A partnership between two Indiana nonprofits is exploring introducing CTE skills in earlier grades, hoping to build problem-solving, technical and collaboration skills through hands-on, STEM-based, career-connected learning.

The statewide partnership between Project Lead the Way, a national provider of career-focused STEM curriculum, and the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, a network of microschools, is delivering learning units across core content areas for elementary and middle school students.

The career-connected learning units aim to build transferable skills like critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Microschools serve a smaller number of students with personalized curriculum that incorporates project-based learning and community-based experiences.

“Career-connected learning shouldn’t be an add-on. It should be embedded into the curriculum,” said George Philhower, superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools in Charlottesville, Indiana. Philhower is also founder and CEO of the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, which partners with districts and communities to build, launch and support microschools.

David Dimmett, president and CEO of Project Lead the Way, said that particularly in smaller settings, students can work through content at their own pace, with math, science and other career-connected learning delivered “in a more authentic, project-based way. Students are building skills that will help them become more productive.”

Project Lead the Way has never partnered with a microschool network, but Dimmett sees that as the sort of innovative approach needed to deliver career-focused content.

“Schools can’t do it alone. We can’t do it alone,” he said, regarding this initiative for career-connected learning. “We’re working together to understand students’ needs. There’s a lot of appetite for this kind of flexibility. There are a lot of families looking for an alternative to traditional elementary, middle and high schools.”

Through microschools, whether they’re a “school within a school” or on a satellite campus, students and families will obtain the individualization to meet learning needs, including mixed grade levels as students master content at different rates, Dimmett said.

Read the full article about career-connected learning at microschools by Ed Finkel at K-12 Dive.