Dive Brief:
- An Indiana school district has made a big push to develop college and career readiness skills among its high school students, especially around STEM fields.
- Half of the high-schoolers at Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township are enrolled in a three- or four-year program around biomedical sciences, engineering or computer science.
- The district busses students to a special career center for up to three periods a day, and the center also offers coursework on automotive repair, business and cosmetology.
Dive Insight:
College and career readiness skills has been a major focus for many school districts, who seek to get students out of the classroom and into fields that they may wish to pursue after graduation. Some programs in this model, often called career academies, offer students the chance to earn college credit, or shadow professionals at internships.
The end goal is two-fold: to give students a boost when pursuing post-graduation education and to impart workplace and interpersonal skills that are difficult to teach in the traditional classroom. Proponents admit that not every student will want to continue the line of work after graduation, but they contend that giving students early exposure to careers will help them discover what suits them best faster than waiting for college.