Become an Endorser

We are seeking companies across all industries and non-profits who value modern day skill development to become Digital Badge Endorsers.The steps to become a Badge Endorser are simple and won't take up much of your time:

1. Please fill out our online Endorser Enrollment Form to give us basic information we can highlight about your company on our Badge website. This will take about 10 minutes. We would also be happy to jump on a quick phone call(518-731-1710) to complete this with you; or email us at zollerj@cacsd.org if we can be of assistance in this way.
2. Finally, when you get a chance email the following items to our Digital Badge team at zollerj@cacsd.org:
   • A high-resolution copy of your logo which we can include in the design of your endorsed badge.
   • If available, a photo of your workplace for your online profile.

We are seeking partners in the Capital Region to help design and endorse micro-credentials we are implementing to help students demonstrate to colleges and employers they are prepared with the attributes necessary to succeed. As an endorser your organization will be publicized on our website and social media platforms. There is no required financial commitment for your organization unless you choose to do so. We only ask for some of your time.

As part of our mission at Coxsackie-Athens Central Schools we want to help students become self-directed learners ready for college, career and life. The attributes associated with this are often hard to measure; however, we believe in this strongly enough that we are setting out to create a series of challenges, often referred to as micro-credentials, that will allow students to show evidence of job-ready, college-ready and life-ready skills and dispositions.

Through these challenges, students will demonstrate appropriate skills in: communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking/problem solving, and being a quality producer as well as additional life ready skills. This will be developed as a grades K-12 developmentally scoped experience for all students at each building level. So a credential for a 3rd grader may not be as rigorous as for a 10th grader, yet still offer evidence of being self-directed.

When a student completes a challenge and receives credit for providing the evidence, they will receive a digital badge(think scouts). We want to stack the badges so by completing a certain number of badges they would earn a “Pride Badge.” We would like to work with local partners to have them be able to endorse the Pride Badges.

Endorsed Badges will have been reviewed by community partners who value those skills in the people they hire. When these partners endorse our Digital Badges, they:

• Brand the Badges with their organization's logo.
• Offer an experiential learning opportunity to students who have earned the Endorsed Badge.

Our goals for the experiential learning opportunities for our Pride Badge earning students are three-fold. First, our desire is to provide a space for students to learn about various professions that they might not already be aware of. These Digital Badge experiences allow students to preview different kinds of work and employment opportunities which will help inform their career plans. Secondly, by hearing from industry professionals how those skills are used within their environment, students can more easily transfer what they are learning about 21st Century Skills in the classroom to the workplace. Finally, after interacting with our students in these experiences, we will invite our endorsing business partners to provide us feedback on our students’ skill development. It is very important for us that our Digital Badge Program shapes students appropriately for the workforce; feedback from industry is vitally important and will be used to inform our classroom badging practices.

The following are examples of experiences and activities of how our Digital Badge Endorsers can engage our students through our Digital Badge Program. With all of these opportunities, we are happy to help you design meaningful, fun experiences for our students.

Elementary

Grades K-4

Classroom Visit (15 min) - Come meet our students in their classroom & facilitate a hands-on presentation with an interactive activity.

Middle

Grades 5-8

Lunch & Learn (30 – 45 min) - Hang out with a small group of students in an informal setting during their lunch period, tell them a little about your company, and answer their questions about your workplace and career path.

Career Exploration (1 – 2 hr) - Host a group of students at your office exploring various types of careers within your industry; this could include:

• Touring your workplace,
• Sharing about the various careers within your organization,
• Facilitating an activity that simulates the kind of work you do, or
• Providing an informational interview with an employee.

High School

Grades 9-12

Job Shadow (1 – 2 hr) - Host a group of students at your office highlighting how to prepare for careers within your organization; this could include:

• Touring your workplace,
• Sharing the salaries ranges and educational requirements of various roles,
• Providing the students an opportunity to Job Shadow an employee, or
• Conducting mock or real interviews for an internship or employment within your organization.

Any

Custom Badge Opportunity – If the above options do not fit your company’s interests, programs can be custom designed for your specific organization.

Contact Coxsackie-Athens CSD if you are interested in being a partner: 518-731-1710

or fill out the short online interest form.