Friends of Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education,
We are excited to share this news concerning a unique program provided by Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical and Marlborough High.
It is with pleasure that we offer the comments of Superintendent-Director Ernie Houle concerning this exciting unique partnership:
"Why is it that Dual Enrollment opportunities only include those associated with College? That’s why Assabet decided it was time to offer a Dual Enrollment program through its Assabet Technical Institute (ATI) to students in their senior year who had no plan for after high school. Seniors who have met the admission criteria and have all the credits to graduate need flexibility in their schedules for this to work, so we are offering Cosmetology and Electrical as part of our pilot program as we continue to do our part expanding access to CTE! Many thanks to our Director of Community Education, Christine Jardin-Gauthier, for her vision in helping students who would have otherwise not had access to this amazing type of education."
New partnership with Assabet expands vocational opportunities for Marlborough High students
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MARLBOROUGH – A new dual-enrollment pilot program will allow Marlborough High School students to take electrical and cosmetology courses at Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School.
The program aims to make vocational education more accessible to Marlborough High School students. While the program’s target start date was September 29, Dr. Jason DeFalco, the Marlborough superintendent, said the district is still fine-tuning transportation.
“It’s really a life-changing trajectory for some of these kids that did not have post-graduation plans but now have an opportunity for certification in electrical or cosmetology,” DeFalco said during the School Committee meeting on September 22.
Through the Assabet Technical Education Institute, which typically offers vocational education for adults, the pilot program has dual-enrolled 20 12th-grade students. Christine Gauthier, director of community education at Assabet, said the program was designed to give Marlborough students access to Assabet courses while allowing them to complete their graduation requirements and maintain a balanced schedule.
Students enrolling in the program need to be in good academic standing and have a flexible afternoon schedule. The program courses will start after school, when students get out of their last class at Marlborough High, Gauthier said.
“In creating this, we were very mindful of the students as a whole and making sure that they could have a school-work-life balance, because that’s the key in order for them to sustain the long term and achieve their goals with this program,” Gauthier said. “We want to make sure that we’re not putting on this extremely long day but allowing them to have that balance and have the coursework.”
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<![endif]>DeFalco said that the pilot program is a short-term project, but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has awarded districts a grant for long-term proposals. That could help make the program a more permanent option for Marlborough students.
“We have been working very hard to create additional pathways at Marlborough High School for different career technical opportunities for our students, with the idea of really making sure that our students are prepared for post-graduation and really pursuing whatever experiences and passions that they have, whether it’s college or career or military, etc,” DeFalco said.
Chapter 74 Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education
LEARNING THAT WORKS FOR MASSACHUSETTS
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
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