Twenty Fort Worth students experienced a different classroom this summer as they learned firsthand about real-world work experiences through the Fort Worth Independent School District’s (FWISD) Vital Link program.
Vital Link is FWISD’s free program for sixth-graders, allowing them to explore various careers available throughout the City of Fort Worth’s departments.
Students learned how science affects us daily at Fort Worth’s city water treatment plant. There, students met city workers who walked them through the process of producing clean drinking water and talked to them about water conservation.
They also learned about sanitation workers’ technology and did a mock trial at Teen Court. The students visited the Fort Worth landfill, where they built mock landfills using tasty treats like candy, cereal, and cookie crumbs.
Fort Worth firefighters shared the nature of their job and the training that goes into becoming a firefighter, and a few lucky students were able to put on firefighters’ uniforms. The police department shared the types of police officers, including those who patrol neighborhoods, those who work in the lab as detectives, and bike and horse officers.
For a real-world, hands-on experience, the students created a video detailing their week in the Vital Link program. The students recorded, edited, and produced the video and even had fun playing on the green screen.
The Task Force of the American Business Conference established the Vital Link program in 1991. It was founded on the idea that students would be more motivated to excel in the classroom if they recognized the “link” between academic success and employability.
The Fort Worth ISD Career and Technical Education Department manages the Vital Link Summer Career Exploration Program. ISD employees plan student placement, train teacher supervisors, and ask businesses to participate. The FWISD provides transportation for students from their middle schools to participating companies.
Due to closures over the summer, the program included 7th graders who are currently enrolled and will be starting eighth grade in the fall of 2022. Whether current 7th graders are invited to participate varies from year to year.
Learning took a dip for FWISD, despite already low numbers, as well as many other districts across the metroplex. Due to COVID, districts and schools have not received an accountability rating in the past two years.
“The state of Texas does not rank public schools, but they do rate them based on performance on standardized tests, attendance, and dropout rates,” as noted on Southlake Carroll’s website.
The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests students in grades three through high school on core subjects, like English, Maths, Science, and Social Studies, to determine graduation to the next grade level. Those who passed with a conclusion of “approaches grade level or above” graduated to the next grade level.
The 2019 state of Texas STAAR percentage showed that 78% of students reached “approaches grade level or higher.” In contrast, 67% met the same criteria in 2021.
In the FWISD, only 67% of students met the criteria in 2019; in 2021, that percentage fell to 50%.
Arlington ISD was also below the state’s percentage of students meeting the minimum requirement. In 2019, 74% of students met the mark, and in 2021, Arlington numbers show only 58% of students were able to advance to the next grade.
Carroll ISD, which includes Tarrant County’s Southlake, met the state numbers in 2019 with 78% of students and in 2021 with 67% of students ranked at “approaches grade level or higher.” Carroll ISD has earned the top rating of “Exemplary” by the Texas Education Agency.
DISD STAAR scores were 73% for 2019 and 60% for 2021. Students in grades three through twelve can take the STAAR multiple times if they do not meet the minimum requirement.