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Despite shopping habits, value of American-made gifts has public backing; Mark Zuckerberg dines with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago; Alabama leaders; unite to address gun violence, reimagine community safety; World AIDS Day: Looking back at public-health and moral crisis; CT, US take steps to mitigate methane emissions.

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The Democratic Party is regrouping, but critiques continue. The incoming Trump administration looks at barring mainstream media from White House briefings and AIDS advocates say the pick of Robert F. Kennedy Junior for DHHS is worrying.

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Residents in Colorado's rural communities face challenges to recycling, climate change and Oregon's megadrought are worrying firefighters, and a farm advocacy group says corporate greed is behind high food prices in Montana.

NM Schools Use 'Real-life' Experiences to Ready Students for College, Career

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Tuesday, June 27, 2023   

A New Mexico program is offering high school students more real-world experiences to boost their interest in college and a career.

Future Focused Education is redesigning graduation requirements and putting more emphasis on students' personal interests.

Tony Monfiletto, executive director of the group, said students tackle capstone projects designed to increase motivation and enable deeper learning. He pointed out a classroom assignment takes on new meaning when students engage in real-life activities combining personal interests with their unique skill sets.

"Young people are out working on homelessness, they're out working on food insecurity," Monfiletto outlined. "They're out working on other issues that are important to the community."

Future Focused Education is working in partnership with the state's Public Education Department to advance the "Innovation Zone Initiative," granted $30 million in expansion funds by the New Mexico Legislature earlier this year. Participating schools aim to improve the student experience and academic outcomes and also benefit local communities.

Monfiletto noted it is a new approach not just for students but also teachers, and requires training beyond the traditional classroom. It includes measuring how students respond: Are they going to college and staying enrolled? He added once they graduate, the program will also evaluate if students are getting better jobs or entering into apprenticeships.

"What we're trying to do is move outside of a standardized test -- filling in the bubbles kind-of evaluation -- which tells you very little about what a student can actually do," Monfiletto explained. "We're trying to move this evaluation to a real-life context."

He added students work with mentors outside of school to identify a community need and then develop a project to address the need.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.



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