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Education / Federal government / STEM / Workplace culture

P-TECH education model broadened and expanded with $7M from feds

Obama administration invests in the P-TECH model, but expands its scope.

Just before announcing the Youth CareerConnect grants, President Barack Obama walks onto the stage to deliver remarks at Bladensburg High School in Bladensburg, Md., April 7, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The excitement for Crown Heights’s P-TECH high school might surprise you, given the fact that school hasn’t graduated any students yet. So we met the news that the Obama administration has announced $7 million in funding for two new P-TECH like schools in New York with some skepticism. From The Daily News:

The city already operates two other schools based on the P-TECH model, with another two set to open in September. City education officials wouldn’t say when the latest pair of schools inspired by P-TECH would open.

However, dig a little deeper and it seems like the idea might be evolving. The Obama Administration announced the $7 million as one of 24 grants made to school and private partnerships around the country geared at getting students job ready. The program is called Youth CareerConnect, which the President announced Monday.

In New York’s bullet from the fact sheet, it says that students here will follow the same framework as P-TECH, but some of the funds will go toward getting students ready for jobs like Diesel Mechanics and Dental Hygienists.

It says, “The grant will also expand diesel mechanic registered apprenticeship to opportunity youth and create a dental hygienist apprenticeship in partnership with the Consortium for Worker Education and modify 10 career and technical education programs to offer college credit and counseling.”

The hourly mean wage of a dental hygienist in New York State is $32.43, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For a Diesel Engine Specialist it is $24.61.

In other words, rather than focusing on getting students interested in working in the buzziest parts of the tech sector, the Obama administration is creating space in the system to get other students ready for jobs where the need is proven and aren’t likely to be replaced for a good long time. That’s encouraging.

Having the first shot at jobs at IBM sounds good, but only if there are actually jobs there.

Here’s President Obama announcing Youth CareerConnect in Maryland Monday:

Companies: Pathways in Technology Early College High School
Series: Brooklyn
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