Career Education

Career-Focused Student Learning System
In January, 2000, the New Mexico State Board of Education approved the Career- Focused Student Learning System. The Program highlights student learning, career development, professional development, marketing, assessment, partnerships, innovations, and accountability. It is closely linked to labor market demand for current and emerging career fields both local and global.

Under this system, students are expected to achieve the academic, occupational, employability and entrepreneurial skills necessary to successfully enter the workplace.

The Region IX Career Education Model provides the opportunity to implement the Career-Focused Learning System on a regional level. Building on its nationally-recognized School-to-Work Program, the REC IX Career Education Model adds components from the recently implemented Workforce Investment Act, Special Education Work Experience, and Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education. Additional links are available to Adult Basic Education/GED and Job Corps programs in the region. The model addresses the needs of all students in grades K-16 with a post-secondary link to three local post-secondary educational institutions.

The New Mexico Workforce Connection Center
The New Mexico Workforce Connection Center (NMWCC) provides job placement and training to individuals, including all youth, in Lincoln County. The NMWCC opened in October, 1998, as the first "One-Stop" Center in New Mexico. The Center provides access to the services of many agencies and programs in the same facility through interagency cooperation, communication, coordination, and support. One-Stop Centers are required under WIA to coodinate youth activities, link youth to job markets and employers, and to provide information and service access to eligible youth.

Support programs available at the NMWCC for REC IX area youth include the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, the South Central Mountain Adult Basic Education Program, and the New Mexico Job Corps.

Programs:

In-School Youth
Originally started as the JTPA Work Experience program in 1987 to serve special education students, the program was changed to address all special needs students on July 1, 2000, with the implementation of WIA. Traditionally, this program had served about 40-50 students during the school year in the REC IX member districts through job placement with nonprofit employers. The program provides students, ages 16 through 21, with valuable work experience during their high school years so they are prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation from school. Strong linkages are made with local employers, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, and local post secondary educational institutions.

Out-of-School Youth
The Out-of-School Youth Program was instituted at REC IX in January, 1999, in the form of the Apprenticeship Program. One of two model sites in New Mexico, the Apprentice Program became the Out-of-School Youth Program on July 1, 2000.

The program assists qualified young people entering an occupation to learn employment skills. The program is designed for youth between the ages of 18 and 22 who have exited public schools without a diploma, or have graduated with a diploma or GED. Such students must have basic skill deficiencies and be underemployed or unemployed. Participants may work in a chosen career field after intake and assessment in the program. Local employers provide a combination of hands-on experience and classroom training. The program may also provide funding for formal classroom training, special tools, clothing, or equipment.

School-to-Careers
The foundation of the REC IX Career Education System is the School-to-Careers program. Established in 1997, this program is recognized by the U.S. School-to-Work Office as one of the Twelve Best Practices Sites in the nation.

Serving all students K-16, the School-to-Careers program prepares students at each grade level to focus on his or her own abilities and interests. This program combines classroom instruction and academic standards with "real world" applications to prepare students for employment and is based on a student portfolio system designed around the New Mexico Career Readiness Content Standards and Benchmarks. The primary components include: School-Based Learning, Work-Based Learning, and Connecting Activities.

School-Based Learning enables students to explore careers in a variety of occupations through classroom activities. Each student's program of study is based on high academic standards and skill standards using integrated job-related curriculum and career exploration. In this activity, student interests are matched with their classes.

Work-Based Learning allows students to experience work from a firsthand perspective. It is a planned program of job training or work experience through worksite involvement by both students and employers.

Connecting activities link School-Based Learning with Work-Based Learning through partnerships with business and industry.

Carl Perkins
Signed into law on October 31, 1998, Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Act (Perkins III) sets out a new vision of vocational and technical
education for the 21st century. The central goals of this new Act are improving student achievement and preparing students for postsecondary education, further learning or careers.

Perkins promotes reform, innovation, and continuous improvement in vocational and technical education with state and local efforts to reform secondary schools and improve postsecondary education. The implementation of the law promises to make vocational and technical education programs an integral part of these efforts.

The REC IX Consortium is comprised of the school districts of Alamo Navajo, Carrizozo, Cloudcroft, Corona, Hondo Valley, Mescalero, and Ruidoso.

The Focus Areas for REC IX Carl Perkins Consortia are: Agriculture, Technology, and Retail/Entrepreneurship/Marketing.

Tularosa and Alamogordo have separate Carl Perkins Grants which flow directly into their local school districts.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
Effective July 1, 2000, the Workforce Investment Act replaced the Jobs Training Partnership Act (JTPA) which had been a work experience component of REC IX since 1987. An eligible student is age 14 through 21 from a low income family with needs in one or more of the following categories: deficient in basic literacy skills; school dropout; homeless, runaway, or foster child; pregnant or parenting; is an offender, or is an individual with a disability or cultural barrier to employment. Each student is enrolled for year-round support in the work experience component.

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