SCHOOLS, PROGRAMS, AND SERVICES PRACTICES Career and Technology Education Programs Wicomico County Public Schools offer Career and Technology Education (CTE) programs in 26 different technical areas in Parkside High School. Choices include classes in the automotive, construction, business, high technology, and health and human services clusters. Students of all levels are enrolled in career and technology programs learning complex and technical skills. Considerable emphasis is placed on gaining the academic and technical skills to further the student’s education beyond high school and/or to directly enter the work force. Career and technology education plays an integral role in ensuring the availability of workers with vital technical skills. Most importantly, technical programs provide an opportunity for county students to develop technical skills to pursue satisfying and productive careers. Choices Academy Choices Academy, our alternative education program serving at-risk students and students pursuing graduation through a variety of different pathways, will continue to focus on employing an individualized approach facilitated by caring, competent adults along with effective instruction and supporting services. The Choices program is designed to promote academic, behavioral and social skills and to motivate our students to stay in school, work for success, set and attain goals, and graduate. Elementary Education Approximately 7500 students are enrolled in Wicomico County’s elementary (PK-5) program. Organization patterns differ among schools. Elementary classrooms are primarily heterogeneous. Flexible grouping is based on achievement, interests, and identified needs of students. In the intermediate grades of most elementary schools, content area subjects may be departmentalized as it is the decision of the principal for grades four and five. Special area programs-music, art, physical education, and media-are part of the schedule each cycle. Support programs-ELL, Special Education (resource), Title 1, Reading/Schools for Success, and TAD – reinforce, supplement, and enrich the prescribed areas of study. English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) The English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program provides instructional services for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Students are identified for the ESOL program based on responses to the Home Language Survey as well as WIDA screening and testing results. Results on the WIDA ACCESS assessment, an English proficiency assessment administered annually, are used to exit students from the ESOL program.
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