Local businesses are constantly looking for new employees, and schools want to help their students land those jobs.
Students don’t have to attend college to have a successful career, local and state officials have said. And that is a message they are trying to spread more.
That’s why the number of students participating in vocational or other career training is an important figure to local school districts, and one they want to see grow, local school officials said.
At the same time, they also want to be sure that they are offering plenty of options for students who want to continue with their academics, through gifted and talented programs and Advanced Placement and dual enrollment options.
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Those numbers are just a part of the data tracked by annual performance reports released by the state each year on school districts and their individual schools. The reports include information and statistics on staff numbers and pay, enrollment, graduation rates, student discipline, students passing ISTEP and other standardized tests, participation rate in certain programs and attendance.
Another number on the list that was added in recent years are reports of bullying incidences. But in more than one-third of the county’s local public schools, no information was reported. That is often because schools don’t have any incidents to report, Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson Schools Superintendent Tim Edsell said.
In his school district in southern Johnson County, an incident only counts as bullying if it is a repeated issue between the same students, which is what the state defines as bullying. And at both Indian Creek High School and Indian Creek Elementary School, no incidents met those criteria, he said. Part of the reason why is that school officials try to step in the first time an issue is reported to try to solve the problem as best as they can so it doesn’t continue, he said.
At Franklin schools, the majority of schools also didn’t report any data because the incidents don’t meet the state definition, Superintendent David Clendening said.
School officials look for trends in the reports, while also noting that the numbers can fluctuate based on multiple factors, including enrollment or school policy. For example, Edsell noted that the number of high school students who were suspended was down this past school year as school officials have focused on other consequences for students.
But they are also seeing increases in areas where they want to see them, he said.
For example, the number of students in the district’s gifted and talented program grew by more than 30 students last school year, which is partially driven by the school district adding more courses and activities in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, at all of its schools, Edsell said. That is an area the school district wants to grow, along with adding more Advanced Placement courses, he said.
The number of students in those programs has stayed steady at Franklin schools, about 20 percent, and that is a credit to school officials doing a great job of identifying students who should be in the program, Clendening said.
And while those programs are important, school officials have also put a bigger emphasis on growing programs with students getting vocational training or other career-based classes, Edsell and Clendening said.
That has also been a focus of the Johnson County Development Corp., which is hearing from local businesses who struggle with recruiting new employees, and by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who included job training as part of his 2018 Next Level Agenda.
Vocational and career-based training also will continue to be more of a focus as schools have to meet new requirements for students to graduate, which include work-based learning and apprenticeships or other job-based education, officials said.
Local schools want to make sure all of their students are prepared for what will come after graduation, including the ones who plan to go into the workforce.
At Indian Creek High School, nearly 52 percent of students are doing some sort of career-based training, through courses or attending classes at Central Nine Career Center. That is a number school officials are proud of, especially since it is significantly higher than the state average of nearly 38 percent. But it is a number they want to grow, Edsell said.
School counselors at the middle school reach out to students to start talking about their strengths and interests to try to prepare them to take courses in high school that may help them on their path to a career. And while those discussions take time and require planning, that is a huge help to students later, Edsell said.
Officials are also looking to add programs that will give students more options in career fields they want to pursue, including an agricultural-based charter school the district is partnering with and discussions beginning now to add programs that could benefit students interested in a military career, such as Junior ROTC, Edsell said.
“Not every student is made for college, but yet we want to prepare them for the 21st Century,” Edsell said.
At Franklin schools, those discussions start even earlier, with field trips for elementary school students to Central Nine and a career day completely focused on jobs that require a vocational or other skills-based training, Clendening said.
School officials have gone through training, including shadowing a student at Central Nine, so they know more about all the opportunities there and can talk about them with other students, Clendening said.
And that focus will continue and grow, with officials continuing to look for other ways to highlight those options for students, he said.
“Kids don’t need to go to college for four years to get a good career. There are plenty of opportunity in skilled trades,” Clendening said.
