Federal Grant Aids Toledo Schools In Launch Of Improved Career-Tech Programming Toledo Public Schools this year will begin an effort to connect its career-technology education programs with the needs of regional industries thanks to a nearly $4 million federal grant. TPS is the only district in Ohio and one of 24 nationally to receive funding through the U.S. Department of Labors Youth CareerConnect Grant, TPS Director of Career Technology Daphne Derden said. The USDOLs website said its intention is to encourage districts, higher education institutions, the workforce investment system, and partners to scale up evidence-based high school models that will transform the high school experience for Americas youth. TPSs $3.8 million will be used over four years at five high schools that will model their approach after a successful program at the Toledo Technology Academy, which is a STEM school within the district. They have been recognized at the state level and nationally for what theyve done between career technology and academics, Ms. Derden said in an interview. So when you talk about collaborating and really bringing together academic skill with technical skill, thats TTA.... If a student is working with an algebra concept, its embedded within their curriculum in their career-technology lab. So for the student its not like Im learning algebra; no, Im learning algebra as it relates to what Im doing in my career-tech lab. The grant was based on that model and how do we recreate that in our other buildings. Federal expectations tied to the grant include students earning a high school diploma, an industry-recognized credential, at least 18 post-secondary credits and then completing an employer-initiated project and work-based internship, she said. The money will be used in several ways to connect the districts career-tech programs to regional industry needs, specifically engineering, electronics and advanced manufacturing. That is an expectation that we should be doing anyway, but this grant really allows us the resources to have specific individuals to do that because a lot of times we put that responsibility between the director of a program, the teacher, sometimes building principals will really get involved with that part of that, Ms. Derden said. But with all the other duties that we have to do and that are assigned, sometimes that can be difficult to do, so its really great to have that resource there to focus on that specifically. The grant has allowed the district to hire more personnel including a program manager for the grant, a career coach and it will hire a college coach. An intervention specialist was also hired to support special education students engaged in career technical programs. Of the 1,600 students in the workforce development programs, about 15% are special education, she said. The funding will back professional development and bring industry into the fold to ensure what teachers are doing in the classrooms is relevant to company needs. The district will also have offices at Owens Community College and the Workforce Investment Board to encourage collaboration, which Ms. Derden said was an in-kind donation tied to the grant. Another piece thats really big for us is transportation, she said. In a comprehensive system that we have offering career technology, (that was) one of the challenges that we had and we heard over and over again from our teachers. For instance, a teacher at Bowsher High School could be the only one offering a specific CTE program and yet students at another high school want to take the classes, she said. Those pupils are permitted to do so but no transportation is provided to them. The grant will allow for a bus to take students from one school to another during the school day. The schools impacted by the grant are the Toledo Technology Academy and Bowsher, Start, Woodward and Scott high schools, Ms. Derden said. Toledo companies that will partner to provide training, job shadowing and mentoring include Xunlight Corporation, First Solar Inc., General Motors, Dana Holding Corp., Ohio Belt Transmission and Radco Industries, according to the district.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 02:05:10 +0000
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