Adam Grigsby, an instructor at Bluegrass Community and Technical College’s Danville campus, demonstrates how to use robots in his classroom. High school students in regional career academies being developed by New Skills for Youth grants could be in similar classrooms. The academies are designed to help students prepare for high-demand careers in their areas.
Photo by Bobby Ellis, Nov. 30, 2017
(Frankfort, KY) – The Kentucky Department of Education has awarded six Kentucky school districts with grants to strengthen and expand career and technical pathways for students. The planning grants (about $115,000 each) are part of the New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative, and provide an incentive for local districts to transition state-operated area technical centers and locally-operated technical centers into regional academies.
The winning districts and their partners in NSFY Cohort 2 are:
- Breathitt County Board of Education – Breathitt Area Technology Center, Jackson Independent Board of Education, Riverside Christian School, Hazard Community and Technical College, Juniper Health, Kentucky River Medical Center, AMTECK, Breathitt County Extension Office, East Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Morehead State University
- Clinton County Board of Education – Clinton County Area Technology Center, Cumberland County Board of Education, Campbellsville University, Keystone, The Medical Center of Albany, Somerset Community College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, Clinton County EMS
- Hickman County School District – Fulton County Area Technology Center, Fulton County School District, Fulton Independent School District, Hickman County School District, Carlisle County School District, Ballard County School District, Mayfield/Graves County Area Technology Center, Ballard County Area Technology Center
- Logan County School District – Logan County Career Technical Center, Logan Memorial Hospital, Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, Graves Gilbert Clinic
- Mason County Schools – Mason County Area Technology Center, Augusta Independent Schools, Bracken County Schools, Robertson County Schools
- Nelson County Schools – Nelson County Area Technology Center, Bardstown City Schools, LaRue County Schools, Marion County Schools
Through the collaboration of two or more school districts, a technical center, a postsecondary partner, a community partner, and employer engagement, New Skills for Youth seeks to transform the delivery of career and technical education in Kentucky by:
- Increasing student access to dual credit opportunities and seamless postsecondary pathways
- Allowing students to earn industry recognized credentials
- Providing students work-based learning experiences
- Including pathways leading to the top five industry sectors, as identified by the Kentucky Center for Education & Workforce Statistics.
“Exposing more young people to career opportunities in technical fields and better preparing them for the technical career opportunities of today and tomorrow is an imperative for our state and the Kentucky Department of Education,” Interim Commissioner of Education Wayne Lewis said. “When we align educational opportunities for students with the demands of the 21st-century economy, students and their families benefit, schools benefit, and our Commonwealth benefits.
“It’s time to rethink how we offer career and technical education. In Kentucky, we are beginning the work of transforming students’ high school experiences and better preparing them for the workforce. That work aligns with our priorities of improving students’ transition readiness, closing achievement gaps and our state goal of increasing Kentucky’s labor force participation rate.”
The grants are designed to aid school districts in the planning and development of regional career academies that are employer-driven, with business and industry partners providing direction in pathway decisions and work-based learning experiences. The academies are intended to be all-day learning environments that include both career and technical education and academic courses.
The first cohort of grant recipients – collaborative teams from Burgin Independent, Corbin Independent and Lee County school districts – are developing regional career academies focused on education pathways of the future including healthcare, advanced manufacturing, business and IT services. They expect to open their respective regional career academies in the 2018-19 school year.
The Round 2 awards are contingent on available funding and districts/schools meeting programmatic and budgetary requirements along with New Skills for Youth state review.
For more information on the NSFY initiative visit the KDE’s NSFY webpage.
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