Silver Spring Elementary School:
The Entrepreneurial Immersion Program
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Summary: Overview of the Strategy
During the 1989-1990 school year, the Silver Spring School staff recognized
the need to change our curriculum. Experiences and opportunities which would
address career awareness became our focus. This shift in focus was based
on a real need to enhance the achievement level of all students through
cooperative sharing of resources. It would offer students a myriad of positive
role models and provide a linkage between business, industry, and education.
The Silver Spring Elementary School Entrepreneurial Immersion Program
is the end result. Although the idea for this program was initially conceptualized
by the Principal, it has been embraced by the staff. The staff wanted to
create an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the importance of
education and its direct relevancy to future employment opportunities.
Silver Spring Elementary School developed a multi-faceted program which
includes: business skills, technology, math, career awareness, communication
and vocabulary, and work-like simulated experiences. The program addresses
skills required for lifelong learning through the following three components:
- classroom enterprises
- business/community partners (including a mentoring/tutoring component)
- in-school employment
Classroom Enterprises
Each classroom runs an individual business. The businesses are designed
collaboratively by teachers and students. Students participate in only one
business per year. As the students change grades and classrooms, the business
opportunities also change. No student will be able to participate in all
businesses, but each has the opportunity to participate in a different business
each year.
Students are considered "employees" of the business and teachers
are the CEO. Each business has a sign outside the classroom with the name
of the business and product they are selling. Posters are displayed throughout
the school which adverstise companies and their products.
The major consumers of businesses are the students themselves. However,
twice a year, trade fairs are held that are open to the general public.
This expands customers to parents, employers, community people and others.
In the next year, trade fairs will be replaced by selling products once
per month, on the first Thursday of each month. This will give businesses
more exposure and help teachers to stay on track with business developments
and goals.
Business and Community Partners
Silver Spring has cultivated working relationships with many business
partners in the community who contribute to the success of the program.
Current partners include:
- W.H. Brady
- Rexford Paper
- Craftsman Computer
- Associated Bank
- United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay
- Milwaukee Jewish Council
- Lincoln Park Community Center
Business training facilities, offices, businesses and manufacturing areas
have become learning sites for the K-6 students at Silver Spring School.
Business partners, tutors, mentors, resource speakers, and facilitators
all are active participants in the total educational process. The Mentor/Tutor
program at our school offers students a one-to-one relationship with a positive
role model to encourage, support and enhance student learning.
Mentors for students are limited, so unfortunately not all students have
a mentor. Our program's mission is simple:
- mentors meet once per week with assigned students and work with them
to improve their basic academic skills and guide the in the right direction
As a result, these students have a better chance of staying in school
and playing productive roles in the community. Mentor activities include:
- art projects
- phonics and math games
- sharing work experiences
- eating lunch together
- writing projects
- sharing life experiences
Business partners also suggested that a special opportunity - the chance
to earn a trip - be offered to all5th and 6th grad students. Criteria to
earn the trip was:
- 95% attendance
- C or better average in all subject areas
- good behavior
As a result, we took 47 students to Chicago Illinois on June 3-4, 1998.
Business partners paid for the bus and hotel expenses. One of our main goals
was to expose our students to a better quality of life and to help them
develop aggressive, productive attitudes.
Student In-School Employment
An excellent example of one business within the Entrepreneurial Immersion
Program is The Cookie Cutters Company. This company is owned and operated
by twenty students in grades one through four who have a variety of severe
learning disabilities. Although this specific business is run by students
with disabilities, it is one of many businesses run by students at Silver
Spring and would be replicable by any school with any group of students.
In the Cookie Cutters Company, students experience every part of the
baking business. They bake and sell chocolate chip, peanut butter and sugar
cookies once a month. The cookie dough is provided through a partnership
with Milwaukee Area Technical College. Business profits are used to fund
field trips and special activities. Educational skills are modified to meet
the needs of each student. Primary students are learning the value of coins
and dollars. When they sell homemade cookies for their business they render
change for customers.
