PALMDALE HIGH WINS $15,000 STATE GRANT.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Palmdale High School has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the state to encourage students to consider careers in health care.

The school was one of 11 in the state to share $150,000 in grants that will be used to send teachers, administrators and health industry partners to the first California Health Science Educators Institute next week in Los Angeles.

``There are many jobs for young people in the health care field, whether they pursue such a career right after high school or college,'' state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said. ``Because these are such demanding jobs, students need rich and rigorous health career programs from kindergarten through employment that are integrated with their core curriculum.''

O'Connell said Palmdale and the other schools were chosen because they already have programs in place that help prepare students for health careers and assist the health care industry meet the demand for well-educated workers.

The philanthropic James Irvine Foundation in April picked Palmdale's medical career program as a model for other schools in combating the state's high dropout rate.

Palmdale High School's 14-year-old Health Careers Academy, in which most students are from low-income families, is a striking example of an effective, career-theme program that combines academic courses with clinical instruction, according to the foundation.

Over the past six years, 90 percent of the academy's students have gone on to attend two- and four-year colleges and universities, compared with 40 percent among the overall Palmdale High population.

Academy students in the four-year program might spend the morning at a hospital learning to administer electrocardiograms and then spend the afternoon in class studying the human cardiovascular system.

The curriculum, which satisfies the state's A-G course requirements for admission to the University of California and California State University systems, culminates in a clinical internship in the senior year.

Funds from the state grant, which was announced Thursday, were made available through a partnership between the state Department of Education's Health Careers Education Program and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

The teams attending the institute will consist of teachers, administrators, counselors and partners from colleges and the health care industry.

The award will be distributed in two payments: 75 percent before attendance at the institute and the rest after completion of the application requirements, which include attending the institute; using a team approach for pathway planning and implementation; developing and submitting a health science pathway strategic plan as directed at the institute; and submitting letters of commitment.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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