Miss. Department of Education adopts K-12 workforce plan
The Mississippi Department of Education adopted a K-12 Workforce Development Plan intended to help students identify career paths before high school or college, the department said.
The plan provides school districts with a framework they can tailor to local needs, Brett Robinson, associate superintendent in the Office of Career and Technical Education, said. Robinson said a task force of superintendents, principals, teachers, career and technical education directors and representatives of AccelerateMS and the Mississippi Economic Council developed the plan.
Goals are grouped by grade level and emphasize teamwork, communication, career awareness and following directions in early grades and shift to career training and work-based learning in high school, Robinson said. He said the plan relies on existing instructional materials so teachers will not have additional work. “The major goal of this plan was to create something that MDE has as the foundation,” Robinson said.
The plan includes counselor materials to help students and families create individualized pathways and a digital portal with templates and program information, State Superintendent Lance Evans said. “This is where all of it lives, all of the information, every plan so that we have one single place that we can direct districts to,” Evans said. Board member Glen East urged the department to keep the plan fluid to reflect changing student interests and course offerings; Evans said the plan is designed to be adapted by districts.
In other action, the State Board of Education approved appointing Chad Spence as interim superintendent of the Okolona Separate School District after the department moved the district into a district of transformation following reports that it was unable to make payroll, MDE said. John Farrell, chief of School and District Transformation, said Spence has more than two decades of administrative experience and previously served as Okolona superintendent. Farrell said the district performed well under Spence, including the high school earning an A rating and the district completing audits while financially sound during his tenure.
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