Academic Innovations—an award-winning, mission-oriented educational publisher—named Watts Academic Innovations Edupreneur of the Year read article
Get Focused, Stay Focused Conference Returns to City College to Promote Dual Enrollment, Career-Planning Curriculum read article
Award-winning author of the Career Choices series, Mindy Bingham, highlights the potential harm generative AI tools can have on the intellectual development of elementary age students. read article
Award-winning author of the Career Choices series, Mindy Bingham, talks with Daily Flash host, Mitch English, about the proliferation of artificial intelligence tools and the fact that little attention has been given to the potential harm these tools can do to the intellectual development of elementary age students. Watch Interview
As debate regarding Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots increases, Kevin Boston-Hill speaks with award-winning educational advocate and CEO of the educational publishing company, Academic Innovations, Mindy Bingham, about why teachers, parents, and caregivers need to be aware of technology like ChatGPT and other AI software. Listen to Interview
Mindy Bingham hadn't heard of ChatGPT when a friend broached the topic over lunch in January. However, when the author and educational consultant subsequently found her nine-year-old granddaughter testing the bot while noodling away on a tablet Read More...
The use of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and Bard has sparked concerns about plagiarism in high school and college. However, little attention has been given to the potential harm these tools can do to the intellectual development of elementary age children.
During elementary school, children learn fundamental skills, including writing, math, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The introduction of this new technology may hinder their ability to think for themselves and stifle their creativity.
Read More...
The use of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and Bard has sparked concerns about plagiarism in high school and college. However, little attention has been given to the potential harm these tools can do to the intellectual development of elementary age children.
During elementary school, children learn fundamental skills, including writing, math, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The introduction of this new technology may hinder their ability to think for themselves and stifle their creativity.
Read More...
The use of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and Bard has sparked concerns about plagiarism in high school and college. However, little attention has been given to the potential harm these tools can do to the intellectual development of elementary age children.
During elementary school, children learn fundamental skills, including writing, math, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The introduction of this new technology may hinder their ability to think for themselves and stifle their creativity.
Read More...
“Many students see a greater need to stay in school. Most were 'bowled over' by the budgeting chapter. I believe [the program] will markedly reduce our dropout rate in high school.”
Veronica J. Hambacker, Iron Co. C-4
Junior High School,
Missouri
“We wanted to do something about the school’s academic culture starting with the freshman class. [In our second year,] we had a 38% drop [in freshmen with 3 or more Fs], and GPAs went up 15%.”
Rudy Ramirez,
Indio High School,
California
“The first year, my biggest success was when students of different races found common ground and learned a language to talk to each other.”
Susan Henneberg,
Washoe High School,
Nevada
“The curriculum gave students good focus for the rest of their high school years and afterward.”
John Wolfe,
Hardee Senior High School,
Florida
“Most of the time when students, even good students, complete high school they still don’t have a clear picture or focus about what they want to be or what their major should be. But students who come to college knowing what they want to be and having researched that are going to finish—and that’s huge. That’s why [Santa Barbara City College has made] the investment in the ninth grade course.”
Dr. Diane Hollems,
Santa Barbara City College,
California
Mindy Bingham has served as the CEO of her own educational publishing company for over 30 years. In that time, with the support of thousands of educators, Academic Innovations has positively impacted the lives of more than 2.5 million students, motivating and empowering them to become self-sufficient, productive citizens.
"I’ve been blessed along the way—throughout more than 50 years in the workforce—with wisdom and insights from incredible mentors and experts. I share all I’ve learned and experienced on LinkedIn through articles, resources, and strategies that can help you deal with the challenges of raising self-reliant children. It’s my sincere hope that these tools will not only enrich your lives as parents, grandparents, and educators, but also inspire you to live a healthier and more satisfying life of your own choosing."
A Freshman Transition Initiative is a classroom-based, comprehensive guidance effort starting in either the 8th or 9th grade. A key goal of a Freshman Transition Initiative is that, by the end of 9th grade, students have created an individualized 10-year Plan after completing a course based on the Freshman Transition Standards developed by Dr. Rebecca Dedmond of the Freshman Transition Initiative at The George Washington University.
