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New Castle County Vo-Tech

Admissions Policy

Overview

Students who select to attend a career and technical high school will have multiple post secondary opportunities. They may directly enter the workforce, select technical training programs, apprenticeships, or schools that specialize in their chosen field of interest, choose to continue their education at colleges and universities, or pursue any combination of such.

  • Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are highly regulated, with regard to safety, industry standards, and current training materials, which requires a substantial investment of resources to operate. The community makes an investment in students being trained in these career areas. Their success transfers to a skilled, robust workforce.
  • The community expects New Castle County Vo-Tech’s Career and Technical Education programs to be of high quality that directly engage students through a sequence of study that links rigorous academic content with industry requirements and workforce experience. Students earn credits in both core academic courses and technical skill-based career programs that are taught in labs that replicate the workplace setting. Additionally, students have the opportunity to participate in industry-based, real-work experiences through a capstone cooperative education (co-op) program during their senior year. Students must meet specific criteria that include daily attendance and grade point average in order to be eligible for co-op placement.

 

Selection of 8th Grade Students Applying for Admission to Grade 9

The New Castle County Vocational Technical School District admits students without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, mental or physical disability, athletic performance, special need, or proficiency in the English language. Any eighth grade student who lives within the boundaries of the Appoquinimink, Brandywine, Christina, Colonial or Red Clay school districts in New Castle County is eligible to apply for admission.

 

The capacity of CTE programs limits the number of applicants who can be offered admission at each school. Capacity is determined by the physical size of the career lab, safety, and OSHA standards. Each year, the school district shall establish enrollment targets for all CTE programs.

The selection process for Admissions is student-driven. Students indicate on their application the school(s) and the career program area(s) to which they are seeking admission, by order of preference. Along with Delaware Standard Application for Education Options, all applicants shall be required to submit supplemental information to include copies of the final 7th grade and most recent 8th grade report cards. When the number of applicants selecting CTE programs exceeds the capacity of those programs at any school, a school district selection process shall be utilized.

Applicants will be ranked based on their attendance and grades in the four core academic content areas, which is consistent with criteria used to determine eligibility to participate in the cooperative education program. Students will be offered assignment based on this ranking. All student applications shall be reviewed by an admissions team convened annually by the school district Office of Admissions. In accordance with the federal Office of Civil Rights, the application review shall not consider any applicant characteristic, including those listed in the first section of this policy, other than the CTE program and school preference, daily attendance, and the core academic content grades of the applicant. Admissions preference may be extended to children and grandchildren of current full-time employees of the school district.

Students who apply for admission to the Life Skills Program, a non-diploma modified program for students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities, are individually evaluated for placement by designated special education professionals who review the applicant’s cognitive ability and independent employability skills.

Every attempt shall be made to match the applicant with his/her CTE program and school of preference. If an applicant is not offered assignment at his/her school of first preference, the applicant may be considered at the school of second, third, or fourth preference dependent on available openings in the CTE programs indicated on the application.

Specific application deadlines, forms, and other procedures shall be developed by the Superintendent to administer the admissions process in accordance with this policy (and with those applicable state regulations which govern school choice).

Selection of 9th Grade Students Applying for Admission to Grade 10

Each year, a very limited number of openings may be available for Grade 10 admission. These openings will be filled by an admissions selection process that follows the process described in the previous section, with these exceptions: Along with Delaware Standard Application for Education Options, all applicants shall be required to submit supplemental information to include copies of the final 8th grade and most recent 9th grade report cards.