Windsor Central School District’s The Future Ready Knights Initiative in Broome County, New York, strives to ensure all students graduate future-ready through career counseling, career exploration, PK-12 pathway courses, and work-based experiences.
Mission and Vision
The Windsor Central School District, “the home of the Black Knights,” is a small, rural district in Broome County, New York. Our mission is to ensure each student is future-ready by providing empowering educational experiences in schools and the community. We continually and purposefully plan and then act to ensure this mission by providing empowering educational experiences, while we aspire toward our vision to be a world-class community school that is the district of choice. We are committed to preparing students for the road ahead, whether the path leads directly to the workforce or continuing their education.
History
In 2006, when Dr. Jason Andrews became Windsor’s superintendent, he proposed that we build an educational system that serves as a “lighthouse district” for schools looking to ensure their students succeed, by posing the question “Why not Windsor?” Over the ensuing several years, we were able to make significant improvements to instructional practices, state assessment scores, and graduation rates through our work as a Professional Learning Community. However, there was still work to do to ensure that our students were truly future-ready. Through meetings with the Broome County Talent Task Force (a project of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency), as well as through surveys of students, teachers, and families, we learned that many students were not prepared for next steps after graduation to be successful in a 21st-Century workforce.
As a result of what we learned from stakeholders, Windsor’s Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Instruction worked with The Agency, which governs the Broome County Industrial Development Agency and Broome County Local Development Corporation, to identify upcoming in-demand career fields in the region as well as the skills and education needed for future workers in those fields. Through these meetings it was realized that we could implement an initiative that would further increase graduation rates, help students explore careers of interest, earn college credit/and or technical training, and leave high school with a stronger plan for college and/or careers, helping them enter the workforce and/or college in a timely, economically responsible way.
The end result of our district’s work with The Agency was the creation of “Future Ready Knights,” the core component of which is PK-12 Career Pathways that are tied to high-demand job sectors. This PK-12 comprehensive approach to career development, which launched in 2018, helps every student discover their version of what it means to be Future Ready.
Activities
Pathways
A guiding principle of Future Ready Knights is the importance of providing students the opportunity to explore career-ready Pathways that keep students engaged in school from the earliest grades through graduation. Each Pathway includes:
- core curriculum.
- Pathway-specific courses, many of which are connected to regional higher education institutions or industry partners
- accelerated learning opportunities
- individualized career counseling
- work-based experiences such as job shadowing, industry visits, or apprenticeships
- co-curricular clubs or activities.
- Many of the high school courses earn students’ transferrable credits at local colleges and universities.
Career Pathways give all students clear and attainable goals to help make choices and achieve academic success. Pathways do not separate students into college-bound and non-college bound. All youth are career-bound, and all may eventually enroll in college or post-secondary education/training. Helping students think about where they are going at an earlier stage in their education gives them the opportunity to make appropriate choices along the way. Students are welcome to take courses from more than one Pathway, to explore a variety of potential career options.
There are currently 10 Pathways: Agriculture, Biomedical Science, Building Trades, Business & Finance, Career & Technical Education, Computer Science, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, and Human Services. Follow this link for a video that highlights our Pathways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUYYpqlFWYw.
Award-winning Elementary STEM program
While students begin to narrow their career choices in middle school and high school by selecting specific coursework, we provide universal Pathway learning opportunities beginning in PreK, including our award-winning Elementary STEM program, which includes the Project Lead The Way Launch (PLTW) curriculum, Coding classes, Science classes for grades 2-5, and a rotating schedule of elementary STEM teachers who ensure that STEM courses are provided two days per six-day cycle. Follow this link for a video highlighting this program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym56oSpjBHw.
Local Partnerships and Co-Curricular Activities
Beyond classroom instruction, we look to local partnerships with higher education institutions and employers to offer students work-based learning, and advanced coursework opportunities as well as co-curricular activities at every grade level. Our Career Counselor works with local businesses to provide meaningful work-based experiences and identify other career development activities related to the Pathways. For example, recent work-based learning activities in the Agriculture Pathway include internships at a Department of Environmental Conservation fish hatchery and Catskill Cattle (a local farm). We further engage local businesses by creating our own Career Connections videos, spotlighting representatives from businesses in Pathway fields, which are shown during middle school advisory period. Examples of K-8 co-curricular activities provided by local partners include 4-H, delivered by Cornell Cooperative Extension, and STEM Superstars, delivered by nearby Binghamton University.
Click here for a slide deck from one of our Career Connections presentations in middle school advisory: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Phqkk10W4GwaqZRmi3QJOWywF4aZdXYyE7EhHEeZdnk/edit?usp=sharing
And click here for one of our Career Connections videos: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Phqkk10W4GwaqZRmi3QJOWywF4aZdXYy
Audience Served
Students
There are approximately 11,000 residents within the Windsor Central School District. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2022 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates), 118% of the overall population lives below the poverty line, and nearly half of adults over age 25 (45%) have not completed any postsecondary education.
Approximately 1,500 students are enrolled in Windsor’s five schools: Floyd L. Bell (UPK-5), C.R. Weeks Elementary (UPK-5), A.F. Palmer Elementary (UPK-5), Windsor Central Middle School (6-8) and Windsor Central High School (9-12). Free, full-day prekindergarten (UPK) for three-year-old and four-year-old students is offered in all three elementary buildings. The district employs approximately 154 full-time teachers.
