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Recently I got the chance to visit a pretty amazing place. GOAL High School is our official Jam the Van GOAL Sponsor, and we at iHEART, and the NOCO communitie say THANK YOU! I loved getting the chance to visit a new and creative way for kids to attend high school. When I was a teenager learning options were limited. One size fits all! Too bad every kid is different, and every kid learns in different ways.
Let me tell you more about the wonderful GOAL High School, by reading what I copy and pasted below!
*Of course I read after I copy and pasted. I'm not a monster.
-GOAL High School is a statewide free public charter school, accredited by the Colorado Department of Education authorized by District 49. A charter school is one in which the student and/or family choose the school. Charters are still held accountable by the Department of Education, but may operate with freedom from some of the regulations imposed upon school districts.
-GOAL serves students in grades 9-12 with online curriculum. Students receive and complete their coursework through an online delivery system; moreover, the students have access to 37 drop-in centers statewide. GOAL High School is the largest charter school in the state of Colorado and one of the largest Alternative Education Campuses (A.E.C.s) in the United States.
-As of 2021, GOAL has graduated over 7,500 students in its 15 year history, just over in 2022. College tuition and fees are paid by GOAL High School! Several students received their Associates Degree prior to receiving their high school diploma. Many scholarships were awarded to GOAL students, including the GOAL Staff Scholarship, funded entirely by GOAL staff.
-GOAL’s Mission is to develop productive members of society; our vision – to help students achieve their full potential in a caring, supportive, and personalized environment. Our three primary areas for empowering students to be productive citizens are: post-secondary education, military, and career. In fact, an average of 90% of GOAL students graduate with Workforce Readiness Certificates.
-What is an Alternative Education Campus? (A.E.C.) Colorado legislation defines an alternate education campus as a school with a specialized mission designed to serve unique student populations. Thus, the performance framework for an A.E.C. takes into account the unique purpose of the campus and the unique circumstances of the challenges posed by the students enrolled.
A minimum of 90% of the students enrolled must meet one or more of the following fifteen identified conditions:
· Over-age, credit deficient
· Dropped out of school
· History of child abuse/neglect/foster care
· Homeless child
· Migrant child
· History of personal street gang involvement
· Has a parent or guardian in prison
· Has an IEP (individualized educational program)
· Family history of domestic violence
· Repeated school suspensions
· Pregnant or parenting
· Expelled from high school
· History of personal drug or alcohol abuse
· History of serious psychiatric or behavior disorder
· Juvenile delinquent
How does GOAL support students with social-emotional needs?
-The school provides many multi-faceted layers of support from academic coaches to social emotional generalists, counseling assistants, counselors, and social workers. GOAL also connects students with a network of external community resources based upon the student’s individual needs.
Who does GOAL High School work with?
-Goal High School staff will work with any student who is looking for an alternative route to obtain their high school diploma or even an Associate’s degree! GOAL works with many “disconnected” young adults; which is to say, teenagers and young adults between the age of 16 and 24 who are neither working nor in school. Nationwide, there are over four million individuals in the disconnected category. Each year, approximately 10,000 Colorado students leave public school without a diploma. There are an estimated 58,000 disconnected young adults currently in Colorado. A high percentage of these students are twelfth graders. GOAL has a “Senior Recovery” program which works very well for these over-aged, credit-deficient students.
In what format does GOAL High School present their educational services?
-GOAL High School has pioneered and perfected their unique educational model. Students receive their curriculum entirely online or they may attend one of the 37 drop-in centers for added engagement, tutoring, hands on activities, social-emotional support, and academic counseling. If a student is not engaging with the curriculum through the various online platforms, a student success plan meeting, including administration, teachers, counselor, academic coaches, will take place to personalize the educational process. Typically, student performance improves vastly by spending additional time at the drop-in center.
What is a student drop-in center?
-A student drop-in center, sometimes called a “site,” is a location where GOAL students can “drop-in” for any kind of assistance needed. Each drop-in center is staffed with a mix of the following: principals, assistant principals, administrative assistants, counselors, counseling assistants, social workers, academic coaches, highly qualified teachers, English language learner instructors, exceptional student service teachers, and information technology personnel. Drop-in centers are typically located in places students already like to like to be: malls, strip malls, and other hubs of community activity. The most important factor in determining a drop-in center location is the proximity to the residences of the students GOAL serves. Centers are furnished with comfortable furniture, internet, snacks, simple meals, drinks, and even GOAL fleet vehicles for helping students get to the center. One additional use for the drop-in centers is for state mandated and GOAL growth testing.
