Education redesign has been the top priority for state superintendent Hank Bounds, and the entire Pontotoc school system has been accepted to be part of Phase II, the pilot program.

This includes the Pontotoc Ridge Career and Technical Center, North and South Pontotoc and the Pontotoc City Schools.

If the pilot programs go well, the entire model will be the norm down the road for schools all across the state.

Statistics show that only 13 percent of students will finish a four-year college course, which leaves 87 percent to go into the workforce.

The goal of Education Redesign is to give a foundation for the students who choose to go straight from high school to a career, and to give those who want further study in college an opportunity to get a head start in the college courses.

The Career Center is usually the pivotal point for students to further their educational and career pathway decisions, so director Phil Ryan was excited when the county was accepted last year in the Phase II program.

“This means that by the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, this Career Center will have brand new equipment and 10 new or restructured courses,” Ryan said.

“This came about through the leadership of both superintendents, Ken Roye and Conwell Duke.

“They are the ones who had the vision and said, ‘we will do this initiative’ and we are getting it done.”

The research model for the school systems includes seven major career pathways that students may choose.

Agriculture, health, transportation, human sciences, construction/manufacturing, business and science technology.

The Career Center was required to change half the courses during the course of this year to be offered at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

“What we have been asked to do is implement five new career programs with new curriculums and new and different ways of reaching these.

“We will be phasing out some programs and consolidating others,” Ryan said.

However, Ryan did assure that because most courses are two-year courses that if one gets phased out, the balance of the course will be offered for the students to complete.

The tentative plans at the Career Center are for the Business, Science, Health, Construction/Manufacturing and Transportation pathways to be redesigned.

In the business pathway, BCT will change to Business Management Technology.

Marketing will become Marketing and Economics.

In the Science, Engineering and Mathematics pathway Technology Applications will become Architecture and Engineering.

In the Health Sciences pathway, Allied Health will become Health Sciences.

In the Construction and Manufacturing pathway, Industrial Maintenance will become Installation and Service.

In the Transportation pathway, Automotive will become Automotive Technology.

These are the courses that are set to be brand new beginning this fall.

“We have been assured that this change-over is already funded.”

And the beauty of these courses is students can either use the course as two credits or they can split them up and use one credit as their math, physics and science courses.

It has been a challenge for the director and the teachers alike.

“Change tends to sting sometimes, but the teachers know that change is inevitable in education and they have been willing to change with it.”

The change involves extra education for the instructors as well as teaching their classes during the day.

“I took a class with them which instructed them on the program. We met for two hours one time a week for eight weeks, but there was research and homework outside of the class which took at least an hour or two.”

Keeping track of everything is also a challenge for the director.

“Since we are on the forefront, keeping accurate information about what to do next is important,” Ryan said. “Building a model for others to follow requires this.”

Another important aspect of the redesign is “making sure we have industry at the table with us. We want to be doing true workforce training instead of just offering classes.

“It would be easy just to offer classes and let them run their course, but we want to give industry what they need and students the necessary skills to be successful in industry.”

This is the first of a three part series on education redesign in the school system. Next week, Supt. Conwell Duke will tell how the Pontotoc City Schools are implementing the pilot program.