THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406030257
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE STAUNTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940605 LENGTH: Long
Many become frustrated because they find themselves ill prepared for either.
{REST} About two-thirds of the city's class of 1993 graduated from what is known as the general track - a hodgepodge of less challenging courses that most educators say leaves students without the skills necessary to get into college or land a job in a competitive field.
Portsmouth is trying to remedy the problem.
It is one of the latest Hampton Roads school districts to join the Tech Prep program aimed at steering students away from minimally fulfilling general-track requirements by urging them to take more rigorous academic courses, or to complete a more focused vocational program.
``The general track doesn't really prepare kids for anything,'' said Christine M. Colden, the district's Tech Prep facilitator.
The Tech Prep pilot program will be available to Woodrow Wilson High School freshmen starting this fall.
``This program sounds like it leads you in the direction you need to go,'' said Wilson senior Jennifer Ayers, who will attend Tidewater Community College this fall. ``I know a lot of students just wander around aimlessly and don't do what they should to help them survive on their own when they graduate.''
The program uses hands-on teaching methods designed to connect academics to the real world so students become interested in school and perform better.
Overall, it provides students who might not otherwise further their education with the technical background they need for a 2- or 4-year college degree, and ultimately a high-tech career. Students can pick from three broad career clusters where vocational and academic classes are combined: business and marketing, health and human services, and engineering and technology.
Those who complete the program can earn up to 12 hours of college credit. Upon graduation, they can enroll in an advanced program at Tidewater Community College for additional training, Colden said.
Students can sign up for Tech Prep, but at no point are they locked into it.
``What we're trying to do is set up more students for success,'' said Dee Paine, the district's coordinator of vocational education.
Said William R. Brown, chairman of the district's Vocational Education Advisory Council: ``This should help kids get jobs when they get out of school so mom, dad and other taxpayers won't have to support them . . . but jobs above the 7-Eleven, Burger King type.''
All school districts across the state are now participating in some sort of Tech Prep program that links high school students with community colleges for at least two years after graduation. Suffolk started the program in both of its high schools last fall.
Norfolk, one of the first districts in Virginia to try the program, has had Tech Prep for about two years. Educators there say the early results have been heartening. The program has turned more students on to academics, especially those who had been deemed underachievers, they said.
In Portsmouth, the hope is that high school students eventually will choose from only two parallel routes: college prep or tech prep. Either way, administrators said, students will finish school with a meaningful education.
Tech Prep students, Colden added, will be nurtured throughout high school, receiving the guidance and support necessary to reach their career goals. By the fall of 1996, she added, the program also might offer students opportunities to take internships in their chosen fields.
IT HAPPENS EVERY spring when hundreds of Portsmouth's high school graduates, armed with general studies diplomas, make a mad dash for the workplace or area colleges.
Many become frustrated because they find themselves ill prepared for either.
About two-thirds of the city's class of 1993 graduated from what is known as the general track - a hodgepodge of less challenging courses that most educators say leaves students without the skills necessary to get into college or land a job in a competitive field.
Portsmouth is trying to remedy the problem.
It is one of the latest Hampton Roads school districts to join the Tech Prep program aimed at steering students away from minimally fulfilling general-track requirements by urging them to take more rigorous academic courses, or to complete a more focused vocational program.
``The general track doesn't really prepare kids for anything,'' said Christine M. Colden, the district's Tech Prep facilitator.
The Tech Prep pilot program will be available to Woodrow Wilson High School freshmen starting this fall.
``This program sounds like it leads you in the direction you need to go,'' said Wilson senior Jennifer Ayers, who will attend Tidewater Community College this fall. ``I know a lot of students just wander around aimlessly and don't do what they should to help them survive on their own when they graduate.''
The program uses hands-on teaching methods designed to connect academics to the real world so students become interested in school and perform better.
Overall, it provides students who might not otherwise further their education with the technical background they need for a 2- or 4-year college degree, and ultimately a high-tech career. Students can pick from three broad career clusters where vocational and academic classes are combined: business and marketing, health and human services, and engineering and technology.
Those who complete the program can earn up to 12 hours of college credit. Upon graduation, they can enroll in an advanced program at Tidewater Community College for additional training, Colden said.
Students can sign up for Tech Prep, but at no point are they locked into it.
``What we're trying to do is set up more students for success,'' said Dee Paine, the district's coordinator of vocational education.
Said William R. Brown, chairman of the district's Vocational Education Advisory Council: ``This should help kids get jobs when they get out of school so mom, dad and other taxpayers won't have to support them . . . but jobs above the 7-Eleven, Burger King type.''
All school districts across the state are now participating in some sort of Tech Prep program that links high school students with community colleges for at least two years after graduation. Suffolk started the program in both of its high schools last fall.
Norfolk, one of the first districts in Virginia to try the program, has had Tech Prep for about two years. Educators there say the early results have been heartening. The program has turned more students on to academics, especially those who had been deemed underachievers, they said.
In Portsmouth, the hope is that high school students eventually will choose from only two parallel routes: college prep or tech prep. Either way, administrators said, students will finish school with a meaningful education.
Tech Prep students, Colden added, will be nurtured throughout high school, receiving the guidance and support necessary to reach their career goals. By the fall of 1996, she added, the program also might offer students opportunities to take internships in their chosen fields. by CNB