Chapman University’s Attallah College of Educational Studies, in partnership with the CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County (CLA-OC), has awarded ePrize (Education Prize) grants to support three Orange County public high school programs seeking to enhance and expand Work-Based Learning (WBL) opportunities for OC students.

The focus of the 2nd ePrize is to encourage educators to work with industry on the design and implementation of scalable pilot(s) to expand WBL opportunities that contribute to career trajectory pipelines for local high school students.

OCEPS ePrize Awards

Attallah College’s ePrize (Education Prize) award program was established as part of its Orange County Excellent Public Schools (OCEPS) Initiative. The OCEPS mission is to increase the number of Orange County high school and college graduates and to close student achievement gaps in order to support the sustained economic growth of Orange County.

In support of this initiative, ePrize awards seek to speed the introduction and spread of innovative approaches in OC’s PK-12 public school system by fostering collaborations among public school districts, charter schools, and local community organizations.

The first ePrize, awarded in 2017, funded a Parent Engagement Initiative (PEI) project that includes Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD), Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), and El Sol Science and Arts Academy, an independent charter school in Santa Ana. Key stakeholders from each partner are working to share, implement, and customize AUHSD’s innovative Teacher Reflective Learning Walks (TRLWs) and Parent Learning Walks (PLWs) at public school sites in Santa Ana, California.

ePrize 2 Winners

For the 2nd ePrize, a panel of expert judges including Attallah College’s Dean Margaret Grogan and Assistant Professor Amy-Jane Griffiths awarded three Work-Based Learning (WBL) project ideas from a $150,000 pool of funds.

The following winning teams and proposals were announced during the 2nd ePrize on Work-Based Learning webinar on May 20, 2020:

  • Tustin Unified School District (TUSD): Summer internship course
  • Samueli Academy: Year-long Business & Finance CTE (Career Technical Education) capstone course
  • Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD): Career pathway to prepare students to enter the healthcare workforce

All three pilot projects will serve as WBL program models that can be applied across districts and throughout the county.

During program implementation, the winning teams will work with one or more of three participating businesses:

  • University of California, Irvine (UCI): 2nd largest employer in the county with almost 25,000 employees
  • CHOC Children’s (CHOC): 18th largest employer in the county with almost 4,000 employees
  • Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO): One of the Civic 50 companies in Orange County with approximately 1,300 employees

For more information about OCEPS, the ePrize 2 award, and the winning team projects, please refer to the recording of the ePrize 2 Announcement Webinar, the RFP Announcement webpage, and the 2020 ePrize RFP Guidelines.