Most of Oklahoma's career and technology education students at the secondary level are enrolled in CareerTech programs in their local schools. In FY06, a total of 1,382 CareerTech teachers in 400 comprehensive public school districts served a total enrollment of 138,444.

These students are in Grades 6-12 and are enrolled in one-period CareerTech programs including family and consumer sciences, agricultural education, marketing education, business and information technology education, trade and industrial education and health occupations education.


Such programs add value to students' high school careers. Not only do they meet the same academic standards required of all other students, they learn skills to manage the challenge of living and working in a diverse society. Their career and technology education classrooms provide a hands-on learning environment where they can increase technological proficiency, develop entrepreneurial skills and gain practical experience. In addition, technology education programs, designed for Grades 6-10, also provide students the opportunity to explore and experience potential careers.


These comprehensive school programs focus on producing well-rounded students. Students learn theory in the classroom, practice their skills in labs and shops, and gain vital leadership and teamwork skills through their participation in one of seven career and technology student organizations. These organizations include FFA; DECA; FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America); BPA (Business Professionals of America); HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America); Skills USA-VICA; and TSA (Technology Student Association). Nearly 75,000 students join these seven organizations annually. These organizations afford them the opportunity to participate in both leadership and skill contests at the local, state, and national levels.


The success of the CareerTech system begins on the front line. Instructors with real-world experiences strive to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Each year, instructors are offered opportunities to participate in educational development and training programs designed to hone their technical and teaching skills. Classroom curriculum is available through the Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center. In addition, program specialists from the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provide technical assistance to instructors.

 


 

The foundation for Oklahoma's statewide network of 29 technology center districts, operating a total of 56 campuses statewide, was laid in 1966 when Oklahoma voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing the establishment of what were then called area vocational-technical schools.

One of the main goals of these schools was to provide cost-effective vocational education. The amendment allowed school districts to join together to form a vo-tech district with an independent board of education and its own locally approved tax base. The new school could then offer specialized occupational training programs that sending schools could not afford to offer, or for which they might not have enough enrollment to justify the offering.


Gov. Dewey Bartlett, who campaigned on the issue of industrial expansion, championed the formation of these new schools as the linchpin of his efforts to diversify Oklahoma's economy, previously so dependent on oil and agriculture. He knew that these schools would teach high school students the technical skills that a diversified Oklahoma economy would need as well as provide Oklahoma adults the opportunity to upgrade existing skills or learn new skills. He also believed these schools would evolve into a critical recruiting tool to attract new jobs and new investments to Oklahoma. Time, and hard work, has proved him right.


Oklahoma's technology centers serve full-time students, both high school pupils and adult learners. Also, district residents, usually adults, flock to the centers to learn new skills or enhance existing ones in popular short-term courses. While high school students attend tuition-free, adult students are charged nominal tuition to offset costs. Students are frequently able to earn credit hours for their studies from local colleges.


In FY06, more than 16,000 high school students enrolled in Oklahoma's technology centers. Most attend approximately three hours per day, either in the morning or the afternoon. Due to increased graduation requirements, centers are adapting schedules and pursuing other avenues to provide students with the flexibility they need to attend. The centers also serve more than 12,000 full-time adult enrollments.


On a statewide average, technology centers receive about two-thirds of their funding at the local level. The remaining is a mixture of state and federal funds.

 

 

 

 

The newest of Oklahoma's CareerTech delivery systems is the CareerTech Learning Network, already providing a new world of possibilities and a wide variety of educational options for Oklahomans.

This network offers 24-hours-a-day training to customers in their homes, businesses and classrooms. It is truly education for the future.


Although in its infancy, the network has already begun the process of integrating existing state-of-the-art classrooms and labs in high schools and technology centers across the state with Web-based instruction and interactive television.


The network's goal is to provide education and training opportunities for a far-ranging list of customers, from high school students to businesses and industries.


