Mr. Alan Strong - Principal
The Dale Jackson Career Center seeks to provide students with the skills necessary to function in a complex and ever-changing society as well as to establish a foundation for lifelong learning. It is our expectation that staff and students, with the cooperation of family and community, will work together to provide a school environment that will allow students to develop their academic, aesthetic, social, emotional, and physical potential while at DJCC. In order to ensure these learning opportunities, we have the following objectives for the coming school year:
Dale Jackson Career Center’s motto is “Winning students for winning careers.” This statement is not only our motto but also DJCC’s faculty and staff’s feeling about DJCC students and courses. DJCC serves students from all of Lewisville Independent School District’s high schools. Students may, generally in their junior and senior year, choose to enroll in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations conducted at DJCC. DJCC’s faculty and staff are committed to helping young people enter the world with skills to start a career. DJCC’s course work will either prepare a student for a four-year college, or to gain entry-level employment in a high-skill, high-wage job after high school, or give a student a head start with skills and credits, through Tech Prep, for technical school or junior college. DJCC is a member of several North Texas Tech Prep Consortiums. Tech Prep is a nationwide initiative that connects high school and community college technical programs, awards college credit to High School students with a “B” average, which saves them time, money and having to duplicate the course(s) in college. Tech Prep is an educational concept that prepares students for emerging, technologically advanced careers. Tech Prep career pathways focus on integrating both technical and academic courses in the high school curriculum to give students the basic knowledge they need to learn specialized concepts. The Tech Prep pathway gives students what they need to be employable or to continue their education after high school graduation. Tech Prep: challenges students to develop higher-level skills; involves critical thinking; encourages problem solving; encourages team building; develops self-management; encourages decision-making and responsibility. The goal of Tech Prep education is to prepare students equally for entering college or the workforce. Tech Prep goals are critical to a student’s personal and occupational success. The process of Tech Prep involves teaching what students really need to know. Students after taking classes and participating in Tech Prep at DJCC have an advantage. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that by 2005, 80% of all jobs will require a Bachelor’s degree. Most of these jobs will require vocational education and on-the-job training or work experience. Also, jobs on the cutting edge of technology are predicted to increase by 37% through the year 2005 with salaries ranging from $35,000 to $45,000. Despite the recession and the effects of September 11 on the economy, 23 million net new jobs will be created in the next 10 years if the trends of the last decade continue in our country. At current labor force participation patterns, the supply of employees will be increasingly out-stripped by the demand for labor to meet the needs of our population. The work world has moved from an era in which workers were plentiful and job opportunities scarce to the opposite — qualified workers are scarce and job opportunities are plentiful. We have moved from an era in which most jobs were in centralized, mass production oriented manufacturing enterprises to one in which most jobs — and the best jobs — are in service industries. In the globally integrated economy, jobs in the high-value-added business, information, and professional services sector comprise America’s comparative advantage and greatest job growth resource. We have moved from an era in which most jobs were in routine, low skill, assembly and equipment operator occupations, to one in which most jobs — and the fastest growing types of jobs — are in creative and knowledge-intensive professional, technical and management-related fields. We have moved from an era in which most workers needed little formal education to one in which the workforce is highly educated and in which the demand for even higher educational attainment in increasing. We have moved from an era in which most workers came to the workplace with similar expectations and needs to one in which workers come to the workplace with complex and conflicting expectations and needs. By 2008, 75% of available jobs will be in the technical area. Positions like health technicians, licensed practical nurses, pharmacy technicians, engineering technicians, paralegal, etc... will have many jobs. Professional jobs will make up only 20% of the available jobs. Jobs requiring an associate’s degree are expected to grow by over 35% by the year 2008.
I want our children to have their chance at the American Dream. But the Dream has changed since the days my generation reached for it. About 40% of high school graduates go to college. Only 20% actually receive a 4-year degree. About 10% earn their degree within 5 years. Some jobs with above-average earnings do not require a bachelor’s degree, but most require substantial training. DJCC courses will start a public school student down the pathway to acquire the substantial training. Of the fastest growing jobs between now and 2008, 5 are computer related, 3 are in health fields and 1 is in law, as a paralegal. Information Technology: Texas will need up to 57,000 new System Analyst, Database Administrators, and Computer Support Specialist with in the next seven years. Nursing: Texas will need up to 138,000 Licensed Practical Nurses, Registered Nurses, and Nurses Aides within the next seven to ten years. Education and technical knowledge pays. The courses of Advertising Design, Animation, Auto Collision Repair, Auto Technology, Content Mastery, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Electronics and Internetworking, Health Science, Hospitality, Media Technology, Mill and Cabinetmaking and Welding will enact a strong base of the necessary skills to perform in a complex and changing work force as well as putting a student on a firm foundation for lifelong learning. Respectfully yours, Alan Strong, Principal Send an e-mail to Mr. Strong. Excerpts taken from:
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Dear Reader,
