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Statewide presentations champion technical dual enrollment

A member of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s College Transitions staff recently co-presented sessions on dual enrollment at the Pennsylvania Depart­ment of Education’s Conference on Inte­grated Learning and at the Pennsylvania Assoc­iation of Career and Technical Admin­istrators 27th Annual Education and Work­force Development Symposium.

At the gatherings, Monica A. McCarty, Penn College dual-enrollment specialist, joined Randy Zangara, career and technology education director for Williamsport Area High School, in presenting sessions titled “Dual Enrollment Partnerships: Technical coursework and a pathways approach.”

Through dual enrollment partnerships, high school students can take college courses, earning credit on both their high school and college transcripts.

McCarty and Zangara discussed how pathways for dual enrollment in technical areas are created and expanded. While the benefits of dual enrollment for students are becoming well-known, the majority of partnerships focus on general-education coursework, disregarding a large population of students who can also benefit from dual enrollment in technical fields. Meanwhile, partnerships that provide dual enrollment in such fields can help to reinforce the importance of hands-on, technical skills.

The annual Conference on Integrated Learning is conducted by the Department of Education’s Bureau of Career and Technical Education. Its goal is to provide the 500 attendees with strategies to prepare students for postsecondary education and 21st-century careers, enabling them to be highly skilled, better prepared and more innovative upon graduating from high school.

The Pennsylvania Assoc­iation of Career and Technical Administrators annual symposium was themed “Pathways to Career Readiness.” It is organized by PACTA in cooperation with the National Center for College and Career Transitions. Because students entering the workforce of tomorrow will face challenges much different from workers of the past, the symposium featured local, state and national leaders, who presented best practices to help students be career-ready.

McCarty joined the staff at Penn College in 2016, after spending more than 10 years as a secondary-school counselor focusing on college and career readiness. She holds bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and psychology from American University and a master’s degree in education from Bucknell University, with state certifications in secondary school counseling and school psychology.

In 2012, she consulted with Penn College’s Office of College Transitions to create a resource for other school counselors called “Getting Them There.” The tool focuses on free and low-cost resources for use with students and families during the postsecondary planning process. Early in her career, McCarty worked with educators, students and families in the juvenile justice and mental health fields.

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