The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded six states educational grants through the Promoting Rigorous Career and Technical Education Programs of Study (POS) Program. The states which were chosen: Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, Utah, and Wisconsin, are required to develop and implement “rigorous programs of study” in career and tech-focused education like technology, engineering, and health sciences.
The program encourages students to pursue a very specific area of study in a ground school or online format and also “assesses the impact of student participation in career and technical education programs of study that link secondary and postsecondary education, combining academic and career and technical education in a structured sequence of courses, offering students opportunities to earn postsecondary credits for courses taken in high school, and leading to a postsecondary credential, certificate, or degree.”
Each state will be required to “develop and implement a program of study in a specific discipline or set of disciplines.” For instance, Utah will use the educational grant to develop health science programs while Kansas is required to use the funding to develop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics intensive programs. By promoting ground school or online education tracks that result in specific career paths, the program hopes to provide students with the skills they need to enter directly into the high-demand, high-paying, knowledge-based jobs in each state’s strongest employment industry.
Take a look at the grants each state received and the project descriptions for each, here.
You can also check out the University Bound network of sites, a comprehensive network of sites dedicated to educating students about online education opportunities, for financial aid information.
