RICHMOND – Radford High School has been awarded a Career and Technical Education High School Innovation Grant totaling $90,000 by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
Radford City Public Schools Superintendent Robert Graham recently announced the grant award, which “combines high school, college, and business and industry Work-Based Learning experience to prepare students for high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand careers,” according to the VDOE award letter.
“Your program at Radford High School will serve as a model to provide students with a Career and Technical Education (CTE) career pathway that starts in grade nine and culminates in the attainment of an industry recognized credential, a high school diploma, and an associate’s degree in up to five years,” said the letter from the VDOE. Radford students have a variety of CTE programs they can follow that culminate in a degree or certification, including machining, drafting, and technology.
The grant went into effect on July 1 and remains in effect until April 28, 2023.
Jamie Little, Education Specialist for Radford City Schools, and Margaret Sproule, Radford High School career coach, will administer the grant program together. Little said she is “very excited” about it and offered “big kudos to [Sproule] for outlining and detailing the academic plan for the program.”
School Board Chair Lee Slusher said Little and Sproule are “two fine examples of quality folks working in [the school] division,” and School Board Vice Chair Liz Altieri lauded the grant award as “super news, another feather in our cap.”
Programs covered by the grant program will be evaluated for success against multiple measures designated in the CTE High School Innovation Grant and will require the submission of mid-year and annual grant reports to VDOE.
— Heather Bell
