“Our job is almost looking in that workforce crystal ball, shaking it up and making sure that we’re poised to supply the workforce even though it might be two, three, four years out,” said Nick Weldy, superintendent of the Miami Valley Career Tech Center.
While career readiness has been something schools have talked about for a while, with new businesses moving into Ohio and a worker shortage already, career readiness has become a priority for the state.
It’s also gotten additional weight recently.
Under Gov. Mike DeWine and former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, the state told schools they needed to start measuring how ready their students are after high school. That measurement will be part of the state report card for the 2024-2025 school year.
“The narrative generally is that you have to leave Springfield to go find not only a good paying job but something that you can enjoy doing,” said Ron Gordon, Springfield City Schools Director of Community Initiatives. “And as the chamber and some of the other businesses in the area have shown...we’re growing in a way that it’s not just the typical manufacturing.”
Springfield has implemented career pathways to encourage high school students to pick a route post-high school and is testing students to identify possible careers.
MVCTC is constantly talking to businesses about what workforce skills they need and evaluating current offerings to make sure they line up with what businesses need, Weldy said. For example, MVCTC doesn’t offer secretarial classes anymore, but they do offer drone programs.
It helps if students take an aptitude test, which a career counselor can use to identify other jobs that students might not know about.
The current high school group of kids are very career focused, Weldy said.
“They want to have a pathway to where they want to be,” he said. “They can envision themselves and ... their successful future self, and that’s where they’re trying to get to.”
Some schools have started using a diagnostic test called YouScience, which helps students figure out strengths and weaknesses and match them with a career pathway.
Springfield City Schools, along with several districts in Miami County, are among the local districts who have started rolling it out.
David Larson, the Miami County Educational Service Center superintendent, is working with a team in Miami County to roll out YouScience.
“One of the things we want to be really careful about is that we don’t use this data, or our school districts don’t use the data, to discourage kids who are interested in a certain field,” Larson said. “You may not show strong aptitude for a specific area, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t grow those skills.”
The tool has been rolled out to all Miami County high schools for the last school year, using a grant from Edison State Community College. A combination of funds from local businesses has guaranteed the same tool can be used next school year, Larson said.
YouScience is also being used in Springfield, and Gordon said Springfield students are taking it in middle and early high school during a dedicated class. The teachers are trained and able to talk through the results with students, Gordon said.
It’s also important to talk to students about the lifestyle they might want because of the job they pick, he said.
“I kind of joke around that there’s a lot of individuals that want to be social workers, but they also want to drive a Lamborghini. And chances of that happening is little to none,” Gordon said. “So you have to understand that what your dreams and what your passion is about may not match, but how do you settle in to get where you want to be?”
The program has been in place for about a year. The YouScience platform is being paid for through an agreement with the Greater Springfield Partnership and does not cost the district money.
“I can only see this growing and evolving into something even bigger down the road,” Gordon said.
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