TriReach Collaborative
TriReach Collaborative tries to connect the world of “non-profit” to “education” and “for-profit” organizations, therefore benefiting all three. The Collaborative will bridge non-profits’ needs requiring innovative science, technology, engineering or math solutions to local high school seniors at schools with strong STEM programs via their Capstone Project while engaging the for-profit organizations’ human resources such as mentors and/or their financial generosity. TriReach Collaborative will utilize web 2.0 technologies promoting participatory information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. As part of this collaborative, we will develop a site that allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a virtual community.
About You
About You
First Name
Mansoureh
Last Name
Tehrani
About Your Organization
Organization Name
METSA @ R. L. Turner High School
Organization Website
Organization Phone
972-968-5434
Organization Address
1600 S. Josey Ln. Carrollton, TX 75006
Organization Country
United States, TX, Dallas County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, TX
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
TriReach Collaborative
What change do you want to bring to the world?
TriReach Collaborative tries to connect the world of “non-profit” to “education” and “for-profit” organizations, therefore benefiting all three. The Collaborative will bridge non-profits’ needs requiring innovative science, technology, engineering or math solutions to local high school seniors at schools with strong STEM programs via their Capstone Project while engaging the for-profit organizations’ human resources such as mentors and/or their financial generosity. TriReach Collaborative will utilize web 2.0 technologies promoting participatory information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. As part of this collaborative, we will develop a site that allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a virtual community.
What are the primary activities of your project?
The first activity is to collect requirements from potential stakeholders (non-profit, high schools and for-profits). We will form a focus group to collect their needs. We will then develop phase one of the web 2.0 application which allows the stakeholders to enter their profile and collaborate about needs, offerings and support capacity. During this phase our seniors who have an interest in completing a systems development activity for their capstone will work with for-profit mentors to create the initial phase of the system.
While the initial phase of the application is being developed, we will target the participants for beta testing of the system & the program concept. We will begin piloting with 1-3 organizations, within our geographic area, from each sector. We will also finalize the detail requirements for phase 2 of the system & develop the remaining portion of the application which will allow the virtual community to share documents and dialog systematically about their solutions and progress for all shared capstone projects.
Once the system is completely developed and fully tested, we will market the program to potential participants through social networking tools available to educational sector, as well as those to general public.
Finally, we will develop additional features for participants to reflect about their experience with the program and suggest possible enhancements. We will conduct surveys and meet with focus groups to understand the impact of the program on each community.
The last activity is
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
The issues non-profits are facing are paramount, especially under current economic situations. They lack the resources to serve their clients, much less solicit the support of others in the community. The same is true with our educational institutions. Teachers desire to create a learning environment that mimics the real world. Yet, they do not have the resources to recruit mentors to help their students when engaged in solving real-world problems.
Traditionally, both groups resorted to face-to-face, phone or e-mail methods to influence community members to help them in their quest. In certain cases, social media such as facebook or tweeter has been used to organize groups for a huge cause. We would like to take advantage of existing web 2.0 technology to allow students solve non-profit problems which require STEM skills while working with community members to enhance their skills and better prepare for college, career and life.
Our initiative is very unique & innovative because it allows thousands of organizations share the same application for a focused social issue.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for less than a year
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
METSA Academy is housed in a Title I high school in Texas. The school is open to students in Carrollton and Farmers Branch Communities. Carrollton’s population has increased by 33.4%, from in 1990 to 120,150 in 2008. 86% of the population is under the age of 55 and has a median age of 32.9 years. The population of Farmers Branch has been decreasing from 27,508 in 2000 to 26,455 in 2008. In 2006, the city of Farmers Branch entered the national spotlight when its council became the first in Texas to pass anti-illegal immigration measures, which include fining landlords that rent to illegal aliens, and allowing local authorities to screen illegal aliens in police custody. Because we serve over 80% minority students, the school has been challenged by the previous Mayor of Farmers Branch a number of times.
