Workforce Solutions Grant Sends Teachers to Work in Local Industries
Educators get the opportunity to share valuable workplace skills and knowledge in the classroom.
Belton, TX – On June 21, 2021 Teachers from across Central Texas will be reporting to work but not in their classrooms. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) awarded Workforce Solutions of Central Texas the Externship for Teachers Grant in the amount of $51,250. The grant will provide 50 middle school and high school teachers from Central Texas with externship opportunities with local industry. Teachers will have the opportunity to gain insight from a different work environment that they can then incorporate into a lesson plans to share with students in the classroom.
Through the externship program, educators will be given an opportunity to shadow a business and its operations for three days, followed by a curriculum planning day with other externship participants. Insights learned – on the job – will be incorporated into the teacher’s curriculum to provide students a better advantage in preparing for careers.
“The Externship Program gives local educators an opportunity to experience the “world of work” that they are preparing students for,” says Charley Ayres, Director, Industry/Education Partnerships at Workforce Solutions of Central Texas. “It is an opportunity that provides educators with a real-world experience to help them understand the skills that students will need and creates an opportunity for the businesses to have input on the needs of their future workforce”. Participating companies include:
- Baylor Scott & White Healthcare
- CGI
- Datamars
- Don Ringler Automotive Group
- Extraco Bank
- Materials Transportation Co.
- Mitchell & Associates, Inc.
- Panel Specialist, Inc.
- Performance Food Group
- Reynold’s Consumer Products
- Temple Community Clinic
- Temple Health & Bioscience District
- TMS Hydraulics, Inc.
- zModular
Workforce Solutions of Central Texas partners with local school districts within Bell, Coryell, Hamilton, Lampasas, Milam, Mills and San Saba counties to ensure students have the necessary skills to succeed in the workplace. The Summer Externship for Teachers Program is administered by Workforce Solutions of Central Texas, under the Texas Workforce Commission, with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
