Keith Krueger 
As education leaders think about new opportunities within Career and Technical Education (CTE), they might want to look deeper into the development of Cyber Security programs. An example is Lakota Schools, a school district near Cincinnati, Ohio, that has developed the Lakota Cyber Academy. This award-winning cybersecurity program is changing the trajectory of students’ lives and reinventing the cybersecurity workforce pipeline.
The program, designed alongside industry partners, develops a local pool of talent in the lucrative field of cyber security. It provides students with the resources and training necessary to enter the field of cyber security. The Academy has over 240 students who, upon completion of their courses, earn industry certifications, complete paid internships, and join Fortune 500 companies to immediately enter the workforce or attend the nation’s top universities and, in some cases, do both.
Why Cyber Security for Career and Technical Education?
According to an (ISC)2’s 2021 study, more than 3.4 million security professionals are needed. Cyberseek, an organization focused on providing data insights to Close the cybersecurity talent gap with interactive tools and data, shows more than one million unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the United States – this number is expected to rise to an estimated 3.5 million within five years.
Executives in most hiring organizations prefer students with hands-on training, industry certifications, and practical experience rather than from universities that may be years removed from the industry and not have up-to-date training materials. Creating programs aligned directly with the workforce is expected to be the “education wave” of the future. This is the distinct advantage that the graduates of the Lakota Cyber Academy will experience.
What is a K-12 Cyber Academy?
K-12 Cyber Academy programs typically provide a blend of physical and virtual learning environments to meet the needs of a dynamic cybersecurity curriculum and the “job-ready” perspective of today’s top employers. Most programs provide a curriculum rich with activities and robust relationships with professional certification providers like CompTIA.
Many of today’s schools aspire to gather all the components required to bridge the student employment gap right out of high school. By leveraging known industry certifications that apply to cybersecurity workforce job roles, award-winning programs have started to cross this chasm. Some Cyber academies weave in Computer related pathway curricula, but very few take the next logical step to work with employers to integrate career components to produce job-ready individuals.
How is the Lakota Program unique?
With a wide range of industry-recognized cyber-focused courses, the Lakota Cyber Academy curriculum is filled with highly valued certification opportunities to prepare students for a career or continued training in higher education. The experience includes direct interaction and mentorship with industry professionals and a host of co-curricular opportunities to apply what students learn in class.
This is not your typical high school course or a traditional “pathway” program. Cyber courses 1, 2, and 3 are designed to partner with hands-on, in-class challenges with online preparation for cybersecurity industry certifications. The ideal student is someone who loves to solve challenges. Lakota’s Cyber Academy program consists of a series of embedded real-world learning challenges.
- Cyber 1, the first course, starts with in-class challenges to tackle with industry partners’ support. Guest speakers from all areas of the cybersecurity field are invited weekly to share.
- Cyber 2, students experience job shadowing with industry partners. Students see the world of cyber security in action while continuing to work with their mentors to solve in-class challenges.
- Cyber 3, culminates with a “build your own challenge” experience. Through this, students can define the path and certifications most interest them. This ends with a paid internship in the spring or summer of the student’s senior year.
The Lakota Cyber Academy is part of the district’s belief in empowering students to be “future-ready.” They have developed the Portrait of a Graduate to outline skills, characteristics, and attributes that their community believes are essential for students to be successful. “Real World Learning” best develops this Portrait of Graduate skills. This connects content and students to an authentic audience to solve real-world challenges.
The goal of the Cyber Academy
The district’s goal is to prepare EVERY student for success after graduation in one of the “4 E’s.” Enrollment in college, Enlistment in the military, Employment in the workforce, or Entrepreneurship. The district has allowed every student to explore their passions while embracing educators, administrators, and staff to take the lead in creating innovative learning environments. Also, Lakota has become a 1-to-1 technology device district. This was instrumental in facing the hardships brought on by the pandemic.
Students explore their passions and gain important skills by applying real-world learning to daily teaching practices across all levels. Project-based learning activities, expanded course options & flexibility, and a variety of extracurricular choices are just several ways Lakota helps its students be ‘future-ready.’
Given the pressing need to prepare students for a world that needs more cybersecurity expertise, I would challenge other districts to think about replicating this sort of Cyber Academy.
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EdCircuit Staff