The Searcy School District plans to have all of its student in grades 7-12 “educated on our CTE pathways” by May, according Searcy High School Assistant Principal Megan Churchwell.
Churchwell told the Searcy School Board recently that there has been “a lot of movement” in the Career Training Education world since July. She said she has been meeting monthly with Superintendent Dr. Bobby Hart and will usually talk to him for about an hour about what is going on.
In July, Churchwell said there was a meeting with all grade 9-12 CTE teachers, the seventh- and eighth-grade career development teachers, seventh- and 12th-grade counselors and different members of the administration. They went over the guidelines of the LEARNS Act, passed by the Arkansas Legislature last year, pertaining to career education.
The district’s mission statement, which Churchwell shared in her presentation, is that, “We will ensure all students are ready for employment, enlistment or enrollment.” The vision is that “Searcy CTE will lead the state in student success.”
She said the first goal is having 100 percent of the district’s seventh- through 12th-graders understand the “pathway” through various avenues by May 2025 and that the “CTE Readiness Plan and Information on career pathways are available to all stakeholders.” The next goal is that “by Dec. 1, Phase 1 of the SPS CTE Readiness Plan will be developed and shared by stakeholders.”
The third goal is that 50 percent of those who complete CTE will graduate with merit by the end of the 2025-26 school year.
Heading toward those goals, Churchwell said, a “Fall In Love With Your Future Career” event will be held Feb. 14 at Lion Arena from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. She said this is a career fair and if employers want to come and get involved, they may contact Catie Holman, cholman@searcyschools.org.
Churchwell said this event is more like an expo, with the employers signing up being encouraged to make their areas interactive. For kids to earn “swag,” she said they have to ask questions or do something. The students will be given cards to ask certain questions to the employers and others they meet that day.
“We’re really trying to encourage that intentionality of learning,” Churchwell said.
In her presentation, Churchwell said that when it comes to grades 6-8, the new requirements are that students must complete four early career awareness and exploration activities per year and document them in their “Student Success Plans.” She said these activities must link what a student does in school and what a student wants to achieve in life.
Activities may include, “without limitation,” the following field trips: guest speakers, community services, dedicated curricula and other activities designed to introduce students to occupations that are in demand in the state.
Turning to eighth grade, there is the Student Success Plan. Churchwell said this has been around for a while but there is more guidance now. The plan has to do with a “success ready” pathway, which means a sequence of courses and activities to prepare students for success after high school that includes the minimum academic core, a sequence of career and technical education courses in a program of study aligned to high-wage, high-demand jobs and the opportunity to earn a “credential of value.”
These pathways are supposed to provide every student in Arkansas with the knowledge, skills, abilities and habits to succeed on their chosen path, which could include enrollment in a postsecondary training or degree program, enlistment in military service and employment or a career that provides a “family-sustaining wage.”
Churchwell said the state department has distinguished what “high-demand, high-wage jobs” are. “High demand is that they [particular jobs] have 5,548 openings in that career this year, within this 10-year forecast. High wage means that they are making at least $39,728.”
On the high-demand part, Churchwell said the Departments of Education, Commerce and the Workforce Cabinet came together to develop it, and it will be reviewed and updated each year.
Churchwell talked about programs on site at Searcy High School and other programs available at the Career Center at Arkansas State University-Beebe’s Searcy campus. Available at the high school are agriculture, power, structural and technical systems, animal systems, computer science programming, management, pre-educator. At the Career Center: advanced manufacturing, automotive service technology, business finance, nursing services and welding.
Churchwell said the CTE program not only benefits the kids, making them more employable, but also helps the district’s report card. For example, if a district has 10 students who don’t graduate, it gets zero points. If 20 kids graduate on time, she said the district gets 20 points. If it has 50 that graduate with merit, it gets 1.25 points for each. If it has graduates at the next level, which is “distinction,” it gets 1.5 each.