|
Year 2000
Background
The Hagerman Academy was
started in the winter 1999 in the small rural New Mexico community of Hagerman,
which is approximately 70% Hispanic. Diversity is an important and strong value
at Hagerman. The community is low-income and 100% of the students receive
subsidized lunches.
The Numbers
For Hagerman Municipal
Schools, the Cisco Networking Academy Program serves students in grades 9
through 12 in high school. Two sections of the Networking Academy program have
been held - both combined semesters 1 & 2, in winter 1999 and spring 2000. A
total of 27 students enrolled in Cisco, 14, or 52%, were female. The retention
rate for both girls and boys was 100%.
How did Hagerman successfully recruit and retain high
school girls - primarily Hispanic - into the Networking Academy program in this
small rural community
Recruitment
Hagerman is a small high school of only 120 students. The primary method
of recruitment of Dan Jennings, the Networking Academy program instructor, was
to personally invite students to participate. He focused on those students he
described as being in the middle academically, who often fall through the
cracks. He told them about the opportunity to participate in hands-on learning,
such as hooking up computers in the lab. He also mentioned that all of the tests
were administered and graded by Cisco, not the individual instructors, an aspect
that the students found very appealing. He visited the school's existing
technology, office and web design classes to make his pitch.
Success in the Classroom
|
"The Networking Academy program has engaged students with its hands-on
learning; many students who struggled in regular classes with book learning, are
successful with Cisco."
-Dan Jennings, Networking Academy program Instructor,
Hagerman |
Dan Jennings, the Networking Academy program
instructor, attributes the 100% retention rate for female and male students to
the hands-on nature of the classes. He says that many students who didn't do
well with book learning thrive in the Networking Academy program. Although the
Networking Academy program is offered at 8:00am, it has the lowest absentee rate
of all the classes.
Some additional activities that Jennings added to the Networking Academy
program curriculum that may contribute to his student's perfect retention rate
are:
- Having the students doing real technology work for the school district, such
as wiring the high school;
- Hosting a "Techies" day at the high school which included information on
female role models;
- Conducting role plays of real life examples that happen in the workplace.
Contact
Dan Jennings
Hagerman
Municipal Schools
Cisco Networking Academy Program
Hagerman, New Mexico
Jennings@leaco.net
505-752-0163
School Web site
www.bobcat.net
|
