Area Career Centers Rated Highly By State
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Warsaw Area Career Center is ranked at No. 2, and Wawasee Area Career & Vocational Cooperative ranks at No. 17. The WACC includes Warsaw Community, Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko high schools. Wawasee Cooperative includes Wawasee, Fairfield and West Noble.[[In-content Ad]]"Overall, we've done well as a career center," said Bill Kovach, Warsaw Career & Technical Education director. "We're truly a cooperative because we have courses in multiple locations."
Kovach said the Dashboard Report is put together each year by the Indiana Workforce Development. Career centers and cooperatives turn in their counts of which students are in what programs. There is a formula that tells IWD and schools how much state reimbursement each student generates. Also, the report tells schools how well students did if they complete the program.
Kovach said the state gets all the data of any student who completes a course or a full program in the career and technical education area. The Dashboard Report looks at multiple credit programs.
What the career and technical education program does for students, Kovach said, is it helps them connect in school and apply what they've learned, and they can earn college credit while still in high school.
For 2009-10, there were 368 Warsaw students, 61 Tippecanoe Valley and 45 Whitko students who earned dual credit, according to information provided by Kovach. The dual credit came from courses such as building trades technology, Cisco Networking, culinary arts to early childhood education and introduction to health care systems.
"That's 368 kids that can get college credit, and they don't have to pay for college credit. It's all free," said Kovach, except for any other fees a college may charge.
Warsaw also is one of the few schools nationwide piloting the Project Lead the Way program. Terry Aukeman is one of the PLTW biomedical teachers. The course is based on national curriculum. Aukeman teaches the first and second level. The courses are very hands-on applied science courses, Kovach said.
The traditional idea of a vocational program is a place where students are sent that can't succeed in the normal classroom, Kovach said.
"We're trying to show we have a wide variety of courses and students," he said. "Project Lead the Way biomedical students do a lot of problem solving."
Most of the WACC programs also offer industry-certified certifications, such as welding
The Dashboard Report calculates eight core indicators: academic attainment - reading/language arts; academic attainment - mathematics; technical skill attainment; secondary school completion; student graduation rates; secondary placement; nontraditional participation; and nontraditional completion.
Warsaw and Wawasee both exceed the agreed-upon levels in seven of the eight areas. The only area where both fall below is in placement. Kovach said the placement level did not meet the expectation level because the country is in a recession and there aren't many jobs available.
In 2009-10, Tippecanoe Valley had 513 students enrolled in CTE courses, including duplicates. There also were 1,709 Warsaw students and 323 Whitko students, for a total enrollment of 2,545 includes duplicates. With the total enrollment of 2,545 for 2009-10, that generated $1,149,200 in funding for the Warsaw Area Career Center.
"The more we can get kids connected at an early age, the more successful they'll be," Kovach said.
Warsaw senior Jake McAlister is one such student taking courses through the Warsaw Area Career Center.
"I'm trying to really get into computers, and I've taken a lot of classes such as programming, C++ and Visual Basic. I've taken an A+ computer class and I'm taking Cisco Networking," he said.
Through the cooperative programs, McAlister said he's getting a lot of experience working with different programs. He's also earning college credits through Cisco and Visual Basic. He said he feels like he's getting involved in his learning and he's learning more. He's learning more hard and soft skills, including how to speak to others well.
"I really am happy. I figured I wanted to work with computers early on so I was able to get a lot of computer courses in," he said.
Sophomore Carrie Swihart was in a Child Development I course Monday afternoon. She sees many benefits in taking the course.
"You learn a lot more about parenting than you thought you would," she said.
"I took it because I wanted to see what I didn't know about kids already," Swihart said.
Many things in the class surprised her, including the many different ways a person can hurt a kid while it's still growing in the womb.
"I want to work with kids now," Swihart said.
She plans to take advantage of other child development courses and highly recommends the ones she's already taken.
"Because you can learn a lot more," she said. "You think you know a lot about kids, but this is in great detail."