All business skills needed to operate a profit making business are included
in the curriculum. The students involved in the Cookie Cutters Company work
on skills such as: electing officers, money management, decision making,
advertising, profit/loss, and communication. Knowing and understanding the
functions of the Cookie Cutter business has built self-confidence in the
students.
The importance of good work ethics is instilled in our students at the
elementary level. Students develop the foundation of good work experiences.
Students apply for jobs that are available throughout the school and are
interviewed by the "student employer" (person coordinating the
system) as well as teachers, community partners, and employers from businesses
that are involved. When students are hired they receive the necessary training
required to successfully meet the demands of the employers expectations.
In elementary school it is difficult to make a direct correlation between
school employment and post-secondary education. Students at Silver Spring
School are provided with job opportunities which address skill requirements
and life issues in a technologically based society.
The Need
The educational programs at Silver Spring are designed to assist all
students and to meet their individual needs. The staff and community of
Silver Spring School believe that every child is a unique and special individual
who can learn. The staff believes that it is their responsibility to serve
as facilitators for the nurturing and developing of every child's maximum
potential: academically, physically, socially, and emotionally.
It is further believed that the learning process extends beyond textbooks
and the classroom. The staff is committed to providing opportunities which
will assist the students in making self-directed, realistic, and responsible
decisions when solving problems that may confront them in our ever-changing
world.
Currently we have 100% of our students participating regardless of any
special needs. The program has been designed to work around handicapping
conditions. The student population at Silver Spring School consists of 300
regular education students,50 self-contained exceptional education students,
and 30 speech impaired only.
Meeting the Need
The school has many business partners in the community. A business council
was organized between the business partners and the school staff. The council
meets monthly to discuss issues and ideas which provide a positive impact
on our student's education. At these meetings various ideas are generated
and implemented at school with support from business partners. Initially,
the school sought business partners. Now that the partnerships have produced
such wonderful results within the community, businesses seek out the school.
Again, using The Cookie Cutters Company as an example, the "company
employees" (students and their teacher) wanted to bake and sell cookies.
The CEO and Company had to find solutions to the following problems: where
to secure the dough, purchase utensils, hire a cook, purchase baking attire
and packaging materials. Silver Spring employs an "implementer"
- a person responsible for connecting and coordinating all three of the
separate entities happening within the school - the in-school employment,
classroom businesses, and the community partners. This coordinator was able
to direct the CEO in various channels to solve these problems. The CEO of
the Cookie Cutters Company communicated with a representative from MATC
to purchase cookie dough.
The beauty of this strategy is that it can be implemented with little
or no extra funds. The budget for our school-to-work activities includes
salaries, supplies, improvements, etc. Silver Spring School has adopted
this school-to-work opportunity as a part of its' curriculum, the in kind
costs are a part of the program. If there are extra funds, the staff decides
on what is necessary to implement the school-to-work experience. One year
with extra funds, every student participated in a field trip directly related
to career awareness. However, when funds are limited, the program is implemented
as designed.
The Results
The experience includes learners pre-kindergarten through sixth grades.
All students are active participants. The program has been in existence
for six years. Within this period of time school test scores have risen
significantly.
SRI, a research company hired by Bader Foundation to evaluate the school-to-work
program for the district, has done the evaluation of Silver Spring's activities
for the past three years. The school and principal have received recognition
and many awards for this innovative program including "Exemplary School
To Work Model\Practice\Strategy" through the School-to-Work Outreach
Project.
There are many things that can't be measured on a standardized test that
occur throughout this program:
- students are learning skills and concepts that will be needed throughout
their lives
- businesses do a company evaluation annually
- the faculty and staff update and improve the school's educational plan
each year to meet the needs of the students
- the educational plan is also used as a monitoring device
In addition, an award and recognition celebration has been established
for all business "employees." Each employee receives a certificate,
as well as a pin to recognize their involvement and to reward them for doing
an excellent job.
Administration, staff, students, and community have moved forward and
realized achievements which had only been previously dreamed of in the years
before. This opportunity continues to expand, but while the major components
remain the same, classroom enterprises, in school jobs and partners have
changed. The changes have resulted in an improved program.
