By Becky Brewster
Editors Note: This story is being reprinted due to incomplete jump page story in last week’s edition.
The Culberson County-Allamoore ISD overwhelming received voter support to build a new 21st century public school facility. Van Horn showed it has the vision to recognize the importance of public education to our community, and exhibited this by funding the new state-of-the-art facility. According to Ken Baugh, CCAISD Superintendent, it is time to continue the vision for our children’s success by building the best education plan possible for our children’s future and has outlined the need to develop the “Van Horn Vision” to steer CCAISD is this direction.
Traditional K-12 models are no longer preparing students to meet the needs of our ever-changing workforce. The current model is P20 which is education planning from Pre-K through PhD. Educators now know we need to plan past high school into college and the workforce. Students don’t just need to be able to pass the traditional multiple choice tests. Employers are looking for employees that have such skills as leadership, interpersonal communication, technical skills, IT skills, time management, sales and marketing, etc. Passing the STAAR test in no way indicates success in marketable skills. Our students need to be provided with skills that will allow them to succeed in higher education and ultimately into the workforce.
To help develop the “Van Horn Vision,” CCAISD will be taking groups of board members, administrators, parents, teachers, and business members to tour a model rural public school, Roscoe Collegiate ISD, that developed its own vision and successfully put their plan into action. In this model, the high school seniors graduate with an Associate’s degree a week before they receive their high school diplomas. (In 2017, 96% of their students received an Associate’s degree). They also leave school with at least one Industry Certification. They are sending their children out of high school ready to finish college or go to work with a skill that business is looking for.
The first group toured Roscoe Collegiate ISD on November 13, with an additional tour planned for the spring. After the first-hand experiences are completed, Van Horn will be able to use this model as a guide to developing a vision and a plan of action specific to our community.
