MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representative Bell (21st)
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO DEVELOP AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRACK CURRICULUM FOR STUDENTS NOT INTENDING TO PURSUE A BACCALAUREATE DEGREE; TO REQUIRE THE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL COURSES TO BE IN THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS FIELDS AND TO FOCUS ON TEACHING COURSE OBJECTIVES WITH AN EMPHASIS ON APPLICATION OF THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED TO FUNDAMENTAL TECHNICAL SKILLS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY INTO A TECHNICAL VOCATION OR POST-SECONDARY TRAINING PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE THAT STUDENTS WHO LATER WISH TO PURSUE A BACCALAUREATE DEGREE MAY ENROLL IN REMEDIATION COURSES, IF NECESSARY, AT A COMMUNITY OR JUNIOR COLLEGE; TO REQUIRE THE ALTERNATIVE CURRICULUM TO BE AVAILABLE TO NINTH GRADE STUDENTS BEGINNING IN THE 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 37-16-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PRESCRIBES A CAREER TRACK PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS THAT IS BEING DISCONTINUED WITH THE CLASS OF 2021, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) The State Department of Education shall develop a technical and vocational track curriculum for those students who do not plan to pursue a baccalaureate degree upon high school graduation but intend to pursue vocational training or entry into the workforce in a career-technical field. The technical and vocational track curriculum shall be considered an alternative to the college preparatory curriculum and must consist of challenging modern career-technical courses in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics which will prepare students to enter directly into the workforce or pursue post-secondary training and certification in a technical occupation. In designing the curriculum, the department shall endeavor, to the extent possible, to develop each alternative technical and vocational course to correlate with an academic core course required for a standard diploma. The technical and vocational track courses offered as alternatives to required academic core courses shall fulfill the requirements for graduation from high school with a standard diploma and must equip students with a mastery of the same objectives as the academic courses but with an emphasis on the application of those objectives to fundamental technical skills necessary for a person to succeed in a technical or vocational occupation.
(2) A student earning a standard high school diploma after completion of the technical and vocational track curriculum is entitled to all the rights and privileges conferred upon a student who earns a standard high school diploma after completing a college preparatory curriculum. Any such student who subsequently desires to pursue enrollment in a baccalaureate degree program must be allowed to participate in remediation courses, including online courses, which may be made available through a community or junior college if such remediation is necessary to prepare the student for the baccalaureate degree course of study.
(3) The technical and vocational track curriculum required under this section must be developed and implemented so that it is made available to students entering the ninth grade in the 2021-2022 school year and thereafter.
SECTION 2. Section 37-16-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
37-16-17. (1) Purpose. (a) The purpose of this section is to create a quality option in Mississippi's high schools for students not wishing to pursue a baccalaureate degree, which shall consist of challenging academic courses and modern career-technical studies. The goal for students pursuing the career track is to graduate from high school with a standard diploma and credit toward a community college certification in a career-technical field. These students also shall be encouraged to take the national assessment in the career-technical field in which they become certified.
(b) The State Board of Education shall develop and adopt course and curriculum requirements for career track programs offered by local public school boards in accordance with this section. The Mississippi Community College Board and the State Board of Education jointly shall determine course and curriculum requirements for the career track program.
(2) Alternative career track; description; curriculum. (a) A career track shall provide a student with greater technical skill and a strong academic core and shall be offered to each high school student enrolled in a public school district. The career track program shall be linked to postsecondary options and shall prepare students to pursue either a degree or certification from a postsecondary institution, an industry-based training or certification, an apprenticeship, the military, or immediate entrance into a career field. The career track shall be designed primarily for those students who are not college bound and shall provide them with alternatives to entrance into a four-year university or college after high school graduation.
(b) Students pursuing a career track shall be afforded the opportunity to dually enroll in a community or technical college or to participate in a business internship or work-study program, when such opportunities are available and appropriate.
(c) Each public school district shall offer a career track program approved by the State Board of Education.
(d) Students in a career track program shall complete an academic core of courses and a career and technical sequence of courses.
(e) The twenty-one (21) course unit requirements for the career track shall consist of the following:
(i) At least four (4) English credits, including English I and English II.
(ii) At least three (3) mathematics credits, including Algebra I.
(iii) At least three (3) science credits, including one (1) unit of biology.
(iv) At least three (3) social studies credits, including one (1) unit of U.S. History and one (1) unit of Mississippi Studies/U.S. Government.
(v) At least one-half (1/2) credit in health or physical education.
(vi) At least four (4) credits in career and technical education courses in the dual enrollment-dual credit programs authorized under Section 37-15-38.
(vii) At least one (1) credit in integrated technology with optional end of course testing.
(viii) At least two and one-half (2-1/2) credits in additional electives or career and technical education courses required by the local school board, as approved by the State Board of Education. Academic courses within the career track of the standard diploma shall provide the knowledge and skill necessary for proficiency on the state subject area tests.
(3) Nothing in this section shall disallow the development of a dual enrollment program with a technical college so long as an individual school district, with approval from the State Department of Education, agrees to implement such a program in connection with a technical college and the agreement is also approved by the proprietary school's commission.
(4) The career track program for students not pursuing a Baccalaureate Degree shall not be available to any student entering the Ninth Grade in the 2017-2018 school year or thereafter.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.