Career-Focused Student Learning System

In January, 2000, the New Mexico State Board of Education approved the Career- Focused Student Learning System. The Program highlights student learning, career development, professional development, marketing, assessment, partnerships, innovations, and accountability. It is closely linked to labor market demand for current and emerging career fields both local and global.

Under this system, students are expected to achieve the academic, ccupational,employability and entrepreneurial skills necessary to successfully enter the workplace.

The Region IX Career Education Model provides the opportunity to implement the Career-Focused Learning System on a regional level. Building on its nationally-recognized School-to-Work Program, the REC IX Career Education Model adds components from the recently implemented Workforce Investment Act, Special Education Work Experience, and Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education. Additional links are available to Adult Basic Education/GED and Job Corps programs in the region. The model addresses the needs of all students in grades K-16 with a post-secondary link to three local post-secondary educational institutions.

The Lincoln County Works Center

The Lincoln County Works Center (LCWC) provides job placement and training to individuals, including all youth, in Lincoln County. The LCWC opened in October, 1998, as the first "One-Stop" Center in New Mexico. The Center provides access to the services of many agencies and programs in the same facility through interagency cooperation, communication, coordination, and support. One-Stop Centers are required under WIA to coodinate youth activities, link youth to job markets and employers, and to provide information and service access to eligible youth.

Support programs available at the LCWC for REC IX area youth include the New Mexico Department of Labor, the South Central Mountain Adult Basic Education Program, and the New Mexico Job Corps.