At North Point High School for Science, Technology, and Industry in Charles County, Maryland, students need not choose between career readiness and college preparation. Both pathways converge. Our motto, "The real world starts here. Create your own tomorrow," reminds teachers to use their time with North Point students helping them gain the skills and knowledge they'll need to follow through on their post secondary plans—whether that means starting at a college or directly entering a career.
The courtyard students built in front of our building is an example of our motto at work. This project started after a study that two students conducted as part of their Engineering Applications class revealed an overcrowded hallway in the school. The students concluded that the overcrowding could be circumvented by creating an outdoor sidewalk. They designed and secured funding for a 100-foot-long sidewalk connecting two wings of our building. With guidance, students hired a professional contractor to install the sidewalk and actually assisted in some portions of the work.
A student-led committee designed a memorial garden in the center of the courtyard that the sidewalk passed through, which included additional sidewalk and seating areas. Drafting students offered design assistance and electrical construction students installed outdoor lighting to highlight a statue of an eagle (our school's symbol) donated by the class of 2012. Welding students are now designing and constructing benches to provide additional seating in the courtyard, which has become a popular lunch spot.
In creating this enhanced space for North Point's campus, students drew on knowledge they had gained in one of the 17 career majors that many of our students pursue throughout their years in the school. Looking around this courtyard, it's clear that expertise in areas like engineering, electrical construction, and design are now a valued part of our high school program. They are not seen as separate or inferior tracks of learning, as was once true in our district, especially when career and technical classes were taught in a "vo-tech" center.
Different by Design
The vision for North Point's approach to preparing students for college or careers came from Charles County Public Schools superintendent James Richmond. A little more than 10 years ago, the district recognized that its traditional career and technical programs were floundering. Our approach at the time was a half-day vo-tech model in which students traveled from their zoned high school to a vocational-technical center to take courses that prepared them for careers.
Most programs were undersubscribed. Parents and some school staff doubted the value of these programs for all students; many assumed that the technical programs were for students who couldn't succeed academically or who didn't have a postsecondary plan. Students attending these programs often felt isolated from activities at their zoned schools. They reported that students and teachers at their home schools were skeptical of their decision to take vocational classes and even discouraged many students from taking these courses because they believed that students should be preparing to go to college.
The school district began to envision how it might connect academic content with corresponding applied skills—and upgrade the image of vocational classes—by creating a new, integrated school for both vocational and academic students.
As a first step, district staff evaluated the traditional career and technology classes the district offered and identified more cutting-edge programs that would tie students to careers for the 21st century. Staff solicited ideas from experts in career fields and representatives from colleges and universities on how students could be better prepared for their chosen paths.
These industry and academic professionals helped craft the Guide to Career Majors for North Point High School, a catalogue that outlines various sequenced courses of study that our students can follow to prepare themselves for careers or college entry in different fields. The guide provides a road map for a purposeful high school experience that's based on the post secondary plan that each student creates. Each plan is centered on one of the school's 17 science and technical programs—ranging from auto tech to cosmetology to biotechnology—all of which blend vocational courses with advanced placement, honors, and academic support classes.
As the district was gathering information to shape the career majors, our technical program teachers discussed with designers their ideas for curriculum and classroom design. A team of architects met with these teachers to design a facility that would be built around the emerging instructional program. This enabled us to construct the building around the instructional program, rather than fit an instructional model into an existing building.
The new school opened in 2005. Its instructional space physically integrates labs and specialized areas for applied practice in science and technology with traditional classrooms, which supports the idea that both kinds of learning are valued; there's no "turn right for careers, turn left for academics" message.
How We Put Students on the Path
About half of the more than 2,200 students at North Point participate in our science and technology programs and choose a career major; the others have a more traditional experience. Students from anywhere in Charles County can apply for a seat in the science and tech programs as 8th graders, specifying the career major they want. If accepted, they attend North Point for their entire high school experience. Enrollment in the science and tech programs is limited to 280 students per entering class, and this year 805 students competed for these slots. Applicants complete a written form, do a timed writing sample, and go through an interview with our admissions staff. Acceptance is based on several factors, chief of which is student interest.
Counselors, teachers, and parents help advise students on which career fields will fit their interests and talents. Their major specifies courses that will prepare them for that field, but students aren't tied to a plan that locks them into attending either a two-year or four-year college or entering a career once they graduate; their trajectory evolves as they go. For example, most students in our health occupations major will move on to a four-year college to pursue a bachelor's of science degree in nursing or premed, whereas others may go to a two-year school to gain certifications and then go to work in the field.
Students enrolled in many of the 17 career majors (such as criminal justice, manufacturing, and education) are eligible to earn college credits or industry certifications while in high school if they complete certain courses and earn a B or better. Among the many professional qualifications students can earn are certification as a nurse's assistant and the certificate of automotive service excellence from the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation.
For each career major, the guide maps out four years of coursework that combine science and technology classes with courses from other disciplines that support preparation for that career. For example, students in the culinary arts program must take courses in art and French in addition to Principles of Business Management and First Aid and Safety; their electives might include other foreign languages or fine arts. Students in our health occupations and biotechnology majors are required to take advanced placement science courses to supplement the curriculum in their science and tech program.
High Expectations, High Opportunities
The culture at North Point High School is based on high expectations and giving students confidence that they can influence their world during and after high school. Signs in the hallways ask students, "How will you change the world?" Teachers and staff remind students about opportunities that are available outside school and the importance of being prepared to take advantage of them. Many students participate in apprenticeships or work-based learning with our industry partners. These experiences build a bridge between students and adults in our community.
Partnerships with industry often enhance classroom instruction. For instance, as part of classes in their career majors, North Point students have practiced patient care at a local hospital and worked with the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to install a solar tracking panel on the high school. Students can now track the solar energy the panel provides and monitor how much the school's carbon footprint is reduced as a result. For several years, students in our culinary arts program have provided part of the food for the annual Taste America reception at the U.S. Capitol Building and mingled with members of Congress as they served appetizers they'd made.
By connecting students with their passions, our science and technology majors give many kids an incentive to perform at higher levels in traditional high school courses. Recently, a teacher in a traditional biology class was struggling to engage one of her students who was frequently off task. During one of their many conversations to try to resolve their mutual frustration, the teacher learned that this student was in the school's cosmetology program. The biology and cosmetology teachers met with the girl together to point out the relevance of biology to cosmetology. Once the student realized this connection, her motivation improved.
Before graduating, all North Point High School students complete a senior portfolio that outlines their accomplishments in each of the school district's areas of focus: academic achievement, personal responsibility, and career readiness. This portfolio gives students the chance to summarize their high school experience and emphasize how well they are prepared for life after high school. North Point's science and technology students have the advantage of being able to demonstrate career readiness by adding industry certifications, internships, and evidence of real-world skills that they have accumulated in addition to their high school diploma.
Seven years after first opening the doors of North Point High School for Science, Technology, and Industry, we believe our mix of college and career preparation has provided a model of how to prepare a broader range of students for post–high school success. Students now line up to enter the school's science and technology programs, and 94 percent of the students who are selected for this program complete it during their four-year high school experience. Educators from other parts of the United States and several other countries have visited North Point to learn from our experience. We are living up to our belief that all students, no matter what their postsecondary plans, should thrive in both traditional and applied learning as they prepare themselves for their real world.
