CAREER EDUCATION GROWING Tomball and Magnolia ISDs have seen an increase in the number of students enrolled in career and technical education, according to data from the Texas Education Agency for each district’s two traditional high schools.
“We’ve been pretty steady grow- ing,” he said. In Magnolia and Tomball ISDs, Texas Education Agency data shows 66.82% and 77.09%, respectively, of traditional high school students were enrolled in CTE courses in 2019-20, the most recent data available. This is an increase from about 64% of stu- dents in each district in 2014-15. TISD Director of CTE Karla Sando- val said in an emailed statement that the district’s four new CTE programs launching in the fall were among 10 programs that focus groups last fall identified to align with current and future job opportunities projected for Texas and the Gulf Coast region. “We chose to start with those pro- grams since the physical spaces that those programs will occupy at our new Innovation Center could most easily be fast-tracked and would allow us to get students into them quickly,” Sandoval said. “Future CTE program expansion at the Innovation Center will require more extensive remodel- ing to the facility.” While CTE enrollment has grown, data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shows fall enroll- ment at public state and community colleges in Texas declined from 2019- 21 while enrollment at state technical colleges surged 40.85% in that time. “We do have plans to expand [CTE] in the future. .... We are working with Lone Star College [on the Magnolia Center] … to see which courses they are going to offer there and how we can partner,” Campbell said. “Even though we’re not necessarily ready to announce a particular new pathway, there’s several that we’re exploring.” Christopher Goodwin contributed to this report.
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Total students
Students enrolled in CTE courses
STUDENT NUMBERS:
4,636
5K
4,024
3,630
3,574
4K
3,566
77.09%
2,689
3K
2,322
2,282
66.82%
63.97%
2K
63.99%
TOMBALL & TOMBALL MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOLS
MAGNOLIA & MAGNOLIA WEST HIGH SCHOOLS
1K
0
Data from the Texas Workforce Commission shows the number of HVAC mechanic and installer posi- tions is expected to grow 19.6% from 2018-28 with 950 annual job openings in the Gulf Coast Region. “We recently met with Magnolia ISD’s CTE director, who applauded the decision to include HVAC at Mag- nolia Center due to local demand,” Riley said in May. Expanding health care professions Several health care professions are also included in the workforce board’s in-demand occupations requiring some postsecondary education. As such, LSC-Tomball is planning to expand its Health Science Building, located on Graham Drive, Nutt said in an interview. “We definitely have kicked off the process for programming for another building … on the same property that our existing health science building is on. That will enable us to add addi- tional health care programs,” Nutt said.
Nutt said preliminary program- ming has not been approved as the building is about two to three years from opening, but initial plans are to offer associate degrees in anesthesia technology, ophthal- mic technology,
Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, in health professions, Nutt said. The partners submitted the application to the state and anticipate the program will be approved for fall 2023, she said. “It is a unique
neurodiagnos- tic technology and polysom- nographic technology. In addition, LSC-Tomball is
partnership that is intended for students to get into the work- force right after high school,” Nutt said. CTE focus At the high school level, data
Fall enrollment at Texas technical colleges surged Enrollment dropped for public community and state colleges in Texas from 2019-21. from 2019-21. 40.9% 11.7% SOURCE: TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
adding a medical lab technician pro- gram this fall and a dental assistant program at its LSC-Creekside Center, Nutt said. “We’re excited about that and think that will really help in the health care world for some of those needs,” Nutt said. The Tomball campus is also part- nering with TISD and HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball on a Pathways in
shows local school districts are also seeing more students enroll in CTE classes. Campbell said MISD students can receive credentials such as an emer- gency medical technician certificate, certified nursing assistant, automo- tive certification or a cosmetology license.
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