“Many students see a greater need to stay in school. Most were 'bowled over' by the budgeting chapter. I believe [the program] will markedly reduce our dropout rate in high school.”
Veronica J. Hambacker, Iron Co. C-4
Junior High School,
Missouri
“We wanted to do something about the school’s academic culture starting with the freshman class. [In our second year,] we had a 38% drop [in freshmen with 3 or more Fs], and GPAs went up 15%.”
Rudy Ramirez,
Indio High School,
California
“The first year, my biggest success was when students of different races found common ground and learned a language to talk to each other.”
Susan Henneberg,
Washoe High School,
Nevada
“The curriculum gave students good focus for the rest of their high school years and afterward.”
John Wolfe,
Hardee Senior High School,
Florida
“Most of the time when students, even good students, complete high school they still don’t have a clear picture or focus about what they want to be or what their major should be. But students who come to college knowing what they want to be and having researched that are going to finish—and that’s huge. That’s why [Santa Barbara City College has made] the investment in the ninth grade course.”
Dr. Diane Hollems,
Santa Barbara City College,
California
Olympic Gold Medalist Dain Blanton works closely with Academic Innovations to inspire, educate and motivate students. Blanton's mantra of "life is what you make it," fits perfectly with Academic Innovations' goal of helping all students realize their potential.
In partnership with Academic Innovations, Blanton visits high schools around the country to share his story of perseverance, commitment and ultimate triumph to help motivate students to follow their dreams. Many of the students who participate in Academic Innovations' various programs have difficulty opening up and expressing their fears, concerns and life goals, but Blanton, through his sensitivity and ability to relate, consistently helps students overcome educational barriers and believe in themselves.
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A Freshman Transition Initiative is a classroom-based, comprehensive guidance effort starting in either the 8th or 9th grade. A key goal of a Freshman Transition Initiative is that, by the end of 9th grade, students have created an individualized 10-year Plan after completing a course based on the Freshman Transition Standards developed by Dr. Rebecca Dedmond of the Freshman Transition Initiative at The George Washington University.
Then, as students move through high school, the 10-year Plan is revisited, updated, and refined as students learn more about themselves. This can happen with the use of three Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules or through a series of school-wide 10-year Plan activities. The 10-year Plan is used by the guidance team, administrators, and classroom teachers to inform counseling, disciplinary, and academic coaching meetings, becoming an integral part of the school culture.
Get Focused...Stay Focused!® (GFSF) is a scalable, cost-efficient program model inspired by the Freshman Transition Initiative. The result of a GFSF program is that students graduate with an informed pathway to secondary training and/or education and the skills to be employable.
A cornerstone to the GFSF program methodology is the Career Choices series curriculum and My10yearPlan.com®. These comprehensive guidance course materials, delivered in either a hybrid or online format, take students through an in-depth decision-making process and the development of an individualized 10-year Plan.
Once students develop their online 10-year Plans, targeted lessons in three consecutive Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules ensure students stay focused on their goals. Each 16-lesson module provides students with an important “touchpoint” as they move through high school, preparing them to transition seamlessly to their post-secondary goal. And, the GFSF program can begin as early as middle school with Building a Bridge to Your Future, an innovative workbook designed to give students the skills, attitudes, and emotional resiliency that will propel them to success as they transition to high school.
Career Choices series and My10yearPlan.com® are the foundations of an interdisciplinary curriculum that engages students in a process that helps them develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to successfully:
The curriculum facilitates in-depth exploration centered around three fundamental questions––Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Do I Get It?––and culminates with students developing a 10-year Plan that acts as a touchstone, keeping them focused on their goals as they move through high school and on to post-secondary training, college, and/or the workforce.
The Career Choices series curriculum and My10yearPlan.com® are the cornerstones of the GFSF program methodology.
My10yearPlan.com® helps to deliver the Career Choices series process in a way that draws the best out of students. The carefully planned activities help students think about and plan for their future while acting as a “digital coach” who guides their decision-making process. The end result? Students map their own path to personal success based on the goals they set and the plans they make to achieve those goals in My10yearPlan.com®.
Our educational system faces many challenges as a result of structural or systemic inequalities that result in advantages for some and disadvantages for others. If we are to provide equal opportunity for all, additional support is needed for the many students who would otherwise fall through the gaping cracks in our education system. The Career Choices series, My10yearPlan.com®, and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® offer important guidance, focus, and instruction to help ALL students believe in themselves and in the possibilities presented by post-secondary education and training.
Teachers play a critical role! Not only do they provide the necessary instruction to help students understand the course content, but they also help students feel nurtured, valued, and connected to their school community, which are three key factors in student success.
Parents provide essential support to help their children succeed. Bringing parents into the Career Choices and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® process means they can reinforce the importance of career and life planning as a part of their homelife.
Our curriculum provides the content for a course that makes traditional counseling more effective. In class, students discuss and explore their futures with teachers as they work toward the creation of an online 10-year Plan. Then, through My10yearPlan.com®, every instructor, counselor, and advisor on campus has access to the hopes, dreams, and goals articulated in those 10-year Plans. As a result, academic coaching and counseling can be personalized for each student—a strategy that research shows is vital to student success.
The Career Choices series cannot guarantee success, but it does have a proven track record of giving students not only the tools and strategies for success but also the self-efficacy to believe that they can succeed.
Absolutely not. The Career Choices series and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® facilitate early career exploration and provide a process for researching the many possible career pathways that align with each student’s personal goals. This phase of the process results in students having a career direction, not a final career destination. Students also learn strategies for systematic decision making and goal setting, empowering them to review, reassess, and revise their plans throughout high school.
Academic Innovations is the private, for-profit company that created the Career Choices series and My10yearPlan.com®. As the publisher of the Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules, Academic Innovations is also the “private” half of a public/private partnership with the non-profit Get Focused Stay Focused National Resource Center.
Olympic gold medalist Dain Blanton serves as an admirable role model for GFSF students. He connects well with a wide range of students, inspiring them with his message of hope and achievement against the odds. He is an ambassador for the GFSF program and visits schools regularly as a motivational speaker, reinforcing the key tenets of GFSF. Many GFSF students believe in themselves because Dain Blanton believes in them.