High School Students Take Career-Oriented Courses
Published Sep 15, 2008
High school students in Ector County have many career-oriented academic opportunities, such as learning the ins and outs of the plant-nursery business.
With a steady supply of workers needed for The High Ground’s expanding businesses, some public school districts are offering fast-track opportunities for high school students to get an early start in labor-hungry fields.
A prime example is the Odessa-based Ector County Independent School District, which opened its career center in the early 1990s and recently completed a top-to-bottom overhaul of its academic offerings.
“It was organized around a career-cluster concept and was almost an independent campus,” says Ian Roark, director of career and technical education. “The students were full-time enrollees and weren’t a part of the two high schools.
We had declining enrollment (at the career center), even as the business and economic leaders wanted to see more students there.” In 2007-08, enrollment was 396 full-time students.
To combat the problem, school officials worked with area colleges to create updated and additional fields of study, such as health sciences and technical careers, while at the same time integrating the center’s students into regular high school life. The students now attend one of the county’s two high schools and are shuttled to the career center for technical courses.
The center also now will weigh the credits for some upper-level classes at the advanced-placement level, while also qualifying some for national certificates.
Students have responded positively to the changes. “Our student requests for the first cycle, which begins during the 2008-09 school year, have been overwhelming,” numbering more than 2,000, Roark says.
Other career-oriented programs in The High Ground include the Lubbock Independent School District’s ongoing work with South Plains College at the Byron Martin Advanced Technology Center.
Story by Joe Morris
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