Still in the early stages of exploring just how a new grant will be used at Maryville High School, students will have the opportunity to hone in on career prep skills and gain valuable insight into what today's employers are looking for.
Ryan Tool, a guidance counselor at MHS, said the school applied for the Career Preparation Certificate grant through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in June, and received notification that they had been one of just four districts in the state to get the grant this fall.
The grant does just what it implies — it helps prepare students for future careers. Tool said part of the grant money, which he thinks will be approximately $25,000 over a two-year period will go toward supplying students with a jump drive to store the documents and other information used for their career prep program. They will also be helpful in allowing students to use that information after graduation because they make an easy way to store and transport that information.
According to the DESE Web site, the program is designed to promote academic and work readiness for Missouri's high school seniors. Although, Tool said it is hopefully something they will eventually be able to offer students as soon as they enter high school.
Tool said grants like this offer school districts the unique opportunity to participate in programs and fund activities that they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford.
"I really think it is important," he said. "It pushes us a school district to keep being innovative and to try looking for new ways to help kids. Obviously we want to always do our best, and do what's best for the kids, but when there's money behind it — it's a lot easier to go out and get things started. It helps drive us a little bit more."
The program offers districts the opportunity to:
• Work with employers to identify and validate local standards.
• Create local demand and meet employer expectations in the community.
• Issue a certificate based on the academic and soft skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.
Right now, Tool said the district has the certificate set up on two different levels. The first is for those students who have already completed the A+ program at MHS.
"We thought that already measured some good things as far as attendance, a certain GPA and then they have to do tutoring or mentoring," he said.
The other level is for those who have not completed the A+ program but who have met other similar requirements.
Tool said the school will be using focus groups to determine what skills they think students are lacking, because he really wants the career prep certificate to be something the students can later use, and something employers recognize.
MHS is also partnering the the Missouri Career Center in the Community Services, Inc. building in Maryville to have their students complete WorkKeys testing. The Career Center provides Career Readiness Certificates based on three WorkKeys assessments: Reading for information, locating information and applied mathematics. WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that measures real world skills employers believe are critical to job success.
"We know that they've got accessibility to WorkKeys through their program so we'd like to take advantage of that," Tool said.
Maryville, Mo. —
