness

Educators today consistently use the phrase "college and career ready" to define a successful high-school graduate. But the educational landscape doesn't have the necessary resources to truly deliver on this critical aspect of schooling:

  • Students have limited self-understanding and few criteria with which to identify post-secondary options that are a strong fit for their strengths, interests, and goals

  • Teachers are focused on content area instruction, thus have limited knowledge of the full range of each students' interests and strengths

  • Counselors are overburdened with alarmingly high caseloads of students, thus are forced to focus on the mechanics versus the substance of career/college preparation

  • Parents are overwhelmed by the astounding array of post-secondary choices and lack resources for how to best support their children in making the right choice for them

Thus there is an overwhelming deficit in providing true college and career readiness.

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Schools devote little time to specific actions aligned with helping students define plans for college or careers.  Often, schools focus their efforts squarely on "getting in" to any four-year university available based on a student's grades and test scores, rather than helping students select a path that best fits their individual goals and needs.  Post-secondary choices often focus on college only, ignoring non-college paths such as vocational/technical education, apprenticeships, the military, etc.

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DreamRoads provides the tools to develop the self-understanding, focus, and clarity necessary for students to effectively engage with their school counselors, participate in college and career readiness tasks, and ultimately choose the appropriate post-secondary option for them. Most importantly, with DreamRoads, students graduate truly "ready"---armed with a detailed personal plan and the assets required to execute it successfully in the next stage.

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No Time To Implement Another Program​

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Most schools don’t have the time and/or staff to implement another program.  Classroom teachers are generally at capacity with their teaching responsibilities.  High school guidance counselors simply have too many students to provide truly individualized advice. 


DreamRoads provides:

  • A turn-key program

  • A proven process for successful implementation, and assistance in executing it

  • A Site Coordinator, to insure effective implementation, and reduce the burden on school staff

For more information about Implementation please click the button below:

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