Each summer, Allen ISD officials invite a handful of teachers to shadow industry professionals at businesses like financial institution CUTX, telecommunications infrastructure firm MD7 and the city of Allen.
AISD partners with Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas and the Allen Economic Development Corp. on the program and has participated since 2023, Chief Communications Officer David Hicks said. WSNCT Executive Director Phedra Redifer said the externship program “cinches down” the connection point between classrooms and employers. Businesses change rapidly to adapt to “current-day challenges” and classroom teaching may not reflect that, she said.
“We’re really trying to bring real-time experiences into the curriculum setting to better set the stage for student success post-high school,” Redifer said.
Measuring the impact
Allen High School teacher Tina Balgemann has participated in the program three times now.
Most recently, Balgemann shadowed every single department at MD7 with the goal of understanding what skills entry-level employees need to succeed, she said. Personnel in every department mentioned a need for “detail-oriented” employees who “speak up” and talk to their supervisors if they see something wrong, Balgemann said.
Another skill Balgemann heard about in numerous meetings is how to use artificial intelligence effectively without overrelying on it, she said. This year, she’s piloting new strategies to test students’ reliance on AI, Balgemann said.
Allen High School teacher Mia Sherman, who teaches a financial literacy course, has participated in AISD’s teacher externship program twice, and she most recently shadowed at CUTX where she saw a need for proficiency in Microsoft Excel as well as collaboration and communication skills.
“I can definitely bring that freshness into some of ... the projects I teach,” she said.
The context
The program can benefit CTE teachers who are typically hired from the industries that they teach about at AISD, said Toni Crisler, director of College, Career and Military Readiness. The district actively prioritizes hiring people directly from the industry to teach in the classroom and the externship helps teachers stay up to date on the industry, she said.
“Every year that you’re in education is a year that you’re removed from the industry,” Crisler said. “It allows our teachers to stay in touch with what is going on in the industry.”
The framework
The program is funded by grants from the Texas Workforce Commission. Typically, more than 20 school districts across WSNCT’s coverage area participate every year, WSNCT Senior Education Partnerships Coordinator Danielle Taylor said.
Last year, more than 400 educators applied to participate and the organization is seeing a growing interest in the program, she said.
As WSNCT officials project job growth across multiple industries, Redifer said employers are still looking to relay the value of skills like communication to students through their teachers.
“Those are pretty critical soft skills that we are hearing across the board from our employers that are direly needed in any position in the workforce,” she said.
Zooming out
Workforce Solutions of North Central Texas, which manages workforce development programs in 14 North Texas counties, started the externship program in 2018, Taylor said. The program was designed to connect teachers to industry partners in the region and share learned workforce insights with students.
In a county that’s projected to grow by more than 92,000 jobs, the organization views it as an economic development tool, Taylor said
“That way, students are aware of careers right there in their backyard and have opportunities opened up ... to go straight into the workforce if that’s the pathway that they choose,” she said.
The bottom line
Crisler said the externship program lets teachers see what skills are required in today’s workforce. Teachers can take what they’ve learned and share those lessons with their students, she said.
“What a great opportunity for some of our teachers to be able to participate in the externship and then bring that knowledge directly back to the classroom,” Crisler said.
Redifer said AISD and the surrounding business community have been the “biggest champions” of the externship program. She said workforce development is an “all-contact” sport that relies on community partners like schools and employers.
“This really is a team sport to ensure that we provide the skilled and ready workforce today and for years to come,” Redifer said.
The externship program can show teachers what kinds of skills are needed in the workplace today and they can share that with students in the classroom, she said.
“Teachers really are amongst the most influential career advisors a student could ever have, so being able to provide this opportunity is so important as one of our efforts to continue to cultivate a ready and skilled workforce,” Redifer said.
