EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sixth and final installment in a series of articles that explore the changing face of education in Arkansas. This installment looks at the renewed emphasis on technical education and STEM education.
Movements toward more project-based learning and career education are converging in a growing number of opportunities in technical education for students.
Shane Broadway, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, said the rise of technical education is a reflection of today's job market. Retirements have left a void that needs to be filled by new workers.
Advancements in technology have made many companies in business and industry more effective and productive. Broadway said manufacturing is steadily evolving and is very different from what it was decades ago.
Broadway said many job opportunities are available that do not require four-year degrees. Many positions only require a few months of training.
Broadway routinely points to Caterpillar as an example of new manufacturing. Positions with the company are thought of as "dirty jobs."
"In actuality, when you walk into that plant everyone is wearing khakis and a polo shirt," Broadway said. "And they are punching buttons on a computer. Manufacturing is certainly changing and it is requiring a higher skill set than what they needed before."
The Lake Hamilton School District is focusing on a new initiative, Target 100, in which every graduate identifies a pathway to a certain career or career area. Superintendent Steve Anderson stressed that the school is not lessening its college preparatory curriculum, but the district is aiming to better equip students that will choose other paths.
Anderson said students who find careers in technical fields may be more likely to stay close to their communities and help grow and develop the local economy. He points to the local forestry, hospitality and tourism industries as areas for which schools can better prepare students.
Lake Hamilton formed a Career Pathways Task Force last year. Anderson said plans for the task force have evolved and expanded as they have learned more information. The task force was originally looking at programs at the high school and junior high school level, but plans have since shifted to beginning the process sooner at the middle school level.
The district already has a strong partnership with National Park Community College and National Park Technical Center. Jason Hudnell, NPTC assistant director, serves on the Lake Hamilton task force.
Kristi Anderson, director of Instructional Services and Federal Programs at Lake Hamilton, said the shift will not occur overnight and systematic changes can be accompanied by a high price tag. She said the costs and public perception will necessitate a slow transition.
Resources and efforts are already being devoted to improving career and technical education at Lake Hamilton. Business and agricultural science classes will be moved into the newly constructed agri building by the high school.
The new multi-purpose arena currently under construction will provide new technology and opportunities for students in broadcast journalism. Steve Anderson said Lake Hamilton has received a radio license from the Federal Communications Commission. He said the new audio and visual capabilities will be able to tie into classroom studies.
Sally Carder, former National Park Community College president, championed the growth of technical programs at the college and across the state. Carder argued that many programs, such as welding, are still not meeting the needs of local industry. The college sought a millage increase in 2013 for the construction of a new technical campus for high school and college programs.
Carder said she still feels that the college's technical programs will need to be expanded in the future. The Sally Carder NPCC Technical Programs Fund was announced during a retirement reception in June.
STEM
Many schools have taken to adding activities and classes devoted to the academic fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to provide students with a better foundation for technical careers.
Gardner STEM Magnet School in Hot Springs and eStem Public Charter Schools in Little Rock are two of many local schools that are instituting schoolwide STEM education initiatives.
STEM education will be one of the staples of Fountain Lake Middle School Cobra Digital Prep Academy charter school that will begin this fall. Students will take their core classes before noon. The second half of the day will see an emphasis on Advanced Placement courses, enrichment and STEM classes.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported earlier this month that 74 percent of college graduates with bachelor's degrees in STEM fields are not employed in STEM occupations. Graduates from STEM fields have relatively low employment, but their employment may not be in the field of their specialized education.
Graduates with engineering degrees are the most successful at finding work in their field, but reports indicate that the number of engineering graduates is more than 50 percent higher than the number of positions available.
The state and national emphasis on STEM education is based on projections for job growth in high-paying STEM fields over the next decade.
According to the 2014 Arkansas STEM Report Card, the state will need to fill 52,000 STEM positions by 2018. The report projects overall U.S. demand for engineers and scientists to increase at four times the rate for all other occupations. The Arkansas report card was published as part of the Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America's State Innovation Vital Signs series.
