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KET collEgE & carEEr rEady nEwsSpring 2015 Volume 30, Issue 2 KETCollegeandCareer.org
Stay-at-home mom iS going placeS!Two people wearing black ski masks and white jump suits robbed a convenience store on the outskirts of town just hours ago. Police are now on the scene….
Kaitlyn Beghtol wants to be on that scene. The 22-year-old specifically wants to be a crime scene investigator or a police detective.
Beghtol is now enrolled at Bryant and Stratton, an online college, to transform her dream into reality. In fact, she has already successfully completed one semester of college. Just a few months ago, however, her future didn’t look so bright.
“I left high school right before winter break of 2009,” Beghtol recalls. “I was 17 and decided I was going to get married. It was a stupid mistake.”
After a divorce, Beghtol made a spur-of-the-moment decision to travel. She soon found herself in Colorado, a new boyfriend at her side. Before long, she was pregnant. The boyfriend didn’t even show up at the hospital to see their newborn daughter. Beghtol was on her own to raise Lylianna.
“Having Lylianna made me more responsible,” says Beghtol. “I now not only have to look out for myself, I have to look out for her. I’ve grown up a lot. She is the main reason I wanted to get my GED® credential.”
Earning her high school equivalency credential was also the first step toward her goal of working in criminal justice. But Beghtol not only had to care for her child, she had no transportation and little money. She did have desire and determination in abundance.
continued on page 7
Kaitlyn Beghtol is following a dream and setting an example.
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2 Ket college & career ready - Spring 2015
W o r t h W h i l e W e b s i t e s
youtube.com/user/crashcourseBrothers John and Hank Green offer a wealth of smart, short, entertaining, educational videos (more than 1,500!) you can use to introduce or enhance a topic – with such intriguing titles as “Of Pentameter & Bear Baiting,” and “That’s Why Carbon is a Tramp.”
oyc.yale.eduWant to take a course at Yale? Open Yale Courses provides free access to some wonderful introductory courses taught by distinguished professors and scholars at Yale University. No course credit, but no registration, either. Just top-notch courses, free for the taking.
frEE!
movieclips.comThe Oscars are a wonderful reminder of how inspirational movies can be. If you love movies and want to integrate them into lessons, check out MOVIECLIPS to easily search for subjects and themes.
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W o r t h W h i l e W e b s i t e s
Spring 2015 - Ket college & career ready 3
Fast Forward, KET’s distinctive online high school equivalency test prep, is celebrating its first birthday with new features that let it both walk and talk.
hearing is learningThe new ReadSpeaker feature offers text-to-speech with the click of a mouse.
“With ReadSpeaker, Fast Forward will read the text to you, highlighting each word as it is spoken,” says Austin Powell, KET’s instructional technology coordinator. “You see exactly what it is reading. Users can also personalize it by adjusting the speed to make it read faster or slower.”
Powell says using the feature is simple. Go to the left sidebar, then click Listen. To personalize the tool, click on the gear.
“Learners can also download individual pages as MP3 files and listen to that page offline,” Powell says.
The feature is particularly helpful for learners with a learning disability such as Dyslexia, Powell says, but all learners can benefit.
“The more ways learners can interact with content, the better they remember it,” he says. “Some students without learning disabilities have contacted us to tell us that seeing the words highlighted as they are reading to themselves reinforces the content for them.
“Other students credit the feature for helping them learn faster. Some people are visual learners; some are audio learners. Content sticks with you the more ways you connect with it.”
walking through
Fast Forward is not only talking; it is also walking—walking learners and educators through the courses, that is.
“At the moment, we have five tutorials for students, four for teachers, and one for those considering the use of Fast Forward,” says Powell. “More are on their way. All tutorials are accessible by clicking on the Show Me How button in the bottom right of the screen.”
The tutorials walk users through the system and the important features. Teachers find step-by-step help for creating a new user, creating a new class, and tours of both center and class rosters.
The tour for students is designed for new users, showing where to click for courses and tips that make navigation easier.
“This tool really helps,” Powell says. “It is just as if someone from KET is standing over your shoulder and pointing at your screen, telling you what to do next.”
Powell says he and his colleagues want feedback from educators and learners about what other tutorials would help.
“One of the great things about Fast Forward being online is that it is always in development,” he says. “We are always looking for ways to improve the system and make it easier for teachers and students to use.”
To contact KET with ideas or suggestions, email [email protected] or tell us in the “I still have a question” form in the FAQs from within the course.
