News from the Dover High School Career Tech Center

One hundred years ago, Dover Industrial School offered classes in cooking, woodworking, blacksmithing, sewing, laundry, drafting, and machine shop. “Underachievers” were often guided toward vocational programs, which led directly into the workforce with little expectation for further formal education. Today, however, as a result of recent school reform efforts, Dover’s Career Technical Center (CTC) integrates discipline-specific academics with industry-specific knowledge and skills to provide many career and postsecondary options for students after graduation. CTC offerings now include programs such as Pre-Engineering Academy, Fire Science Academy, Biotechnology Academy, Licensed Nursing Assistant, Animal Science, Computer Technology (and others) that often embed industry-specified certification and transferrable college credit for qualifying students.

Why the bold transformation? Leaders in education and business recognized that high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) is critical to our nation if we are to compete in a global market. CTE values high achievement in academic and technical skills, encourages innovation, and demands critical thinking, teamwork and creative problem solving. Using both “hands-on” and “minds-on” learning, students apply academic theory to practical purpose.

Partnerships between businesses and career technical centers are becoming more and more vital to local economies. Career tech educators rely on the input of business and industry (in the form of advisory committees) to inform the development of curriculum and to keep technologies and training current. Businesses provide paid work experiences, job shadow opportunities, and internships. They often demonstrate new technologies in the classroom or host informational tours and activities at their workplaces.

Studies show that employers prefer to hire CTE graduates because they need 20 percent less formal on-the-job training. Students view their education as relevant and practical because learning happens in the classroom, lab and the workplace. Career technical students make a solid connection between academic coursework and future goals, so they are more likely to graduate high school and value further training and education. In addition, business partners have access to skilled, motivated, entry-level workers who enjoy their profession and have a realistic vision of what employers require of them. Together Dover’s Career Technical Center and local business partners provide both academic education and career training for the 21 Century workforce. Now that’s “Education With A Purpose.”