(Site Note: Silver Spring will be using a portion
of their award money to develop a banner to hang outside the school which
advertises their school as being an
All Means All School-to-Work Award Site.)
Reflections on Our Strategy
Staff turn over is a concern. Therefore, one recommendation would be
for the staff to commit to Silver Spring School for a minimum of three years.
Also, an advantage would be for parents to make a commitment for their child
to remain at our school three to five years to witness positive results.
Staff and parents have seen positive growth in our students who have
gone through the program for several years. A student who was part of the
original Cookie Cutters Company when our program began is now a member of
the Silver Spring Sodas, an integrated classroom enterprise. His teachers
have watched him mature and grow academically and socially thanks to the
foundations taught through the classroom business.
Implementing the school-to-work program at Silver Spring School has provided
exceptional results. One unexpected outcome is the maturity and businesslike
mannerisms the program has instilled in the students. One of the classroom
businesses had a dissatisfied customer who did not receive the correct amount
of change. The class met and discussed this situation. They wrote an apology
letter, refunded the purchase charge and provided a free gift to this patron.
There are several critical pieces for this strategy to work: a supportive
administrator, committed and risk-taking staff, willing and participating
students, supportive business and community partners. The advice offered
from this experienced staff would be to refocus concepts to give meaning
towards lifelong learning.
Examples of Learners
Example 1
A fifth grade student was interviewed by bank personnel at Associated
Bank. The interviewer explained the job she was interviewing for was for
the position of bank teller. The student's career goals reached beyond that.
When the interviewer asked if the student had any questions, the girl asked,
"What is your job?" He replied, "A manager." The student
said, "That is the job I would like to have."
Example 2
First graders owned and operated the Penny Candy business. They decided
they would raise the price of their product to two cents for a piece of
candy. After this their sales went down. They discussed the change, and
realized students who had five cents to spend could purchase two pieces
of candy and had a penny left over. The teacher worked with the class to
find a solution to improve profits. They decided to sell three pieces of
candy for a nickel. (3/5) The teacher saw an opportunity to introduce fractions
expanding on the classroom business profit margin. Six pieces for ten cents
(6/10), and so on.
Example 3
John was a student with a severe learning disability who entered Silver
Spring School as an administrative transfer, resulting from a history of
behavior problems. John was in the classroom that operated the Silver Spring
Sodas. John became involved with his classroom business. By his second year,
he was an officer of the Sodas. He had the responsibility of helping to
order the sodas, stocking the machine and counting the money. John had the
opportunity to introduce a program to the student body regardless of his
severe speech impediment. John became a model student. Upon completion of
Silver Spring Sodas, John was honored as the student making the most improvement.
Parents visit, tour, and observe our school and its individual classroom
programs to determine if the environment is conducive to their child's needs.
They converse with the administrator and teacher to see if our program meets
their child's specific needs. Parents have been impressed with our school-to-work
program, and that the emphasis is not on tracking.
Recruiting
Recruiting of students is done by parent choice. All schools provide
a description of the school's program in a yearly publication entitled,
"Directions." The 1998-1999 quote for Silver Spring is: The mission
of Silver Spring School is to maximize academic achievement by making the
connection between school and work."
A main goal is to teach children creative thinking and problem solving
skills. Classroom businesses serve as the entrepreneurial focal point to
improve pupil learning, introduce career awareness, promote self-esteem,
and develop decision making skills necessary for life. The school family
helps pupils see the connection between the classroom and the world.
For more information on the Silver Spring Elementary School Career Immersion
Program, contact:
-
- Janel Howard
- Silver Spring Elementary School
- 5131 N. Green Bay Avenue
- Milwaukee, WI 53209
- (Phone) 414/228-8630
- (Fax) 414/247-6766
Back to The Award page
Note: Funding for the All Means All School-to-Work Project
has ended. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of contact information listed here. Additionally, awarded programs that we profile may no longer exist. We are publishing this information as it may be relevant to the current work of assisting youth with disabilities in the transition from school to post-school opportunities.
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