Then, as students move through high school, the 10-year Plan is revisited, updated, and refined as students learn more about themselves. This can happen with the use of three Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules or through a series of school-wide 10-year Plan activities. The 10-year Plan is used by the guidance team, administrators, and classroom teachers to inform counseling, disciplinary, and academic coaching meetings, becoming an integral part of the school culture.
Get Focused...Stay Focused!® (GFSF) is a scalable, cost-efficient program model inspired by the Freshman Transition Initiative. The result of a GFSF program is that students graduate with an informed pathway to secondary training and/or education and the skills to be employable.
A cornerstone to the GFSF program methodology is the Career Choices series curriculum and My10yearPlan.com®. These comprehensive guidance course materials, delivered in either a hybrid or online format, take students through an in-depth decision-making process and the development of an individualized 10-year Plan.
Once students develop their online 10-year Plans, targeted lessons in three consecutive Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules ensure students stay focused on their goals. Each 16-lesson module provides students with an important “touchpoint” as they move through high school, preparing them to transition seamlessly to their post-secondary goal. And, the GFSF program can begin as early as middle school with Building a Bridge to Your Future, an innovative workbook designed to give students the skills, attitudes, and emotional resiliency that will propel them to success as they transition to high school.
Career Choices series and My10yearPlan.com® are the foundations of an interdisciplinary curriculum that engages students in a process that helps them develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to successfully:
The curriculum facilitates in-depth exploration centered around three fundamental questions––Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Do I Get It?––and culminates with students developing a 10-year Plan that acts as a touchstone, keeping them focused on their goals as they move through high school and on to post-secondary training, college, and/or the workforce.
The Career Choices series curriculum and My10yearPlan.com® are the cornerstones of the GFSF program methodology.
My10yearPlan.com® helps to deliver the Career Choices series process in a way that draws the best out of students. The carefully planned activities help students think about and plan for their future while acting as a “digital coach” who guides their decision-making process. The end result? Students map their own path to personal success based on the goals they set and the plans they make to achieve those goals in My10yearPlan.com®.
Our educational system faces many challenges as a result of structural or systemic inequalities that result in advantages for some and disadvantages for others. If we are to provide equal opportunity for all, additional support is needed for the many students who would otherwise fall through the gaping cracks in our education system. The Career Choices series, My10yearPlan.com®, and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® offer important guidance, focus, and instruction to help ALL students believe in themselves and in the possibilities presented by post-secondary education and training.
Teachers play a critical role! Not only do they provide the necessary instruction to help students understand the course content, but they also help students feel nurtured, valued, and connected to their school community, which are three key factors in student success.
Parents provide essential support to help their children succeed. Bringing parents into the Career Choices and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® process means they can reinforce the importance of career and life planning as a part of their homelife.
Our curriculum provides the content for a course that makes traditional counseling more effective. In class, students discuss and explore their futures with teachers as they work toward the creation of an online 10-year Plan. Then, through My10yearPlan.com®, every instructor, counselor, and advisor on campus has access to the hopes, dreams, and goals articulated in those 10-year Plans. As a result, academic coaching and counseling can be personalized for each student—a strategy that research shows is vital to student success.
The Career Choices series cannot guarantee success, but it does have a proven track record of giving students not only the tools and strategies for success but also the self-efficacy to believe that they can succeed.
Absolutely not. The Career Choices series and Get Focused...Stay Focused!® facilitate early career exploration and provide a process for researching the many possible career pathways that align with each student’s personal goals. This phase of the process results in students having a career direction, not a final career destination. Students also learn strategies for systematic decision making and goal setting, empowering them to review, reassess, and revise their plans throughout high school.
Academic Innovations is the private, for-profit company that created the Career Choices series and My10yearPlan.com®. As the publisher of the Get Focused...Stay Focused!® Follow-Up Modules, Academic Innovations is also the “private” half of a public/private partnership with the non-profit Get Focused Stay Focused National Resource Center.
