News : Rural School Districts Partner to Expand Work-Based Learning

Results from a new program show a significant impact on rural students and communities

Kirkwood Community College's Workplace Learning Connection (WLC) has entered into a partnership with Benton, Vinton Shellsburg, and Williamsburg Community School Districts to expand rural work-based learning opportunities in the region. As part of the partnership, a new work-based learning coordinator position has been created, which will be shared between the three school districts to expand these valuable opportunities for students.

In response to a push by the State of Iowa for more work-based learning, leaders in all three districts approached WLC about an expanded work-based learning presence in their schools. With the use of operational sharing dollars provided by the Iowa Department of Education, the new coordinator position was created through WLC, an established collaborative partner in Eastern Iowa that specializes in career exploration opportunities for middle school and high school students. The program enables students to explore careers of interest, understand the next steps for their career of interest, network in the community, and connect what they learn in the classroom to the working world.

To Benton Community School District Curriculum and Instruction Services Director Anna Selk, the partnership has benefited students and their communities in many ways.

"Our district's expanded collaboration with WLC has provided our students with even more opportunities to investigate and explore career opportunities of interest, and made job exploration even more accessible to students," said Selk. "In addition to supporting student exploration, WLC has helped build local partnerships with area businesses so our students also understand all of the opportunities that are close to home. Hopefully, it has also helped instill the idea that students don't have to look far for their career of interest and will consider making Benton County and more specifically, Benton Community, their forever home."

Not even a year into the program, administrators are seeing its substantial impact as more students take advantage of work-based learning opportunities. In just six months:

* Benton Community High School has seen a 44 percent increase in job shadow requests

* Vinton Shellsburg High School has seen a 28 percent increase in job shadow requests

* Williamsburg Jr/Sr High School has seen a 143 percent increase in job shadow requests

To WLC Director Kristine Bullock, the positive results are just the beginning.

"We are really happy with the exponential growth in work-based learning engagement that we've seen so far," said Bullock. "But what's even more exciting is that we expect this trend to continue as the program is built out into the future. The impact of this work is huge, and that's good for the school districts, their communities, and most importantly the students."

For more information on WLC, go to www.kirkwood.edu/workplace-learning-connection.

With more than 140 majors and programs, Kirkwood Community College boasts 16,000 annual college-credit students, while maintaining one of the lowest tuitions in the state. All degree-seeking students are eligible for federal financial aid and the college offers more than $3 million in scholarships each year to students from all walks of life. Kirkwood is a convenient, innovative, and visionary educational leader that strives to remain affordable and accessible.