Presenters: Svetlana Darche and Erin Fender
Using the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) California Academy Program (CAP) as an example, presenters will introduce a set of critical elements that define high-quality career exploration and work-based learning, expanding options beyond traditional workplace-based internships. Participants will use the critical elements framework to explore and evaluate similar strategies that can be implemented in their own communities and discuss effective instruction, equal access, and infrastructure that can facilitate implementation.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Svetlana Darche, Senior Research Associate and Director of Career Education, WestEd
Svetlana Darche is partnering with WestEd STEM staff and the College and Career Academy Support Network (CCASN) at the University of California, Berkeley, to implement an NSF-funded program, embedding Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) into “green academies” in California. She also focuses on college and career readiness through policy work, assessment projects, and direct support to schools. Her primary research interest is in work-based learning—hands-on learning that has purpose beyond the classroom. Darche began her career at the U.S. General Accounting Office. She has extensive experience in evaluation, strategic planning, program design, and the building of cross-sectorial collaborations for system change and program improvement. She worked closely with the California Department of Education and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office in developing California’s State Plan for Career Technical Education. She also co-directed a state feasibility study on expanding “Linked Learning” and completed a statewide study on opportunities and models for expanding work-based learning in California. She collaborates with CCASN, the National Academy Foundation, and ConnectEd in defining and measuring college and career readiness, and shaping strategies to promote student engagement and success. Darche has provided career development services in private practice, and has worked extensively with immigrant populations. Darche received a BA in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She also holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where she concentrated on the public/nonprofit sector.
Erin Fender, Coordinator of Public Programs and Linked Learning Coach, College and Career Academy Support Network, University of California, Berkeley
Erin Fender co-coordinates the implementation of an NSF Innovative Technology Experiences for Teachers and Students (ITEST) grant’s activities at urban schools in the Bay Area of California that have been traditionally underserved, with high populations of English language learners and low-income families, through the College and Career Academy Support Network (CCASN). Her duties include assessment of curriculum and teaching methods in green/environmental career academies, planning and piloting professional development and peer-to-peer exchanges, technical assistance, and academy development to support replication and expansion of the International Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program within the context of college and career academies. She manages several other projects, including the development of an extensive online database of curricula that integrates academic and career-technical subjects; provides Linked Learning coaching for a number of districts; and regularly presents at state and national conferences. Fender joined CCASN in 2009. She was previously an assistant principal and project director of a federal Smaller Learning Community grant. She was recognized as the administrator of the year by the Sonoma County Association of School Administrators (SCASA) in 2009. She was also a Jack London Award for Excellence in Education Innovation finalist, and received honorable mention by the Environmental Center of Sonoma County and the Sierra Club for the Outstanding Environmental Educator of the Year in 2006. In the past, Fender taught high school science and was the lead teacher of an Environmental Science Academy. She has a BA in Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder; an MA in Educational Leadership from Sonoma State University; as well as administrative and teaching credentials.
