Avondale High School Expands Career and Technical Education Course Options to Increase Relevance of High School Experience
Avondale High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department announces an expansion of course options designed for students interested in building a portfolio of coursework and certifications that broadens their post high school career choices. Recently the school added Computer Programming, Digital / Multimedia, and Information Resource Design with plans to add Networking, Computer Security, and Server during the 2017-2018 school year. The expansion complements the movement in Avondale School District across all grade levels and spanning all content areas toward real-world relevant and authentic teaching and learning. “The added CTE courses reflect a mind-set among Avondale teachers and administrators to make every student’s school experience relevant,” said Avondale Superintendent, Dr. James Schwarz. “Our teachers create learning opportunities that are relevant to where the student is now but also relevant to where the student wants to be after graduation,” he said.
That relevance can translate to career choices considering that the courses offered at Avondale High School support 44% of the top 50 hottest careers in Michigan and are among some of the highest paying careers available. For students interested in entering the workforce following graduation, several certification programs are planned for the 2017-2018 school year including TestOut PC Pro equivalent to CompTIA A+, TestOut Network Pro equivalent to CompTIA Network+, and TestOut Security Pro equivalent to CompTIA Security+. These certification exams are offered once for free, to any participant in the course that successfully completes the coursework.
Additions to the CTE program will continue to expand at Avondale High School as the staff moves to implement the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) curriculum in fall, 2017. PLTW, is a course of study developed to address the disparity between the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) -related careers and the number of students graduating from high school and college prepared to enter into those careers. PLTW is a hands-on STEM curriculum that engages students in activities, projects, and problem-based learning and is designed to promote critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and real-world problem solving. PLTW also strives to increase participation in STEM studies by demographic groups that have not historically participated like female students and some minorities.