DCTS Graduation Project

August 2010

Dear DCTS Students and Parents/Guardians,

As part of the requirements for graduation from Dauphin County Technical School, and in accordance to guidelines as established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, each high school student is expected to successfully complete a graduation project. Beginning in the ninth grade year, each student will be introduced to the specific components of the DCTS Graduation Project and will be expected to successfully complete all components by his/her senior year.

The DCTS Graduation Project involves two major components:

1. Career Portfolio
2. Exit Interviews

The Career Portfolio portion of the project aims to assist students as they develop awareness of career goals and make appropriate plans to accomplish those goals. Beginning in the ninth grade and continuing throughout each grade, students will research careers and plan courses with support from school personnel. They will learn about their personalities, their strengths and weaknesses related to careers, and document their progress each step of the way.

The Career Portfolio component of the DCTS Graduation Project also allows students the opportunity to integrate critical reading, writing, and communication skills with C&T skills cultivated during the students’ education at DCTS. This integration of critical skills will be demonstrated by the creation of Career Acquisition Documentscompleted in students’ English classes. These documents include: professional resume, cover letter, formal letters of request, and other forms of professional written communication students may use to obtain employment and/ or postsecondary education.

The Career Portfolio also includes the Best WorksProject. The Best Works portion of the Career Portfolio, individualized by each student and his/her instructor within each C&T program, contains samples of each student’s best works, commensurate with the highest level of competency attained in the student’s C&T area. The Best Works documentation is accompanied by written explanations and reflections designed to prompt self –assessment and evaluation of critical academic, C&T and career education skills, in addition to analyzing process and engaging problem solving skills. The Best Works Project can become a powerful employment tool for each senior as it is required to include photographs and/or computer graphics that showcase a student’s abilities.

The final requirement for the Career Portfolio is the Postsecondary Action Plan. This written assignment will be completed in the students’ English classes during the senior year.  It is a formal paper in which students will effectively communicate the academic and C&T skills they have mastered throughout their educational experience at DCTS and discuss their postsecondary plans.

Exit Interviews comprise the second major component of the DCTS Graduation Project. During the junior year, students will participate in the Business and Industry Interview. Our community partners have generously given of their time to join DCTS in preparing our students for post graduation experiences. This activity affords our students the opportunity to meet with business and industry personnel and participate in practice interviews that prepare students for successful job interviews. During the senior year, students will also participate in the Administrative Interview. Requirements for this component will be met as senior students communicate information from the Postsecondary Action Plan to DCTS faculty and administration, as well as community partners. To accomplish this goal, individual interviews will be scheduled for each student after his/her completion of the Career Portfolio.

Through completion of the DCTS Graduation Project, it is our hopes that your son or daughter will be well prepared to seek employment and continue on a productive career path after graduation. Students will have created a Career Portfolio that each may use as a tool for attaining postsecondary education and/or employment. And, through the Exit Interviews, students will have practiced valuable interviewing and professional communication skills with partners in our community that may just have an employment “need” or “lead” for that particular graduate. Your administration and staff have created a graduation project that should prove to be a very worthwhile learning experience for all students.

Finally, as stated above, successful completion of the DCTS Graduation Project is a requirement for graduation. Following successful completion of the project, each student will be given credit for meeting the Dauphin County Technical School graduation requirements. This information will be recorded on their transcript.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Mrs. Margaret S. Gilreath, Assistant Principal, at 652-3170, x 7458.