Arkansas has the nation's fourth smallest percentage of STEM workers in the workforce, according to the Census Bureau's 2012 American Community Survey. Arkansas, at 8.4 percent, ranked just ahead of Nevada, 8.3 percent; North Dakota, 7.1 percent; and Mississippi, 6.8 percent.
The national percentage of STEM workers is 12.4 percent. The states with the largest percentage of STEM workers are Maryland, at 18.8 percent; Washington, 18.3 percent; and Virginia, 16.5 percent.
The report also indicates that women are still underrepresented in many STEM fields. Males make up about 86 percent of engineers and 74 percent of computer professionals. Women are most highly represented among mathematicians and statisticians, 45 percent; life scientists, 47 percent; and social scientists, 63 percent.
EAST, Skills USA
Hot Springs is home to the state's two largest exhibitions for new technical education.
The Environmental and Spacial Technology Initiative grew out of a class project in Greenbrier in 1996. The Arkansas Department of Education has long been a supporter of the EAST Initiative and continues to fund most of its operations.
The Hot Springs Convention Center hosts the annual EAST National Conference every March. More than 2,000 students from around the country attended this year's conference. EAST programs are now in many of the state's high schools and a growing number of middle schools and elementary schools.
More than 200 schools are now affiliated with the EAST Initiative. Students are able to showcase their projects from that year at each conference, which features prominent speakers, competitions, contests and exhibits.
Hot Springs Middle School was one of a dozen schools in Arkansas to receive a grant last year from the EAST Initiative. Technical support from EAST worked with students before school started to install the new equipment for the program.
Matt Dozier, president and CEO of the EAST Initiative, said schools would need to come up with $115,000 to begin an EAST program without the grant. The grant covers training, support and equipment.
Mike Vincent, EAST facilitator at Hot Springs High School, has championed the EAST model of allowing student to solve real world problems with partners and making sure that students are applying industry-standard vocational skills. Vincent previously taught EAST classes at Mountain Pine and North Heights Junior High School in Texarkana.
Vincent said that formula allows students to obtain internships, jobs and other opportunities in their fields of interest. Taylor Byrd, a 2013 Hot Springs graduate, and Richard Young, a 2013 graduate of Lakeside High School, were two of 10 students selected to receive EAST scholarships at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock last year. The scholarships are worth $10,000 per year.
The EAST program at Hot Springs consisted of 30-40 students when Vincent began at the school five years ago. He said he began at the school by hand-picking students for his classes and talking to parents in person. Enrollment increased to 90 in Vincent's second year and 120 in the third.
Hot Springs saw 219 students apply for EAST classes last year. The maximum number allowed in a program is 150 kids for one facilitator. The district now has a seamless EAST program with other labs at the middle school and at Gardner Magnet.
Acceptance into the high school EAST lab is not based on academics. Vincent said special education students have been some of his best students. He said the problem-solving studies are not for all students.
EAST programs provide exposure and experience in skilled fields not normally thought of as "career education." Vincent said students have discovered their interest in fields such as costume makeup and video production.
The success of EAST has expanded its reach. Former ADE Commissioner Tom Kimbrell praised the work of EAST Core, which is working to fuse EAST concepts with core classes.
Kimbrell said some students can benefit by having two courses together, such as biology and plant science, or physics and pre-engineering with Project Lead the Way. According to the EAST Initiative, EAST Core provides tools, resources, support and a custom approach to participating schools, establishing a dynamic methodology to prepare students for competitive post-secondary studies and careers.
Hot Springs also hosts the Arkansas SkillsUSA State Championships conference every year in April.
SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit that specializes in preparing students for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations. It was formerly known as Vocational Industrial Clubs of America.
Students are able to compete in a wide array of skill areas such as Advertising Design, Audio/Radio Production, Practical Nursing, Plumbing, Masonry, Restaurant Service, and Welding Art/Sculpture.
NPCC, NPTC, College of the Ouachitas, the Arkansas Career Training Institute and local high schools have seen students in recent years qualify for the national conference in Kansas City, Kan.
The annual conference and SkillsUSA Championships has been held in Kansas City since 1994. The conference will return to a former host city, Louisville, Ky., for at least six years beginning in 2015.
Local on 07/27/2014