District partners with university

High school students can plug into Information Technology Pathways project

Wickliffe Schools has entered into an agreement with the University of Cincinnati to offer students a unique opportunity.

Superintendent Joseph Spiccia said the university approached the district earlier this year about a program called the Information Technology Pathways Project.

“It is a project from their School of Information Technology by which students would participate while in high school and take the first-year college courses for IT majors at the university,” he said. “They approached us and they explained that they wanted to start this project in Northeast Ohio. There are a couple of other school districts interested in the program as well, so I don’t think we will be the only one, but we’re the first ones in Northeast Ohio to actually have the agreement signed, sealed, delivered and ready to go.”

Spiccia said the program is very similar to the Early College Early Career program.

All of the students will receive college credit, if they pass the courses.

“From there, the students can choose to become part of a cohort of students who will then continue the project and take all of those IT courses at Wickliffe High School and receive credit from the University of Cincinnati,” he said.

“If the students decide to be in the cohort they will take all of those first-year courses during the next three years of high school and they will enter the University as a second-year student.”

The program will even benefit students who do not plan to go to college.

“Those students will have some credentials in information technology, so they can go right to work in the IT world,” he said. “Even if they choose not to go to the University of Cincinnati, all of those credits will transfer.”

A local paid internship will also be offered through this program.

The program will begin at the start of the 2018-19 school year.

“We want all of our freshmen to take the Introduction to Information Technology class that the university teaches on our campus,” Spiccia said. “The University of Cincinnati is training one of our teachers to become an adjunct professor for the university. So then our teacher will teach the introduction class to all of the freshman (as their schedules permit). She will receive about $7,000 in free core graduate coursework.”

In addition to being free to all the students, the university is training the Wickliffe High School teacher at no cost. Similar to the College Credit Plus program, the district will pay the CCP rate with no additional fees, he said.

Director of Strategic Innovation Julie Ramos said information technology is essential in many industries.

“It is about having very basic understanding of coding and the impact that it has on IT, as well as other career clusters,” she said. “So, we felt that it would be an advantage for our students to have a general understanding of what it is and what it can lead to in the different pathways. We’re not pushing IT and we’re not pushing manufacturing, but what we are doing is providing opportunities and access to all students. So that when they do make decisions about their futures, they will be ready.”