Dive Brief:
- The Georgia Department of Education has approved a series of gold seals to be affixed to the high school diplomas of graduates who are deemed ready to go straight to work, according to the Gainesville Times.
- The seals acknowledge those students with exceptional accomplishments in activities, courses, and experiences that foster career readiness. The six seals students can earn include Employability/Soft Skills Seal; Distinguished Employability/Soft Skills Seal; Pathways Skills Seal; Leadership Skills Seal, and Distinguished Leadership Skills Seal.
- The move dovetails with the growing enrollment in work-study programs and other curriculum designed to prepare Georgia high school students for the work world.
Dive Insight:
Interest in career and technical education (CTE) has flourished as the demand for skilled workers has increased. And as more students start down those paths, graduation rates increase, research is showing.
When implementing these types of technical programs, K-12 administrators need input from industry to ensure educational experiences align with workforce demands. States are increasingly establishing structures (and financial supports) for industry and education stakeholders to collaborate. A sampling of those efforts in 13 states is available in an Education Commission of the States report. In a similar vein, administrators also need to make sure CTE instructors have current knowledge of the field, ideally via externships or obtaining timely industry credentials as needed.
One challenge for administrators is confronting the lingering stigma, perhaps among parents most of all, that such technical programs are for the kids who "can't cut it" in a traditional high school track. That image is beginning to fade as more students make these programs, which offer them reliable job prospects and greater autonomy in directing their coursework, their first choice. In the meantime, getting data on career opportunities into the hands of students and parents can help, as it did in Texas. Legislation there created "career counseling academies" to bring high school counselors up to speed on the high-demand jobs in their region, and how their districts' CTE programs can prepare students to fill them.