An effort is underway to provide work based learning experiences for students at Hampton-Dumont High School in the fall.
Renee Zirbel is a Work Experience Coordinator with the Central Rivers Area Education Agency, and tells RadioOnTheGo News that work based learning programs are required in Iowa schools.
“Work-based learning is sustained like a partnership with an employer and it could be an internship, could be an apprenticeship, project-based. Interesting thing too, the Department of Ed created what they call the Clearinghouse for work-based learning. So you go online there and see and it’s across the state, there’s employers that have, there’s projects that students can do that’s considered work-based learning and it’s not at a necessarily a job location, but their maybe researching some things for the historical society or something like that. So that’s work-based learning and it’s kind of a requirement now as of, based learning is required for schools as part of their post-secondary readiness index, they call it. They are rated by that, the district’s performance, know, the department that does report cards. So district is rated on their, extent to which they’re doing it and the quality of which they’re doing it.”
Zirbel says she has been talking with local businesses to gauge their interest in working with the students.
“Basically, when they sign up or register for classes, they’ll register for work-based learning. They get credit for it, obviously. And it’ll be two class periods a day. It’ll be five days a week, but four days a week, they will be at the job. Then the other day, that’s the other distinguishing factor between work-based learning and work experiences. Work-based learning has a reflective and an academic piece to it, whereas work experience does not. So work-based learning, there’s data collection, reflection, journaling, monitoring your own progress and skills, paying attention to those things. So there’s that piece that students are expected to do. So on Wednesdays I think probably they’ll be like in the classroom doing that four days a week at the job. And so I think really as far as maybe just be talking about it, I think it’d be good to have conversations for students to be thinking about maybe a little bit more than they would normally be thinking about over the summer. Like what do I maybe want to do or what do I want to learn more about or maybe experience or find out about job wise.”
For more information or questions, contact Zirbel at 641-583-24-34.
