Expanding Career and Educational Learning in Information Technology (EXCEL-IT)

对科学、技术、工程和数学职业感兴趣的学生发现，从高中到社区大学再到四年制学位课程的过渡尤其具有挑战性。高中的早期大学和双学分课程可以帮助学生成功地过渡到大学水平的工作。扩展信息技术的职业和教育学习（EXCEL-IT）项目将在华盛顿州一个多样化和经济困难的地区为900多名高中生准备大学水平的工作。该项目将涉及双招生的信息技术课程，由训练有素、经过认证并得到良好支持的教师在高中授课，采用在线/课堂混合结构。学生将能够获得高中和大学学分，并参加免费的行业认可证书认证考试。在华盛顿州社区和技术学院委员会的支持下，该项目将有助于开发2+2+2 STEM学位途径。该项目的目标是直接解决合格的IT专业人员日益短缺的问题，并为高中和大学招聘和准备更多和更多样化的IT职业学生提供有用的数据和实践。

Students with an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math careers find transitions from high school to community college to four year degree programs to be particularly challenging. Early college and dual-credit programs in high school can support students in successfully transitioning to college-level work. The Expanding Career and Educational Learning in Information Technology (EXCEL-IT) project will prepare for college-level work over 900 high school students in a diverse and economically-challenged area of Washington State. The project will involve dual-enrollment IT courses taught in high schools by trained, certified, and well-supported instructors using a hybrid online/classroom structure. Students will be able to earn both high school and college credit, as well as take free certification exams for industry-recognized credentials. This project will contribute to the development of a 2+2+2 STEM degree pathway, with support from the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The goal of the project is to directly address the growing shortage of qualified IT professionals and generate useful data and practices for high schools and colleges to recruit and prepare a larger and more diverse body of students for IT careers.