Kelly Amy, Specialist STEM, CTE, Career Academies Tom Besaw, Coordinator, CTE and the Arts Volusia County Schools, Florida Ford Fund Next Generation Learning Community

ECONOMICS QUIZ: Is your school district receiving more funding than in past years? Have real estate values gone up in your community? Is unemployment below 6% in your community? Is the business base of your community expanding? Are your school employees being asked to do more with less?

Accountability Quiz… Is your district facing: High stakes testing tied to graduation? The risk of imposed sanctions for NCLB? Public concern over publicized school grades? Teacher/administrator evaluations tied to student performance? Low morale from over-loaded teachers?

Perfect Storm… 21 st century workplace and technical skills are more important than land and buildings Critical, trained human capital must be developed through a complex educational system Baby boomer retirement in key occupations is impacting the job market, resulting in potentially disruptive labor shortages. Workforce & economic development is increasingly a k-12 issue & many communities lag behind in understanding how business & schools must work together to make the k-12 workforce connection

SITUATION IS BIGGER THAN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN ANY COMMUNITY School systems and the business community must work together to dig out of the recession. It will: Be Challenging Create Change Demand Trust Require new solutions Remind us that “The World is Flat”

Every community has organizations that deal with economic & workforce development, k-12 & postsecondary education: Workforce education needs to be targeted Community must set the targets Communities need partnerships of K-12 schools, postsecondary institutions, business community and economic development agencies to hit the target Schools= Economy Economy = Schools

Partners must plan strategically to be effective Where are you going? What tools will you need? How will you know when you get there? What will you do when you get there?

Reports from Cadre Sub-Committees PartnershipsWorkforce Needs Analysis Marketing/PR Curriculum Design and Delivery Efficiency and Effectiveness

RATESDELAND ENGINEERING ACADEMY ALL ACADEMIES Volusia District GRADUATION100% DROPOUT SUSPENSIONS ABSENCES

Race To The Top CTE STEM CTE STEM Programs cluster_frame12.asp cluster_frame12.asp CTE percentage of Core Standards cluster_frame12.asp CAPE p

University High School Orange City 2700 students in grades career and technical program teachers 5 career academies 9 th grade STEM Wheel (Tech Issues/Pitsco Lab) Engineering PLTW STEM Biomedical PLTW STEM Plant Biotechnology STEM Simulation/Robotics STEM* FinanceNAF

Integrated Curriculum Subjects Engineering (Math/Science) Biomedical (Math/Science) Plant Biotechnology (Math/Science) Simulation and Robotics (Math/Science)* Finance ( English)*

Students, Teachers & Business Work Together to Develop Integrated Curriculum Projects

Professional Development VCS Career Academy Standards Link Why Integrated Curriculum How To Integrate Curriculum Who Integrated Curriculum Write integrated Curriculum Real World Projects that cross core and CTE curriculum areas. Implement (curriculum in action)

What worked/What Did Not Worked Student interest Teacher teams Professional development Did not Forcing curriculum matches Math is very difficult to match for all students in a co-hort. 9 th grade wheel Sustainability

Next Steps Empower teacher teams to lead the process Career Connection Cadre (Workforce needs) recommendation for additional RTTT CTE STEM Academy to open August VCS locate academy Articulation Agreements with post secondary Work based agreements with business partners

Recommendations Use Career Academy Data to determine success Use student survey Data for change Cluster advisory committees Need for continual support to bring integration from low to high level of integration

Volusia Schools Three Year Career Academy Goals Increase students in Career Academies from 22% to 35% in a five year period. Increase the number of students earning industry certifications Increase the number of Career Academies from 34 to 45.

Mr. Fitz by David Finkle 7 th Grade Teacher at Southwestern Middle School

Essential Tools for the Planning Process Career Connection website: connection.org Career Connection website: connection.org CTE Strategic Plan on Career Connection WIKI: iew/Volusia+Career+Academy+Strategic+Plan+for doc iew/Volusia+Career+Academy+Strategic+Plan+for doc