-How do GOAL High School students gain meaningful social interaction?
Along with quality interaction at the drop-in centers, GOAL has a tremendous extra-curricular program known as THRIVE. As mentioned earlier, students attend college courses; moreover, there is leadership/student council, a top shelf musical academy – Perfect World, on and off-site hands-on activities, volunteer opportunities for charities and others, sports at local high schools, and new this year to GOAL, National Honor Society. GOAL boasts a “for credit” experiential learning program where students have the opportunity to bond with each other on incredible field trips including: Mexico, Costa Rica, Moab, Leadville, Mt. Rushmore, Goblin Valley (Utah), Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (Tucson, Az), and the list goes on! Students not only earn credit, but also gain valuable survival, no-trace camping, social skills, cooking and more. Valuable college campus tours are tied in with these and other day trips at GOAL High School.
-How else does GOAL High School fulfill the mission of developing “productive citizens?”
GOAL is also committed to a Career and Technical Education program including internships, on the job training, job shadowing, and more. Workkeys training and certification is not only available, but also a requirement to ensure that our students leave fully prepared to be productive citizens. GOAL also offers student internships, whereby they work as GOAL and or other business employees and earn credit while performing these life-changing hands-on experiences. Finally, GOAL is now pioneering a Work Based Learning program!
-As an online school, who does GOAL partner with to ensure state-of-the-art technology?
In 2019, Microsoft Corporation, which provides much of the state-of-the art technology used by GOAL staff and students, named GOAL High School as one of its Microsoft Showcase Schools! GOAL is not only the largest showcase school, but also the first and only alternative education campus to ever receive this proud distinction! Microsoft uses a stringent rubric and a rigorous process to determine designees. Specifically, the corporation is looking for: growth mindset, educational transformation, creativity and innovation, and crystal-clear and impactful vision. GOAL has proven its leadership role in transformational education, even sharing in the production of podcasts on its model and the future of education .
Also, in the 2019-2020 school year, technological hardware partner, Lenovo, showed its loyalty and respect for GOAL High School by sponsoring GOAL’s first year participating in the eSports world through the High School Gaming League. GOAL did not disappoint; the first-year team convincingly won the Colorado and mountain region championships and concluded the season as runner-up to the national champions. Lenovo also provided GOAL High School with $20,000 in scholarship money to assist students in the technology realm. The icing on the cake? Lenovo flew the entire GOAL Officer Leadership team to its United States headquarters in North Carolina for a three-day tour!
GOAL High School now boasts one of the most robust Esports programs across the country, having been state champions and national runners up in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
When considering an online school, why GOAL?
When considering an online school of choice, one should take careful consideration. One aspect to consider is longevity. GOAL has been getting better and better each year since 2007! Another important factor is quality of staff. GOAL has only Colorado-based certified teachers and administrators; in fact, GOAL has many experienced educational veterans who made the switch from traditional education campuses to GOAL to better fulfill their passion for helping young adults to succeed! In short, GOAL is both the pioneer and the leader in the future of the educational landscape.
-How does GOAL give back to the various communities which it serves? Jam the Van is only ONE of the many ways that Goal High School help strengthen our Northern Colorado community!
GOAL is very active in all of the communities they serve. Many non-profit organizations use GOAL’s talented and creative digital media team for exciting and professional videos promoting the communities or community events. A few of the organizations GOAL partners with include: United Way, Red Cross, Casa, Autism Foundation, local Chambers of Commerce, Latino Chamber of Commerce, and many more!
Finally, a bit of GOAL High School’s National notoriety?
In his book, The School Choice Roadmap, Andrew Campanella, the current president of School Choice Week, features GOAL Academy High School! The excerpt is entitled “Inspiration” and details a young man with an extremely unstable life who has finished his high school diploma and moved on to a successful career in the United States Coast Guard.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOAL HIGH SCHOOL OR TO ENROLL TODAY….Just go to goalac.org
And if you want to help Jam the Van you can drop off any type of school supply at our iHEART building in Loveland at 4270 Byrd Drive. Let's get these kiddos off to school with everything they need!