To view the full Dashboard Report, visit online at www.in.gov/dwd/2404.htm
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Warsaw Area Career Center is ranked at No. 2, and Wawasee Area Career & Vocational Cooperative ranks at No. 17. The WACC includes Warsaw Community, Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko high schools. Wawasee Cooperative includes Wawasee, Fairfield and West Noble.[[In-content Ad]]"Overall, we've done well as a career center," said Bill Kovach, Warsaw Career & Technical Education director. "We're truly a cooperative because we have courses in multiple locations."
Kovach said the Dashboard Report is put together each year by the Indiana Workforce Development. Career centers and cooperatives turn in their counts of which students are in what programs. There is a formula that tells IWD and schools how much state reimbursement each student generates. Also, the report tells schools how well students did if they complete the program.
Kovach said the state gets all the data of any student who completes a course or a full program in the career and technical education area. The Dashboard Report looks at multiple credit programs.
What the career and technical education program does for students, Kovach said, is it helps them connect in school and apply what they've learned, and they can earn college credit while still in high school.
For 2009-10, there were 368 Warsaw students, 61 Tippecanoe Valley and 45 Whitko students who earned dual credit, according to information provided by Kovach. The dual credit came from courses such as building trades technology, Cisco Networking, culinary arts to early childhood education and introduction to health care systems.
"That's 368 kids that can get college credit, and they don't have to pay for college credit. It's all free," said Kovach, except for any other fees a college may charge.
Warsaw also is one of the few schools nationwide piloting the Project Lead the Way program. Terry Aukeman is one of the PLTW biomedical teachers. The course is based on national curriculum. Aukeman teaches the first and second level. The courses are very hands-on applied science courses, Kovach said.
The traditional idea of a vocational program is a place where students are sent that can't succeed in the normal classroom, Kovach said.
"We're trying to show we have a wide variety of courses and students," he said. "Project Lead the Way biomedical students do a lot of problem solving."
Most of the WACC programs also offer industry-certified certifications, such as welding
The Dashboard Report calculates eight core indicators: academic attainment - reading/language arts; academic attainment - mathematics; technical skill attainment; secondary school completion; student graduation rates; secondary placement; nontraditional participation; and nontraditional completion.
Warsaw and Wawasee both exceed the agreed-upon levels in seven of the eight areas. The only area where both fall below is in placement. Kovach said the placement level did not meet the expectation level because the country is in a recession and there aren't many jobs available.
In 2009-10, Tippecanoe Valley had 513 students enrolled in CTE courses, including duplicates. There also were 1,709 Warsaw students and 323 Whitko students, for a total enrollment of 2,545 includes duplicates. With the total enrollment of 2,545 for 2009-10, that generated $1,149,200 in funding for the Warsaw Area Career Center.
"The more we can get kids connected at an early age, the more successful they'll be," Kovach said.
Warsaw senior Jake McAlister is one such student taking courses through the Warsaw Area Career Center.
"I'm trying to really get into computers, and I've taken a lot of classes such as programming, C++ and Visual Basic. I've taken an A+ computer class and I'm taking Cisco Networking," he said.
Through the cooperative programs, McAlister said he's getting a lot of experience working with different programs. He's also earning college credits through Cisco and Visual Basic. He said he feels like he's getting involved in his learning and he's learning more. He's learning more hard and soft skills, including how to speak to others well.
"I really am happy. I figured I wanted to work with computers early on so I was able to get a lot of computer courses in," he said.
Sophomore Carrie Swihart was in a Child Development I course Monday afternoon. She sees many benefits in taking the course.
"You learn a lot more about parenting than you thought you would," she said.
"I took it because I wanted to see what I didn't know about kids already," Swihart said.
Many things in the class surprised her, including the many different ways a person can hurt a kid while it's still growing in the womb.
"I want to work with kids now," Swihart said.
She plans to take advantage of other child development courses and highly recommends the ones she's already taken.
"Because you can learn a lot more," she said. "You think you know a lot about kids, but this is in great detail."
To view the full Dashboard Report, visit online at www.in.gov/dwd/2404.htm
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