The academy serves almost 400 students in grades 9th – 12th. We are an 80% majority minority campus with 70% Hispanic population. 63% of our students are on free and reduced lunch. Most STEM schools in the country have high minority students and attempt to engage women, minorities and economically disadvantaged. In addition, most non-profit organizations in our country generally serve a similar demographic.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
The champion of this program was born in Tehran, Iran and migrated to United States in 1974 to attend college. Her father had a 3rd grade education and her mother never finished high school. By 1979, she had earned my Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and my master's degree in Computer Science from University of North Texas. After college, she worked in the Information Technology industry for 14 years (Texas Instruments, Apple Computers and American Airlines).
She began teaching Business and Technology classes in 1994 because she wanted to make a difference. During this time, she introduced many dual-credit and innovative courses to the district.
She has been with the METSA academy since its inception and has created a 21st century school with a focus on innovation and service. THe academy's philosophy is “to prepare today’s children for tomorrow’s world”. The faculty incorporates innovative pedagogy to deliver engaging and globally contextual science and math education across core disciplines and throughout engineering, robotics, rocketry, and technology electives; in order to increase the number of diverse students who enroll and persist in STEM related post-secondary education. Students are required to earn 16 hours of college credit (majority first generation, complete an internship and develop a capstone project for a non-profit in our community.
TriReach Collaborative idea came about while working with our seniors and their sponsors last year.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
Last year, our Capstone class was very successful, serving 64 seniors who completed 23 projects for non-profit organizations in our community. We also had mentors from six for-profit organizations helping students with their solutions and designs. This was accomplished without TriReach Collaborative. Because of various schedules, the hardest task last year was collaboration amongst the stakeholder of each project. Through reflections,end-of-year evaluation & discussions, the idea of this collaborative system/program came about.
METSA will evaluate its success in reaching desired results through both objective and subjective measures. Throughout the year, it will assess objectively its progress towards number of organizations participating and non-profits receiving completed projects. We will subjectively assess the benefits of these results through substantive evaluation of projects and reflections shared at online meetings, as well as face-to-face focus group meetings with educators, non-profits and for-profit organizations.
Specifically, in the weeks following each project completion, we will survey the stakeholders and evaluate whether the relevant benchmarks were met. If not, the reason(s) will be identified and completion of that benchmark will be prioritized with a new date for completion. This evaluation will take into account input from all participants in the pilot phase, as well as phase 2.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
101-1,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
1,001-10,000
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
During year 1, we are collecting requirements and developing phase 1 of the project with only a handful of organizations from North Texas participating. BY year 2, we plan on marketing the program to schools and non-profits nationally, scaling the system for the additional demand and collecting data on various benchmarks for success. We hope to expand the functionality of the program in year 3 based on input collected from the user community.
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
A significant concern is the scalability of the Web 2.0 approach (server and network requirements). Another concern centers on the supportability of Web 2.0 tools and services. Information professionals are often concerned that users will struggle to use new tools and services. We are also concerned about the longevity of Web 2.0 services. By its very nature, Web 2.0 is a dynamic and rapidly moving environment. Our district has a strong IT staff. We plan to solicit their support with this project.
Due to lack of funding and increased demands for program services, not-for-profits are being forced to step outside of their organization to ensure that they can even provide some of their core programs. Many of these organizations do not have the right infrastructure in place for this type of endeavor. This may cause many to be reluctant in this program. We will support our participating non-profits to establish a protocol for what a collaborative relationship looks like for their organization.
Since, seniors will be the main driver of this project, we may have issues from handing projects over from one year to the next as students graduate. We must develop the proper infrastructure to insure proper communication and handing over of tasks.
Tell us about your partnerships
In order to build the P-20 STEM pipeline, our Advisory board includes executives from 20 local STEM businesses and Workforce Development entities in our area, Math & Science deans from Brookhaven Community College, Deans of Engineering from UTD, UNT, and Richland Community College, as well as representatives from our central office, parents, teachers and students. We work closely with them to plan/implement all programs within the academy. The Deans of the Universities work with our teachers to ensure that the curriculum objectives, standards, and methodology align with college standards and expose students to the rigor of college level problem solving. The local business partners ensure our projects address local community needs and provide students with opportunities to engage in civic and interpersonal responsibilities requisite for students to be successful in the business world.
