Ronda - 4:11

>> Do you have any of your high school students currently able to participate in some of the supported education things you were describing while they're still in high school, or is it pretty much once they've completed high school then they'll start up with those programs?
>> Well, for supported education it is just for college students.

However one of the things we did was those workshops that I had just mentioned.

We have monthly covering meetings that DVR and Department of Education put on where teams of transition staff from all the school districts and charter schools are invited.

We have about, I think about 12 to 15 who come on a pretty regular basis.

And so Del Tech came, presented on these workshops, and they are open to coming to the high schools, and some of the high schools are open to having them come and present some of that information and really acclimating them to what's life like that first year of college.

What is that transition really like? This year one of the things we're really trying to focus on in how do we get more college information about that transition and some of those ancillary things.

It's not always the academics that are causing students problems their first year.

And so how do we get more of that information embedded into, whether it be the curriculum in high school or at least having students being able to access that information prior to them leaving high school? And so that's something we're working on this year.

So I know that Del Tech does work closely with some of the high schools to offer their certification programs.

So Del Tech will provide the training to some students regarding career pathways.

They have specific pathways either that they already have in place, or maybe a school has come to them and said, hey, in our area this is a big labor market need, and so can you provide some special Ed training that our high school students can get credit for through the career pathways, career and Tech Ed? And they've developed them specifically for the students.

In some cases Del Tech goes to the school to provide the course work, and in some cases students are allowed to go to Del Tech to do it during their school day.

And we're trying to build on that more and more because we really want to; we want to look at career pathways and we want to look at what the needs are in the local different areas of Delaware, and then what kind of credentials are recognized by the industry that Del Tech is well aware of and is teaching to.

And instead of in high school to develop a brand new career pathway, why not just let Del Tech take care of it if they've already got it in place and they're willing to develop it? So we've got more of those partnerships popping up in the last few years, and they're very open to doing it.

They want to get in and work with the high schools more.

Del Tech does because they see some of the barriers that students are facing when they get there and want to help eliminate some of those barriers and work with students so they're more prepared when they get to the college level.
>> The workshops and the supported education pieces; is the community college making those available to the general population, any students that want to participate or do they require that they be documented to have a disability and referred from Voc-Rehab or the workforce system?
>> I think they have mainly targeted the DVR students, but I think that's partly because we have a contract with them to provide specific services to certain numbers of students.

That's why we're trying to get them to connect more with the high schools and to facilitate more of that conversation because truly we all believe every single student needs this information whether they have a disability or not.

I'm getting ready to have a meeting with them in September.

That's part of the conversation that I think we're gonna have.

I think we're gonna look at how we can expand that.

Right now it's only happening in New Castle County, but the Georgetown campus has also got some curriculum that they were saying after we had the conversation about these workshops, they said, oh, we've got a whole lot of information and presentations already set up with the same types of topics.

And so they're in the process of including those into the supported education program as well.

So we're kind of growing on it right now and I think it's going to; I think it's just going to be something that we find that's going to be beneficial for everyone.