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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
School-Based
Enterprises
by Gerald Sheehan
Kodiak Island Borough School District
The idea of School-Based Enterprises may help
to promote long lasting and significant educational opportunities for
our youth. The community has essentially been disenfran- chised in
the past from the educational system, and a common goal is to bring
the community and the classroom closer together. The School-Based
Enterprise program seems to be a logical progression from this
concept.
It is not meant to be a "solution" in terms of
school-community relationships. Rather it is meant to be one
extension of a philosophy which must be carried out throughout the
curriculum to be effective. We cannot expect to significantly alter
and improve the ultimate effects of the educational system by only
tinkering with elements within the system, such as the classroom or
the curriculum. We must instead consider the relationship of the
system itself to the social and cultural environment in which it operates.
A School-Based Enterprise (SBE) can be an
educational experience for our youth and community which can have
long lasting effects. One of the beauties of the program is the fact
that much of the learning in the program is not dependent upon
external curriculum requirements, nor the expertise of staff, but
upon local conditions found in the village. The program does not view
living in a village or local culture as a disadvantage. On the
contrary it must, out of necessity, accept the local culture to
succeed.
The SBE cannot be thought of as another class
in the curriculum, external from the community. The program draws its
breath from the community. It does this by drawing on both of the
available approaches to community-based education: 1) by moving
everyday life into the school; 2) by moving the classroom out into
everyday life.
Prior to initiating the program, it is
essential that the community knows about the program, agrees with the
goals of the program, and will support the efforts of the school
staff. This can be accomplished with Advisory School Board meetings,
Tribal Council meetings, home visitations, and student
discussions.
Ron and Suzanne Scollon in their "Axe
Handle Academy" believe in preparing
students for a future which we are unable to predict. In the Axe
Handle Academy, "we emphasize preparation of our students for a
future that we cannot know by giving them a solid understanding of
their place on the earth, their place and identity in society, and
the ability to listen, observe, reflect and then communicate
effectively with others" (LT/LL). This is the primary goal of SBE. It
is not to turn a profit. It is not necessarily to succeed in
business. It is to prepare our youth for the future, and possibly to
improve the quality of life in their community.
Implementing SBE in a Village
School
Following is a description of how SBE could be
implemented in a small village school like Karluk, where I teach. The
first goal of the program is to conduct a social and economic needs
analysis of the community. There are several community profiles of
Karluk available already, yet each is outdated in many respects. The
students would update, rewrite and expand upon the existing community
profiles.
A time frame for the first goal would be
something along these lines: One week to read and discuss the
existing community profiles; one week to invite guest speakers to the
class to speak directly to issues raised in the community profiles;
one week to collect new data for an updated community profile (mostly
demographic and economic information); two weeks to compile a new
community profile. I expect to work with community profiles for
approximately five weeks.
The key ingredients of the community profile
are: 1) an accurate description and history of the community; 2) an
accurate economic analysis, which reflects not only the dollars
earned/spent in the community, but also the local resources and
skills which may be exploited for external markets; 3) identify
clearly what products and services are and are not available in the
community.
Once the community profile is completed, the
students are to generate a list of possible school-based enterprises.
Nothing on the list should be construed as competing with existing
community-based enterprises. Local leaders and community members
should be invited in to share any ideas or comments they may have.
The first day we work at brainstorming the list of possibilities. The
students can generate ideas for SBE's and put them on the board. The
second day I would invite in guest speakers, who could add to the
list or comment on ideas already on the board. During the next
several days we would do general feasibility studies, hopefully
ending up with a list of a half-dozen or so feasible projects that we
could explore in greater depth in our community as potential SBE
projects.
In our class at the academy, the participants
generated an extensive list of possible village SBE projects that
included: tutoring services, local postcards, archival picture
retrieval (frame and resale), knitted socks, knitted headbands,
crocheted doilies, video/VCR rentals, puzzle/game rentals, bakery
(donuts, fresh bread, biscuits, pies, cakes), student supplies,
t-shirts with local logos, sport fish supplies, copier machine for
the community, ice machine for the community, community laundromat,
general store, housekeeping service, secretarial/typing service,
contract skills, barber, wood hauling and chopping, frozen yogurt
shop, pop/ice cream sales, community films and concessions, bingo and
pull tabs, village newspaper, village videos, net hanging services,
kayak making, Native arts and crafts, smoked fish, dried fish, berry
gathering/foraging, local herbs, school photo business, tannery with
local hides, planters and plants, school garden (produce and market),
small engine repair, catering service, fast foods, duck and ptarmigan
feathers, grocery delivery, arcade games, teen center, local tours,
and deer products.
Now that the students have generated a list of
possible SBE's, it is time to survey the community. The students
should create the survey and decide how to do it. The goal is to get
community responses on the list of S BE ideas, and give the students
an idea of what may be the most realistic and appropriate enterprise
to gain community support. Once the survey results are in, let the
students decide which idea they will pursue as an SBE.
Next, create with the students a business plan
for the SBE, using the plan in "How to Start a Village Enterprise," published
by the Community Enterprise Development Corporation in Anchorage, as a guideline.
Consider the following six areas in
developing your business plan:
1) the kind of company and product or
service;
2) the marketing plan;
3) the operations plan;
4) the financial plan;
5) community development
considerations;
6) educational considerations.
Create a business plan incorporating these six
considerations. The final step in the planning process is to get
start-up funds for the SBE. This can be done with grants or loans
from various sources, including the school board, or by having the
students initiate fund-raising activities to raise the capital
themselves. Keep in mind the main goal is educational, not
profitability.
At the academy, some concern was brought up
about evaluation. With the teacher and students forming a
collaborative learning team, everyone is gaining skills and concepts
that go beyond a graded curriculum. Students are learning how to
learn by cooperating with others. Their learning can be measured by
the achievement of the group of which they are a functioning part.
Cooperation is not only the best means of teaching and learning, it
is the best way to evaluate what a student is learning.
The whole thrust of the SBE program is toward
cooperative learning - between the school and community, internally
between and among students and staff - the whole program is
cooperative in nature. It was suggested at the workshop that to
alleviate any concerns anyone may have with this you could: 1)
supplement your program with commercial curriculum materials of a
small business-oriented nature, such as PACE; 2) keep your school
board and administration posted on your program.
In discussing SBE, I have been focusing on high
school students. I believe much of the program can also be adapted to
the primary and junior high school levels. A basic curriculum for
Entrepreneurship Education and a School Based Enterprise Manual has
been developed by the Alaska Department of Education, and an SBE
resource handbook has been put together by Todd Bergman formerly of
New Stuyahok that can be obtained from Ray Barnhardt at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks. I believe the SBE program deserves an
opportunity within our school curriculum. The program does much to
build on the strengths of the rural community and minimize the
weaknesses of small village schools. It teaches the students more
than a pre-set package of information; it provides them with the
skills of learning to be adaptable in an unknown future.
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
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