“That was fun,” a Patrick Henry seventh grader said this afternoon (Nov. 12) after virtually installing solar panels on the roof of a building.
The student wore an Oculus II headset, and got a chance to see what kind of work she could get paid to do in the real world of the future. It’s the first year of the new Career Investigation course for middle schoolers, and today’s class was observed by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons and Alexandria City Public Schools leadership.
The new course is still being written, with the goal of getting younger students interested in future careers before they enter Alexandria City High School’s technical education academies program. As part of the new program, ACPS middle schoolers explore dozens of career paths, like in cybersecurity, computer software, financial services, life sciences and health care.
The 18-week program was approved by the School Board last year, and is being co-developed by Patrick Henry teacher Laura Moore with help from JASON Learning, transfr and Tiggbee.
Moore said that it helps for students to plan their futures as early as possible.
“I just tell them to have a plan,” Moore said.
Alexandria middle schoolers aren’t alone, as Fairfax County, Manassas, Manassas Park, Loudoun County and Arlington County seventh graders are also participating.
Coons wants to see whether the program can be expanded as part of the Virginia Department of Education’s new performance and support accountability system.
“We want to make sure that they’re the things that are happening in Alexandria can go to scale in other areas,” she said. “I think a long time we’ve thought when a kiddo walks across the stage with the diploma, we’re finished as educators, and that’s not true. We need to make sure that as our children leave K 12, they have the opportunity to be successful in their next step, which means we need to rethink about what the K 12 environment is.”
