A program is being revived in Illinois to help high school students become college and career ready.
Job's for America's Graduates - or JAG - is running a pilot program in seven Illinois high schools ...including Vienna.
Vienna High School Superintendent Joshua Stafford says a lack of funding has led to a reduction in career and vocational education courses.
He says educators want to equip students with the ability to step into the workforce after high school graduation.
"Ultimately, the end goal, the end game here is that we're connecting them to a meaningful career. So, we absolutely statewide, and especially in southern Illinois, have lacked this resource."
Stafford says the program allows the district to hire a career specialist to teach courses in communication, writing resumes, how to do a job search and interview preparation. He says the career specialist will also facilitate internships, apprenticeships and paid work positions for the students.
"Every student that gets admitted to the program, the intent and the design behind the program is they're going to start building a network through those job-related experiences."
Stafford says these skills are in the spotlight with the newly named Illinois Assessment of Readiness exam measuring how ready students are for what comes next, either in college or in a career.
The program is being funded through JAG, the Illinois Department of Labor and Education System Center at Northern Illinois University.
It will be open to 35 juniors and seniors starting this fall at Vienna and the other six schools in the pilot program.
