P-TECH
Can a student earn his college degree before high school diploma? Can anyone achieve this goal two years ahead of schedule? Can someone earn a degree with zero student loan debt? Can someone get job immediately after finishing education? With P-TECH 9-14 program, answer to all these questions is yes.
Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) is a type of school that brings together the best elements of high school, college and the professional world. P-TECH enables students to begin their college and professional lives more quickly and with more support than the typical school-to-work pathway.
IBM originally conceived P-TECH in 2010 as a solution to the growing tech-skills gap in the marketplace. As per some reports, estimate 500,000 tech jobs go unfilled each year, creating lost revenue for companies across many industries. At the same time, they recognized that many high school students struggle to find a career path, or to secure funds to pursue a college education. P-TECH brings solution to these two challenges together. .
P-TECH is an accelerated curriculum that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math. The coursework is specifically designed to get high school students ready for the workplace faster so they can take on hard-to-fill midlevel tech jobs. This model makes transitions between high school, college, and the professional world smooth. This system provides students an early and engaging exposure to working environment, makes the academics in high school and college meaningful, and fully prepares them with the skills required by employers.
The model combines free public high school with free community college courses, allowing students to graduate in six years or less with an associate degree in in-demand skills. After choosing an academic track linked to one of the offered degree programs, students are paired with a mentor who works for their corporate sponsor, receive opportunities for internships with that company and get corporate field trips and other events. The P-TECH 9-14 model works well especially for those students, who are members of minority groups, economically disadvantaged and need to get to work soon.
Working in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the City University of New York at Armonk, New York-based IBM opened the first P-TECH school in Brooklyn in 2011 and eight more schools in other communities where they have offices. They also extended their model to other companies, and many have stepped up. At present P-TECH schools have been launched with the support of more than 400 companies.
P-TECH model is based on public-private partnership. This is critical to the success of a P-TECH 9-14 school and its students. The model begins with a partnership among at least one school district, college, and an employer.
School District
P-TECH 9-14 schools are public schools, governed and supported by the local school district. Departments or offices that oversee curriculum, student enrollment, career & technical education, facilities and academic policies in school district are engaged in the creation and ongoing support of a P-TECH 9-14 school.
College Partner
Colleges that offer associate degrees in this program, work closely with districts and employers to align and strengthen the relationship between school and work. The associate degree(s) offered in P-TECH 9-14 schools are determined early in the planning process, based on the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the identified career pathway. The curriculum of the high school and college courses is carefully planned so that students move seamlessly through the program.
Employer Partner
The Employer Partner — or Partners, if more than one company is involved — represents a high-growth industry, and brings their insight into the skills and qualities they seek in prospective employees and a commitment to foster those skills and qualities in students.
The Employer Partner also contributes to student learning through mentoring, curriculum development, site visits, internships and other workplace learning experiences. The integration of Employer Partners also gives students a “first-in-line” for jobs promise, another unique aspect of the P-TECH 9-14 model. While not a guarantee of employment, this promise signals to students that if they do well, they will receive an opportunity to interview for available entry-level careers.
For further refernces,
http://www.workforce.com/2018/05/16/p-tech-lesson-closing-high-tech-skills-gap/
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/citizen-ibm/2018/05/crozier-reuters-workforce-ptech/
http://www.ptech.org/model/why-develop-a-ptech-school