FaSt Forward: one year old, two exciting new FeatureS
With ReadSpeaker, Fast Forward will read the text to you, highlighting each word as it is spoken. You see exactly what it is reading.—Austin Powell, KET’sinstructional technology coordinator
outstanding online prep for the GEd®, HiSET® and TASC tests.
Great for distance learning, classroom sharing, or independent study— on computers, tablets and smart phones.
Free course management system with classroom license.
Learn more at ketfastforward.org.
happy birthday fast forward!
“Who out there is prepared to have the top GPA in the month of October?”
Matthew Rodriguez, principal of dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, ignites the student body as he shouts that question from the stage. Hands go up. Cheers reverberate throughout the auditorium. The enthusiasm is palpable.
The cheering, engaged students are the same ones who not long ago were part of a grim statistic—among the more than 800,000 who drop out every year, the one in five high school freshmen who will not graduate in four years.
The situation causes most to simply throw up their hands, but it stirs the teachers and administrators to action at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School in Chicago, Illinois. Year after year, they flip these statistics from negative to positive and more importantly transform lives forever.
“All of the students who come to our school are considered—they’re labeled—as what’s called a dropout,” says Principal Rodriguez. “In the traditional public education model what the teachers and what the administrators were saying is that, ‘It is clear to us that these young people don’t care about their education. It is clear to us that they are lazy. They don’t want to do their homework. They don’t want to do their assignments. It’s clear to us that their parents don’t really have education as a value. It’s clear to us that their community doesn’t care about education.’
“What creators of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School believed is that the equation is wrong. In fact what needs to vary is the amount of time students have to be able to learn a concept.”
Located in a Puerto Rican neighborhood, Albizu Campos not only sees the vast majority of its students through to graduation, it simultaneously helps students deal with the obstacles they face outside of school while honoring their Puerto Rican culture.
“There are a lot of challenges our young people face that are real tangible issues that any adult would have difficulty managing from one day to the next,” Rodriguez says. “These are 16-, 17-, 18-, 19-year-old young people trying to negotiate and navigate that while still getting their high school diploma.
“Our students have to face not having parents in the house-hold whether because they are incarcerated or because they are in rehab or because they are just not there. We have young people in homes who have to negotiate space because they have two and three and four families living in one household. It is difficult for them to know where they’re are going to be sleeping at night, where they’ll will be getting food in the morning, where they are going to get clean clothes for school the next day.”
Judy Diaz, dean of student affairs, sees the students transform.
“They (students) come into our school with this inferiority complex,” Diaz says, saying things like, ‘I can’t learn fast enough like everyone else. I don’t understand. I’m dumb. I can’t do this.’”
Diaz knows that isn’t true, and she has the numbers to prove it. Last year the school’s retention rate was 73 percent versus the 54 or 55 percent rate found among other public high schools. Eighty percent of the senior class was scheduled to be involved with college or post-secondary school placement.
albizu campoS: Flipping StatS, tranSForming liveS
Year after year, they flip these statistics from negative to positive and, more importantly, transform lives forever.
TOP: Principal Matthew Rodrigues is committed to excellence for his faculty, staff, and students.
Dean of student affairs Judy Diaz delights in student transformations.
BELOW RIGHT: Music is not just part of the curriculum, but part of the rich Puerto Rican culture nurtured at Albizu Campos.
4 Ket college & career ready - Spring 2015
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albizu campoS: Flipping StatS, tranSForming liveS
Fast Forward and Dropping Back In are part of American Graduate: Let’s make it happen!
Halfway through my sophomore year, I ended up being pregnant. I got pregnant at 17.
I love everything about this school. I have had straight As for almost half a year, and perfect attendance for a year already.
—Tashira
At my old school, if you didn’t care, they didn’t care. If you didn’t want to pay attention, they weren’t going to pay attention to you.
Now I’m on the basketball team. I’m also a council representative…. I stay after school for study hall and just keep my grades up there.”
—Julian
At the age of 16, I didn’t have dreams. I didn’t have hope.
Last year, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in justice studies. I walked in december from North- eastern Illinois University, and I have plans to go to USC and go into the field of education.”
—Jessie
“And these numbers are not because the expectations are lower, according to Diaz. It is because the approach is different.
“One of the biggest differences I like the most about this school is that it is smaller, so every student gets the attention that they deserve and need,” says Brittney, a student. “And they focus more on you and the individual abilities that each student has and how we’re all different.”
