Chicago Public Schools To Launch Six-Year Joint High School, Associates Degree Program Thanks To IBM Grant

The same week a study revealed record high vacancies in U.S. industries for skilled technical workers, the Chicago Public School system has announced plans to open as many as five experimental, six-year schools that will graduate students with specialized training and even an associate's degree.

Funded by a $400,000 "challenge grant" from IBM, the pilot program slated for the 2012-13 school year reflects the goals Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard have repeatedly expressed about changing the focus of Chicago's struggling school system, according to the Chicago Tribune. IBM is also offering preference to graduates for entry-level jobs within the company.

Brizard has championed career-focused high school curricula since taking the helm of CPS in April. He argues that students who may not be interested in college can be compelled to focus on high school if they are presented with viable career opportunities at the end of the tunnel.

"The relevancy element is fundamental," Brizard told HuffPost Chicago. "If the program is a dead end, you’re going to have disciplinary issues. But when you have programs kids have made an active choice to be a part of, and they see progress, that ‘I could actually get a job out of this, or I could go to college,’ you’ll find them behaving in a much better way.”

Brizard's theory is supported by new research into the skilled labor sector, where workforce research agency ManpowerGroup reports that U.S. employers are facing record-high shortages of skilled workers--52 percent report difficulty filling critical positions within their organizations, up from 14 percent in 2010.

"What we have been saying for quite a while is that even though there is a high unemployment rate, it's very difficult to find skilled people," Jeff Owens, president of ATS, a manufacturing consulting services company, told Reuters.

The Chicago program will be modeled after New York City's Pathways in Technology Early College High School, also an IBM partner, which opened last year and offers high school, college and professional education along with hands-on training in math and science specializations, according to the Tribune.

It's currently unclear whether the five schools in this program will be entirely new, or if additional resources will be added to existing public schools, as with many Career Technical Education or CTE programs offered alongside mainstream programming at about 60 CPS schools. The Tribune reports that IBM is already beginning to identify current CPS teachers who will be trained to teach in the school's extension programs.

Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs," recently testified before Congress about the possible impact of a shrinking skilled labor force on the U.S. economy.

"A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber, if you can find one, is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist," Rowe said. "At which point we’ll probably all be in need of both.”

Watch Rowe's Congressional testimony:

Comments

[jedi penguin]

10:30 PM on 10/15/2011

This will be a blessing if it goes through. I see no reason why my two girls shouldn't both go to college, but my autistic son would flounder there. He's quite bright, but classroom work is hard for him. The high school that my oldest goes to pushes college non-stop, and I've been thinking that it would be a terrible fit for him. If these new schools will accept a kid with an IEP, this could be an answer to prayer.

[LuvRed14]

04:21 PM on 10/14/2011

Vocational education is back. The only thing new is tacking on the associates degree. Yeah!

[vfurman]

10:26 AM on 10/14/2011

CPS has spent the better part of the last 15 years getting rid of vocational programs in deference to the idea that all students be "college" ready. This despite warnings from both educator's and industry.

Now industry is crying for skilled welders, carpenters, and others that CPS could have been training all these years.

A big shout out and thank you to the North Shore elite and the Daley clan that have crammed our current graduation requirements down our throats, raising both the bar and the drop out rates. These are consequences of big business, politicians, and the Chicago Tribune running education instead of educators.

[yangcheng]

03:17 AM on 10/14/2011

[ SOS ] Complaint with Human Rights Violations by IBM China on Centennial

Please Google:

Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China
or
How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
or
IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial

[J R M]

01:46 PM on 10/13/2011

Good idea. But it may not take 6 years to do it. Washington allows 11th and 12th graders to attend community college. The receive high school credit for their college courses. If they select correctly, they graduate with both their associates and high school diploma - and they do it in 4 years. We are currently planning on this route for our kids. With luck my daughter will use the AP exams to place out of 4 introductory course sequences when she goes to Bellevue College. With the College Calculus credit she is earning now, she will have a running start on Running Start.

[VA Jill]

01:46 PM on 10/13/2011

Good idea, in theory. But will the Repugs still be blocking jobs programs when the kids get their degrees?

[SoCalifTeacher]

01:29 PM on 10/13/2011

Smart idea. Hope it works and will be a model for other districts to follow.