Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 2/7/2022 11:38:31 AM
Modified: 2/7/2022 11:36:50 AM
The Region 14 Applied Technology Center is asking community members to complete a survey on the program, in the hope of incorporating the feedback into growth.
“It’s really important to get community feedback on what they like about what we’re doing, what they know about what we’re doing to begin with,” said ATC Director Jennifer Kiley.
The survey is open to all who might have a stake in the ATC, not just students and parents but all community members, teachers and business owners. The survey will remain open until March 1, and can be accessed online at the ATC’s website, cvhs.convalsd.net/academics/applied-technology-center.
Part of this survey is a comprehensive needs assessment, she said, which needs to be done every three years in order to be eligible for funding. Those assessments help the ATC understand from stakeholders what’s going well with the program, and what might need improvement.
Another part of this survey is ascertaining support for a potential renovation within the next couple of years, Kiley said. In the past, CTE centers have previously operated on a 20-year cycle for renovations, with the state paying a large portion of the required funds. The goal, she said, is to make sure that students are learning in an environment that is up to date with what’s being offered post-secondary school and what’s needed by industries.
“The goal is to make students ready to make that next step,” she said. “If they’re learning in an antiquated place on antiquated equipment, they won’t be ready.”
One of the survey’s questions is whether people would support such a renovation, in the scenario where up to 75% of the cost would be covered by the state.
“We don’t know yet whether this is something that will definitely happen; we’re just in the research phase,” Kiley said. “We need to see whether this is something the community values and if they’d like to see an expansion and what that expansion might look like.”
Other calls for public input on this issue will be forthcoming, she added.
The survey also asks questions on what community members know and think about the ATC in its current state.
“Many students and their families don’t know what career and tech ed is,” Kiley said. “The survey helps me ascertain what’s the knowledge in our area about what it is we offer, and also about what it is that folks would like us to do differently.”
The last time they did one of these surveys, she said, she found out that the ATC was underserving the region’s homeschool population because a large number of families didn’t know that their 10th- to 12th-grade students could attend CTE classes for free regardless of school enrollment.
Questions about the community’s general knowledge and perception of the ATC will help Kiley determine what kind of education might be necessary, and other next steps.
“This tells me what do I need,” Kiley said. “This helps inform what I do next. Ideally we want all of our decisions to be data-informed, so I need to find out what it is, who are we reaching, and who are we not reaching.”
In the meantime, the ATC will host an open house on Feb. 12, beginning at 9:30 a.m., for all in the community who are curious about the programming being offered.
“We want to see a return from the CTE center to the community as a whole,” Kiley said. “We want to be good community partners, to everyone in our community.”
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