Apr 17, 2006 By Angie Oravec 6 min read

The Laurel Highlands School District is the first district in the county and one of a few in the state to implement career-focused courses for high school students to become more prepared for the changing workforce. The curriculum, modeled under the National Academy Foundation (NAF), is geared toward particular fields of study and was the result of a collaborative effort among the school district, regional business leaders and REACH, a branch of the FayPenn Economic Development Council.

“It’s a partnership with the business community and the whole community to allow children to a broader vision, more exposure to businesses and to all the opportunities that are out there,” said Kim Dillinger, manager of REACH, which stands for Reaching Educational Achievement with Community Help.

“If we can get kids to think more career-focused, than the chances are favorable that they will have a very viable career. Our kids have to have the type of skills that are transferable because who knows what career opportunities there will be in the next 10 years since technology is advancing so quickly.”

NAF programs have been in existence for over 20 years, just not locally, Dillinger added. The program aims to target the “middle student” who is unsure about college and a career choice and it has been successful in other school districts, she said. Students going through the program have a higher Grade Point Average (GPA), rate of graduation and attendance record, she added.

“Overall, it creates a better student,” Dillinger said. “The goal is to see if it can have a positive impact.”

Currently, Laurel Highlands is in the early stages of the process and has yet to see a graduating class from one of the programs. But, Dillinger said she can only see it continuing to be successful.

Eight Career clusters/academies – finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, fine arts, pre-engineering, education, health and human services, advanced placement – were chosen out of 16 approved by the state by a business advisory board, which looked at the region and decided which clusters should be implemented at local schools.

Sitting on the advisory board are representatives of Duke Energy, National City Bank, First National Bank, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, the Upper Room, Advanced Acoustics Concepts, NuRelm and Trident Systems, while new members are always enrolling, said Dillinger.

Dr. Gary Brain, director of curriculum for the Laurel Highlands School District, said with the arrival of new companies – some of which have representatives sitting on the advisory board that chose the courses – looking for qualified applicants in the field of technology, students who graduate from the NAF programs may not have to go to Washington, D.C., or Pittsburgh for jobs.

“There will be opportunities around here,” Brain said. “To me, it’s a challenge to our area to start preparing more students for these jobs.”

The move fits into the national and statewide trend toward high school course reform.

“I really think we have been remiss in associating what students do academically with what they do in the world of work,” said Brain. “We feel with this, they can see why algebra is important, why writing skills are important, so they can use it to make informed decisions regarding future education and careers.”

This year marks the second full year for student enrollment in the hospitality and tourism and finance courses and the first year of enrollment in the Information Technology program, said Dillinger.

Brain said 50 students in grades 10 and 11 are enrolled among those three programs.

The 2006-07 school year will mark the first time ninth graders have eight different choices.

Brain said the academy uses industry-based or certified curriculum. Paid internships between the student’s junior and senior year and earning college credits at partner schools, which include California University of Pennsylvania and Laurel Business Institute, are a part of the program.

There is no GPA requirement for students to take courses, he said, adding that students will not lose their traditional courses of study. Rather, career-related courses will be counted as electives.

Recently, officials with the school district interviewed the number of students enrolled in the programs and invited them to interviews similar to what they will face with future employers. Grades were looked at, as were students’ attendance and understanding of what they were learning.

Dillinger said school officials were “positively overwhelmed” with the results and learned that some students have made significant progress. Their attendance improved and they had a higher understanding for what they were learning and why they were learning it because they understood how it applies in the job world, said Dillinger.

She said a large number of the students (10 this year) are available for internship opportunities and the interns would be of “a higher caliber” than normal high school students.

“(Laurel Highlands) has done a wonderful job,” noted Dillinger. “Now, we will be using what we learned from the National Academy experience to create similar programs throughout the county. …Thanks to LH for taking this leap.”

The school district has also raised the bar as far as math and English requirements. Brain said three levels of English and math are offered. No general courses are offered, only academic and honors, said Brain.

Last year, funding became available for school districts that wanted to embark on the new initiative and LH decided to be the pilot, Dillinger said. LH was and will be awarded a $95,000 per year for three years to further the program.

The dual enrollment grant from the state has paid and will continue to pay for student fees and books, while a large chunk of it has went to and will go to the salary of an extra high school guidance counselor hired to work with just ninth-grade students.

The initiative has come to fruition after three full years of planning in which officials learned a lot from the experience of developing the program. In the past, REACH, through the funds of The Eberly Foundation, has sent administrators and teachers from county school districts to Model Schools conferences to learn more about the NAF program, said Dillinger. The conferences were part of the International Center of Leadership and Education (ICLE).

The long-range goal is to get all school districts on board with the transition from traditional to more career-oriented courses and the experience will allow future implementation of the program to move along faster, said Dillinger.

“Eventually, if all schools embrace the idea, REACH can partner with the school districts to bring innovation into the classroom. These new ideas and energy can only benefit the entire community,” she said.

“Fayette County is seeing so much growth and excitement,” Dillinger continued. “I’m proud of the school districts for being willing to really make the change we need to help children have the advantages we need. It takes a community effort.”

For more information on the academy, log onto www.naf.org

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