Opportunities abound in CTE education by Kimberly DeVries
Efforts are increasing around Mississippi to help students become career-ready; the MDE is introducing new avenues to help students focus on career possibilities earlier, and several Rankin-area schools are developing more opportunities for students to explore those careers. What is the aim of these efforts? To provide educated choices to Mississippi students, qualified employees to state businesses, and a needed boost to the state’s economy. Providing choices to students is the goal of several programs, including the Rankin County academies and the Hinds Career and Technical Center CTE programs. Heather Burch, director of curriculum and instruction for Rankin County schools, said, “We have three different avenues that we’re providing our students: they can go directly to the workforce and be successful; they could go on to a two-year community college; or they could go straight to an IHL [Institute of Higher Learning]. So at any point, we’re not trying to limit students through this; we’re just trying to provide them as many options as possible.” Students can stay at their home schools and apply for one of the three existing health academies, or for an emerging one; by 20122013, every Rankin County high school will offer at least one academy. Or they can go to the Hinds center, which offers career-readiness education to over 400 Rankin public school students and 150 Pearl High School students in at least 10 areas, ranging from Auto Collision Repair to Architecture and Drafting to Culinary Arts. These programs seek to incorporate a career path into the overall education; Brandon High offers classes, such as Health Sciences Language Arts, in an effort to “reinforce the Health Science curriculum throughout” the school day, according to Brandon High Assistant Principal Bryan Marshall. Eric Smith, CTE director at the center, said the goal is to “start getting students into that mindset to go into that 2
“So at any point, we’re not trying to limit students through this; we’re just trying to provide them as many options as possible.”