Mission
Smart Horizons Career Online Education is
committed to preparing students for entrance into careers and the workplace by
delivering quality, supportive and career-based online education.
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Vision
Smart Horizons Career Online
Education's vision is to offer students an affordable, flexible opportunity to
learn at their own pace and prepare students for careers and employment based
on employer-driven, academic requirements.
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Advisory Council
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The purpose of the Advisory Council shall be: To Advise the
Superintendent on issues, decisions, and policy matters that the district is
facing;
To be informed about the
background, rationale, and decision-making processes made by the district
throughout the year as issues arise; To communicate issues and
concerns raised by various stakeholders as represented by District Advisory
Council members;
To share the District's
vision/mission with a variety of representative groups; To accurately represent the
whole constituency of district stakeholders
The goal of first meeting shall be to discuss strategies to engage
local community stakeholder and local businesses to identify workforce needs.
Workforce Advisory Council The purpose of the Workforce Advisory Council, which meets quarterly and includes the Superintendent, the Director of Enrollment Management and one representative from each career major offering within the district shall be:- To assist the Superintendent in identifying workforce
needs and directing district resources to develop further career diploma tracks
for students; to assess current workforce needs in Florida and around
the US;
- To help promote the development of workforce policy at
the local, state, and national level; and
- To accurately represent the whole constituency.
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Opening Career Opportunities for Millions of Students
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Greetings!
Greetings from Smart Horizons Career Online Education! |
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Superintendent's Message
As you may know, Smart Horizons Career Online Education continues to value a system of continuous improvement that permeates every aspect of our work in order to become the center of excellence in providing online career education. Our faculty is committed to providing a challenging career-based curriculum and a learning environment that responds to individual student academic needs. Their work and expertise continues to amaze me!
In addition, our work is guided by adult learning research and the belief that every adult learner is capable of attaining higher levels of educational achievement in preparation for meeting the rigorous career demands of the twenty-first century. This is evidenced by the recent success of our inaugural class, with almost 80% expressing satisfaction with the connection between their academic courses and career interests. Our goal is to motivate all of our students and help them remove barriers that have always existed within their lives.
As an example, last week, our enrollment office received an email from a student saying, "I would like to thank you so much for this chance. It has been a long time for me. I have always had this dark cloud over my head and you have helped me to put that dark cloud away. I am scared, but ready. I am 46 years old and had no choice but to drop out of high school. Thank you for this new start. I will do it!"
This is a perfect example that illustrates our continued commitment to re-engaging, motivating, and providing adult learners with new opportunities in their lives.
I am very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for Smart Horizons Career Online Education!
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SHCOE Hires a New Chief Operating Officer
 Smart Horizons Career Online Education (SHCOE) is pleased to announce that Wendy Kauffman has joined the
SHCOE Executive Team as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Schools. Wendy
is responsible for the district's day-to-day operating activities, including
enrollment management, client management, product definition, student lifecycle
process, student retention and technology product management.
Prior to joining SHCOE, Wendy served as the Director of Technology
Product Management at Kaplan Virtual Education, which provides public school
districts and private schools with online education solutions.
Welcome aboard, Wendy!
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Development of Professional and Academic Portfolio Program Approved
In direct alignment with SHCOE's mission to prepare students for
entrance into the workplace, the SHCOE Board of Directors recently approved the
development of a Professional and Academic Portfolio program.
The first section of the professional
and academic portfolio will introduce and explore why self assessment is a key
factor leading to career success, discuss the importance of conducting a self
assessment, and help students better understand their strengths and weaknesses.
The career preparation section also will introduce the importance of conducting
research to find out certification requirements, building a career action plan,
searching for job openings, developing a resume/cover letter. In addition, this
section will introduce students to practical writing applications for
identifying a career interest, preparing for a job, and obtaining a
career-credentialed certificate.
The second section of the professional
and academic portfolio will introduce and prepare students to identify a topic,
purpose, and audience to effectively write a clear, concise persuasive,
descriptive or narrative essay. In
addition, the academic portfolio section will introduce the importance of making
a list, practicing with topic identification, and developing brainstorming
techniques. This section will also teach students how to review/edit writing
drafts, develop a thesis statement, identify supporting details, and prepare a
concluding statement(s). Upon completion of this section, students will be expected
to write a five paragraph essay with three parts: an introduction, body, and
conclusion.
Upon graduation, students will graduate with a high
school diploma, career certificate, career portfolio, and an academic
portfolio.
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SHCOE Partners with Palm Beach County Professional Development Collaborative
The Palm Beach County Professional
Development Collaborative partnered with Smart Horizons Career Online Education
to provide early childhood practitioners with an opportunity of a lifetime.
With the assistance of some of various community stakeholders including Family
Central, Palm Beach State College and the Children's Services Council,
practitioners who did not have a high school diploma were invited to attend an
orientation and informational meeting.
Over 40 practitioners around the county
came to listen, ask questions, and sign up to receive more information. With a way to enhance their
professional development and earn a high school diploma, along with a Childhood
Development Associate (CDA), many were excited to enroll in Smart Horizons
Career Online High School.
Getting a high school diploma is indeed
the first step and SHCOE is proud to be able to provide these practitioners
with professional development opportunities!
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Accreditation Update: Quality Assurance Review Scheduled for November
Smart Horizons Career Online Education is scheduled to host our AdvancED/SACS
Quality Assurance Review (QAR) visit from November 16th to November
18th, which will be comprised of trained education professionals
from across the nation.
AdvancED is the unified organization of the North
Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA
CASI) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on
Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). AdvancED provides nationally
recognized accreditation for school districts and individual schools and
represents 27,000 public and private schools and districts across the United
States and in 65 countries worldwide, educating 15 million students
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In closing, I invite you to review our website to learn more about our educational programs within the district.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Howard A. Liebman, Ph.D.
CEO & Superintendent |
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