Mountain Institute JTEDs rank at top of state programs

Don Stagg from Bradshaw Mountain and Corey Cain from Ash Fork work on a lab project in a digital circuits class that is part of Yavapai College’s JTED Mountain Institute Applied Pre-Engineering program.<br> Photo courtesy Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier

Patrick Whitehurst

Originally Published: September 25, 2013 10:10 a.m.

During the 2012-13 school year, Mountain Institute Joint Technical Education Districts (MIJTED) ranked number one in eight programs assessed by the Arizona Department of Education in Career and Technical Education programs.

Those eight programs include the agriculture and business program at Chino Valley High School, the automotive programs at Yavapai College and Prescott High School, the nursing services program at Bradshaw Mountain High School and the MIJTED central campus, and the culinary arts program at the MIJTED central campus and Chino Valley High School.

The MIJTED also ranked second for its bio-science program at Chino Valley High School, its business management and administrative services program at Prescott High School, computer networking at Bradshaw Mountain High School and Prescott High School, and its sports medicine program at the MIJTED central campus in Prescott.

The assessments are based on state and federal guidelines that require students to test for programs that lead to various industry certifications. During the 2012-13 school year, 70 programs and more than 15,000 students were tested. Thirteen JTEDs and 166 school districts were part of the recent assessment.

MIJTED Superintendent Jeramy Plumb said the assessments are designed to measure student knowledge in both JTED and in career and technical education (CTE) programs. The measurements, he added, are based on Arizona state standards.

"The Arizona Skill Standards Commis-sion, which is comprised of top business and industry leaders throughout Arizona, validate the CTE assessments and issue certificates to students who take and pass their CTE Assessments," Plumb said. "Students are assessed statewide, similar to AIMS tests, which occurs once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester of their final program year."

A school's ranking is provided by the Arizona Department of Education every summer following the tests.

"The significance of the ranks is very symbolic of the quality of instruction being provided in the JTED/CTE classroom as compared to other school districts in Arizona," Plumb said. "This is the second year the Mountain Institute JTED has been ranked as the top performing JTED, based on the results generated by the Skill Standards Assessment System. In 2012, MIJTED had five programs that were ranked as the highest scoring programs in Arizona."

With 12 local programs ranked first or second this year, Plumb cited the commitment of staff to create a quality education for students.

"This commitment includes providing high quality instructional facilities and state of the art technology resources for our student learning labs," Plumb said. "Each MIJTED teacher has access to... thousands of instructional resources developed by teachers for use in the JTED/CTE classroom."

For more information on Mountain Institute JTED, visit them online at www.mijted.net.