McKinney | August 2022

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that are just starving for talent and peo- ple,” Young said. How it works The district starts raising awareness of its CTE programs when students are in eighth grade, Young said. Each December the district puts out infor- mation about these courses so sta can best prepare for the number of students who have signed up. CTE programs are typically oered during high school for MISD students, with classes oered at all three high schools. Starting from their freshman year, students can select a course of study—or pathway—and if they choose, they can follow that pathway all the way through their senior year, said Jennifer Peirson, McKinney Boyd High School principal. However, MISD also allows students to take more than one course of study. “I think that’s the bottom line, is try- ing to help kids nd things that they’re going to do for the rest of their lives that they enjoy doing and that they’re passionate about doing,” Peirson said. “That doesn’t always mean college.” CTE classes dier from other classes in that they are not lecture-based, Peir- son said. The teachers and students are usually producing or creating some- thing during the class period, such as programming a piece of software; creating an animation; or designing bouquets and gaining business experi- ence in the district’s oral shop, Boyd Blooms, where students and businesses can purchase oral arrangements. “These are actually courses that they’re going to be able to do something with, whether it’s to earn that extra money while going to college or if that’s their career path,” Peirson said. One such instance of hands-on learning involves the district’s aviation

program where students can learn about various aspects of the aviation eld, from earning their pilot’s license to building their own airplane over the course of a school year. In 2017, McK- inney Mayor George Fuller and school Board Member Amy Dankel, who is now board president, took the class project for a spin and were able to y in the air- craft out of McKinney National Airport. The airport is just one of the district’s partners with CTE programs. Young said others include Habitat for Human- ity of Collin County and local hospitals. “All CTE clusters are required to have an advisory board,” Young said. “Every advisory board will usually have two or three dierent businesses on it.” Expanding professions In addition to providing students with hands-on experience with real- world work, MISD oers certications in many of its pathways so students can either get a step ahead on college applications or enter the workforce, Young said. Michelle Millen, dean of health sci- ences and emergency services at Col- lin College, said all the partnerships the college has with MISD leads to a certication. She said not only do CTE programs help students explore career path options, but they also involve more rig- orous coursework. “To hold those students account- able to that higher level of college rigor is something that is really valuable for high school students,” she said. Some people have a perception that trades might not pay as much as if they had gone on to college, but that is not true, Young said. There are teenagers making $50,000-$60,000 a year with their welding certicates, and CTE pro- grams give students “a strong foothold

CAREER EDUCATION GROWING Enrollment in career and technical education programs, or CTE, in McKinney ISD has seen a net increase of 5.6% since the 2014-15 school year, according to data available from the Texas Education Agency.

High school CTE enrollment

Total high school enrollment 10K

8,013

7,456

7.5K

4,579

4,336

2.5K

2014-15

2015-16 2016-17

2017-18 2018-19

2019-20

SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCYCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

in high school helps students be more sure about their future careers, he said. In many cases, students can also start working immediately in their eld upon high school graduation. “Kids are learning a trade,” Young said. “Most of these trades that we oer, you can go on into college and continue with that.” Unlike traditional high school courses, these programs—which include courses from agriculture to transportation logistics—oer practical training and certication that helps stu- dents hone in on specializations earlier in their careers, according to the Texas Education Agency.

A variety of state and federal funding is available to school districts for these programs through the continued reau- thorization of the Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, most recently reauthorized by Congress in 2018, according to the U.S. Depart- ment of Education. Funding is then allocated by the TEA based on local economic considerations, jobs available and student needs. Many students who study CTE programs are able to graduate high school and be employable in a “high-paying, high-demand environ- ment,” Young said. “The trades are denitely an industry

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