Fall 2010

A report to educators on programs supported by the business community

Thanks to our corporate sponsors!

Prudential Financial

Merck Institute for
Science Education
Capital One
Bank of America
PSE&G
IBM
ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery
Verizon
State Farm Insurance
TD Bank
Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation
BAE Systems
Roche
Colgate-Palmolive
Infineum USA L.P.
Atlantic Cape Community College
Atlantic Cape May Workforce Investment Board
Basil Maher/Essex
Equity Management
Birdsall Services Group
Warren County
Chamber of Commerce
Podvey Meanor
red star
red star
red star
red star
red star
red star

Limited Opportunity: LearnDoEarn Student Workshops: Creating More Engaged Students
Get a Free Workshop for Your Students Every Year for Three Years!
Only available to schools that agree to share data that will help us gauge the impact that LearnDoEarn has on students.
 

LearnDoEarn staff will come into your school to interact with you and up to 50 students at your school in academic year 2010-2011 . . . for FREE for up to THREE YEARS!
(valued at $500 - $1,000 each).

ONLY TEN of these opportunities will be awarded! Pick the full, or half, day workshop.

As part of the LearnDoEarn Student Workshop, students will get to play the LearnDoEarn Squares game, modeled after the popular TV game show Hollywood Squares, which was introduced this spring to rave reviews – from teachers and students alike! This fun, interactive, electronic game tests students’ knowledge on general employment practices found in the ‘real’ world. Students meet interesting contestants like Sand E. Beaches and Ivana Winn, and are astonished to learn things like the number one reason most people lose their jobs is dishonesty (lying, cheating, and plagiarizing) and that it costs employers more than three times as much to insure a smoker than a non-smoker.

A second activity, the LearnDoEarn Hiring Game, can also be part of workshop activities. In this game, students play the role of employers making hiring decisions, and in the process realize how much employers will demand from them.

Both LearnDoEarn Squares and the Hiring Game reinforce messaging contained in the LearnDoEarn classroom lessons, which deliver honest messages and use eye-popping, research-backed data in a powerful suite of 29 presentations featuring 'virtual business people.' LearnDoEarn has demonstrated its impact, resulting in positive student outcomes using both academic and behavior measures; increasing enrollments in critical high school courses in math, science, language arts and economics; and improving attendance, punctuality and attitudes.

  



So what do you need to do to get the LearnDoEarn Student Workshops for your school for three consecutive years?

You simply agree to share data that will tell us the level of impact LearnDoEarn is having on your students!

We believe that implementing LearnDoEarn will help you reach your goals for student achievement and behavior and we need data to prove our theories!

To get three years of LearnDoEarn workshops, you must:

  1. be one of the 200 schools in New Jersey in which LearnDoEarn is currently being implemented or agree to become a new LearnDoEarn implementing school.
  2. agree to provide data that can be used to evaluate the impact of the LearnDoEarn program as follows:
  a. In Fall 2010, you must share aggregate enrollment data in ‘non-mandated’ courses, specifically, Chemistry, Physics, Trigonometry, pre-Calculus, Calculus, and the second year of a world language.
     
  b. At the end of the school year, you must agree to provide a report that details the strategies your school used to deploy LearnDoEarn.
     
  c. In June, 2011, you must provide a report that details the number of students who took AP/IB courses by the end of the school year, how many students took sanctioned tests in those courses, and aggregate grades received in those tests.
     
  d. Submit new enrollment data in Fall, 2011 in the ‘non-mandated’ courses listed above so that changes in enrollment data can be analyzed.
     
  e. Agree to provide the same data for a period of three years.

We’re sure you want to know what impact LearnDoEarn is having on your students, and so do we.

To find out more, contact Sue Herring at 609-989-7888, extension 144 or by email: sue.herring@njchamber.com.

We hope to hear from you!
   
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Kicking off the School Year with LearnDoEarn Teacher Workshops – FREE Materials Kits to Participating Schools!
   

The Business Coalition for Educational Excellence (BCEE) at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education Office of Governance and School Leadership, is kicking off the new school year with the fall schedule of LearnDoEarn workshops to help educators prepare students for the 21st Century workplace. Workshops are targeted to schools currently using the LearnDoEarn System (attendance necessary to receive FREE license renewal for continued use) and schools new to the System, and will be held in several locations throughout the fall and winter. The workshops will provide an in-depth understanding of the LearnDoEarn Student Achievement System for those new to it. For those participants that have attended a LearnDoEarn training session in the past, we will be introducing new, fun activities that can help you take LearnDoEarn to the next level: “Using LearnDoEarn Games to Increase Student Engagement.” Please join us for the workshop that best suits your schedule:

Tuesday, November 23, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm (sign-in and continental breakfast at 9:00 am)
Location: Dr. Walter F. Robinson School, 95 West 31st Street, Bayonne

Wednesday, December 8, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm (sign-in and continental breakfast at 9:00 am)
Location: New Brunswick High School, 1000 Somerset Street, New Brunswick

Tuesday, December 14, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm (sign-in and continental breakfast at 9:00 am)
Location: Mercer County Technical Schools – Sypek Center, 129 Bull Run Road, Pennington

LearnDoEarn is a national program that gives students and their parents information they need to make the best academic, behavioral, career and financial decisions in middle and high school. Teachers in more than 200 schools in New Jersey are using the LearnDoEarn materials to motivate students to achieve at higher levels; set academic, behavioral, and career goals; and help them understand what they need to do in grades 6 – 12 to prepare for, and succeed in, college, work and life. Participants will learn how the LearnDoEarn Student Achievement System can help them meet the new 21st Century career and life skills standards and can help students create more meaningful personalized learning plans.

