ROCKVILLE, MD— The MoCo CAP initiative recently brought onboard a crucial component to the innovative educational program.
Around 500 Teacher Champions have signed up to help support the implementation of career advising in Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) middle, high, and special schools. These classroom teachers will play a critical role reinforcing the work done by the 50 Career Coaches hired by WorkSource Montgomery.
MCPS held a welcome event on Feb. 13 at Gaithersburg High School to formally introduce MoCo CAP to the Champions, who will receive a stipend for their work with the initiative.
Dr. Genevieve Floyd, MCPS Career and Postsecondary Partnerships Supervisor, thanked the 320 Champions in attendance for joining the project, which will ultimately reach more than 87,000 students throughout the county.
“This is a massive task, and an awesome opportunity. The work that we’re going to do in providing individualized services to our students will transform the way we prepare them for their future,” Floyd said. “We will not accomplish this work because we have one Career Advising Coach in a school. It will take all of us working in concert. It will take the collective.
“It will take the career advising educator Champions at this workshop to help stand this work up and create a vibrant career culture at every secondary school.”
The plan calls for eight Teacher Champions per middle school, 12 per high school, and two per special school to aid the respective Career Coaches as they help students learn to advocate for themselves and navigate the different college and career readiness pathways.
Champions will amplify the Coaches’ work by incorporating Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (RIASEC) themes and interest-based conversations into ongoing instruction as follow-ups to one-on-one and small-group career discussions.
They will also connect with career exploration opportunities so students see their work-based explorations as extensions of experiences within the school and support a “college, career, and community” culture within the school through ongoing discussions with students.
About MoCo CAP
MoCo CAP, short for Montgomery County Career Advising Program, is a collaborative effort headed by WSM, along with partners Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery College, and the Universities at Shady Grove. The goal is to address one of the requirements related to the College and Career Readiness pillar laid out by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a $3.8 billion overhaul of the state’s public education system. For more information about MoCo CAP, visit mococap.com.
About WorkSource Montgomery (WSM)
WSM is the fiduciary agent for Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding in Montgomery County. The organization operates the American Job Centers in Wheaton and Germantown and provides employment services to Montgomery County residents who are unemployed or underemployed. WSM engages employers in various industries throughout the county to ensure that their workforce needs are being met. For more information about WorkSource Montgomery, visit worksourcemontgomery.com.