In the Spring of 2004, Pike-Lincoln Technical Center submitted a proposal for and was awarded a High School That Work (HSTW) grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). DESE began awarding HSTW grants in Missouri in 2001 and currently has nearly 70 sites in the statewide network. Of this total, 9 are career and technical centers like Pike-Lincoln Tech Center.

High Schools That Work is a whole-school, research and assessment-based improvement initiative established by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in Atlanta, GA in 1987. It’s the nation’s largest and fastest-growing effort to combine challenging academic courses and modern career/technical studies to raise the achievement of high school students. More than 1,200 HSTW sites in 31 states are using the HSTW framework of goals and key practices to raise student achievement. Simply stated, the HSTW overall goal is to prepare students for careers and further education by improving curriculum and instruction in high schools and middle schools.

HSTW is based on the belief that most students can master complex academic and technical concepts if schools create an environment that encourages students to make the effort to succeed. Member schools implement 10 Key Practices for changing what is expected of students, what they are taught and how they are taught.

SREB provides member states and sites with staff development, technical assistance, communications and publications, and assessment services. The HSTW Assessment provides data on students’ reading, mathematics and science achievement as well as students’ and teachers’ opinions on high school curriculum and instruction. The annual HSTW Summer Staff Development Conference is a focal point for year-round professional development. A team of Pike-Lincoln Tech instructors and administrators, along with staff from many of our sending schools, has regularly attended this valuable conference.

Presently, three of the seven high schools who send students to Pike-Lincoln are members of the HSTW network. They are: Bowling Green, Troy and Winfield.

Though Pike-Lincoln's grant ended in June 2009, the PLTC team continues to work with our staff and our sending schools to implement new HSTW strategies to increase the academic achievement of all PLTC students.