Says Diaz, “Instead of saying, ‘You’re absent. Bad student. You need to be in school.’ We say, ‘What’s going on? Why are you choosing to stay home?’ If we listen, we will hear what the reasons are, and we have what we need to prepare the interven-tions appropriately.”
A student named Tashira concurs.
“When they think something is wrong, they take us out,” she says. “‘Come on we need to talk.’ Fifteen, 20 minutes to figure out what is wrong with us. They keep us on track. They call us. They send an email out: ‘Something is going on with this student. She was doing good. Now she’s losing track.’”
Diaz thrills to the changes she sees.
“When a student clicks, and they say, ‘I can’—and sometimes it’s ‘I can,’—for the very first time in their educational experience. ‘I can do this. I can be successful. I can go to college. I can get an A in this class.’ It just shoots from there. It is really beautiful to be able to witness.”
And that change is just the beginning.
“There is a generation of young people now who are going to college,” says a recent graduate. “They are doing what they need to do. They believe in a greater picture. They believe that it is all possible for them now.”
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School is featured in Episode 2 of KET’s documentary series Dropping Back In. You can watch all four programs at droppingbackin.org. Click “The Programs” to see the full episode, or click “The Stories” to see the specific segment on Albizu Campus.
Spring 2015 - Ket college & career ready 5
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6 Ket college & career ready - Spring 2015
Big changes are underway at the High School Equivalency Testing Program (HiSET), created by Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Iowa Testing Programs (ITP). HiSET began administering an equivalency test in January, 2014.
1 The first is an effort to clear up confusion surrounding the various tests now offered, since the HiSET and TASC tests joined the GED® test as high school equivalency assessments. “We are working hard at the national level to help everyone understand what the high school equivalency is,” says Amy Riker, national executive director of HiSET. “There is tremendous confusion right now. We are hoping we can make some of the concerns and confusion in the market go away. We don’t want anyone kept out of postsecondary education due to confusion over which test they have taken.”
2 Riker says another big push is partnering with other organizations that bring unique aptitudes. “ETS is a non-profit research organization,” Riker says. “Our team is working with our research division and ITP to develop materials to help students. One is a math aptitude test.
Another is a practice math test that will provide follow-up questions to prepare for the HiSET test. The questions are based on the students’ individual needs. “We have partnered with some of the best in the industry, such as Kenneth L. Pendleton, who is a professor in the District of Columbia area with more than 25 years of experience. We are also working with Johnathan Reier, an educational consultant in the D.C. area. We’ve also partnered with Literacy Assistance Center based in New York City and their executive director Ira Yankwitt. These are just some of the recent relationships we have built in 2014 so we can have wraparound services for teachers. Ken, Ira, and Johnathan are working closely to build professional development to train teachers on what they need to work with students preparing for HiSET.”
Of course, earning a credential is not the end of the road but a junction with roads that lead to college and careers. Accordingly, Riker says HiSET is working to enhance services after a student earns his or her credential.
For more information on HiSET, contact Amy Riker at [email protected].
Big changes underway at HiSET®
helping students prepare for high school equivalency tests is serious business.
Taking these personality quizzes is fun!
(And the results will remind you how many cool people followed non-traditional paths to success.)
KETfastforward.org
Which infuential figure are you? ketfastforward.org/quiz/figure
Which author are you? ketfastforward.org/quiz/author
Which scientist are you? ketfastforward.org/quiz/scientist
take the quiz
Which Influential Figure Are You? – Personality QuizWhich Scientist Are You? – Personality Quiz
You might be surprised to know that some of the world’s most famous scientists struggled in school or had very little formal schooling. Answer the questions in this quiz to find out which of these personalities reminds us of you! take the quiz
Which Influential Figure Are
You? – Personality Quiz
You might be surprised to know that some
of the world’s most famous influential
figures struggled in school or had very
little formal schooling. Answer the
questions in this quiz to find out which of
these personalities reminds us of you!
Which Author Are You? –
Personality Quiz
You might be surprised to know that some
of the world’s most famous authors
struggled in school or had very little
formal schooling. Answer the questions
in this quiz to find out which of these
personalities reminds us of you!
take the quiz
stay-at-home mom is going places! from page 1
That determination led her into the classroom of Pat McKinley, director of the Todd County Adult Education Program in Elkton, a small community in western Kentucky.
