West Virginia Executive Fall 2019 | Page 41

The P20 Program Emily Perdue, a West Virginia University (WVU) Extension specialist in 4-H youth agriculture, was shocked when more than 1,000 community members from Boone County, WV, crowded into Van High School’s gymnasium to learn about a new program she and her colleagues were hoping to launch there. It was a Wednesday night, and traditionally the com- munity would have been in church. However, local pastors held services the night before, encouraging the community to attend this meeting. That night, she presented to the community the opportunity to kick-start an experiential program modeled after the successful P20 program she observed in the Roscoe Independent Collegiate School District while she was pursuing her doctorate at Texas A&M University. The P20 program is an early college program, meaning that when high school seniors walk across the stage to receive their diploma, they’ll also be receiving an associate degree from a local college or university for free. With overwhelming support from the Van community, the West Virginia P20 program launched in the fall of 2018 and is currently supported by a partnership made up of Pierpont Community & Technical College, Southern West Virginia Com- munity and Technical College, West Virginia State University and WVU. The program recently received a USDA grant to help fund the research projects and offer a stipend to faculty to support traveling to Van and working with the students. “For me, P20 is not just an educational program—it really is a community development program,” says Perdue. “Parents, guardians, community members—all those stakeholders are really involved with the school. It is sort of the center of the community, and what P20 does is make the school the center for diffusion of innovation.” Although the program is still in its early stages, Perdue has already seen a positive impact in the community. While this fall’s freshman class is the first group that will graduate with an associate degree, students in last year’s graduating class were still able to receive a significant amount of college credits. One former Van student who is now attending Fairmont State University told Perdue he was able to receive 27 credits before graduating, allowing him to start college as a sophomore. “Not all of the students will go and complete a four-year degree, but when they get that associate degree, that can really give them a leg up on finding a job,” says Perdue. “And then if they do want to get a four-year degree, they have the path to do so.” Metro Nashville’s Career-Based Academies In 2005, Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) had a problem: their students weren’t engaged in the curriculum. They were bored, which led them to skip classes and get in trouble. The district’s graduation rate was 58 percent, which Donna Gilley, MNPS’ career and technical education coordi- nator, considered a failure. “We were failing our kids, and, quite honestly, we were pre- paring for a state takeover,” she says. “We knew we had to do something big and bold.” The solution was to implement their own version of career- based academies with an initial goal of engaging the students by tailoring their courses to the students’ interests. Immediately the attendance rates increased and behavior issues decreased. Over time, the district’s academic performance has also increased. WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM FALL 2019 39