The Problem
According to the Alliance for Excellence in Education, more than 7000 American teens drop out of school every day (1.3 million annually), costing our country billions in lost wages. In a survey of high school dropouts, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 47% cited “boredom” as one of their primary reasons for leaving.
Engaged students stay in school. When young people have opportunities to write and craft journalistic multimedia stories about their shared experiences they thrive.
JAM Program Overview
Journalism, Arts, and Media (JAM) is an emerging network of after school programs that support elementary school age students in meeting the new Common Core Standards in language arts, which identify media and technology skills as essential for college and career readiness. JAM’s students have an opportunity to earn digital badges after demonstrating proficiencies in writing, multimedia production, and digital storytelling, based on the JAM’s curricular benchmarks.
JAM was inspired by Esther Wojcicki’s award-winning Palo Alto High School journalism program, which has been acknowledged by the White House for its innovative media, journalism and technology curricula. Palo Alto High has the nation’s largest scholastic journalism program, with more than 500 of the total 1800 student body producing seven publications, including: a newspaper, an online news site, three magazines, a yearbook, and a live daily newscast.
JAM’s curricula is also aligned with the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) latest NETS Standards, which have been embraced by thousands of educators worldwide. The NETS call for integrating technology across all educational curricula.
Three of the principals behind JAM were designated by ISTE as 2011 ISTE Scholars. Ed Madison, Deborah Heal, and Alina Padilla-Miller attended the 2011 ISTE conference in Philadelphia, and were inspired to create JAM.
Accomplishments and Objectives
“JAM Sessions” have begun as a series of guest workshops at public schools for 4th and 5th graders in Eugene Oregon –– near the University of Oregon, and where ISTE is headquartered. Video highlights (insert link) demonstrate how well students embrace the program and benefit from the curricula.The ongoing after school program is scheduled to launch at Edgewood Elementary School (Eugene 4J School District) in spring 2012, contingent on funding. Key emphasis the first year will be on working with students in this pilot setting to refine the curricula. Additional focus will be on developing infrastructure and strategic alliances to expand the program in its second year. The organizers have established relationships with ISTE, Adobe, Google, Apple and Khan Academy.
To learn more about JAM, email: info@mediaartsinstitute.org
According to the Alliance for Excellence in Education, more than 7000 American teens drop out of school every day (1.3 million annually), costing our country billions in lost wages. In a survey of high school dropouts, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 47% cited “boredom” as one of their primary reasons for leaving.
Engaged students stay in school. When young people have opportunities to write and craft journalistic multimedia stories about their shared experiences they thrive.
JAM Program Overview
Journalism, Arts, and Media (JAM) is an emerging network of after school programs that support elementary school age students in meeting the new Common Core Standards in language arts, which identify media and technology skills as essential for college and career readiness. JAM’s students have an opportunity to earn digital badges after demonstrating proficiencies in writing, multimedia production, and digital storytelling, based on the JAM’s curricular benchmarks.
JAM was inspired by Esther Wojcicki’s award-winning Palo Alto High School journalism program, which has been acknowledged by the White House for its innovative media, journalism and technology curricula. Palo Alto High has the nation’s largest scholastic journalism program, with more than 500 of the total 1800 student body producing seven publications, including: a newspaper, an online news site, three magazines, a yearbook, and a live daily newscast.
JAM’s curricula is also aligned with the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) latest NETS Standards, which have been embraced by thousands of educators worldwide. The NETS call for integrating technology across all educational curricula.
Three of the principals behind JAM were designated by ISTE as 2011 ISTE Scholars. Ed Madison, Deborah Heal, and Alina Padilla-Miller attended the 2011 ISTE conference in Philadelphia, and were inspired to create JAM.
Accomplishments and Objectives
“JAM Sessions” have begun as a series of guest workshops at public schools for 4th and 5th graders in Eugene Oregon –– near the University of Oregon, and where ISTE is headquartered. Video highlights (insert link) demonstrate how well students embrace the program and benefit from the curricula.The ongoing after school program is scheduled to launch at Edgewood Elementary School (Eugene 4J School District) in spring 2012, contingent on funding. Key emphasis the first year will be on working with students in this pilot setting to refine the curricula. Additional focus will be on developing infrastructure and strategic alliances to expand the program in its second year. The organizers have established relationships with ISTE, Adobe, Google, Apple and Khan Academy.
To learn more about JAM, email: info@mediaartsinstitute.org
Contact: info@mediaartsinstitute.org
