News
April 16, 2018Innovative High School Program to Open September 2018
Regional partnerships across K-12 Education, Higher Education and Business and Industry to provide cutting-edge opportunities for area students
An innovative new high school program led by Capital Region BOCES is partnering business and industry, higher education and K-12 education to help the Capital Region address two issues that adversely impact the regional economy—rising student loan debt and employers struggling to find qualified workers.
Capital Region Pathways in Technology Early High School (P-TECH) is a four to six year program (grades 9-14) that allows students to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in a STEM field at no cost to the student. Students who successfully complete the program will have priority opportunities for jobs from partners in business and industry from throughout the Capital Region. The program will have two locations with the Capital Region P-TECH East Campus located at Watervliet Junior-Senior High School and the Capital Region P-TECH West Campus located at the Center for Advanced Technology at Mohonasen High School.
The program is being made possible through a seven year, $2.5 million New York State Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) grant. This grant was awarded to a consortium of 24 school districts led by Capital Region BOCES, Watervliet City School District and Mohonasen Central School District in partnership with Schenectady County Community College, Hudson Valley Community College and area and national businesses including Dell, Cisco, GreaneTree Technology, MVP Health Care, Linium Recruiting and AlbanyCanCode. The Capital Region Chamber will serve as the liaison with P-TECH business partners to help create an education-business ecosystem that will benefit students and employers throughout the region. Watervliet City School District will serve as the lead fiscal agent.
Initial diploma pathways for students include degrees in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity and pathways will expand in 2019. The partnership is designed to open career doors for students and fuel workforce development for local employers looking for application developers, programmers, systems analysts, system and network administrators, help desk support, information security analysts and security architects among other positions. According to the New York State Department of Labor, job opportunities in these areas are expected to grow 18.6% by 2024.
“The P-TECH program reflects Capital Region BOCES’ on-going efforts to work with higher education and business partners to expand opportunities for students and drive workforce development across the region,” said Capital Region BOCES Senior Executive Officer Joseph P. Dragone.
“I want to commend my fellow school leaders for their willingness to embrace the collaboration needed to support this program,” said Watervliet City School District Superintendent Dr. Lori Caplan. “This type of cross-sector partnership is going to lead to unprecedented opportunities for the students in this region and their leadership is making that possible.”
Mark N. Eagan, Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Region Chamber stated “We couldn’t be more pleased to partner with Capital Region BOCES and local schools to connect students and teachers to experiential learning opportunities with businesses from throughout the region to prepare students with the education and workplace skills needed to excel in their future careers.”
