Which of the 17 student pathways would you support putting in Hall County School and why?

The pathways, as they currently stand, are Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; A/V Technology and Communications; Architecture and Construction; Business, Management and Administration; Education and Training; Finance; Government and Public Administration; Health Science; Hospitality and Tourism; Human Services; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Marketing, Sales and Service; Public Safety and Security; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; Transportation, Distribution and Logistics; and Energy . I favor supporting all 17 pathways in the Hall County School system.  At their latest meeting, the superintendent of Hall County Schools confirmed the system is moving in the direction of accommodating all pathways.

In point of fact, all 17 require a good deal of knowledge in common, especially in reading, thinking and mathematics skills. These classes in these common items need to be the first focus of our schools in supporting all pathways. Also, we surely don’t want to lock students into a specific pathway they later regret. Where pathways can be grouped into common knowledge areas, like statistics that will be needed in some group of the 17, but not necessarily all, we should provide students the choice of a group path to follow. As the student learns more, they will be better able to choose a narrower path to follow. 

This is similar to the pattern followed by the public colleges in our district. Lanier Technical College offers almost 40 different academic programs, from accounting to welding and joining technology. Lanier Tech’s web site states that all programs begin with the general education core courses that make up their Technical Specialist (General Studies) certificate.  Gainesville State College (GSC) offers almost 900 separate degrees, including those in the popular areas of Biological Sciences; Business Administration; Computer Science; Criminal Justice; Early Childhood Education; Health Profession Fields; Pre-Nursing; and Psychology.  At GSC all of their programs have a core component of English and mathematics, plus several other general education courses pathways.  When they merge with NGCSU there will be little change.

Realistically, getting to the point of full pathway support will not happen overnight for the school system. First, significant help will be needed to properly counsel the students in the system.  At least initially, we would not be able to afford to provide all the classes in all the pathway areas at every school. We may need to designate schools that emphasize certain pathways.  As students in the Hall County system narrow their focus to one of the pathways, they may also be ready for taking classes in a particular pathway at one of the local colleges as part of their secondary education. I would envision the school system continuing  to work closely with the public colleges in Hall County and beyond to both develop the material for coursework and to advise students. This includes joint ventures such as the STEM program now being developed at North Hall High School. But to get to this point, we will need not only a Superintendent and a staff well versed in career education, but also Board of Education members with the background and knowledge of workforce  education.