TO:                  All internship, community service and teaching assistantship supervisors

FROM:            Nunia Mafi, Community Partnerships Coordinator & Sherry Balzano, Student Activities Coordinator

DATE:             September, 2007

RE:                  General suggestions for successful S.Y.O.P. placements

Thank you for agreeing to serve as a work site supervisor/mentor to one of our students.  We are sure that you both will benefit from the internship arrangement.  The enclosed program materials will give you a general flavor for the program.  To get you started, I have provided some suggestions that should make it easier for you and your intern to have a mutually satisfying and beneficial experience.

Clear Expectations

Students and supervisors who have previously been involved with the program have made several suggestions for improving it.  The most successful placements were carefully structured with frequent supervision and clear expectations provided to the student by the employer/supervisor.  As you design the placement experience for your student, please try to include:

• Clearly defined tasks with some variety.

• Specific learning goals for your student.

• Discussion about how the specific role fits into the big picture of your organization.

• Projects that challenge, but do not frustrate your student.

• Structured meetings with you or a designated supervisor to provide feedback about job performance and to discuss the overall SYOP experience.

 In addition to the “real world” experience that you will provide, the SYOP involves a weekly seminar at the high school.  Students will learn about work place competencies, and how their own skills and strengths, work values, and personality traits pertain to job satisfaction.  For more information on seminar topics, see the “Seminar Calendar” page on the SYOP website.

Communication is Key

Perhaps the most important aspect of a successful SYOP placement is good communication.  Strong communication between supervisor and student is an essential component of active supervision, but sometimes it is difficult to maintain.  Make sure your student knows your expectations.  Try to stay in regular contact with your student, and make sure that he/she knows that you can be approached as necessary.  Remember that this experience should simulate an employment scenario.  The student should be expected to conform to the expectations, standards and culture of your work place.  If you have any concerns at all, be sure to contact me promptly so problems can be resolved before they become chronic.

Planning and Evaluation

As a site supervisor, you will need to organize and evaluate your student’s work using the Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan (WBLP).  The Plan is a comprehensive tool designed by the Massachusetts Department of Education to help supervisors and students around the state plan community-based learning experiences and evaluate student progress.

I ask that you evaluate your student’s performance twice during the SYOP placement, once after two to three weeks for a baseline, and again at the conclusion of the trimester.  Be sure to fill out the employer data sheet and the sections asking for job descriptions and specific job tasks.

The Massachusetts Department of Education has determined that nine specific competencies are fundamental to most jobs and transferable from one to another.  We have extracted seven of these, from which you must evaluate your students on at least three.  The plan provides detailed descriptions of the competencies and performance levels.  Write a learning goal at the bottom of the page for each competency.  Use the boxes on the individual competency pages to evaluate your intern’s performance, and please comment on specifics. 

 For More Information

The “Agreement Form” and the “Work-Based Learning Plan” provide useful information on the SYOP program.  We will be happy to meet with you to answer any questions that remain for you – we can be reached at mafin@arps.org or (413) 362-1525 or balzanos@arps.org or (413) 362-1793.

  Again, thank you for your work with our students.

  In accordance with federal and state regulations no student shall be discriminated against or excluded from this program on account of race, color, gender, disability, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.