For this project, we will tap into their expertise in system development, marketing and PR.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
$50,001‐100,000
Explain your selections
To get the academy off the ground, METSA benefited from a grant from Communities Foundation of Texas. We also have received an Exemplary grant from Texas Education Agency. We hope to continue our relationships with these organizations in the future.
For the past 4 years, we've had a private donor (friends of the academy) helping us with funding with our field-based experiences.
We've also developed relationships with many NGOs in our area in support of our internship/capstone programs. In addition, our local business community has been very supportive of our vision and has continued to provide opportunities for our students, while mentoring them.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
As mentioned earlier, we are developing this project in multiple phase in order to scale the system & program accordingly. In addition, we will:
Increase outreach to middle/elementary schools through weekly/weekend STEM camps/extra-curricular activities/tutoring
* Sustain and augment our existing curricular & co-curricular activities of clubs, competitions, and field-base experiences for our students and student developed service learning projects that incorporate STEM fields and local needs
* Promote and develop sustainable education, community, industry, and IHE partnerships.
* Develop best practices webinars/podcasts shared via our website and social media networks of YouTube/Facebook.
Partnerships and Accountability
Please tell us more about how your partnership was formed and how it functions. What specific role does each partner play? What unique resources does each partner bring to the initiative?
Our advisory board was formed in the spring of 2007. It includes executives from 12 local STEM businesses and Workforce Development entities in our area, Math & Science and higher education agencies in our area. We meet twice a year for strategic planning, but rely heavily on them throughout the year for specific projects/programs. We work closely with them to plan/implement all programs within the academy, as well as they support us with curriculum development and assessment of student work. The local business partners ensure our projects address local community needs and provide students with opportunities to engage in civic activities. They provide resources for mentoring students with projects, as well as clubs and competitions.
How are you building in accountability for students' successful STEM learning outcomes? Please provide a summary and examples.
METSA freshmen and seniors are required to take the College and Work Readiness Assessment each year to ensure that students graduate from our academy prepared to enter both college and the workforce. This assessment helps us collect longitudinal and latitudinal data to measure the development of each student, as well as comparing the seniors with college freshmen.
In addition, all of our students are required to take the Annual State Assessments in core subject. All of our sophomores & juniors take the PSAT test. We analyze the results of all these tests to identify gaps and improve our program.
Since all of our students engage in an engineering class each year, they take a college level exam for their course which is administered through Project Lead the Way.
These objective accountability measures are not the only way we measure success. Because of the nature of TriReach Collaborative, we will be able to collect qualitative assessment data from our non-profit clients, as well as for-profit mentors.
At METSA, students are required to complete a digital, capturing the essence of their learning and accomplishment for the 4 years attending the academy. They present their DP to our senior exhibition panel.
Needs
Investment, Human Resources/Talent, Marketing/Media, Research/Information, Mentorship.
Please use this space to elaborate on your selection above and/or to add needs that may not be listed.
Initially, we will need support in research and information gathering to insure the best design to meet the needs of all stake-holders.
To develop our web 2.0 system, we need financial support.
Although we plan on tapping our partners for planning and design of the system, we still need human resource/talent to develop the system and manage day-to-day operations of the project.
No matter what other strategies we use in pursuing this initiative, we need to think about marketing the program, including but not limited to image-building, additional fund-raising, membership development, community relations , and education of our member.
Since we will rely heavily on our seniors capstone projects to serve our non-profits, we will need industry experts to mentor them.
Offers
Human Resources/Talent, Research/Information, Collaboration/Networking.
Please use this space to elaborate on your selection above and/or to add offers that may not be listed.
We are an educational institution and our human resource is our most-valued capital. Since we are a 21st Century school, our educators and students are very resourceful in information gathering, analysis and synthesis. They are also extremely capable collaborators and understand the value of networking. They are constantly leveraging these skills to find new resources for our community.
