The Harvard Achievement Support Initiative (HASI) has been working over the past year to distill the SmartTALK program into an accessible online multimedia curriculum and training resource for City Year Boston leaders. City Year Boston, a formal Boston Public School (BPS) partner, is committed to a three-year plan that will bring Corps Members into 23 high-need BPS schools over the next three years to serve 25% of off-track students with full-time targeted interventions.
In April, HASI provided SmartTALK 'Train-the-Trainer' sessions to all City Year Boston elementary, middle and high school leaders. The Program Managers and Senior Corps Members trained over the two day series will, in turn, train all Corps Members going into BPS schools in 2012-2013. The HASI SmartTALK 'Train-the-Trainer' sessions, materials and online resources will support the delivery of high-quality professional development to all incoming Corps Members providing academic support to BPS students.
The feedback from participants and from City Year Senior Director of School and Community Partnerships, Nikki Tabron, was extremely positive. Tabron noted, "The SmartTALK program and new training resources reach beyond extended learning time - SmartTALK ideas, strategies, methods and materials have wide applicability across the entire school day as Corps Members work with students."
City Year Boston will now work to incorporate SmartTALK train-the-trainer components into it's portfolio of professional development to Corps Members supporting students in BPS.