It was the end of June. Beghtol wanted to start college in the fall, less than two months away. Was it possible?
Fortunately for Beghtol, KET had launched a brand-new way to prepare for the high school equivalency tests. The new online learning system also solved another problem: Beghtol didn’t need to leave home to use it. Best of all for Beghtol, it was designed to get learners to their goal quickly. Fast was even its first name: Fast Forward.
Computer-based Fast Forward covers all the subjects, critical thinking skills, online tools, and question formats needed to do well on the GED® exam. Learners have the added benefit of practicing using the kind of technology they will use on the test.
Beghtol chose to work on one subject at a time. Her pretest showed she should be able to pass language arts and science with a little review.
Her social studies score was borderline. Her math scores, at 7.9 (approximately 8th grade), were most concerning.
Beghtol recalls: “I would work before Lillyanna woke up. I would do as much as I could until she took a nap and then work again after she went to bed.
“I liked Fast Forward a lot. It explained things to me that I didn’t understand before. I could really understand. Like with multiplying and dividing fractions, I never got that in school. The way the teachers taught it on the video just clicked in my head.”
McKinley checked in with Beghtol by phone every week or two. “She was humming away,” McKinley says. “Transportation was a huge issue for her, so Fast Forward allowed us to break that barrier.”
Math was the academic barrier that most concerned both teacher and student.
“I hadn’t had anyone pass the math test without coming into the center and going through our program,” says McKinley. “Beghtol told me she thought she had it after doing the Fast Forward math section. She passed the math test on the first try, scoring a 12.9. She passed all the subjects on the first try, even earning an honors score on social studies. I was amazed.”
“Someday when she gets older, I will tell her about this,” Beghtol says of Lilyanna. “If your mom can do this, you can do whatever it is, too. I will tell her she should find a way to just keep on going.”
Learn more at ketfastforward.org.
Fast Forward online course lets mom Kaitlyn Beghtol follow her dreams
from the comfort of her couch.
Spring 2015 - Ket college & career ready 7
1 Stay-at-home mom is going places!
2 Worthwhile websites
3 Fast Forward: One year old, two exciting new features
4 Albizu Campos: flipping stats, transforming lives
6 Big changes underway at HiSET
8 Faces & Places—HiSET’s Amy Riker has a special love for student success
Faces & Places features people and organizat ions who make a di f ference. Be inspired.
hisET’s Amy riker has a special love for student success
F a c e S & p l a c e S
Spring 2015 Volume 30, Issue 2 KETCollegeandCareer.org
KET collEgE & carEEr rEady nEws
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KET college & career ready is published by Kentucky Educational Television—one of the largest public television networks in the U.S. KET produces and distributes top-quality multimedia resources for learners and teachers from preschool through professional development, across the country. Each newsletter features innovative professionals, programs, and resources. To submit comments or suggestions, or to request permission to reprint stories, contact Margaret Townsley, editor, or Debra Gibson Isaacs, writer, at [email protected]. To see this issue online and sign up to receive the newsletter via email, go to KETcollegeandcareer.org.
Amy Riker brings a master’s degree in education to her position as national executive director of HiSET, but her most important qualification may very well be her personal experiences in adult education.
Following family tradition, Riker started her career in the medical field. After 11 years, she went back to school and got a degree in small business management. But it was the drama unfolding in her own home where Riker ultimately found her passion.
A mother of two, Riker watched her son, Damon, and his friends try to make the journey through high school.
“I was seeing some of their struggles and realized that the support structures were not in place to help them succeed,” Riker recalls. Ultimately, Damon was placed in a juvenile correction facility. Riker visited each week and watched helplessly as precious few of the other parents came to support their children. Most left the facility and started their adult lives
with no degree and few skills. Only 10 percent furthered their education once released.
Meanwhile, Riker had joined Educational Testing Services and was taking advantage of their company-sponsored tuition program for employees who wanted to advance their education. She was also mentoring middle and high-school students in virtual (cyber school) programs.
Riker had found her calling. She moved into leadership positions quickly.
As national director of HiSET, Riker now heads one of the new high school credential programs and works with an array of organizations designed to help adults obtain their high school equivalency credentials and create more fulfilling lives just as her son did. Damon now has a full scholarship to a community college and is thriving.
“The student testimonials are what I am proudest of,” Riker says of HiSET. “I love to see how their lives have changed. This test gives adults hope again.”
Learn more about the HiSET test on page 6.
