HB 2948 - DIGEST
(SEE ALSO PROPOSED 1ST SUB)

Creates the career and college-ready lighthouse pilot project to provide an opportunity for students to: (1) Explore and understand a wide range of career opportunities through applied learning;

(2) Engage with industry mentors; and

(3) Plan for career and college success.

Requires the workforce training and education coordinating board to convene a career and college readiness advisory committee to advise the education and workforce sectors and the legislature on how to create the opportunities for students as mentioned above.

Requires the advisory committee to select, in cooperation with the office of the superintendent of public instruction: (1) Two innovative high schools to act as lighthouse mentors; and

(2) Four schools seeking to pilot innovative work-integrated and career-related instructional programs similar to those offered by the lighthouse mentors.

Requires the selected pilot schools to: (1) Implement a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curriculum that can be delivered in the context of employment opportunities in one or more industry clusters, including manufacturing, building and construction, aerospace and maritime, and health and bioscience; and

(2) Submit the following to the workforce training and education coordinating board: An interim and end-of-project report that includes an evaluation of the effect of the instructional program on high school graduation rates, state test scores, industry and community partnerships, work-integrated learning experiences, and other relevant data.

Requires the workforce training and education coordinating board, in consultation with the advisory group, to use the pilot schools' reports, along with historical data from those schools, to evaluate the instructional programs of the lighthouse and pilot schools.

Expires July 1, 2020.