Much of the electronic backbone for the network was purchased using a series of federal grants, obtained through the assistance of Congressman Wes Watkins. Currently, the network is cooperating with a number of communities in south central and southeast Oklahoma to provide the electronic infrastructure they need for business and industry expansion and other economic development activities in their communities.


Oklahoma's CareerTech Learning Network is the nation's pioneer in the career and technology education arena. With its planned growth and expansion, the network will serve customers beyond the state's borders and bring profits back to the Sooner State. Using its video-conferencing capabilities to bring groups of career and technology education professionals together for meetings and in-service workshops, the network has already produced significant cost savings for taxpayers.

 

 

 

In FY06, enrollment in the CareerTech system's business and industry training programs offered by Oklahoma's technology centers totaled more than 380,000. These programs are primarily in three different categories: industry-specific and existing industry, adult and career development, and the Training for Industry Program (TIP).


Industry-specific and existing industry training programs are customized to fit the needs of businesses or industries already located in Oklahoma. They can be offered either at a technology center or on site at a business or industry. The programs prepare employees to operate new equipment or emerging technology or to meet the changing demographics of the workforce. Training can range from three hours to several hundred hours. One particularly successful program in this arena is safety training. Results of this training have been impressive in dramatically reducing workplace injuries, and as a result, saving millions of dollars in workers' compensation premiums for Oklahoma companies.


Adult and career development programs, usually short-term programs held in the evenings at technology centers, offer continuing education to Oklahomans needing to upgrade or expand current work skills. While these courses may not be customized to meet a specific company's needs, companies often fund the training because it results in better-prepared employees.


The Training for Industry Program (TIP) is designed specifically to meet the employee training needs of new or expanding industries. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce lists TIP as one of the most valuable weapons in its arsenal of economic development incentives. Once companies decide to locate here, CareerTech representatives work one-on-one with them to design and deliver the best start-up training programs available anywhere. Customized services include job analysis, pre-employment training, pre-production training, instructional materials and development, and assessment of training needs. And, best of all, this training is free. It can be offered on site at a business or industry or at a technology center.


In a recent random-sample survey of 300 employers, Oklahoma's business and industry gave a rousing "thumbs-up" to CareerTech's services to business and industry. More than a third of the employers surveyed said they had taken advantage of CareerTech training or hired CareerTech graduates, and every single one of them said they would do it again.

 


 

The statistics are astounding and frightening. Of the 24,000 inmates that Oklahoma incarcerates every year, up to 10,000 are released back into society annually. Most of those released are high school dropouts. Many of them lack basic life and coping skills. Most lack the kind of technical skills they need to support themselves and their families. Add the burden of carrying the title "convict," and the future of these Oklahomans becomes even more bleak and their chance of returning to prison very high.That's why the 22 Skills Centers, operated by Oklahoma's CareerTech system, are so important. They not only offer hope and a life of promise to released inmates but also offer dramatic savings to Oklahoma taxpayers for every inmate they keep from returning to prison. Those savings are estimated to be in excess of $15,000 per year per inmate.


The Skills Centers include 19 locations in Oklahoma's public prisons, three locations in juvenile facilities, and two in private correctional facilities. Training programs range from auto service technology to computer technology.


The Skills Centers' mission statement is simple: prepare inmates for success in the workplace and in the community. Their job, however, isn't simple. Skills Center instructors not only teach technical skills but also help students work on their academic skills as well as their life and coping skills. And, by maintaining close relationships and partnerships with Oklahoma's businesses and industries, instructors also are instrumental in helping inmates land, and more importantly keep, good jobs.


While the unemployment rate of other recently released inmates is dismal, the job placement rate of Skills Center-trained inmates is exceptionally high. In FY05, 78% of male inmates and 87% of female inmates completing a Skills Center program were employed in occupations directly related to their training program, and earning average starting wages of more than $8.69 per hour.


Oklahomans can be assured that when prison inmates get occupational training before they're released, they're much less likely to return to a life of crime. And that's a good investment for Oklahoma.