YOUNGSTOWN — Two Mahoning Valley career and tech centers are being called “pacesetter” schools.

Choffin Career and Technical Center in Youngstown, and Mahoning County Career and Technical Center in Canfield, are winners of 2020 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

They are achieving success in meeting goals related to increases in student graduation rates, readiness for college and careers and credential attainment.

They will be honored July 6, 2021, at SREB’s Making Schools Work Conference in Nashville, due to the cancellation of the 2020 conference in New Orleans.

The Pacesetter School Awards recognize schools that are implementing one of SREB’s Making Schools Work school improvement frameworks.

CHOFFIN

Choffin Career Center is using Technology Centers That Work, SREB’s school improvement design for technology centers. In the 2017 school year, new school administrators accepted the challenge to turn around the struggling center in three years. They targeted three goals: Ensure students graduate on time, earn industry credentials and are prepared for careers and college.

Widespread behavioral issues impeded student success, prompting the center to first focus on getting discipline under control. Administrators reimagined in-school suspensions with an intervention-based approach called Career and College Readiness Intervention. The focus was on empowering students to make good choices, providing social support and teaching employability skills.

In addition, administrators established high expectations, raised standards and held every teacher accountable to support student success. They also connected students to workplace opportunities.

After several months, students started passing end-of-course assessments and achieving credentials. In the first year, Choffin earned a B on the state report card. Student industry credential attainment went from 0 percent to 87 percent. The center’s student success coaches created a graduation plan for each student and that paid off, too. The graduation rate rose the first year from 86 percent to 97 percent.

MCCTC

Mahoning County Career and Technical Center has implemented High Schools That Work, SREB’s school improvement design for high schools. MCCTC has created a data-driven, high performing school improvement culture that includes multiple opportunities for student success, according to SREB.

The center also focuses on access and equity, ensuring each student has access to and completes high-quality career pathways that aligned with their interests and aptitudes.

Over the past three years, the center has made significant gains on its Ohio School Report Card. Students’ preparedness for success has increased by 60 percent, and the center has maintained a 92 percent post-program placement rate in fields related to students’ high school programs of study. Post-program placement measures the proportion of students who are employed, in an apprenticeship, join the military, or are enrolled in postsecondary education or advanced training six months after leaving school.

SREB’s Making Schools Work Conference is held annually and provides educators with opportunities to participate in professional development, network with colleagues from across the country and build school and district leadership capacity.

The Southern Regional Education Board works with states and educators to improve education at every level, from early childhood through postsecondary education.

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