LAUNCH: Career Readiness Initiative in Jackson Madison County Schools
Jackson, TN – Today the Jackson Madison County School System formally announced the
district’s career readiness initiative. LAUNCH is a first-of-its-kind Kindergarten-12th grade
approach to improved career readiness that allows all students to explore education and
employment options during their years in K-12 education and after high school.
“This is an exciting day for Jackson, Tennessee, and Madison County,” stated Dr. Eric Jones,
JMCSS Superintendent. “The implementation of LAUNCH, our career readiness plan, will have
a significant impact on the career readiness of our students and their success in life.”
By focusing students around four career pathways that are in high demand in our region, the
district can pursue partnerships with local colleges and industry that align with those career
pathways, resulting in more options and opportunities for JMCSS students. The four career
pathways are:
• Business Management and Administration
• Health and Human Services
• STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, and Manufacturing)
• Agriculture and Natural Resources
Moving forward, the district will strategically focus on providing awareness of career options in
elementary school, allowing students to explore career interests in middle school, and setting
students up to attain certifications and college credits aligned to their career pathway of choice
in high school.
“The components built into LAUNCH will have far-reaching benefits for our students,” said Dr.
Jared Myracle, JMCSS Chief Academic Officer. “As we move forward, a significantly higher
percentage of students will graduate from the district with industry certifications, college credit,
and valuable work experience.”
The rising 9th graders in the district will be the first cohort of students that select their career
pathway in middle school and move through classes that align with their pathway. Current high
school students are still able to take advantage of the programs currently being implemented.
This has already resulted in an increase in industry certifications earned and college courses
taken.
Key LAUNCH Milestones in 2018-19:
• Expansion of industry certifications (increase from 100 certifications earned in 2017-18
to projections of over 300 in 2018-19)
• Expansion of post-secondary credit opportunities by partnering with local colleges and
universities to provide more dual enrollment and dual credit classes that align with the
four career pathways
• $100,000 Grant from the Toyota Foundation to implement Project Lead the Way in
middle schools
• $100,000 New Skills for Youth Grant to purchase advanced manufacturing equipment
• Implementation of the Local Options and Opportunities Program (L.O.O.P) in
partnership with Stanley Black & Decker, TBDN, The Old Country Store, and Gourmet
Your Way
• Partnership with Modern States to provide free CLEP tests to district students
• Partnership with TCAT-Jackson to provide dual credit courses to over 200 JMCSS
students in Welding, Collision Repair, Cybersecurity, and Hospitality
