Meeting A Challenge Head On.

A Delaware school district combines foresight, opportunity, and top-notch instruction to attract and retain students in their health sciences program.

The New Castle County Vocational Technical School District in Delaware realized more than 30 years ago that skilled workers in the health care fields would come to be in high demand, so they answered with six health science programs, among their 35 total career studies programs, for their more than 3,200 high school students. The school district, which is comprised of Delcastle Technical High School, Howard High School of Technology, and Hodgson Vo-Tech High School, covers five districts including the cities of Wilmington and Newark.

Many things make this school district unique, including the fact that all of the high schools are considered comprehensive schools. That is, they offer career and academic study complete with all of the extracurriculars such as sports teams and clubs. But, even more noteworthy about this school system is the impressive success rate that they have enjoyed with students completing their Health Careers Cluster.

The school district has an average of 73.8 percent retention rate in their health careers cluster based on the period from 1992-2000, and out of an average of 125 students entering the program in 10th grade, about 93 have gone on to graduate from the program each year since 1992. Of those who have graduated, between 1992 and 1999, 21 percent were working in a related field six months after graduation and 42 percent were attending college full time. For the 2000-2001 school year, the school district has more than 300 10th through 12th grade students enrolled in the health career program. This is up from the 290 enrolled last year.

The Health Careers Cluster is comprised of six specific programs of study: Dental Assisting, Dental Lab Technician, Practical Nursing, Nurse Technician, Medical Assisting, and for special education students, Hospital Services. The Health Career Cluster is for all students, but at the end of ninth grade when students have completed the health exploratory program, students must apply to the Health Careers Program. They must then re-apply at the end of their sophomore year to be accepted into a specific field of study.

"Students learn the foundation classes together and then they branch out into specific fields," remarked Kathy Demarest, public information officer for the school district.

Janet West, health occupations cluster chair at Delcastle Technical High School, says that the cluster concept gives students a broad education in the health fields. For example, she says, it is important that a student in the dental assisting program know about the entire human body not just about the head and neck.

Upon graduation from the Health Careers Program, students are eligible to receive one of three career certificates. An exemplary certificate with a gold seal denotes that a student has completed career competencies beyond those required with a 93 percent and completed their course of study with a 3.0 or better GPA. A standard certificate with a silver seal shows that a student has completed all of the career competencies with a 2.0 or better GPA, and a limited certificate with a bronze seal shows that the student has completed a portion of the career competencies. Furthermore, on the backs of the certificates, the completed fields of study are marked as well as information about the student's attendance in grades 10 through 12.

However, the school district feels that these certificates are not just for students; they are for prospective employers who can refer to them to learn more about the coursework of that student. It shows the skill and commitment level of the student, which can be a strong indicator of the type of employee they are likely to be. The school district even takes the certificate program one step further and guarantees to employers that their new employee will have all of the necessary skills or the district will retrain the former student at no cost to the employer.

So what's the school district's secret to success? Perhaps their secret is twofold: teachers who are aware of the trends taking shape in health care and courses of study that allow students to grow and take on real responsibility.

Sue Holloway, a teacher in the nurse technician program at Hodgson Vo-Tech High School, says that she has noticed the recent trend toward long-term care, which is a result of our aging population. She adds that there has also been a swing toward home care and managed care because people are being sent home from hospitals a lot sooner than ever before. Bearing this in mind, she has added these new trends into her teachings because she knows that agencies will be looking to hire people who are familiar with home health care.

The nurse technician program at Hodgson currently has 54 students enrolled. These students learn about, among other things, basic nursing skills, hygiene, mobility, vital signs, and interpersonal communication. Students in their junior year are eligible to become certified as a nursing assistant and spend three days per week for two semesters at either a nursing home in Delaware City or at St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington.

Holloway feels that this program is especially popular with students because they can put it to work for them after graduation. "They know that there are lots of jobs out there, and that those jobs can even help support them while they pursue an advanced degree," she says.

As a teacher in the dental assisting program at Howard High School of Technology, Jan Dill says that the trend in dentistry is toward preventive care so she has placed great emphasis on home care instruction. In fact, she adds that before she discusses anything else, she covers flossing and brushing with the ninth graders.

"They still have to know the basics," she notes.

She hopes to train her students to be "global employees" in that they will know about everything from pharmacology and nutrition to medical terminology and anatomy. She currently has 39 students in grades 10 through 12 in her program and stresses that these kids work as a team.

"Teamwork is essential to being successsful in the field of dentistry," she adds.

The program includes dental clinic time in which a visiting dentist comes to the on-campus clinic once a week to treat real patients. The students become involved in real-life "drilling and filling" earning valuable hands-on experience. Furthermore, students in the 11th grade have the ability to learn outside the school at various community dental clinic facilities working with dentists, and seniors participate in a co-op program out in the field. Dill says that about 75 percent of her students pursue dental careers, going on to be dental assistants, hygienists, and/or work in other jobs related to dentistry.

The New Castle County Vocational Technical School District is certainly doing its part in preparing quality students to be skilled health care professionals. Moreover, the district and its educators are well aware that the health care industry is ever changing, and they seem to be up to the challenge. And, while it is ultimately up to the student to succeed in the health sciences, the education they earn from this district gives them a leg-up on much of the competition.