Vo-tech to start new initiatives
The Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School will start several new initiatives during the 2008-09 school year, when a 10 percent boost in student enrollment is expected. Dr. Edward Jeffreys, vo-tech executive director, highlighted the new undertakings during a presentation at Monday’s joint operating committee meeting.
Jeffreys said the school is predicted to experience a 10 percent boost in student enrollment as a result of several improvements.
He said 13 out of 17 programs now offer certification to students and the school offers a new veterinary technician program and a bio-medical component to the health occupations program.
He also credited a new student delivery system with increasing enrollment. He said the half-day about delivery system, which will have students attending the school in morning and afternoon sessions, eliminated five different student arrival times.
According to enrollment figures provided by the school’s administration, 583 students are slated to attend the school in the 2008-09 school year. That number includes about 269 new students.
The school also will begin a handful of new initiatives.
According to Jeffreys, the vo-tech is one of two Pennsylvania schools expected to split a $20,000 grant to initiate a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education program.
The grant is to be received through the United States Department of Defense and the Center for the Advancement of STEM Education. The Lehigh Valley Career and Technical Institute is the other school to receive the funding.
“We, along with Lehigh, will be the first schools in PA to offer this,” said Jeffreys, noting the school’s faculty will receive STEM training during the first semester and demonstrate the results of the training during the second semester.
To boost students’ math achievement, the school is expected to implement Tabula Digita’s DimensionM educational video games, which are designed to help students master algebra concepts.
Immersive educational video games can significantly raise scores on district-wide math benchmark exams and improve students’ math understanding and skills and have proven successful in raising student achievement in Florida schools, according to an article on a study conducted by the University of Central Florida.
Jeffreys said the teaching method was considered after two math instructor positions were cut from the vo-tech budget last year and past results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests indicate some local high school and middle school students need to improve their math skills.
The school also will employ a new effort to provide more individual attention to special education students.
Students enrolled at California University of Pennsylvania will intern at the school, working specifically with four or five students in a shop, said Jeffreys.
“Our special education folks are qualified, but they don’t have the time (to work with small groups of students)… We had to expand on it,” Jeffreys explained.
A pilot program to introduce freshman high school students to different career areas was approved by the school’s joint operating committee Monday.
Through the pilot program known as “PAES,” which is being offered by Talent Assessment, Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., and coordinated through the Intermediate Unit 1, anywhere between 30 to 40 9th graders will learn more about different job opportunities to help them decide which high school career placement path they would like to pursue, said Jeffreys.
“It gives students real knowledge of career areas,” said Jeffreys. “It provides the basis for school-to-work transition plans.”
Vo-tech administration also is in the process of applying for a Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant through the office of Gov. Ed Rendell.
If awarded, the grant will fund a wind turbine project at the school to give students the opportunity to learn about alternative energy and repair and install the machines used to produce it, Jeffreys said.
He also said the administration continues to contemplate changing the school’s name to go along with an improved public image.