Most students in the district are non-Hispanic White (91.1%), 3.3% are Hispanic, 4.2% are Multiracial, 0.8% are African American, and 0.6% are Asian/Pacific Islander. In addition, 49% are economically disadvantaged, 0.72% are English Language Learners, 14.6% are students with disabilities, and 1% are homeless.
Teachers
Capitalizing on teachers’ expertise and interests in other areas: As we add relevant new courses, we work to identify current teachers who are interested in expanding their pedagogical reach, rather than hiring all new teachers. The ability to have teachers teach one course outside of their certification area (incidental teaching), per the New York State Education Department, has been key to expanding our Pathways. For example, a Chemistry teacher completed training to deliver the PLTW Medical Intervention course, an Earth Science teacher is teaching Intro to Carpentry, Electric, and Plumbing, and a French teacher is leading the Education Pathway initiative. In addition, we have 14 teachers that are approved to teach dual credit courses through local universities.
Community Partners
The Windsor Central School District is spread across 110 square miles of rolling hills and includes four small towns in Broome County, NY: Windsor, Kirkwood, Sanford, and Colesville. Nearby universities include SUNY Broome (part of the State University of New York system), and Binghamton University, both of which regularly partner with the district on a variety of initiatives.
We continue to expand local partnerships. Beyond classroom instruction, we look to local partnerships with higher education institutions and employers to offer students co-curricular, work-based learning, and advanced coursework opportunities. Our Career Counselor works with local businesses to provide meaningful work-based experiences and identify other career development activities related to the Pathways. For example, recent work-based learning activities in the Agriculture Pathway include internships at a Department of Environmental Conservation fish hatchery and Catskill Cattle (a local farm). We further engage local businesses by creating our own Career Connections videos, spotlighting representatives from businesses in Pathway fields, which are shown during middle school advisory period. Examples of K-8 co-curricular activities provided by local partners include 4-H, delivered by Cornell Cooperative Extension, and STEM Superstars, delivered by nearby Binghamton University.
Part of being a Future Ready Knight is also developing civic readiness, to become positive agents of change in the community, as featured in this video highlighting our Agriculture program:
Successful Impact
Since we began implementation of the Future Ready Knights initiative in 2018, our major accomplishments have included:
- Our four-year graduation rate was 93.4% in 2024, compared to 86.7% in 2018.
- 76% of our 2024 graduates had specific plans to attend postsecondary institutions.
- In the 2023-2024 school year, 74% of students in grades 8-12 had participated in at least one Pathway course.
- In the 2023-2024 school year, we offered 44 advanced/college-level courses through our higher education partners, and 69% of our 2024 graduates completed at least one of those courses. This represents an increase from 2018, when we offered 24 advanced courses and 56% of students completed at least one of those courses.
- In the past two years (2023 and 2024), the district has hired six new teachers who were previous students in our Education Pathway and chose to come back to Windsor to teach.
- Our middle school and all three of our elementary buildings have been named PLTW (Project Lead the Way) Distinguished Schools.
- Heather Noyd, our Career Counselor, was one of 25 members of the inaugural cohort of New York State Master Counselors in 2024, and the only designated career counselor among the group.
- In 2021, we were invited to participate in a regional initiative known as CORE (Career Opportunities in Rural Education), which provides work-based experiences and micro-credentialing for students to explore STEM-based career pathways, in partnership with local industries.
- In 2022, the New York State Education Department endorsed our agriculture coursework for Career & Technical Education credit-earning, enabling us to offer our courses for students throughout the region.
- Our Agriculture Pathway won the 2024 Outstanding Middle/Secondary Agricultural Education Program Award from the New York Association of Agricultural Educators.
- Our Agriculture Pathway was the 2023 National School Board Association’s Magna Grand Prize winner for districts with fewer than 5,000 students.
- In 2024, our Agriculture teacher and FFA (Future Farmers of America) advisor was awarded the Honorary American FFA degree, the National FFA’s highest honor.
- Our Elementary STEM initiative (a component of our Engineering Pathway) was one of six winners of the 2024 National School Board Association’s Magna Silver award for districts with fewer than 5,000 students. This accomplishment marked Windsor becoming the first district in the nation ever to win the Silver award one year after winning the Grand Prize.
- Three first-graders at Weeks Elementary qualified for the NYS Elementary Mathematics Tournament in 2024.
Recommendations for Replication
As with any new initiative, we would advise school districts that are interested in replicating Future Ready Knights to first gain input from students, staff, and parents about college and career readiness interests and needs. This should be paired with local economic development information about high-demand careers in the area to identify which Pathways will be part of your implementation plan— be sure to talk with local workforce organizations to gain insights into what specific skills employers in the area are looking for. Similarly, reviewing recent data as to student achievement and current coursework offered will help the district develop goals and objectives for their program.
Secondly, districts should look at how they can use existing resources to get the initiative started in a fiscally responsible way. At Windsor, rather than hiring all new teachers for the new courses we planned to offer, we were able to capitalize on the interests and expertise of our existing teachers; for example, our Chemistry teacher completed training to deliver the Biomedical Science course, and our French teacher is leading the Education Pathway initiative. Beyond classroom instruction, look to current and potential local partnerships with higher education institutions and employers to offer students co-curricular, work-based learning, and advanced coursework opportunities.
Finally, don’t feel that you need to have a perfect plan in order to get started! With buy-in and participation from stakeholders, your Future Ready initiative can and should be constantly evolving.
Contact Information
Barb Tasber, Director of Learning, Leadership, and Technology
(607)655-8213 btasber@windsor-csd.org
Website: https://www.windsor-csd.org