LearnDoEarn helps schools meet New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standard 9.3, Career Awareness, Exploration and Preparation.

Thanks to generous corporate support, participants will receive a FREE materials kit for their school and training on the LearnDoEarn Student Achievement System.

To register go to http://education.state.nj.us/events/ and click on the calendar to find the date of the session you wish to attend.
   
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Engaging the Business Community in Your After School Program
   
That’s what a standing-room only crowd learned from Dana Egreczky, president of The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation, at the 2010 21st Century Community Learning Center Summer Institute in Washington, D.C. on June 22, 2010.

At this national conference, the Chamber Foundation introduced its newest program, LearnDoEarn After School, to after school directors from across the country. Attendees received LearnDoEarn After School Materials Kits that were designed to be used in the after school setting or by business speakers or mentors that work with students. The materials contained in the kit can help after school programs engage the business community and maximize their time spent with your students.

‘I enjoyed much of the conference, but Dana's session was by far, one of the most beneficial.’
Educational Consultant, Southeastern U.S.

‘Thank you for the Summer Institute presentation. We at Communities in Schools of Greenville (SC) are really excited about implementing the LearnDoEarn program in our afterschool sites. Thank you for extending this opportunity across the country!’
Director of Afterschool Programs, Greenville, SC

‘This is outstanding and very necessary! Thank you for your hard work!’
Education Dept. Manager, Las Vegas, NV
And Now, We’re Bringing It Home To You...
   

Thanks to generous corporate support from Capital One, the Chamber Foundation is pleased to announce that we will be offering FREE training and materials kits to all New Jersey after school programs that attend one of our LearnDoEarn After School workshops.

The LearnDoEarn After School Kit consists of a USB flashdrive containing six (6) speaker presentations and supporting activities that business volunteers or after school personnel can use to provide students with the information they need to be ready for college, work and life. For more program details, go to http://www.learndoearn.org/Kits/Afterschool-Programs.asp.

Dates and locations for the training will be announced shortly. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about LearnDoEarn After School, please contact Sue Herring via email or at 609-989-7888 x144.
 
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Keeping In Touch With You - LearnDoEarn is on Facebook
   

We are very pleased to announce that LearnDoEarn is now on Facebook! We want to make it easy for you to keep informed on what is happening with LearnDoEarn. Become a fan and 'like' our page to stay up-to-date with the latest on LearnDoEarn, join our stimulating discussions, and interact with others that care about the kind of education that will best prepare students for their futures.

Have some fun and take our poll on Facebook. In a few days we will post the answer, so be sure to become a fan to see our posts.

What percent of college students said they would
have worked harder in high school if they had
known how difficult college was going to be?

• 25%
• 30%
• 50%
• 65%

Click Here
 
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The NJ Chamber Foundation and its Work with People with Disabilities
   

Do you work with special needs students? Listen in to the Disabilities At Work Internet Radio Show. It airs every Wednesday at Noon EST on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel. Disabilities At Work (DAW) Radio focuses on broad areas of interest to people with disabilities, their advocates, and their employers and has a special focus on what it takes to get and keep a job.

The Disabilities At Work Internet Radio Show can bring a glimpse of the world that lies beyond the classroom – a world that many students will need to face. Students with disabilities have a far more challenging road ahead of them than non-disabled students. An educator from Mainland Regional High School was recently featured on the program to talk about his partnership with a local business to provide opportunities for his students.

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation, home of the New Jersey Business Leadership Network (NJBLN) established Disabilities At Work and Disabilities At Work Internet Radio to help develop a more highly qualified workforce. The NJBLN proudly received the 2010 State Affiliate of the Year award from the United States Business Leadership Network (USBLN) at its Annual Conference in Chicago last month. The NJBLN is an employer-lead endeavor that seeks to enhance employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is pleased to include the NJBLN and the LearnDoEarn Student Achievement System among its initiatives to help build a highly qualified workforce for New Jersey.

 
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Grant Opportunity through State Farm - Football Friday Night Feats
   

Do you know a high school football team with fancy footwork? Why not have them enter their game footage in a new contest sponsored by State Farm?

Friday Night Feats is a contest where schools across the nation can submit incredible plays for cash prizes. This year’s spokesperson is Doug Flutie, who authored one of the most spectacular plays in college football history when his last second Hail Mary pass landed in the arms of Gerard Phelan to give Boston College an incredible victory over rival Miami, still one of the most viewed highlight plays 26 years later.

Will this year’s winner have similar staying power?

Like last year, high schools throughout the United States and parts of Canada have the opportunity to compete for $160,000 in prizes. The top four school videos in each zone will win $2,500 and the chance to win first place and $15,000 for their high school. The prize money can be used by the school in any way it chooses.

Here’s how it works. Videos for Friday Night Feats will be accepted October 8 through November 24. Winners will be announced December 13. For full details about the contest and to view videos from last year’s winners, visit www.fridaynightfeats.com.

The cash prize breakdown is as follows:

  • Four finalist awards of $2,500 in each zone for a total of 52 awards
    • First place = $15,000 (plus the finalist award of $2,500)
    • Second place = $10,000 (plus the finalist award of $2,500)
    • Third place = $5,000 (plus the finalist award of $2,500)
   
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