Comment in regards to Mississippi... (Score 1) 670
redesigning education for the 21st century
[Mississippi Superintendent of Education Hank] Bounds said he will ask the state Legislature in January to fund the program. By fall 2008, if the program proceeds as planned, students could select from one of seven career paths: health care; agriculture and natural resources; construction and manufacturing; transportation; business management and marketing; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and human services.
Bounds' plan also would redesign computer courses for students in grades 7-9. These courses now include a discovery program for careers (grade seven), computers (grade eight), and technology (grade nine). These would change to Information and Communications Technology I and II, then a STEM course in ninth grade, which Bounds said was "in line" with the president's initiative to boost math and science instruction in schools.
All of these courses would include components that help students meet the math and science requirements for their grade level and career-level applications of these skills. In the 10th grade, students would begin the career path training in their chosen subject area. Finally, Bounds said, a strong, ongoing professional development element would be incorporated into the plan as well.
Students speaking to local news organization The Clarion-Ledger were mixed in their reaction to the program.
Donovan Burse, a seventh-grader at Northwest Jackson Middle School, said he doesn't believe most students are prepared to choose a career path at the life stage targeted by the program.
But Angelyn Irvin, an eighth grader at Northwest Jackson Middle School, said she believes the plan might "actually increase the chances of them staying in school ... I think it will motivate them [and] make them want to stay instead of want to leave."
[Mississippi Superintendent of Education Hank] Bounds said he will ask the state Legislature in January to fund the program. By fall 2008, if the program proceeds as planned, students could select from one of seven career paths: health care; agriculture and natural resources; construction and manufacturing; transportation; business management and marketing; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and human services.
Bounds' plan also would redesign computer courses for students in grades 7-9. These courses now include a discovery program for careers (grade seven), computers (grade eight), and technology (grade nine). These would change to Information and Communications Technology I and II, then a STEM course in ninth grade, which Bounds said was "in line" with the president's initiative to boost math and science instruction in schools.
All of these courses would include components that help students meet the math and science requirements for their grade level and career-level applications of these skills. In the 10th grade, students would begin the career path training in their chosen subject area. Finally, Bounds said, a strong, ongoing professional development element would be incorporated into the plan as well.
Students speaking to local news organization The Clarion-Ledger were mixed in their reaction to the program.
Donovan Burse, a seventh-grader at Northwest Jackson Middle School, said he doesn't believe most students are prepared to choose a career path at the life stage targeted by the program.
But Angelyn Irvin, an eighth grader at Northwest Jackson Middle School, said she believes the plan might "actually increase the chances of them staying in school
