It’s summer vacation in Louisiana, but some teachers are heading to work in factories and offices — not for the paycheck, but as part of an externship program.
The paid externships are part of Louisiana’s career and technical education program, called Jump Start. “The idea is that the teachers will get to see what industry actually looks like from the inside in their region, and they will return in the fall with curricular ideas that tap their increased understanding of what it really means to be career-ready,” says Emmanuel Felton, a staff writer at The Hechinger Report.
Both general education and career-tech teachers are participating in the program. In some cases, the program tries to pair one teacher with another from the other type, to help them relate various subjects to workforce preparation.
Felton spoke with Rosetta Boone, who did externships at Libbey Glass and GE under a similar program that’s now defunct. “Those experiences allowed me to see a different perspective, to see what the workplace was really like, and bring that information back into my classroom.”
Only certain districts in the state have the externship program, which is run on philanthropic and state grants.
According to Felton, as of 2014, eight states require districts to give teachers work-based learning opportunities like externships if districts want extra funding.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
