EASTERN HANCOCK — The new work-based learning teacher at Eastern Hancock High School is Diana Arellano. Her job is to help students figure out what type of career they want to get into after high school and how to get experience in the field.
Arellano has been with the district for several years as an agriculture science teacher and a Future Farmers of America advisor. She took on the extra teaching assignment this year, splitting her time between workforce and agriculture. Arellano works with the students on a daily basis, almost like a guidance counselor, learning their interests before trying to match their skills with possible future employers.
“It’s been seeing lots of lightbulb moments from our students as they are approaching their last year or two of high school and understanding what we mean when we say they need a plan after they graduate,” Arellano said.
The district has always had a traditional workforce instruction where they’d teach seniors for half a day and then send them to a employer for half a day, but this year things have been expanded to offer an apprenticeship program to their juniors as well as seniors.
“It’s a two-day-a-week program where the students are in class for three days and then they are on the job two days a week,” Arellano said. “When they are in the program, we are looking for something that is in their career path — a high-skill, high-demand employer is what we’re looking for.”
The time and resources put into work-based learning classes and the direction the district is taking is an indicator of just how serious officials with Eastern Hancock are about making sure students are prepared for work life after high school.
Officials with the The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) recognize that. They recently awarded 58 schools across 40 counties with $10 million in Employability Skills Innovation and Implementation Grant funding. As part of the East Central Educational Service Center, the Eastern Hancock school district will get some of $545,000 the ECESC will receive for students and staff.
“We’ll use some of this money for professional development,” EH superintendent George Philhower said. “We need to find out what kind of attributes our community partners want our kids to have when they graduate.”
Philhower and EH principal Adam Barton recently took a tour of the a major industrial plant and found workers there are doing so many interesting and even cool things — things their students would find intriguing. The administrators want to make sure their educators learn about those things so they can better prepare students for the workforce.
“Our teachers are the ones who take interesting things and are able to integrate it into the classroom, and some of the money will go for that,” Philhower said.
He noted that they’re not just interested in putting a poster on the wall talking about work-based learning, but they actually want to change what they’re doing in the classroom to better prepare students, and that includes creating performance indicators at each grade level.
The grant will help students develop in-demand employable skills that prepare them to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s workforce.
“For years, as a state and a country, we have relied almost wholly on a single test score to best determine student and school progress,” said Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education. “While we know that academic mastery is essential to providing a strong foundation for a student’s future success, there are a number of other characteristics that also matter.”
Jenner noted that this includes making sure students are equipped with skills like the ability to respectfully communicate and collaborate with others. The schools receiving the grant money will be on the cutting edge of determining how best to measure these important skills, not just through an assessment, but through experiences.
As part of their grant proposals, schools detailed how they will leverage the funds to help students showcase proficiency in Indiana Employability Skills and how they will work with partners to help blur the lines between pre-K, K-12, higher education and the workforce through career exploration, engagement and experiences.
Successful grant proposals included a strategic plan to evaluate program implementation and report data on student outcomes.
Originally slated for $7 million, an overwhelming number of high-scoring applicants expanded the total award amount to $10 million. Grant funding is allocated as part of the state’s federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II plan.
Philhower said every chance they can get state or federal funds to help make students better prepared for the work force when they graduate, they will apply.
Eastern Hancock and Southern Hancock were also part of a recent $57 million in Explore, Engage and Experience (3E) grant funding from the IDOE. The grant will aid Indiana’s schools and local partners as they work to expand students’ access to pathways leading to high-wage, high-demand careers, state officials said. Southern Hancock officials will receive $486,300. While Eastern Hancock, as part of the East Central Educational Service Center, will get a portion of some $1.2 million.
