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CEDAR RAPIDS — Prairie and Alburnett high schools will be the first in Iowa to pilot a national learning model that prepares students for their future by partnering schools and businesses.
The program — called 3DE — teaches students how to communicate, problem solve, collaborate, think critically and be creative and innovative, said Dominique Brooks, an experiential learning director at Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, which is facilitating the learning model.
The model provides students access and exposure to diverse and high-growth careers and provides businesses innovative perspectives from students who are future leaders, consumers and employees, Brooks said.
It articulates the “why” behind why kids are learning what they’re learning, said Alburnett High School Principal Brian Moretz.
Students work with businesses to solve a problem the business is facing through collaboration and competition with each other, said Erin Kurt, senior vice president of Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa.
During their freshman and sophomore years, students in 3DE work in small group teams to research, analyze and develop solutions to the challenge presented by the business, receive coaching, advice and counsel from business professionals and present their solutions to a panel of judges from the company for review and feedback.
In their junior year, students spend a year developing their own entrepreneurial venture while continuing to get coaching from industry experts. This culminates in students presenting their business plan ideas and prototypes.
Senior year, students work with a company to understand their needs and develop a comprehensive solution. They define benchmarks and deliverables to support the development of an action plan for their client. At the end of the session, they present their project to company leaders.
The program also provides opportunities for partner companies to maintain student connections by offering summer internships. Students can graduate high school with a network of professional adults and highly transferable skills and experiences.
Jesse Myers, an instructional strategist at Alburnett, said the partnership with Junior Achievement will help teachers get kids ready for the “real world.”
“They’re going to get to interact with business leaders, sit in boardrooms and give presentations,” Myers said. “Every kid will have that opportunity to be so much more empowered.”
The focus this school year will be training teachers at Alburnett and Prairie schools on how to incorporate the program into their lesson plans.
The program will provide “real-world experiences” to about 75 students entering ninth grade for the 2024-25 school year,“ Moretz said. The program will continue to grow to all high school students over the next five years.
“We’re not reinventing school,” Moretz said. “It fits right in to what our teachers are already teaching.”
Students in 3DE programs across the nation have shown a 33 percent increase in graduation rates and a 56 percent higher rate of college enrollment, according to data from the program. There are 25 percent fewer chronically absent students compared to students not in 3DE, a 69 percent higher math proficiency, and a 67 percent higher reading proficiency.
About 57 percent of students in 3DE programs across the U.S. are Black, 24 percent are Hispanic, 12 percent are white, and 5 percent are Asian. Seventy-seven percent of students enrolled in 3DE programming are low-income and are eligible to receive reduced-price or free meals at school.
The 3DE program is in 42 schools in the U.S. with more than 600 educators trained in the program and more than 100 industry partners. It was first launched in 2015 in a Georgia high school.
New program replaces previous program
3DE will replace the Iowa BIG program at Alburnett High School.
The Iowa BIG program — based in Cedar Rapids — challenges high school students to team up with businesses to work on projects. This gives its students the ability to learn and use real-world skills such as leadership, accountability and teamwork on projects about which they are passionate, while earning high school credit.
Moretz said that only up to 30 students at Alburnett High School were able to participate in Iowa BIG. Through 3DE, every student will have a project-based learning opportunity.
“I was a really hard decision,” he said.
Iowa BIG opened a satellite location in Alburnett two years ago in partnership with the North-Linn Community School District, giving North-Linn High School students in Coggon the option to enroll in Iowa BIG for the first time.
The cost of the program at the time was $120,000, which included the salary for three part-time teachers.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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